COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – University of Hawai'i senior Taylor Averill was named to the 12-man USA Volleyball squad which will compete at the IX Men's Pan American Cup being held Aug. 11-16 in Tijuana, Mexico.
 
The senior from San Jose, Calif., is one of three middle blockers on the squad, which is primarily made up of current collegiate players. The team is coached by Charlie Sullivan, the current head coach of Springfield College. He will be assisted by Theo Edwards, a men's assistant at Cal State Northridge, and Nils Nielsen, who is a volunteer with the UCLA men's volleyball team.
 
Averill was a first-team AVCA All-American and first-team all-MPSF selection in 2014. He started all 27 matches for the Rainbow Warriors and played in all 102 sets at middle blocker. Averill led the nation with a .477 hitting percentage and ranked eighth with a 1.22 blocking average and also averaged 2.17 kills per set.
 
The UC Irvine transfer was a member of the U.S. Men's Junior National Training team in 2010. He also played on the U.S. Youth National Training Team and was a member of the 2009 Boys' Youth A2 Team and High Performance A2 team.
 
Other teams scheduled to compete at the 2014 IX Men's Pan American Cup are Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and host Mexico.
 
The U.S. is scheduled to share a pool with Colombia and Mexico. Brazil, who is not participating in the event this year, is the defending champion of the annual event last held in 2013 at the Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gymnasium in Mexico City.
 
The highest ranked participating National Team in the final results of the competition will qualify for the 2015 FIVB World League.