Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to volley talk the podcast created for volleyball lovers who want to dig deep into what is going on
in NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host Sarah pavin
I'm an Olympian beach volleyball world champion former Nebraska corn husker and a longtime pro both indoor and on the beach
And I'm Adam Schultz former indoor player international volleyball coach and stats guru. I love that name for you
It was a wild week in NCAA volleyball and we're excited to share our thoughts on some key matches in
Particular a couple of interesting ones from the big 12 and the big 10. Let's get started
Like we said, it was a little bit of a wild week this week in NCAA volleyball
To kick things off number 25 Auburn will likely drop out of the top 25 rankings because they lost to two
Unranked opponents they lost in five to Alabama
And then number 20 Auburn will likely drop out of the top 25 rankings because they lost to two
Unranked opponents they lost in five to Alabama and in four to Tennessee
So I think we're gonna see a switch up at the bottom of those top 25 rankings this week number 24
Byu beat number 20, Utah 3-2 in what was another
Interesting match well surprisingly Utah had their two lowest hitting percentages in the sets
They won hitting 191 and 130 and sets 2 & 3 respectively
Byu had their lowest hitting percentage in those sets as well, but that makes a little more sense given that they lost
Yeah, that's pretty wild when I was looking at the stats
I'm like you literally won the two sets where you hit the worst
Well, it was also interesting because Utah had a higher hitting percentage as a team in the fifth set as well and
Still lost that match
So I mean there were other things going on. They had 17 service errors. They were out blocked
They dug roughly the same, but they they were just more error prone at key times than Byu was
We saw a lot of swings in momentum in that match and especially at the end of the fifth set
I recall Utah being up 10-7 and then it was like 13-10 or something like that
Yeah, and for me the biggest part of that story was Utah's outside hitters went 145 on 110 sets
That's just not gonna cut it because you had Claire Little for Byu hitting 289 on 50 swings
That's fair. Claire Little and Ellie Mortenson did lead the way for Byu
They had 18 and 17 and a half points respectively
We saw the same point totals from the top two scores for Utah as well in Emre Satuwala and Cameron Gabadlo
But as we said the point swings the lack of consistency. I think it kind of told the story there
The other thing that I think is so crazy was how high Byu and Utah were passing
Well knowing that the Byu coach was a protege of the Utah coach it kind of made sense
But the sheer number of overpasses in that match from both sides which doesn't really show up on
the stat line anywhere was staggering and that's a byproduct of trying to pass like that
Like if you're passing with tempo it allows for a little more wiggle room as far as precision goes
on the pass when you're trying to make your pass hit such a high peak and then fall perfectly at
that two and a half position it's hard. Well and Utah specifically had a tough time getting their
middles going and I attribute that to the high pass as well it's hard to find your timing
when you're looking for the ball and it's dropping and to be in the air at the right time
I don't understand the strategy but I don't know that those teams intimately enough to
criticize I suppose. Yeah I mean as you said the timing for the middle attackers on passes at high
are so challenging and we saw so many overpasses but it was an entertaining game nonetheless
the Byu fans were rowdy as ever so yeah love an in-state rivalry matchup. Lots of emotion
lots of cheering Byu fans were going crazy. In other news number three Penn State had a decisive
3-0 victory over number 14 Minnesota. I must admit I expected a lot more from this match but Penn
State just looked to be on a completely different level than Minnesota. Minnesota looked disjointed
they hardly ran the middle Julia Hanson had 11 kills and hit 345 for Minnesota but that's really
the only bright spot offensively that was there for the Gophers. It just did not look smooth things
were not flowing as you said they had just one heck of a time running the middle defensively
they also they blocked decently well but I was I was disappointed I don't know I had such high hopes
because I saw Minnesota play Wisconsin earlier this year I saw them play Purdue there's a little
more firepower it's almost it looks just so flat. Well you kept expecting them to get it going like
they would have three or four good plays in a row and you would think okay they've got the momentum
you know this is going to stay close they're going to keep playing well and then they drop
four or five points in a row on on silly mistakes and they just never found any consistency in that
match. They're given how the match was going there was honestly no need for any big-time
production from anybody on Penn State but Jess Merzuch had 19 points and Karen Hanna had 12.
Their lowest hitting percentage in like each individual set was 233 which is very good but
in the third set they hit 395 as a team. We were talking last week about Utah playing Baylor and
having a 391 hitting percentage enough said 395 you are just like a well-oiled machine at that
time and you're basically unstoppable so that pretty much sums up the Penn State Minnesota match.
Another match that I was really excited for and had very high hopes was number one pit playing
number five Stanford. This match again was disappointing I thought there was going to be
more to it. Stanford did not look good they hit 065, 071, and 133 in their three sets. Those the
scores weren't even close. At least they were getting better set by set. I mean I think that's
the only if that's the takeaway that's the takeaway. On the flip side pit hit 308, 276, and 351.
It's not it's not even close and the scores dictated that there was there was no match there
to be seen. As the scores were rolling in I was just my jaw was hitting the floor. I thought that
this would be like a barn burner you know get oh I love a top 10 matchup give it to me all day.
This was a literal steamrolling. I mean Stanford they had one player who played well Jordan Harvey
hit 368 with 11 kills but their outside hitters nine kills 11 errors on 39 swings combined. You
just that's just not good enough when you're playing a top 10 matchup. Yeah you definitely
need more production from your outsides but Pitt was solid. Yeah I mean Babcock was good again 17
kills 361. Stafford was good 12 kills 208 and Kelly had four kills and seven block. Like they
were just solid all the way across their team. Honestly though I don't think that this loss will
really impact Stanford too much from a rankings perspective. I think they'll still be pretty high
up there. I mean you're you played the number one team in the country but I will say it was nice to
see Pitt come out and dominate after that questionable performance they had last week against SMU.
You could tell they like took it personally. They're like we are not messing around here and
that is what you expect from the number one team in the nation. Yeah and we talked about that match
against SMU being a maybe a bit of a wake-up call tuned things up and this was the perfect match to
do that. We also saw Wisconsin beat Oregon 3-1 and Boston College pushed Florida State to five this
week. Lots of fun stuff but it is time to take on our feature matches of the week which are Kansas
versus K-State and Ohio State versus Penn State. Our first feature match of the week takes us to
the Big 12 where number eight Kansas played Kansas State in the Sunflower State Showdown.
I was skeptical of this match to get started. We had a number eight versus an unranked team
and you looked at me and said don't sleep on this match it's gonna be a good one. 100% that actually
happened and I'm aging myself here but I played for Nebraska and they are in the Big 12. Don't
do the math thank you and I know how much the state of Kansas loves volleyball. Every time we
went to play Kansas or K-State it was rowdy. The people were into it and so the fact that it's an
in-state rivalry match I thought that it could be pretty spicy and it was because Kansas beat them
in a super tight match three to two. And not only was the match tight but all of the sets were
very close could have gone either way and honestly you never had any idea what was going to happen in
each set. I will say it was unfortunate each team had a player go down with an injury and you never
want to see that happen. Liz Grogorski for K-State went down in the second set. At the time she was
leading the team in scoring and then in the fifth set Toyozi Onabonjo went down for KU. Both didn't
look great obviously we're hopeful that this is nothing serious for either player but you hate to
see that happen especially in such a tight match. Well and it was kind of crazy that both of them
were leading their teams in points when they went out. Grogorski had seven kills and nine points
total and Onabonjo was hitting 571 with 16 points and 14 kills. Interestingly the two middles were
the top scores for KU which in a five-set match you're kind of expecting that kind of production
from your outsides maybe your opposite but I thought it was really cool that Onabonjo
and Reese Patak were leading the way. And I think that that actually bodes well for them as a team
moving forward because if your middles are that much of a threat your outside should theoretically
have an easier night. And I will say I was specifically impressed with Patak who as a
freshman hit 533, 11 kills, 11 block assists for 16 and a half points and she she's going to be very
good for a long time. I really liked her too. She made a couple of young maybe inexperienced
plays early. Caught up in the emotion of the match I think. Yeah you know she kind of tried to steal
a pass from the libero on a short serve at one point kind of you know shanked another one at
another point but she kind of she found her rhythm as the match progressed you could see her kind of
like getting more and more confident with each set as the match progressed and like was bringing
some fire and energy and you could see the older players on the court looking at her like
okay I like this. I have nothing to base this on but she seems like a quiet person in general
and she was fired up by the end of the match. I honestly think that she could be very good.
She is very good obviously but I think if she continues to improve you will be hearing her name
consistently in coming years. The other thing that I thought is Regan Burns the libero. I thought
that she played an excellent game. I don't think the stats adequately reflect how good she was though.
Her plays were timely. She would make a dig when they needed it. She would step in and pass balls
so that they could run the middle. I would agree with you. A couple tactical adjustments that I
respected from KU. Grigoryski for K-State was kind of going off in set one and she was scoring the
majority of her points just swinging really high over the setter down the line. I thought Kansas was
really smart in set two. They immediately moved their setter away from her to put a bigger block
in front. I understand Grigoryski didn't finish the match but I thought that that was very smart
and they did it right away. Well I was interested to see when they made that adjustment in the
second set what was going to happen moving forward and if it was going to be a cat and a mouse move
for the rest of the match but unfortunately we didn't get to see how that played out. The other
thing that I thought they did really well was they switched out their second left side. So the
outside hitter number two and they had another outside who was coming in to serve and play
defense across the back row. So they started with Caroline BN attacking and Aya Ilnadi as the serving
and defensive sub. Partly through the match they completely flipped the script and had them switch
roles and Ilnadi started attacking and BN was coming in to serve. I thought that was really
smart. BN also was recruited as a defensive specialist so she has that background but to
make that kind of heads up play and to make such a drastic switch I thought it paid off
because Ilnadi was pretty clutch down the stretch. I think that that was a really heads up play by
the coaching staff. You really have to know your players and where they're going to excel and to
move someone from being serving and defensive specialist and then expecting them to hit. I
know the players come in as left sides DS's but to switch that role in the match and for her to
step up and do that I thought was impressive. This might not be a popular opinion but I have an opinion
about Cameron Turner the setter for KU. I felt like her setting particularly to the left side
was pretty inconsistent and having that sort of side view of the court it made it very obvious
in that the distance off the net was fluctuating between being too tight and too far off.
You really saw Kansas struggle early their outside hitters and they were missing a lot of swings
outside the court. I really think that that's because with the tempo of offense they were
running they were often getting underneath the ball as it flared off the net and they weren't
able to put that spin on the ball that they needed to keep it in. You saw it kind of even itself out
a little bit. It definitely stayed for the most part in that match and I don't know if that was
like more of an adjustment on the outside hitters part but it made it really hard for the outside
hitters to kind of find a rhythm. I saw the same thing when they were playing and for me this is
going to be one of the key areas for them as a team as to whether they're successful for the rest
of the year or not. They've got great middles so there should be less pressure on the outsides.
If Turner can get their outside hitters in a rhythm they should have one one and a half blocks
and they'll be very successful but if those hitters are constantly struggling to find rhythm
they're going to struggle against better teams bigger blocks they need to clean that up if
they're going to continue to lead the way. I also don't know if this was a game plan decision or if
it's just Cameron Turner's setting style but on out of system balls she very often reversed the flow
instead of sticking with maybe an option that would give better execution of the set. For example
when KU was struggling to pass a lot of their passes were behind the 10-foot line around zone
five and I would say nine times out of ten Turner was forcing the long distance slide for the middles
from that point and it was very consistently off the net. I think sometimes I understand wanting
to reverse the flow to get the blockers moving and have a little decomposed block defense so to speak
but I think if a set is executed well even if it's overloading and the blockers are already waiting
the hitters have a better opportunity to score. I agree with you on that I thought what they should
have done if you don't want to load your hitters up against the two-man block is run a back row
ball it doesn't have to necessarily score and you know maybe she's more consistent in those situations
in general and she had a bad day but the coaches need to see that and go okay it's time to simplify
you know the offense is not working the way we wanted to focus on putting your hitters in a good
place to score. Yeah the passing was not great from Kansas for the entire match but I think she
was trying really hard to go for long distance sets. I think incorporating more back row definitely
could have alleviated some of that but I think you know kind of pushing if they do want to run
that distance pushing the ball a little closer to the net so at a worst case scenario they're able
to recycle that ball and the hitter can like look for the block to either wipe off or bring it back
I think that could pay off more than running a long distance ball at the 10-foot line.
It'll be interesting to see if they make those adjustments in their next matches because I know
they have a couple big games coming up. I'm curious if you think K-State gave up the match
in the fourth set we had a scenario at 21-20 where they got a free ball and the libero made a super
tight pass that ended up with them losing the point and from there they proceeded to bad set
to the left side, bad set to the pin on a slide and then missed set to the left side where she
got blocked for the match on a bad pass and it all stemmed from that one poor free ball execution.
I'm all for a turning point you know that. I truly believe that that pass you're talking about at 21-20
was that turning point because guess what Adam that set ended 25-20. You didn't score another point.
You're telling me crunch time you're up 2-1 you have a chance to close out a match on the road
against a top 10 team you get a free ball at 21-20 and you're gonna pass that over the net?
That's unacceptable. You had a chance to make it 21-21 on what is arguably the most straightforward
type of play in volleyball a free ball and you didn't score another point in that set because
you did not execute that straightforward play and then I really think that that bled over into the
fifth set because they could not recover they didn't recover. No the fifth set they just they
were walked over. Their serving pressure disappeared I loved how they were serving KU all through the
match those serves were hitting the KU passers in the throat they looked like they were coming high
but then would drop out but in the fifth set after that run of points at the end of the fourth
serving pressure disappeared their serve receive everything was getting pulled off the net they
could not refine their footing and I know it sounds like such a small thing but volleyball is a game
of momentum and when you have a chance to stop a team from keeping that momentum you have to do it.
Now do you think that's a case of an inexperienced team that's them looking at thinking hey we might
beat a ranked team hey this is a this is an opponent that we want to that we want to beat
like what do you think the mindset is in that set because not only do you not execute on that free
ball but you crumble after that. I don't know it's hard to say like because I don't know them
or their team like personally or well but you know there is definitely some excitement if you're the
underdog thinking like we're so close like you can smell it almost and so you know maybe there's some
like jitters and nerves associated with that maybe it's you know a lack of mindfulness around a play
or a skill that is so easily executed. It's hard to say but like in pressure moments even the easiest
skills you just need to be so mindful and so focused because then you don't want to see
something like this that happened where all the wheels fell off. It was a disappointing way to
end a match that had been incredibly exciting up until that point. I also have to give a shout out
though to Shaili Myers who came in off the bench when Liz Grigorjski went down with her injury.
She was probably on the bench like seeing Grigorjski playing so well being like okay well
I'll be ready but like she's doing a good job like there's probably not a high chance that I'll be
I'll be playing today and then being thrown in in a match like playing your in-state rival. I thought
she did an incredible job. She was scoring points. She was serve receiving like I've got to give her
props for stepping up like that. She ended the day really well. She hit 250, nine kills, 10 points
total. By coming in for your star player and putting that those kind of points up she did her
job for sure. It'll be interesting to see how Kansas you know finishes out big 12 play. They've
got some tough opponents coming up like you said and hopefully you know Kansas State will take this
match learn from it and keep building because they showed that they have the potential and they can
push top teams. So this one was fun and and I always loved the big 12. Yeah it was interesting
that was the first big 12 match that I've kind of watched all the way through. So it was good to see
that level of volleyball. We watched a lot of big 10 recently. Our second feature match was Ohio State
versus number three Penn State. A couple days before this match coach Katie Schumacher Collie
of Penn State announced her recent breast cancer diagnosis. Our thoughts and prayers are with her
and her family as she battles this illness and I just have to say it was so touching to see
the Ohio State athletes wearing the pink ribbons in their hair to support her and her own athletes
showing their support as well. This match featured the number one and number two big 10 players in
a tax per set Emily Laundotte of Ohio State and Jess Merzik of Penn State. I think that this match
was a perfect example of a school that chose to recruit from the transfer portal Penn State versus
one that chose to go about the more traditional methods of building a team in Ohio State. Now I'm
not going to lie I was unsure what we were going to see as the match started 6-0 for Ohio and then
swung to 6-6 after that. It's not very often you see a match go six point for six point swing start.
Unless it's BYU in Utah. Well that's fair. I guess maybe we have a way of picking them. Yeah we're
really picking the the momentum games here. I liked Ohio's serving strategy to start targeting
the left side Merzik. She didn't pass super well but I do have to give her credit. Even though that
wasn't working for her she is a workhorse. She works to get outside. She hits her passes that
maybe aren't the best and makes something out of it. Her workload is large. That's for sure.
Ohio State was not hiding the fact that they were like we are going to make you work for every point
you get here. They served her I want to say close to every single ball. And if it didn't somebody
poached they they didn't miss and they came hard at her. She I mean is she the greatest passer of
all time? No but that being said she finds ways to score and there's a reason that she's the number
two player in the Big Ten in a tax per set. I was very impressed with her. She has a very fast arm.
She swings high and deep. She's not necessarily going for extreme angles but she's able to she
has great vision sees the block and is able to clip those fingertips when she's in trouble.
I thought she played great. Who do you think was better her or Londa? Without question in that
head-to-head battle Jez Mirzik wins. I would agree. I would agree which was a little disappointing
is the wrong word but I thought that the freshies for Ohio State held it down in that match. Well
Emmy Selman was the top scorer for Ohio State in that match. She was incredible. We're talking so
Londa usually gets like 35% of the attacks for Ohio State. Emmy Selman this is the first match
she got more sets than Londa did. 63 to 59. I mean still very close and those two definitely
carried the load for Ohio State. I think like the difference in the kills that those two had versus
the rest of the team was just not even comparable. The thing going back to your question about Londa
versus Mirzik. Mirzik also hits a very good back row ball and they they run her on the right side
which you wouldn't expect from a left side attacker. They usually come out of the pipe
but I just found her to be incredibly more effective than Londa in the back row. I was
actually shocked they kept running Londa out of the back row. I thought they should have set Emmy.
She was more dynamic. She was jumping well. I understand that she's been great for you all
season. She's the number one player. It was just a feeling thing watching the match that set Emmy.
Let her go. Give her the ball. She's scoring. It was so cool to see Emmy Selman just kind of
come into her own in that match. I really liked the Ohio State freshman. I think Selman has a
super high ceiling. She's long. You know she hits good angles. Like mixes it up to line and angle.
I think once she gets a little bit physically stronger. Once she gets a little more comfortable
with the speed of the Big Ten game and improves a bit on defense. She can do it.
I completely agree and I think that her and Reese the other young left side.
Webker. I think that they're going to be a duo that you can build the program around.
Now the one thing I will say is you had two freshmen and a freshman, Libero,
kind of covering that angle side of the court. There were a few times where they seemed out of
sync or they weren't moving into the right defensive positions. I thought that was one of
the differences in the match was that Penn State was making more digs and those three,
you know maybe being freshmen or maybe not being used to how that team would attack,
didn't adjust well in certain situations and should have had more digs.
I think that's fair. Going back to what you said about Reese Webker. I do think that her and Selman
are a great one-two punch for outside hitter combos. You've got Selman who is bigger,
playing at a higher level above the net. But then you've got Reese Webker who has outstanding ball
control. She does jump well but the thing I noticed is she struggles a bit to hit those imperfect sets.
But that's the thing when you have an outside hitter combo, one player, you know their role is
typically more of the ball control role and the other one is more of a point score. Is this a
steadfast rule? Absolutely not. But that's like the traditional layout of an outside hitter combo on
a team. I think those two together definitely exemplify that. I agree. I think the setter
Tooman needs to not go to Webker in some of those out of system scenarios. You're going to have to
put her in a position where she can be successful. But overall I thought those two did a fantastic
job. I honestly think that Ohio State's future is so bright if this group of young athletes kind of
sticks it out in the program. And you know only time will tell if Jen Flynn Oldenburg's choices
and her recruiting strategy will play off long term. I love to see it personally. I'm a purist.
I believe in building programs. And I loved to see that there were so many underclassmen on the Ohio
State roster. Of the seven players who kind of played the most for Ohio State, all of them were
underclassmen except for Lawndot and middle blocker Riley Rader. So I love to see that. This could be
another segment. I hate the transfer portal. I think it's a cop out. But so I when I saw that
I was like yes this for me is what college volleyball is about. I want to see this team go
far. So I really really hope that these girls stay in the program and build together. I think the
future is really bright for Ohio State as long as they're not savaged by the transfer portal.
Something that I did want to say though is as we were saying Lawndot receives the majority
of Ohio State sets. Number one in the Big Ten in kills per set. She had three swings for match.
Ohio State was up 14-13 in the fifth. In that rally Lawndot got set three balls and I pretty
sure she tipped two of them. Okay I was critical of Olivia Babcock last week in their loss to SMU
so I need to say it to be fair. If you are the go-to player on your team part of that role is
taking care of business when every single person in the gym knows you're getting the ball. It is
hard. Trust me I've been there. It isn't easy being the person that everyone knows is going to get set
and having to score anyways. Having a solid double block in your face at the most critical point in a
match but you know what it is part of your job. Sometimes and don't get me wrong sometimes you
will not be successful but I would much rather have seen her go up and take big rips at that
at those balls instead of tipping them. Well and that's what I was going to say. You have to swing
to win at that point because nobody else on your team is going to do it. You might not be it but
you might also be the hero and that's your job and I thought she needed to be more aggressive.
Yet again I was screaming at the TV being like why is she tipping that? Like it's okay you're
getting so many sets you're not going to be perfect but in those moments you have to have
the confidence to be like hell yeah I'm the one you want to set when the game's on the line and
if you go down swinging you go down swinging but to see her tip two out of those three balls
on match point that was tough. I will say however Mirzik is in the same position and that girl was
ripping balls. I mean she put that team on her back and said we're good I may not be passing
my best but I'm going to find ways to score and they did and the other thing I wanted to say was
I thought the Penn State setter was outstanding. I love Izzy Stark. I think that she already is an
outstanding setter but to come in and lead a program like Penn State the way that she is she's
big she moves well. I know we were kind of critical of reversing the flow when we were talking about
the Kansas setter doing that. The thing is I'm seeing Izzy Stark reverse the flow but put up
perfect sets from compromised positions. This girl is strong okay in the Minnesota match I saw her
backpedal to the scores table and jack a set to the outside and it was perfect. There's a difference
between wanting to reverse the flow and to get the blockers moving just to do it versus executing it
well and I she's doing a well. What and she's one of those players you look at her and you think
every time she touches the ball she betters the ball and that's probably one of the best qualities
you could have out of a setter. It was always in a position where the hitters could find a rhythm or
do something of that. You didn't see her trapping her hitters or balls flaring off the net they were
always in a zone they could hit and the other thing I thought she did well was she pushed her
middles off the net gave them a chance and continue to keep them in the game. And that's the thing I
think what you just you nailed it is like Penn State's not necessarily the best passing team out
there. You do see Stark setting a lot of balls from the 10 foot line area but those hitters are
in rhythm regardless of where the pass or dig is those hitters know that they can expect the ball
to be where they want it. I think her future is so bright. I completely agree and I think it shouldn't
go unstated you come in as a freshman with a lot of veteran players on that team. You've got to work
to earn respect. You don't get that position just because you show up and I think she's done a
fantastic job there in a really difficult spot. Overall I thought it was a very entertaining match
to watch. I was surprised given you know Ohio State's season that they've had up to this point. I was
surprised that they pushed Penn State so hard but they showed up and like we said Emi Selman taking
some of that load off of Londot played a big role in that and it was great. Yeah it was awesome to
see her come out and play that well and hopefully she can keep that going for the rest of the season.
All right it's time for a new segment on the show that we're going to give a we're going to give a
shot it's called verify or veto. And in this segment I'm going to ask Sarah a question and
she doesn't know what's coming and she either has to verify or agree with my statement or veto it
and tell me why. Are you ready? Okay if I agree I just say yeah verify and if not then I explain.
No I want to know I want your explanation regardless why you agree or why you disagree.
Okay I'm nervous. Okay so the first question is or the first statement is Ohio State will move
into the rankings by next season. At what point in the season? At any point during the season they
will be ranked. Verify I agree. I think the results that you're seeing from Ohio State this year are
a product of just their youth and experience. They're also playing in arguably the toughest
conference of in NCAA volleyball so there is a learning curve there. You're not going to be
amazing right away but I think if this crew stays together they have the potential to be very good.
So verify. Okay next one Izzy Stark will be a first team All-American this year. Verify. Oh that
was quick. I don't even have to think about it. Comparing she is just so solid in all like the way
that she's able to run this offense and I've seen Penn State play a few times this year. She is
confident. She's sure of herself. She knows how to run an offense. She betters the ball. Her hitters
know what to expect. Some of the sets that she makes from just the most unfortunate out of system
situations that is something that I would expect from somebody with a lot more experience. I think
I haven't seen a young setter like her in a long time so verify. Well I'm a little surprised about
that one. Really? I figured you would play the field on that one. No. Okay here we go. Three more
teams will forfeit against San Jose State by the end of the season. Can I ask a clarification
question? Three more teams aside from the ones who have already like if they re in the second round
of the conference. Oh fair. Let's go four matches will be forfeited between now and the end of the
season. Verify. I think that the teams that you know forfeited their matches against San Jose State
in the first round of conference play will probably forfeit them in the second round as well. I can't
see those teams you know having a change of heart all of a sudden so yeah verify. Man I'm agreeing
with everything. Okay last one we'll see if you agree with this one or not. Kansas will finish at
the top of the big 12 this season. Oh this is an interesting question. I'm gonna say Vito. Give me
give me your reasoning. In watching some other ranked teams in the big 12 I feel like I feel
like they will definitely be pushed but I feel like certain teams get more production from
their outsides. Like Utah they're big their outsides are very dynamic. I can see Utah causing them
problems. I can see Arizona State causing them problems and they went five with K-State at home.
You know I'm just gonna be spicy and Vito. All right there you have it. There's the
Verifier Vito. First round loved it. All right it is time for our weekly hot takes. Adam what's yours?
So mine's less of a hot take and more of an annoyance but I watched several different
broadcasts this week and there's a common theme and it drives me nuts every time I hear it.
And it's putting caveats on athletes abilities. So you always hear this that girl moves well
for a big girl or that girl scores despite being small and you know what it's a complete disservice
to these athletes. If you're tall and you move well you move well. You may not run a 40 as fast
as somebody who's smaller than you but you're athletic and you move well. Leave it at that.
And you know what if you're 5'9 and you can go up and you're dynamic and you rip talk about them
talk about them playing volleyball. Look at how well she jumps. Look at how well her vision is.
Don't go with the generic. Look at her scoring and she's only 5'8, 5'9. To me seeing the hard
work that athletes put into their craft to be good at what they do it's that part just drives me nuts.
As a big girl I can get behind this statement. I don't want to hear all the reasons why I'm good
but I probably shouldn't be. And that goes for smaller girls as well. It's like we're athletes.
Let's celebrate our athleticism. Let's talk about the things that we're able to do and call it a
campaign. I can get behind that hot take 100%. My hot take might actually be like a legit hot take.
Shocker.
My hot take is that Minnesota is hanging on to a number 14 ranking because of only two wins.
The win the five set wins they had against Texas and Wisconsin. For me the five set win that they
had against Texas in like I don't know the second match of the season it's irrelevant at this point.
We saw the teams that Texas lost to. They had three losses in the preseason. It wasn't pretty.
So I don't think that that ranking or that win can necessarily be contributing to them being 14.
And again they beat Wisconsin. That one's fine. But if you look at their schedule every single
ranked team that they have played other than those two they have lost to. Oftentimes not even close.
Take Texas out of it. That was literally over a month ago and I think that Minnesota should be
ranked much lower than they are. I think that's a fair argument. Things just keep getting better
and better in NCAA volleyball and we have got another big week coming up this week. On Friday
TCU is playing Baylor. And then on Saturday we have a big day in college volleyball. It's Wisconsin
and Purdue. Utah versus Kansas and Penn State versus USC. I'm personally excited to see Utah
play Kansas. This kind of ties into one of the verifier veto questions you asked and I think
that Utah is one of the teams that could take down Kansas if they get their point runs under
control. So I'm excited to see that one. We might have to visit the veto segment again and see. We
might know the answer for sure by next week. And Adam will be like you were wrong on every single one.
This week Louisville has a big week because they've got Pitt on Friday and that's a one versus four
matchup and then on Sunday they're taking on number 12 SMU. So they took on Stanford's schedule
from this past week. So we'll see how Louisville fares and hopefully they'll put up a better fight
against Pitt than Stanford did. I hope that game is not a disappointment. I'm excited for that one.
I want to tune in live so like no matter what happens I just like watching good volleyball.
So I hope that that's the case. That might have the potential to be the best match of the week.
That concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking up in the
volleyball world and we hope that you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow the show to make
sure you don't miss any updates and we'd be so grateful if you'd leave us a five-star review.
Also if you have a topic that you want us to discuss be sure to let us know by reaching out
to me on Instagram at Sarah underscore pavin or at info at sarah pavin dot com. Thanks so
much for joining us and we'll be back next week. Bye.