Essix will represent the United States at the 2021 FIVB Women’s Under-20 Championship from July 9-17
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – USA Volleyball has named the team that will represent the United States at the 2021 FIVB Women’s Under-20 World Championship, with incoming freshman Gabbi Essix earning a spot on the roster.
Essix – a 6-3 middle blocker from Hoover, Ala. – is one of just 12 players selected for this prestigious opportunity.
The tournament is being held in both Rotterdam, Netherlands and Kortrijk, Belgium from July 9-17.
The U.S. Women’s Team will open pool play on Friday at 9:30 a.m. PT against Russia in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Matches will be live streamed on the VolleyballWorld YouTube channel<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_c_volleyballworld_videos-3Fview-3D2-26sort-3Ddd-26live-5Fview-3D502-26shelf-5Fid-3D0&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=7ytI_5bq7GXh1nYEMecRPQHb0PbEmIR5eBIQEwW3Caw&s=1ruvcQ8GDylpHqbXGt9Mz-vppiUHq8OSpVqcU6GJGyI&e= >. Round-robin pool play will unfold over the first three days of competition through July 11. The United States’ pool includes Turkey, Russia and Thailand.
The pool winners and the pool runners-up will continue in two new pools to be played in Rotterdam, while the remaining eight teams form two pools in Kortrijk. The matches in the four second-round groups will take place on July 13-15. The pool standings will determine in which semifinals the teams will compete.
The grand final will take place July 18 at the Topsportcentrum. On the same day, the bronze medal match and all the other classification matches will be played in Rotterdam and Kortrijk to determine the final standings.
It will be the 21st edition of the U20 World Championship and the first co-hosted by two countries. The previous 20 editions were held from 1977 through 2019.
The rising freshman is coming off an incredibly successful senior season at Hoover High School, where she led her team to a Class 7A State Championship win. For her efforts, she was named All-Area and earned a spot on the Alabama Class 7A All-Tournament Team.
Dan Fisher, head volleyball coach at the University of Pittsburgh, will lead the 2021 U20 National Team. He will be assisted by Jon Newman-Gonchar of the University of New Mexico and Jessica Aschenbrenner of the University of Denver. John Wong, Texas Tech assistant coach, will be the team’s technical coordinator.
A List of Essix’s Accolades Prior to Florida:
Essix’s High School Accolades
* 2020 AHSAA Class 7A State Champion
* 2020 Alabama Class 7A All-Tournament
* 2020 All-Area
* 2020 AL.com A-List Top Seniors High School Volleyball Players (#3)
* 2020 Alabama All-Star Volleyball Team (North roster)
* 2020 PrepVolleyball’s pre-season Top-150 Nation List – Class of 2021 (#65)
* 2020 Super-Regionals Team Champions
* Three-time Area Team Champions (2018-20)
* Recorded over 1,000 kills as a middle blocker (three-year letterwinner on varsity)
* Two-time First Team Alabama Super-All-State selection (2019, 2020)
* Two-time First Team All-Over-the-Mountain Team (2019, 2020)
* Two-time First Team All-South Metro
* 2019 Radio Network Female Athlete of the Week (Oct. 21)
* Three-time All-Region Team selection (2018-20)
* 2018 AVCA’s Phenom List
Essix’s Club Accolades
* 2020 AVCA Under Armour All-American Second Team
* Two-time JVA All-National Team honors, class of 2021
* 2020 VolleyballMag.com AVCA’s 25 Girls Underclassmen to Watch list
* 2020 SPVB President’s Day Challenge team champions (18 Open)
Essix’s USA High Performances Accolades
* 2020 U.S. Women’s Junior National Training Team
* 2019 USA Girls Youth National A1 (Red Team)
* 2019 Bronze medalist, Women’s Junior International Division, USA High Performance Championships
For a complete list of players selected, click here<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__go.usav.org_7821U20&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=7ytI_5bq7GXh1nYEMecRPQHb0PbEmIR5eBIQEwW3Caw&s=SpbduAJaNWd7bD_HoxsX9TzgBW9HVMsVBBuCy3oNo58&e= >.
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