Texas Tech University Athletics
Akiu Selected to U.S. Collegiate National Team
May 01, 2017 | Women's Volleyball
Tita Akiu will head to Minnesota this summer as part of the U.S. Collegiate National Team.
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech rising junior Tita Akiu was selected Monday to join the U.S. Collegiate National Team – Minneapolis (CNT-Minneapolis) that will train and compete in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships held June 22-30 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Akiu, a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, is one of four liberos selected to the squad and the first Red Raider to participate in the program since 2014. She earned the invite after participating alongside teammate Missy Owens at the U.S. Women's National Team open tryouts held in early March at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"It's an honor to be selected to be a part of this prestigious program," Akiu said. "This is yet another stepping stone to accomplishing one of my biggest dreams in life, which is to hopefully one day play on the U.S. National Team."
Following four days of training, Akiu and the 36 other athletes selected will be divided into three equal teams that will compete in a round-robin event June 27-30. The entire trip is considered a second tryout for the U.S. Women's National Team.
"We are so very proud of Tita and know she will have a great week in Minneapolis," Texas Tech volleyball head coach Tony Graystone said. "This is a tremendous accomplishment and speaks to both her talent and the time she's spent working to become one of the best liberos in college volleyball. Everyone in our program gets to see every day how good Tita is, and I'm excited for her to have the opportunity to play at this next level. I can't think of anyone better to represent the Red Raiders."
Akiu is one of two Big 12 representatives traveling to Minnesota and one of only two players from the state of Texas, joining Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Kristyn Nicholson, who was coached by Graystone at TAMUCC prior to his arrival at Tech.
As a sophomore in 2016, Akiu posted Texas Tech's second highest individual dig totals for a single season with 547, her first year as a full-time starter. Named to the 2016 All-Big 12 Second Team, Akiu finished second in the Big 12 with .497 digs per set last season.
With 713 career digs, Akiu enters the 2017 season needing 418 digs to reach the top 10 in Tech's career record book.
Akiu, a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, is one of four liberos selected to the squad and the first Red Raider to participate in the program since 2014. She earned the invite after participating alongside teammate Missy Owens at the U.S. Women's National Team open tryouts held in early March at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"It's an honor to be selected to be a part of this prestigious program," Akiu said. "This is yet another stepping stone to accomplishing one of my biggest dreams in life, which is to hopefully one day play on the U.S. National Team."
Following four days of training, Akiu and the 36 other athletes selected will be divided into three equal teams that will compete in a round-robin event June 27-30. The entire trip is considered a second tryout for the U.S. Women's National Team.
"We are so very proud of Tita and know she will have a great week in Minneapolis," Texas Tech volleyball head coach Tony Graystone said. "This is a tremendous accomplishment and speaks to both her talent and the time she's spent working to become one of the best liberos in college volleyball. Everyone in our program gets to see every day how good Tita is, and I'm excited for her to have the opportunity to play at this next level. I can't think of anyone better to represent the Red Raiders."
Akiu is one of two Big 12 representatives traveling to Minnesota and one of only two players from the state of Texas, joining Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Kristyn Nicholson, who was coached by Graystone at TAMUCC prior to his arrival at Tech.
As a sophomore in 2016, Akiu posted Texas Tech's second highest individual dig totals for a single season with 547, her first year as a full-time starter. Named to the 2016 All-Big 12 Second Team, Akiu finished second in the Big 12 with .497 digs per set last season.
With 713 career digs, Akiu enters the 2017 season needing 418 digs to reach the top 10 in Tech's career record book.
Congrats to @AkiuTita of @TexasTechVB on selection to US Collegiate National Team-Minneapolis. https://t.co/kpCRrEj4Ee #USAVcnt pic.twitter.com/T8FQlEn0N5
— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) May 1, 2017
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