Pakhomenko to practice with national team

May 9, 2016 | 2:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — The CIS and Canada West player of the year for women’s volleyball is getting a chance to train with Canada’s best.

Thompson Rivers University WolfPack outside hitter Iuliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) will be spending the next few weeks training with Canada’s national senior women’s team.   Pakhomenko and TRU teammate Alyssa Wolf (libero, South Surrey, BC) spent last week at the national team’s evaluation camp in Winnipeg, MB.

National team head coach Arnd Ludwig stated:  “Iuliia made a very good impression to me and all the coaches from the first day she practiced.  I was very impressed with her technical skills and her ball control. Technically she is for sure one of the top players at the camp.”

He went onto say “ I also liked her attack. She has one of the hardest hits in the team and with her technical abilities and her sense for the game she has a lot of potential to become a good international outside hitter.”

“She will be practicing this summer with the team. Since she has no Canadian passport, she is not eligible to play for us this summer. It is a great commitment from her side that she wants to stay here and work with us although she cannot compete this summer. She will work with the team and she will learn the systems, so when she comes back for competition (hopefully next summer) she will be already in the middle of it.”