Six Seneca Valley boys volleyball players have found themselves in pretty select company.

Dan Follett, Alex Muckle, Jon Hewko, Zach Herrmann, Pat Follett and Cameron Knight have all qualified for Pitt Elite squads and will compete at the USA Junior Olympic Boys Volleyball Championships, to be held in Atlanta starting this week and concluding July 11.

All six players live in Cranberry Township and made it through two rounds of tryouts in their respective age groups — Dan Follett (18 and under), Muckle and Hewko (16 and under) and Herrmann, Pat Follett and Knight (14 and under).

The first tryout came in May, followed by a second one in June.

The best players from the region, including stars from WPIAL schools, were vying for limited spots on the different teams.

"The players were broken up into age groups and coaches evaluated their skills during drills and practice games," said Pete Swauger, Director of Pitt Elite Volleyball.

"There were a lot of strong players at the tryouts," said Muckle. "You could tell there were a few players there who didn't know what they were getting into, but most of the players were very good."

"Going into the tryouts, I just wanted to have fun, do my best and see what happened," said Herrmann.

Dan Follett, who recently graduated from SV, will be making his fourth appearance at the Junior Olympics' summer tournament.

"We have a very good team assembled this year," said Follett, an outside hitter who will continue his volleyball career at Juniata College. "We have a shot at winning the tournament and I'm very excited about our chances."

Hewko (libero) and Muckle (outside hitter) will both be juniors this fall at Seneca Valley and have also been to the summer games before. The latter knows the prior trips will benefit him.

"I'm not going to be nervous this time," Muckle said. "I know what to expect."

"Alex is a really smart player," said U16 coach Ryan Obeldobel. "He's a finesse player who always uses his head.

"And Jon is the perfect libero. He's aggressive and a great passer."

Herrmann (defensive specialist), Knight (setter) and Pat Follett (libero) form a trio of talented incoming freshmen for the Raiders, but first have some business to take care of in Atlanta.

"I'm hoping to win, but I also want to have a good time," said Pat Follett, Dan's younger brother. "It will give us a chance to see better competition than we'll see at the high school level."

That competition will include teams from all over the United States, as well as Puerto Rico.

"The Puerto Rican teams have players who start playing volleyball much earlier than our kids do," said U14 coach Andrew Palko. "It should be incredible competition because some of the best talent around will be there. But we've got some talent too, so I'm not worried."

The other five players hope to follow in Dan Follett's footsteps and play volleyball in college.

With that in mind, they're headed to the right place.

"Every college coach in the country will be there," said Obeldobel. "They'll get to see who can compete under pressure."