SAN DIEGO – San Diego State opposite hitter Taylor Underwood (Norco, Calif.) and setter Sarena Gonzalez (Temecula, Calif.) have been named to the Mountain West touring volleyball team that will compete in the 2024 Global Challenge, set for July 12-20 in Europe. The announcement was made Wednesday by the league office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Colorado State assistant coach Ted Kopacz and Utah State associate head coach Chloe Hirst will help direct the MW traveling squad for this summer's Global Challenge, which will allow 12 student-athletes from nine of the league's 11 institutions to train and compete.
After a three-day stop in Maribor, Slovenia, for training and friendly competition from July 12-14, the MW touring team will head to Pula, Croatia, for the opening ceremony on July 15. The conference's traveling squad is comprised of four outside hitters, three middle blockers, two opposite hitters, two setters and one libero. Additionally, the group will be afforded the opportunity to visit Venice, Italy, during the trip.
With their selections, Underwood and Gonzalez become the 12th and 13th Aztec volleyball players to participate in the Global Challenge after Julia Haynie was chosen in 2023. This year marks the seventh occasion SDSU has sent at least one player to the event.
Haynie was part of the MW delegation that also included Aztec assistant coach Melanie Greene, who served as co-head coach of the conference's touring team that won the gold medal at last year's event.
A native of Norco, California, Underwood received first-team all-Mountain West recognition after ranking sixth in the league with 3.38 kills and 3.88 points per set against conference opponents during the 2023 campaign.
For all matches, Underwood led the Scarlet and Black with 3.12 kills per set, surpassing the double-digit plateau in that category in 20 of 29 starts. The SDSU sophomore was also slotted sixth in the MW with an average of 0.35 service aces per set (37 overall) during the regular season.
In a home match against Air Force last fall, Underwood (.481) blasted a career-high 31 kills, which marked the third-highest total in the conference for the 2023 season. Additionally, the Aztec opposite hitter set a school record for put-aways in the rally scoring era (since 2001) and registered the highest kill total by an SDSU player since Martina Vitkova-Engels (37) and Carrie Mapes (33) accomplished the feat in 1997.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez ranked second on the Aztecs last year in assists (509, 4.94/set) while occupying the fifth spot in digs (141, 1.37). The SDSU sophomore surpassed the 20-assist plateau in 11 matches, highlighted by a season-best 28 helpers in the team's 3-0 sweep of Denver at the UCSD Invitational on Sept. 8.
During the 2023 campaign, Gonzalez compiled her first three career double-doubles, featuring a collegiate-best 13 digs in a home clash with New Mexico on Oct. 7.
In 2022, Gonzalez was one of three freshmen to appear in all 31 matches for the Aztecs, earning a starting role on 11 occasions. The Temecula native cracked the starting lineup in SDSU's four-set triumph at Wyoming that season, notching a career-high 31 assists, as the Scarlet and Black snapped a seven-match losing streak to the Cowgirls and emerged victorious for the first time in 10 trips to Laramie dating back to 2012.
Underwood and Gonzalez are currently preparing for the Aztecs' 2024 fall campaign, which gets underway in late August.
2024 Mountain West Global Challenge Volleyball Roster
Sarena Gonzalez, S, San Diego State
Taylor Underwood, OPP, San Diego State
Paige Bartsch, OH, Boise State
Karina Leber, MB, Colorado State
Jenna Legault, OH, Fresno State
Bella Snyder, MB, Nevada
Brooke Slusser, S, San José State
Brooke Bryant, OPP, San José State
Dakota Quinlan, OH, UNLV
Kelsey Watson, MB, Utah State
Rylee Schulz, OH, Wyoming
Coaches: Ted Kopacz, Colorado State assistant coach; Chloe Hirst, Utah State associate head coach
About the Global Challenge
Year after Year, the mission of the Global Challenge is to provide teams with international playing experience and exposure. Past tournament participants have included club and country federation teams from Slovenia, Russia, Romania, Germany, Bosnia, Montenegro, China, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Iran, Sweden, Denmark, and Puerto Rico, along with USA regional HP, youth national, junior national, and collegiate national teams.