Doherty junior fails in bid for U.S. women's junior national volleyball team

Taylor Simpson won’t wear the stars and stripes on the volleyball court this summer.

The Doherty junior outside hitter failed to make the U.S. women’s junior national team in a 21-player tryout camp, featuring the country’s top high school upperclassmen vying for 12 roster spots, that ended late Saturday at the Olympic Training Center.

Coach Rob Browning named five outside hitters – Jane Croson, Stephanie Holthus, Kelly Reeves, Rachel Williams and Samantha Wopat – to the team, which will compete at the NORCECA Women’s Junior Continental Championship in July in Tijuana, Mexico.

Simpson said she tried “to play my best and just push harder than everybody else” during five tryout sessions, probably her biggest test since last season at Doherty, when she had 446 kills, 283 digs and 76 blocks in leading the Spartans to the Class 5A state semifinals.

“It is way more competitive here,” said Simpson, who has given a verbal commitment to Nebraska, where she will play with Colorado Springs Christian School graduate Morgan Broekhuis, her former Colorado Juniors teammate, in 2011.

Making the U.S. team – juniors who were cut can try out again next year – wouldn’t have been out of the question for Simpson, who called herself “a different player” because she has “stepped up my passing game. I used to not be such a confident passer.”

Assisted by Air Force women’s coach Matt McShane, Browning said his goal was “to get the best players we can, and then choose the group that complements each other the best and plays the best together. … It’s not just about who are the best skilled players.”

Simpson figures she’ll still benefit from the experience.

“It really makes me a better player,” she said. “Now, I know I’m playing with the best.”

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