Lindenwood men's volleyball assistant coach Ben Duckworth has been selected as an assistant coach for the USA Volleyball Junior National Team as they compete in the U21 Pan American Cup on May 5-10 in Lima, Peru. The top team from the Pan American Cup will qualify for the U21 World Championships this summer.

"I am very excited for this opportunity," Duckworth said. "I can't wait to work with some of the top athletes in the world and represent my country as well as Lindenwood University. This is a very difficult field against some of the top competition in the world and I look forward to all the challenges ahead."

Duckworth just completed his second season as the assistant coach at Lindenwood. With the Lions, he has helped the development of several Lindenwood hitters, including junior Sam Schindler, senior Connor Hipelius and rising sophomore Diego Negron. Prior to Lindenwood, Duckworth worked at McKendree for four seasons, helping found the Bearcats' men's program. He also has worked with USA Volleyball for several years as a high performance coach and has worked several camps for the organization. 

The US Junior National team will begin pool play on May fifth when they take on Puerto Rico at 2 p.m. (CT) in the first match of the Pan American Cup. They then play the Dominican Republic on May 6 and Cuba on May 7. May 8 is the quarterfinal matches with May 9 hosting the semifinals. The Pan American Cup Gold Medal match will take place on May 10 at 8 p.m. (CT).

FloVolleyball will provide live video here and NORCECA has live stats here. For more information on USA Volleball and the Junior National team, visit www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball or follow on Twitter @USAVolleyball.