Herrera Rejoins Argentina for Olympic Qualifying

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State middle blocker Candelaria Herrera will be back in action with the Argentina Women's Volleyball National Team this week, aiming to help Las Panteras qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games. Herrera and Argentina will take part in the 2020 Women's South American Olympic Qualification Tournament on Jan. 7-9 at the Coliseo El Salitre in Bogota, Colombia.

The continental tournament, with Argentina being joined by hosts Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, will be a single four-team round-robin pool event, with the team on top of the table qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. This is the last chance to qualify for Tokyo 2020, with qualifying tournaments also taking place this weekend in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

For Herrera, this is her first time back with Argentina since helping her home nation to a bronze medal at the Pan-American Games back in August. Since then, Argentina participated in the 2019 Women's South American Volleyball Championships, finishing in fourth place.

During summer 2019, Herrera represented Argentina 18 times across four different competitions. One of those tournaments was the first of two attempts to qualify for the Olympic Games, which took place in Bossier City, Louisiana back in July, but the lone spot up for grabs that week was taken by the United States.

Herrera's junior season as a Cyclone was an outstanding one, seeing her earn All-Big 12 and All-Midwest Region honors while helping lead Iowa State back to the NCAA Volleyball Championships. She had a terrific two-way season for the Cyclones. In attack, she averaged 2.22 kills per set at a team-high .314 hitting percentage, an efficiency that ranks fourth in the Big 12. On defense, Herrera was second on ISU with 0.94 blocks per set, a number which rose to 1.18 per set against league opponents. She had 101 total blocks on the year, her second-straight season over 100 blocks.