Junior Kate McCullagh will leave the NIU volleyball team in late June.

The 6-foot middle blocker was chosen to represent the United States in the Sibillini Tournament held in Comunanza, Italy from June 22-July 3.

“Ray [Gooden, NIU coach] contacted me and asked if I wanted to play volleyball in Italy,” McCullagh said. “I gave the coach a call and said I’d love to do it.”

McCullagh is one of 12 girls who will compete against teams from around the world.

The only thing in her way is the money needed to get there. The fee to get to Rome and play is $3,000, McCullagh said.

“I’m trying to get the money, but I haven’t got much response,” McCullagh said. “I’m asking family, friends and local businesses who are Huskie fans.”

Seven of her 11 days overseas will be spent in the tournament, with a few training days early to get used to the time change and work with teammates. The first two nights will be spent in Rome, with one night in Falconara following. After that, the team will head to the Sivillini Mountains for the tournament.

“It’s a big deal just because I’m traveling so far,” McCullagh said. “I rarely leave Illinois, let alone the country.”

Welcome to NIU

Kristine Jensen was named an assistant volleyball coach under Gooden on Monday. Jensen replaces Chrissy Smith, who left after three years at NIU to become an assistant coach at Cincinnati.

“This is such an excellent opportunity,” Jensen said. “This program has everything in place. It’s all there, and NIU is going to be a special place to come play volleyball.”

Most recently, the Aurora native served as an assistant for three years under former NIU coach Todd Kress at Florida State.

Women’s track

It has become a recurring story for Alicja Czajka and the NIU women’s track team: Another meet, another record broken by the senior.

Saturday proved no different as the Poland native broke her own NIU record in the 1,500 meter run at the Redbird Invitational hosted by Illinois State.

Czajka won the event with a 4:32.10, breaking the old record of 4:33.41 set three weeks prior at the Chicagoland Championships.