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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 5 82 Stahl's history runs the deepest as she played on the 2012 Junior National Team that captured the bronze medal at the NORCECA Continental Championships in Nicaragua. After a two-year hiatus from na- tional competition, Stahl returns to the USA program as one of just nine sophomores-to-be after an up-and-down freshman campaign where she flashed the ability to spark Purdue's offense at outside hitter, but was unable to do it with consistency. "She's one player right now who's totally realigned her focus this spring," Shondell said. "She is really zoned in at this point on being the very best player she can be, and I know she'll really take ad- vantage of this." Stahl is joined by senior-to-be libero Amanda Neill, who attend- ed Team USA tryouts in 2014, but felt much more prepared heading to tryouts in Colorado Springs this year after her first full season in Purdue's starting lineup. "Having another season under my belt and these past two springs has been huge," Neill said. "Every- body's been pushing each other to be a better player. I think that helped me out a lot, especially when it got to February and tryouts came around." The biggest surprise of the group might be setter Evans mak- ing the China Tour roster — the second-highest team in the USA Volleyball High Performance pipe- line behind the University Games squad — despite no national vol- leyball experience. "I went into this tryout with such an open mind, not really expecting to make a team at all," Evans said. "I kind of relate it back to my first weekend on the floor at Purdue. I was so free and loose, and I wasn't overthinking anything. I laid it all out on the line and it turned out to be a really great weekend." Evans made the squad as a set- ter after serving as a defensive specialist and outside hitter for the Boilermakers in her redshirt freshman season in 2014. The experience of playing the position against professional teams from Europe cannot be un- derstated for the Liberty Town- ship, Ohio native as she looks to replace All-American Val Nichol at the helm of Purdue's offense in the fall. "I made the transition to setter in the spring, and I've been getting more reps in spring practice than I ever have in my life at the posi- tion," Evans said. "Getting even more reps (for Team USA) will pre- pare me better for the fall." Purdue players have been a sta- ple of the Team USA program, with at least one Boilermaker involved in each of the last five years. Ariel Turner, Carly Cramer and Nichol, among others, have all used the national program expe- rience to help catapult them to strong seasons for the Boilermak- ers. Shondell said spending a couple weeks as part of Team USA can be as valuable as each player makes it. "We hope they learn from the competition, gain some confi- dence by getting those accolades and learn from different coaches," Shondell said. The process starts with Shon- dell talking to his former Ball State teammate Tom Pingel, who now serves as the senior director of USA Volleyball, to see whom Pur- due should send to tryouts at the USA Volleyball Headquarters in Colorado Springs. If the player is interested in the For daily headlines on recruiting and other Purdue sports news, check out