Russell, Anderson selected to U.S. men’s volleyball junior national training team

UC Irvine freshman Kyle Russell and Corona del Mar High graduate Brennan Anderson, a sophomore at Ohio State, are among 22 players chosen for the 2012 U.S. men’s volleyball junior national training team.

Russell, a 6-foot-9 outside hitter, and Anderson, a 6-2 libero who earned first-team All-Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. honors after leading the MIVA with 3.12 digs per set, will vie for 12 roster spots for the U.S. team that will compete in Federation International de Volleyball’s men’s U21 World Championship, as well as the Pan American Cup.

The world championship is scheduled Aug. 22 through Sept. 1, in Turkey.

The training team will first gather June 16 through 20 in Southern California. It will then scrimmage Russia’s youth national team, after which the roster will be pared to 12.

The U.S. junior national team will then compete in the U21 Pan American Cup from July 12 through 20 in Costa Rica.

The team will reconvene in early August at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, to begin preparation for the world championship.

— From staff reports