1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,000 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. 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:21,000 I'm your host Sarah Pavin, I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and longtime pro both indoor and on the beach. 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:27,000 And I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international volleyball coach, and stats guru. 4 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,000 This week was a little more straightforward than we've seen recently. 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:45,000 We had only one major upset of note and otherwise we're seeing teams kind of jostling for position in their respective conference rankings as we approach the end of regular season play. 6 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,000 We're going to take a look at one of these matches in depth. 7 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:54,000 We're going to give a little volleyball 101 class for our new volleyball fans out there. 8 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:01,000 And we will also dive into the recently announced ABCA Player of the Year semi-finalist list. 9 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Let's get started. 10 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:28,000 To kick things off, we had signing day last week so all 2025 Fall Athlete Commits signed their letters of intent. 11 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:37,000 So huge congratulations to all the 2025 volleyball players who signed that LOI and kind of got that off their plate. 12 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 That is a very big deal. 13 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000 We look forward to seeing all of you at your respective schools and talking about you soon. 14 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Good luck in the upcoming season. 15 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:52,000 So, Kansas had a great week, which was good to see because they had a tough week last week in the state of Arizona. 16 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:58,000 So, Kansas beat TCU 3-1 and then they beat Baylor 3-0. 17 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Last week you were asking me if Kansas was going to lose to all these teams and they made a statement. 18 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:14,000 You know, it was really good to see and I will say in the matches that they played their middles are getting more sets and they're winning matches. 19 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000 It has to be clear to their staff that this is the recipe for success for them and I'm curious, you know, they're back at home. 20 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:29,000 They won those matches. The middles are running well. Is it an environment thing? Is it a visual thing of being in different gyms? 21 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:35,000 I'm curious to see if that trend continues, but they need their middles to be productive and they were. 22 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And they beat two opponents that they needed to beat to keep their ranking. 23 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:45,000 We saw TCU who was fighting for position in that conference have not a great weekend. 24 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:52,000 They went 0-2. Obviously, they lost to Kansas, but then they ended up losing to K-State 3-0 as well. 25 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,000 And again, I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but they're setting one or two players. 26 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 And those players didn't have a great week statistics wise. 27 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:12,000 They didn't hit very well and we're talking about their star, obviously, Melanie Parra and their other player, Jalen Gibson, also got a lot of sets and neither of them were particularly efficient. 28 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,000 And so they went 0-2 this weekend and that's going to hurt them in the long run. 29 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,000 So you and I watched the Kansas TCU match live. We watched the whole thing. 30 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:31,000 I thought Toyozi Anabonjo from KU had a great match, definitely, as you said, turned things around from the Arizona road trip. 31 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Reese Patak, surprisingly, had pretty terrible numbers again. 32 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Yeah, she still hasn't found her footing. 33 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:49,000 And I'm curious if that's a freshman traveling school, figuring it out, or if there's just something going on physically that we don't know about. 34 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 She didn't look the same as she did two weeks ago when we watched her. 35 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And I thought she looked spectacular and I thought, you know, great things coming for this young freshman. 36 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:05,000 But she needs to find a way to get back, connecting with the setter and scoring on her attacks. 37 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,000 She's still blocked pretty well. 38 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:12,000 There's a big difference from high school and club to the college game. Teams are doing their homework. 39 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Reese Patak had a couple great weeks there, so obviously her opponents have taken note. They're game planning for her now. 40 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000 You can't just do what you've always done because teams are ready. 41 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 So I think there is a little bit of growing pains there. 42 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:34,000 But the big point is that one of the two middles had a standout performance and that made a huge difference. 43 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 I agree with you. 44 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Melanie Parra is doing everything for TCU. 45 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:46,000 And while I wouldn't say that she played poorly because of the load that she is expected to carry, 46 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:52,000 the numbers and the results that she has kind of delivered this week isn't going to cut it for TCU. 47 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,000 She is everything to that team. 48 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Well, the biggest thing in the Kansas match was the number of errors she hit. 49 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 She had 13 of the team's 26 errors. 50 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000 And that is that makes for a tough outing. 51 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,000 And in fairness to her, she is expected to clean up all of the garbage. 52 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:17,000 She gets set in the situations where everybody knows there's going to be a three-man block and she has to go up. 53 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,000 She gets served a ton. They move her around. 54 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 She's got a heavy load in that program. 55 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And you're not going to have a career match every night. And it was tough for her. 56 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 To be fair, I have not let other players in her position off the hook. 57 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:38,000 I have been critical of different go-to hitters from top programs for the same situation. 58 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:48,000 I will say I don't think she's put in a position to be effective as often as some of those other players are that we've talked about. 59 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,000 The setting was inconsistent, I thought. 60 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,000 And you could see it particularly when TCU was trying to run the middle. 61 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,000 First of all, I don't even think they tried to run the middle until the end of set two. 62 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Correct. 63 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,000 And then every time that they tried to run it, there was absolutely no connection there. 64 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 No, it was hard to watch the middles coming in. 65 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000 And I thought the passing was OK. Like there were opportunities to run it. 66 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,000 And Kansas, credit to them, they picked that up. They made an adjustment. 67 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,000 They had double blocks outside on both pin hitters all night. 68 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,000 This was a really big weekend for Kansas. They played two ranked opponents. 69 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,000 This was the part of their schedule that you and I were kind of questioning what was going to happen. 70 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 They responded. They're going to finish close to, if not at the top of the conference. 71 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,000 And this was the response they needed going into the tournament. 72 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 And kudos to them for figuring it out, for getting their middle back in, getting a balanced attack. 73 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:53,000 I think this puts them in the best place possible moving forward and getting ready for the tournament. 74 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:59,000 And TCU is going to have to get some production from someone other than Melanie Parra. 75 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,000 So we'll see what happens moving forward. 76 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Florida State had a tough week this week. They had to travel to both Pitt and SMU. 77 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And they got absolutely handled by both teams. They lost 3-0 to both. 78 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,000 But I'm not I don't want to talk about Florida State. 79 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:22,000 I just put up some absolutely stunning numbers this week. 80 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 It's staggering how well they're playing. 81 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:30,000 If you're Florida State and Pitt is putting up the kind of numbers that they put up against you, I'm sorry. 82 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,000 You're not going to win. 83 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:36,000 Pitt is the team to beat across the board in the NCAA right now. 84 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:42,000 And if they are playing well, I would say 95% of teams don't have a chance to beat them. 85 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 You've got to hope they have an off night and away you go. 86 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 And that's that's just not happening across the board. 87 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,000 Their hitting percentages are absolutely insane against Florida State as a team. 88 00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:04,000 They went 429, 650, which is got to be some sort of world record and 385. 89 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,000 That's it's absurd. It's absolutely absurd how well they're playing. 90 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 And I don't care who the opposition is. Those numbers are wild. 91 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:20,000 So to translate those individuals set attack percentages into the full match, we're talking hitting 473 as a team. 92 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000 You don't lose if you can do that. 93 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,000 You do not lose if you do that. 94 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Unless you miss every serve. 95 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Unless you get aced 58 times in between those attacks you're taking. 96 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 But it's not happening. 97 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,000 It's you know what what they're doing is really impressive to watch. 98 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,000 They are working as a team. 99 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,000 And I think one of the other things that impresses me most is just their set distribution. 100 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Everybody is involved. Everybody is chipping in. 101 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,000 Everybody scoring points. It's a team effort. 102 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 And those those are the teams that win. 103 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000 They're not reliant on one player and you can have an off night and the team can still win. 104 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,000 It's impressive. 105 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000 Well, then they followed that up with their match against Miami where it was a similar story. 106 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,000 They hit over 400 as a team again. 107 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,000 And we're not talking like they're beating bottom of the conference teams like that. 108 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,000 Florida State ranked 22 in the country. 109 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Miami just upset Stanford. 110 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Those are two teams that are in the mix in the ACC that they are dismantling like this. 111 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:24,000 People have got to be taking note and trying to figure out what the heck do we do to stop them. 112 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:31,000 And I think the one thing we talk about and you were you were alluding to people getting the book on a team and on a hitter. 113 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000 When you have all of those weapons, who do you focus on? 114 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,000 What do you do? And as a staff for Pitt, you know, OK, they're focusing on this player. 115 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Talk to your setter. Hey, we're going to overload and give them a few more balls. 116 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,000 We're going to make sure we run the pipe. 117 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:52,000 There's just so many options for a setter to use and B for the team to figure out how to adjust the game plan. 118 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 It's just hard to stop everybody. 119 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:01,000 This week, we saw Florida beat Missouri 3-2 in a battle between the number two and three ranked teams in the SEC. 120 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 This was our feature match of the week. 121 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:07,000 So we'll talk about it a bit more later, but it was a big win and a big match in that conference. 122 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And we haven't talked a ton about SEC, so I'm excited to dive into this one in a little more depth later on. 123 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:26,000 The last sort of highlight of the week that we wanted to talk about was the ABCA announced their 14 semifinalists for the National Player of the Year Award. 124 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:34,000 If you missed that, the ABCA released a couple of videos on Instagram announcing the players. 125 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,000 It was very interesting. 126 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,000 So here is the list in case you didn't see that announcement. 127 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 All right. We have Kendra Waite from Creighton. 128 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:52,000 We have Kennedy Martin from Florida, Cameron Turner from Kansas, Bergen Reilly from Nebraska, 129 00:10:52,000 --> 00:11:00,000 Lexi Rodriguez from Nebraska, Eva Hudson from Purdue, Cami Miner from Stanford, 130 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Elena Scott from Louisville, Jess Merzik from Penn State, Olivia Babcock from Pitt, 131 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Rachel Fairbanks from Pitt, Tori Stafford from Pitt, Melanie Parra from TCU, and Sarah Franklin from Wisconsin. 132 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:28,000 So looking at this list, Adam, were there any surprises to you that you look at them and you're like, why are they here? 133 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,000 So I think this list is interesting. 134 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:42,000 And one of the questions I had having not dove into an NCAA or ABCA player of the year list is what is the criteria for making this list? 135 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,000 That's a fantastic question. 136 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,000 It's definitely not completely. 137 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,000 It's not completely statistics based. 138 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:58,000 The person with the top statistics doesn't always win. 139 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:06,000 So it has to do with the strength of your team, how they perform over the entirety of the season. 140 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:11,000 And I do honestly think that making the final four adds a ton of weight. 141 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:24,000 So if you're performing consistently well from start to finish of the season and your team is very good, there's a good chance that you'll be on this list. 142 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,000 It's about consistency. 143 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:37,000 It's about posting great numbers and being that integral part of a very high performing team all season long. 144 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:43,000 OK, so it seems like there's a lot of criteria that you can use to choose people for this list. 145 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:50,000 And I think everybody that they've put, the 14 players, you can make a case for all of them to be there. 146 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,000 Some of the notable ones are ones that I would disagree with. 147 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,000 I haven't watched Creighton play, so I can't have an opinion on Kendra Wade. 148 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,000 But you're the fifth ranked team in the country. 149 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,000 Somebody from your team has got to go. 150 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:08,000 And her stats compared to the other setters on the list are quite high and she's got better attacking numbers. 151 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,000 So I'm assuming she's very active in the offense. 152 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Kennedy Martin scores a ton of points and carries Florida in a big way. 153 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,000 Cameron Turner, this is an interesting one for me personally. 154 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,000 I know I've said this before. 155 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:27,000 I don't love her set selection and the way she runs in offense. 156 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,000 And that's a personal opinion from watching her. 157 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,000 Her numbers are very good across the board. 158 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:41,000 Kansas has had a pretty good season and they don't necessarily, they're a very balanced team when they're playing well. 159 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,000 And so it's hard to pick a team or player from them to put on the list. 160 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,000 And so I think the person, the setter running the offense makes sense and given her statistics. 161 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 I mean, you've got five players from Nebraska and Pitt. 162 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:55,000 All of them are deserving. 163 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 You're probably going to see them in the final four. 164 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,000 So they're leaving themselves open to kind of see who has the best tournament. 165 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000 I get that. They're all very deserving. 166 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,000 I was surprised to see Alaina Scott on the list. 167 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000 I personally really liked her. 168 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,000 I thought she was the backbone and the energy of the team. 169 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:17,000 She does have, I believe, the highest digs per set in the NCAA for the top four conferences. 170 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:18,000 So statistically, she's good. 171 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,000 But I liked her for some of her intangibles and I wasn't sure that that was going to get recognized by a selection committee. 172 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,000 So good for her. 173 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,000 And I was surprised to see her on the list. 174 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:40,000 I think the thing that we see with these AVCA lists is they definitely use them as a way to shout out teams that have done well. 175 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:47,000 Do I think that all of these 14 players legitimately have a shot to win National Player of the Year? 176 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,000 Absolutely not. 177 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 But take Creighton, for example. 178 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,000 You've had a great season. 179 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,000 You're number five in the country. 180 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 You need to have somebody on the list. 181 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,000 That success cannot be ignored. 182 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,000 But you're not playing in a particularly strong conference. 183 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:13,000 So even if Creighton does happen to make the final four, do I think that Kendra Waite is going to win Player of the Year? 184 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,000 No. 185 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:30,000 So you kind of see some nods being given to programs and athletes that in all likelihood won't win, but they want to highlight the success that a team has had regardless. 186 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:36,000 My next question for you is, do you think there's anybody missing from the list? 187 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Well, I think there's a position missing from the list. 188 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 An entire position, you guys. 189 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,000 I am floored that no middles made this list. 190 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:52,000 And I, listen, I understand you play half the match, so the Liberos, FYI. 191 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:57,000 Well, technically the Liberos play the full match because they're replacing both middles. 192 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,000 But they're only doing two, maybe three skills. 193 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:07,000 So the same argument could be made for middles who are performing two, maybe three skills. 194 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,000 And I get that a middle is not going to most likely win Player of the Year. 195 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:20,000 Falouk Akenrod and Woe, ladies and gentlemen, it has happened many times in the past where middles have won. 196 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,000 I'm not trying to contradict you. 197 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000 I'm highlighting the point. 198 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Middles need to be included. 199 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:27,000 I agree. 200 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,000 And I think there should have been a couple on this list. 201 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,000 There are some middles who are having outstanding seasons. 202 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:40,000 Now, we don't see any middles this year who are leading a block statistic and an offensive statistic, 203 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,000 which I think probably gets people's attention more. 204 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:51,000 But I mean, a couple of people who could have made this list, Raiden Colvin from Purdue, she's getting 1.5 blocks a set. 205 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:58,000 She's got 143 blocks on the year, hitting 346 and 227 points. 206 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,000 I mean, she's having a great year. 207 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000 You could make an argument for her being there. 208 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:13,000 I think that Bree Kelly from Pitt and I think Andy Jackson from Nebraska are off the list solely because they already have so many people from their team on there. 209 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:24,000 I would argue that Andy Jackson is maybe the most important hitter on Nebraska just because their outside hitters in the right sides are statistically similar. 210 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:32,000 I think this kind of ties into that statement you made, though, about a team that is very well balanced. 211 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,000 You mentioned that Kansas runs a very well balanced offense. 212 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 So who the heck do you pick? 213 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Oh, let's give it to the setter. 214 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 You see the same thing with Nebraska. 215 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:51,000 Yes, they are one of the top teams in the country, but they are very deliberate about running a very balanced offense. 216 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000 So that kind of ties into the same thing. 217 00:17:53,000 --> 00:18:00,000 How do you highlight a hitter when everybody is getting set the distribution? 218 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000 You have to you give it to the setter. 219 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:03,000 I don't. 220 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:11,000 I agree that Andy Jackson needs to be on the list, but I think it definitely ties into the equal distribution you see from them. 221 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Yeah, I completely agree with you. 222 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,000 But I think the other thing too, middles don't get credit for the little things they do. 223 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,000 They don't get credit for holding a middle and creating a one on one. 224 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,000 They don't get credit for having a sealed block so the Liberals can get digs. 225 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:33,000 There's a lot of things that you really have to watch a player and watch a team to understand the value that the middles bring outside of their statistics. 226 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,000 And I think that in this list, that was not considered. 227 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:42,000 I mean, the other one is Sammy Francis at Stanford is having a great year. 228 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000 1.4 blocks a set. 229 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000 She's attacking well. 230 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,000 I think she's a pivotal part of that team as well. 231 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:53,000 So I was a little disappointed, I would say, because I'm a middle fan that we didn't see a middle on the list. 232 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,000 I think that was a huge oversight. 233 00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:02,000 I couldn't really think of any individual players outside of that entire missing position. 234 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,000 But one, I had to. 235 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:12,000 OK, my player that I was like, how is she not included was Madison Skinner from Texas. 236 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000 Completely agree. 237 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000 And Texas got the snub as a whole. 238 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:21,000 I understand that they have dropped some matches that they don't typically drop this season. 239 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000 That is fine. 240 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,000 But you're talking about a back to back national champion. 241 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:35,000 And Madison Skinner, despite those losses, has put up some great numbers even in those games. 242 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,000 And she is an outstanding athlete. 243 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 I could not believe that she wasn't included. 244 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,000 I agree with you. 245 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,000 And the other one that I would say is Elnaudy from Kansas. 246 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000 She's put up really good numbers. 247 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,000 Her efficiency isn't as high as some of the other hitters on the list. 248 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:58,000 But if we're talking about importance to her team, she does it all for Kansas, has been very consistent, 249 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,000 and has been the foundation of that team, I would say. 250 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000 My personal opinion is I would have given it to her over Turner. 251 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Very interesting. 252 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000 I've been impressed with her too. 253 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,000 So I can get behind that statement. 254 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Overall, very interesting to take a look. 255 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:19,000 My gut is that someone from Pitt is going to take it home if they make the final four. 256 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,000 Even if they don't, they have a great shot. 257 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000 But that is where I'm leaning right now. 258 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000 But only time will tell. 259 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,000 And we will find out soon enough. 260 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:35,000 As Adam mentioned earlier, our feature match this week is Florida versus Missouri. 261 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:41,000 Coming into this match, Missouri was number two and Florida was number three in the SEC. 262 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:45,000 So this match had very big implications. 263 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,000 And it delivered, I thought. 264 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000 Yeah, I thought the game was great. 265 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:50,000 It was entertaining. 266 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000 Like you said, we haven't watched a lot of volleyball from this conference. 267 00:20:53,000 --> 00:21:00,000 So to get a feel for, I don't want to say the differences, but what the level is, what the top teams look like. 268 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Missouri hasn't been ranked before. 269 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 They came in ranked now that they've been playing really well. 270 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,000 I think that that's absolutely insane. 271 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,000 Missouri has been sitting at number two in the SEC for at least a couple of weeks now. 272 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:18,000 And they just got ranked this past week at number 25. 273 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,000 Isn't that great? 274 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000 Like Kentucky, unranked Missouri, then Florida, then Texas. 275 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:30,000 How are you sandwiched in between all these ranked teams and nobody is giving you any respect? 276 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,000 Well, it's interesting watching Missouri play. 277 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,000 I really like their game. 278 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,000 But this comes back to something we said earlier. 279 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:40,000 They're really balanced. 280 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,000 All of their players are pulling in the same direction. 281 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,000 They score well as a unit. 282 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 They play well as a group, but they're not flashy. 283 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 They don't have any real standouts. 284 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,000 And so I think it's easy to just go, oh, it's Missouri. 285 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,000 They're consistent. 286 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,000 But there's no there's nothing that draws you in unless you're really watching how good they are. 287 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000 I must say we watched Missouri a couple of times this season. 288 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,000 I really like their setter, Marina Crownover. 289 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,000 She played her freshman year at Texas, transferred to Missouri. 290 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,000 And I think that she is kind of the difference maker for them this season. 291 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000 She seems like a great leader. 292 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:28,000 You see her continuously communicating with her teammates between plays. 293 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000 She is stern when she needs to be. 294 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000 She is motivating them. 295 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,000 But I also really like how she runs her offense. 296 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:42,000 It's like the mental and the physical side of her game look great. 297 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,000 The word that comes to mind when I watch her play is gritty. 298 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:51,000 She just she has that presence. 299 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000 And she just puts her head down and work. 300 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:01,000 And I will say I bet Texas is really wishing that she was still there at this point, given what's happening. 301 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:06,000 She has an attitude in that Texas match, which I loved, loved, loved. 302 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:15,000 But she is definitely carrying and riding the ship, so to speak, for Missouri when things get a little rocky. 303 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,000 They hammered Florida in that first set. 304 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,000 It wasn't even close. 305 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:23,000 And you know who else I really like is the right side, number four, Jordan Illiff. 306 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:30,000 First of all, we talked about them not having any standouts, but her serve stands out. 307 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,000 It's incredible to watch her make that serve. 308 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,000 And she puts teams in so much trouble. 309 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,000 It's fun to watch. 310 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:48,000 I think during that match they were saying she's number three in the NCAA in aces, total aces or aces per set or something. 311 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000 Obviously, that may have changed since they were actually playing on Friday. 312 00:23:52,000 --> 00:24:00,000 But she is up there and I love a lefty spin serve from zone five. 313 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000 That thing is deadly. 314 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:11,000 You know, the other stat that I found out that I was shocked to hear is at the time of that match, Missouri had the most kills per set in the NCAA out of any other team. 315 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:17,000 And that that is a testament to a the center, but be the balance of their offense. 316 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,000 You watch them play and it's like, yeah, that's that makes sense. 317 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Counter to that stat, however, they were also ranked two hundred and ninety first in the NCAA in blocks per set. 318 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,000 So they need to be delivering from the attack category. 319 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:39,000 Yeah. And they actually to their credit, the reason this match was so close was because they did block well against Florida. 320 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:45,000 They didn't have any solo blocks, but they had 22 block assists, which translates to 11 total blocks. 321 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,000 Or they got the same number of blocks as Florida, which was why it was close. 322 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,000 And that's something they're going to need to kind of figure out if they want to play with the best of the best. 323 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,000 I also really liked their libero Maya Sands. 324 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:03,000 I actually thought it was a libero duel because the Florida libero was very good as well. 325 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:09,000 Ellie McKissick recorded her two thousandth career dig during that match. 326 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,000 That is a massive milestone. 327 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,000 But I agree, I liked both liberos. 328 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:21,000 And the question I had as the match progressed is why the heck does Missouri keep serving Ellie McKissick? 329 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000 That was a bit of a head scratcher for me, too. 330 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:31,000 I'm not sure if they were trying to either wear her down or get the ball to come from a specific spot based on something they saw. 331 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,000 But that one I also didn't figure out. 332 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:46,000 I mean, McKissick was receiving in zone one a lot, which I assume they were trying to make it as difficult as possible to set the ball to Kennedy Martin on the right side. 333 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:53,000 As a setter, if you're turning to phase zone one, the ball is coming over your shoulder, then you're setting it back again. 334 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000 It's not the most comfortable situation. 335 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,000 Is it like win or lose defining? 336 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,000 I don't think so. 337 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000 But that was really my only thought. 338 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000 But they were also serving her at the end when she was in zone six. 339 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,000 So I wasn't really sure what the strategy there was. 340 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:16,000 I mean, it was a great match to watch up until the fifth set, which didn't go well for Missouri. 341 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000 But this is this to me is the key difference. 342 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:27,000 And it's the thing that Missouri lacks that allows them to be an absolute top tier team is somebody who can get a kill when they need it. 343 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000 They have to be balanced. 344 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:33,000 They have to be running offense in terms of having ball distribution and Florida. 345 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,000 Well, they can set Kennedy Martin whenever they need a point. 346 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:42,000 And I believe she had eight points in the fifth set alone. 347 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:48,000 I think she went into the fifth set having 24 kills and she ended the match with 32. 348 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,000 Yeah, that's insane. 349 00:26:51,000 --> 00:27:01,000 So when you have a player of that caliber who just goes off for a set, there really isn't anything you can do besides get aces. 350 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,000 And they're not the strongest blocking team. 351 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:11,000 So shutting down those big players who are tall, have high contact points, they're just not capable. 352 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:12,000 I actually have this written down. 353 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,000 I was like, I personally think this might be a controversial statement. 354 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000 I do think that Missouri is the better overall team. 355 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,000 But building off of what you said, they do not have a stud player. 356 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:33,000 And even though Missouri might be better overall, Florida has the stud player in Kennedy Martin. 357 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000 That makes a huge difference. 358 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,000 Yeah. 359 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:44,000 When you can get a point every second set, every third set from a player, you just you have an out. 360 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000 It relieves the pressure off everybody else. 361 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,000 It gives the setter an out. 362 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:53,000 You know, you can go to that player and you don't have to be as consistent. 363 00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:00,000 I will say I did appreciate that Florida wasn't relying on Kennedy Martin early. 364 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000 That's probably why they lost 25-15 in the first set. 365 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000 But you could tell in set one, they were trying to get everybody going. 366 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,000 They were running the middle a lot. 367 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000 They were running everyone. 368 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,000 It wasn't effective. 369 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,000 It wasn't scoring. 370 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:25,000 But I appreciated the idea and the kind of game plan that they had set in place there of like, 371 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,000 let's just try to find a rhythm with everyone. 372 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,000 Kennedy is there. 373 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000 We know she is there. 374 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,000 We'll rely on her if we need to. 375 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000 But we want everybody to kind of be involved early. 376 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,000 And I mean, it didn't work. 377 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:38,000 It did not work. 378 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,000 Because so they set their middles early in that match. 379 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:48,000 But when you look at the numbers over the course of the match, the middles got 36 sets total. 380 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:58,000 And there were three of them that played compared to the 60 sets that Martin got and the 36 that Isabel Martin got. 381 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,000 Again, I'm not saying it was effective. 382 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,000 But I could appreciate what they were trying to do. 383 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:10,000 And they know that they're going to need that to work to be successful against the bigger teams. 384 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,000 Because we're starting to see it as we get close to the tournament. 385 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,000 There's video teams are locked in. 386 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,000 They're playing better defense. 387 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,000 They're honed in. 388 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,000 Everybody's getting ready to compete at the highest level. 389 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:28,000 And those teams who rely on one player to score are not going to be successful in the long run. 390 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,000 You have to have at least some semblance of a balanced attack. 391 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,000 Building off of Kennedy Martin, this might be another controversial statement. 392 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:36,000 I guess we're just full of them today. 393 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,000 I think that she hits better from the back row than the front row. 394 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,000 She doesn't hit extreme angles from the front row. 395 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:51,000 She tried a couple sharp cross swings in the front row and missed wide. 396 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,000 So she's not going up and just punishing teams with the angles. 397 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,000 She's punishing teams with how high she contacts the ball. 398 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000 And quite frankly, I think the angle she hits out of the back row are better. 399 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,000 I agree with you. 400 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:13,000 I think what I saw was she jumps horizontally better than she jumps vertically. 401 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:20,000 And so when she was in the front row, I saw her taking the ball behind her head on several occasions. 402 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:26,000 And while she still makes high contact, she doesn't have the vision and the angles when the ball gets behind her, 403 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 which is why I think she attacked better out of the back row. 404 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,000 So if she can wait a little bit and the setter can keep the ball in front of her, 405 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000 she'll be just as deadly in the front row. 406 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:41,000 But it's something that they'll need to get figured out, especially as they play against bigger and better blocking teams. 407 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:48,000 She actually set a Florida record for most individual kills in a single match with 32. 408 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000 So that's a big deal. 409 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,000 I mean, she had a phenomenal match. 410 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,000 Oh, she was like unstoppable. 411 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,000 She hit 450. 412 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,000 32 kills hitting 450. 413 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,000 Which is wild. 414 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:06,000 Wild, especially when you're getting set so many balls when everyone knows you're getting set. 415 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:07,000 Outstanding. 416 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:13,000 As much as I loved Kennedy Martin's performance, I did not love Florida's outsides. 417 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:21,000 I thought the Florida outsides were outperformed by Michael Vernon and Jordan Illiff. 418 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:28,000 Janet Demere from Missouri was a little up and down, but I thought in the outside hitter battle, I thought Missouri was better. 419 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:32,000 I thought that Illiff had a very good game. 420 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,000 Vernon was a little up and down to me. 421 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,000 She seemed intimidated by the block at times. 422 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,000 On the sets that they won, she came up big. 423 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:48,000 And it took her, I think, a little bit of time to figure out what to do with a blocker of Martin's size. 424 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,000 Now, she still played really well. 425 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:55,000 She hit 235, you know, 17 for 51. 426 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:04,000 It's a good night, but they needed her to be better specifically in the fifth set if they wanted to compete in that match. 427 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,000 But compared to Florida's outsides, what were you thinking? 428 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,000 I'll give you that. 429 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,000 I thought that Isabel Martin needed to have a better game. 430 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,000 I didn't think she was super effective. 431 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,000 She hit 139. 432 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000 She made a whole bunch of errors. 433 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,000 And A.C. Fitzpatrick, I was like, she wasn't even there to me. 434 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Like, I didn't, she played until she got injured. 435 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,000 I think she got injured in like the third set or something, fourth set. 436 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,000 But she just was not present to me. 437 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000 No, I mean, she only got 18 sets. 438 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,000 She had five kills, five errors. 439 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,000 She hit zero on the night. 440 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,000 Like, that's not good. 441 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,000 Yeah, I was not impressed with Florida's outsides. 442 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,000 I don't know if I'm being overly critical. 443 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:47,000 I think it's tough. 444 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,000 I agree with your assessment for this match. 445 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:56,000 We haven't seen Florida play enough to know where the baseline is for those players. 446 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,000 Yeah, I'm just I'm talking about just this match. 447 00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:59,000 Yeah, fair enough. 448 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,000 I do have a question. 449 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,000 I don't know if you could figure it out. 450 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,000 What was Florida doing with their setters? 451 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,000 Taylor Parks started the match. 452 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:15,000 Then they subbed in Alexis Stuckey, who played sets two, three and four and a little bit of set five. 453 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,000 And then they put Parks back in. 454 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:22,000 The only thing I could think of was injury or. 455 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:23,000 Well, Stuckey is returning. 456 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,000 Last season, she tore her ACL and MCL, but she's been back this season. 457 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000 I just found it interesting that they started Parks. 458 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,000 They got smoked in set one and then were like, OK, let's switch it up. 459 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:38,000 Yeah, I don't I don't know the team well enough to have an answer for you. 460 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,000 But Parks definitely struggled to run the middle and they got hammered in the first set. 461 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,000 So the substitution made sense to me. 462 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,000 The part that didn't make sense was why she didn't finish the fifth set. 463 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,000 And the only thing I could think of was that maybe she wasn't setting Martin enough 464 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:59,000 because Parks came back in and just set her every ball, every ball and Martin delivered. 465 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,000 So maybe she has a better connection with Martin than Stuckey does. 466 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,000 You know, those are kind of inner workings as a coaching staff that we don't really know. 467 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,000 But that would be the only thing I could think of. 468 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,000 Fair. Yeah, I was watching the match just wondering 469 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:18,000 what the decision making process was looking like, and I could not figure it out. 470 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,000 But they won. So I'm sure they're happy about that. 471 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000 I don't know if you have any more comments. 472 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:31,000 My last comment is I'm very curious why Missouri keeps Michael Vernon in the back row. 473 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:35,000 Her passing is not good. It is not consistent. 474 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,000 Even defensively, she's not picking up a ton of balls. 475 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:45,000 Normally, if a player is like that, they're kept in if they can hit from the back row 476 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,000 and if they can be a threat offensively, even in the back row. 477 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,000 But Missouri has pretty much no back row attack to speak of. 478 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,000 So I'm just thinking, like, what is the point? 479 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,000 Maybe they don't have a better passer than her. 480 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:03,000 But with the amount of DS's you have on the team, that's probably unlikely. 481 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:09,000 Your point is very well made because at the end of set three, 482 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:14,000 Michaels gave up two aces and you lose that set 27-25. 483 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:19,000 If you have a DS in there and you get that pass, that's the set you needed to win. 484 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:24,000 Well, not to mention, Alexis Stuckey went up and dumped a couple balls really deep. 485 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,000 And Michael Vernon was completely disengaged. 486 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:31,000 It's like she didn't even know what was happening and it landed like a yard in front of her. 487 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:36,000 Yeah, it's a good question. I'm curious. I would be curious for the answer. 488 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:45,000 So looking at this match overall, what do you summarize as being the keys to the match? 489 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,000 My take would be Missouri is the better overall team. 490 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,000 I like their offense better. I like their skill and their cohesiveness. 491 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:58,000 They lack the ability to score points in big moments from one hitter, 492 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000 which is what they need to find. 493 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:05,000 For Florida, you've got a great player and somebody you're going to build your program around, 494 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,000 which gets you out of a lot of situations. 495 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,000 I think their libero is great, but they need to find a way to connect with their middles, 496 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:18,000 and they need their outsides to have a better night if they're going to compete with the top teams in the Big Ten when it comes to tournament play. 497 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:23,000 Missouri is built heavily on transfers. Florida is not. 498 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:29,000 The difference is huge there. And Florida overall is much younger. 499 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:36,000 I think the future for Florida could be bright, particularly seeing that Kennedy Martin is just a sophomore. 500 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,000 Alexis Stuckey is still young. Their middles are young. 501 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,000 They've got a bright future, which I think is so exciting. 502 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,000 With this win, Florida took over the number two spot in the SEC. 503 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,000 Kentucky is still leading the SEC. 504 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:57,000 But I'm very curious to see how things play out towards the end because Texas has kind of righted themselves. 505 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:05,000 They've been on a bit of a streak here, so it's going to be fun to watch how the SEC finishes up in the next few weeks. 506 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:11,000 We got several requests on social media and email this week to do a volleyball 101 segment. 507 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:15,000 So we're going to start implementing this into our routine. 508 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:23,000 There are so many volleyball fans out there who maybe didn't grow up playing the sport or whose children never played. 509 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,000 So the nuances of volleyball can be a little bit confusing. 510 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:32,000 So I personally love that more and more people are starting to watch and support volleyball. 511 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:37,000 But there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to the rules and terminology. 512 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:44,000 So we're going to do a little lesson today to help fans begin to build their volleyball knowledge repertoire 513 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:49,000 and to better understand what announcers are talking about when they're watching their favorite team play. 514 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:57,000 To get started, we're going to start basic here, but very, very important, the rotation numbers. 515 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:03,000 OK, so I want you to think about standing on the baseline facing the net. 516 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:07,000 There are six positions on the court. 517 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,000 Position one is the back right corner if you're facing the net. 518 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,000 And then we label the court counterclockwise. 519 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:21,000 So if I start in the back corner, which is position one, and I walk towards the net, that's position two. 520 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:27,000 If I start to move left across the net where the middle plays, that would be position three. 521 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:34,000 If I continue moving left where you generally see the outside hitters or the left sides, that would be position four. 522 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:38,000 So position two, three, and four are along the net. 523 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:44,000 Now we move back into the back left corner, which would be position five. 524 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:48,000 And then in the middle at the back is position six. 525 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:55,000 Now, the slightly confusing part is the numbers go in counterclockwise order. 526 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:01,000 However, the players, when they serve, rotate in clockwise order. 527 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:07,000 So if I start in position one and we are receiving and we score the point, I now go to position six. 528 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:12,000 So that's how the court is numbered, and that's how the players move around the court. 529 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:18,000 Now, you will sometimes hear announcers say, that player hit the ball to the 5'6 seam. 530 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:28,000 When you hear that, they're talking about the left section of the court coming out the baseline between, obviously, position five and position six. 531 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:35,000 So that should give you an idea of where on the court the announcers are talking about and how the players rotate on the court. 532 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:41,000 The next thing we are going to talk about is the substitution rules. 533 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:48,000 There's a big difference between international volleyball and NCAA or college volleyball. 534 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:56,000 So in international volleyball, you're allowed to do only six substitutions total in a set. 535 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:03,000 So if you go in for a player and go out, that is two subs and you are done. 536 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,000 You can't go back in and out however many times you want. 537 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:14,000 An in and an out is the complete max that you as one person can do. 538 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:19,000 Now they can do an in and out with three different players and that would be six. 539 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:26,000 Liberos, the people who wear a different color jersey, they do not count for the substitution total. 540 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:31,000 In college volleyball, however, there are 15 substitutions total. 541 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:37,000 So that's why you often see the same athletes switching spots three times a set. 542 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:46,000 You can go in and out however many times you want with the same partner or player on your team up to a total of 15. 543 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:51,000 So to reiterate, the big differences between international and college. 544 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,000 International, only six substitutions total. 545 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,000 College, 15. 546 00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:06,000 In international volleyball, you can go in and out one time and in college it is unlimited as long as substitutions remain. 547 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:10,000 We're also going to share a couple of volleyball terms of the week. 548 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,000 Our term number one is ace. 549 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,000 Now an ace is when you score a point with your serve. 550 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,000 There are different ways that this can happen. 551 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:27,000 If you serve and the ball hits the ground with nobody touching it, that is an ace. 552 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:35,000 But you can also have one if you serve and it deflects off of a person's arms and nobody else can play it. 553 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:46,000 So they both end up with the same result as in the play ends with that first contact or lack thereof from the serve. 554 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,000 But there are different ways that it can come about. 555 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:52,000 So an ace is a point from the serve. 556 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,000 And the next term that sometimes you'll hear an announcer make is a pancake. 557 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:06,000 A pancake refers to when a player dives on the floor, sticks their hand out flat along the floor, and the ball hits the top of their hand. 558 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:13,000 This generally you see a lot by liberos or on ball covers or block covers. 559 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:18,000 But their hand sliding underneath the ball becomes the only thing that keeps the ball from hitting the floor. 560 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:22,000 And we refer to that as a pancake, mostly because your hand is flat and looks like a pancake. 561 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:32,000 Looking forward to this week and the matches we are most excited about that are coming up on Friday, Florida State and Georgia Tech go head to head. 562 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,000 We're going to have a big week in the Big Ten. 563 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,000 Wisconsin and Purdue are both going to have big weeks. 564 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:41,000 Purdue has Penn State on Thursday and USC on Saturday. 565 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,000 Wisconsin will host Minnesota on Wednesday. 566 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:48,000 And then they have the rematch that we're all looking for with Nebraska. 567 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:51,000 That is happening Saturday night. 568 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,000 I'm assuming we'll all be watching that match together. 569 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:56,000 I'm still sticking by what I said a few weeks ago. 570 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,000 I'm taking Nebraska in four. 571 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,000 That concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk. 572 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,000 There's always something shaking in the volleyball world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix. 573 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:08,000 Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss any updates. 574 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:12,000 And we'd be so grateful if you would leave us a five star review. 575 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:17,000 You can also find us on Instagram at Volley Talk underscore podcast. 576 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:26,000 If you have a topic that you want us to discuss, be sure to let us know by reaching out to us on Instagram or at info at Sarah pavin dot com. 577 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:39,000 Thanks so much for joining us and we'll be back next week.