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 longtime pro both indoor and on the beach and I'm Adam Schultz former indoor player
International volleyball coach and resident stat guy. It was a
massive week in NCAA volleyball
We had the power for conference champions crowns star senior athletes were
Drafted and the final push to the final four in Louisville has begun
there were
So many exciting matches and I hope that you guys were able to catch at least a couple of them
Because I know that we had a fantastic
Thanksgiving break
Hanging out friends watching a lot of volleyball talking about how we think the rest of the season will play out. It was awesome
I'm pretty sure Wednesday wasn't a holiday, but I was hunkered down on the couch
We had matches start at 9 o'clock then noon and all throughout the day
I think I had my computer with me so I could respond to emails, but I'm pretty sure I just watched volleyball
We're in California. So we got the full day and it was perfect timing
That's one of the best things about being on the West Coast is starts or sports start first thing in the morning
I unfortunately had a lot of things going on Wednesday, but every time that I passed by Adam he was
Engaged in volleyball, so I had to catch up a little bit later, but I was very jealous
But all that being said there is a lot to cover this week and we are very very excited
So let's get started first things first
Monday the PVF draft happened
We watched it. We followed it
There's a lot of cool
Draft decisions that were made we are going to talk about the draft in depth next week
We've got a full slate here everybody for this episode, but we wanted to let everybody know we did follow along
We do know what happened, but we're gonna talk about the PVF draft
next episode
We also had the NCAA selection show
Lots to talk about there. I know everybody is very excited about tournament time
We're gonna talk about the selection show a little bit later in the show today looking at the matches that happened
Florida had a rough week
They lost both their matches to South Carolina and five and to Georgia and four
We saw no Fitzpatrick and no Stuckey against South Carolina, which is interesting
I don't know if they're injured and they're hoping they're going to be back for the tournament
But Fitzpatrick didn't play either match Stuckey did play against Georgia, but not against South Carolina
It wasn't a great day for the outside Martin hitters
Isabel went 103 on 29 sets and Kennedy went 163 on 49 sets
As a team they hit negative 087 in the fifth set losing 1513
But get this South Carolina missed 30 serves in that match
So there's like Florida should have been able to pull that one out and they just missed and didn't play very well at all
And then against Georgia
They started really well, so they had a good rebound
But their hitting percentage got worse and worse as the match went on they started they hit 441 in the first set
Wow, I know it was great and then in the second set 241 13
In the second set 241 third set 129 and 094 in the fourth set losing 2513
It was crazy to see how they just declined as the match went on
And a rapid decline at that that's crazy
Isabel Martin struggled against Georgia as well she hit 036 on 21 attempts
You had Amaya Thomas had a good game against Georgia hitting 583 on 12 sets and Kennedy Martin did step it up
She had 412 on 51 sets so she looks like she's ready to go for the tournament
But Isabel Martin's gonna have to figure it out because they're gonna need her to score points. They
Should not have lost those two matches going into the tournament
Absolutely not
Last week we didn't even talk about the matches that Florida had because naively I thought they were pretty straightforward
But maybe you know Isabel Martin got that call from the pvf. She got drafted
She was feeling good and just fell off a cliff
I don't know, but they're gonna have to figure it out because losing those two matches going into the tournament is not where you want
to be
Absolutely not but Kennedy Martin has been solid all season
So I'm glad that she had one match that is herself. She does carry a heavy load for Florida
She can't be expected to be perfect every single match
We've talked about this with other players in the past, but Kennedy Martin hitting a hundred or less than 200 is is
Uncharacteristic to say the least we also had Kansas lose to BYU in four
Now it was clear that Kansas prepared for Claire little because they kept her to 173 on 52 swings
Which when you plan for somebody and you can hold them to that kudos you executed your game plan. Well
Claire little does get set a lot for BYU
She does score a lot of points, but I will say her hitting percentage is is not
Great. So like hitting under 200 is not unheard of for Claire little I would say
but in the past we've seen
teams be able to do that to her and
the supporting cast
Not step up and they don't win but in this case BYU's other hitters all had great days their middles
Kirstie strong went 545 on 22 sets Brielle camovore went
478 on 23 swings
Which is great for both of their middles and then Ellie Mortenson also hit 478 on 23 swings
So they all got a decent share of balls and all played really well and that was the difference in this match in my mind
It's funny. We look at Kansas again and
Their middles didn't play super well on a banjo hit 111 on 28 sets Reese Patak only got set 12 times
Yet again, Kansas doesn't win the middle battle. Kansas doesn't win the game
I would even go so far as to say if on a banjo doesn't show up. Kansas doesn't win the game because we have seen
Multiple scenarios here with Kansas and their middles. We've seen both of them play great
We've seen both of them have very poor stats
We've seen Patak have bad stats and on a banjo play great and then we've seen the reverse as is the case here
I think it all depends on a banjo now
Not even just the middles because when on a banjo has played really well
Had great numbers and Patak hasn't the team has still been fine and still won but we see when it's reversed
Not the case on a bunch of does get set more so that makes sense
Caroline BN also did not play super well in that match going 156 on 32 sets
So she's gonna need to play a little bit better as well
We've seen in those losses she can't score and she's gonna have to figure out a way to be more productive
But I'm guessing El Nadi was solid El Nadi was the same. I think she was close to 300
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but she's always reliable and she cleans up the garbage
As we talked about at the end of last episode the ACC
ACC was gonna be wild this week and it delivered it did not disappoint
Oh, baby, so Stanford, let's start with them
They had a reverse sweep of Georgia Tech and then they beat Louisville 3-1
So this was a huge week for them because they were hovering around the 3-4 mark with SMU before this week
but defeating Louisville put them in second in the ACC and
I think that this week in general was a huge momentum builder for them heading into the postseason and
We're not gonna talk about them this week
But we did talk about them last week Georgia Tech had two bad losses last week and we were concerned about them
But I do want to give them a shout out. They played really well
They didn't win but they played two really good teams and there was some real fight and they played well
Even though they didn't win. I think those matches serve them well going into the tournament
So I just wanted to acknowledge that because we were rough on them last week. Well, they had Stanford
I'm pretty sure was it in set three or four. They had a swing for the man. Ami Miner went back to serve
Stanford was down what like 24 22?
I think so and they managed to win 26 24 like
Georgia Tech had no business losing that match. Honestly, they were a different team compared to the week before they weren't
Refusing to let the ball hit the ground. It was great to see that change
It was really good to see them bounce back and I think they played well
Even if they didn't win those good on them to have a really good response and took pit
17 15 in the fifth. Yeah, no, they pushed two great teams
I think other than winning it couldn't have gone better for them as great of a week as it was for Stanford
pulling out that win in five
Louisville had a rough week. They lost to both pit and Stanford and four
So we watched both of Stanford's matches this week
We watched both of Louisville's matches this week not a great way to go into the tournament
I know they were really tough matchups for not trying to take anything away from that in that situation
But you do not want to end conference play like that
Well, I thought in the Louisville Stanford match the difference to me was for Louisville
You had Anna De Beer and charity Looper get 40 and 46 sets each
They were much higher than the rest of the team and it'd be or played well
Going 350 on her swings charity Looper only hit 239 which isn't terrible
It's not terrible. But then if you look at the flip side on Stanford
They also had two players that received the majority of the sets you had Elia Rubin hit
326 on 46 sets and Jordan Harvey go 302 on 43
So to me that's the difference because all of those sets were incredibly close
I mean Stanford and Louisville played on Saturday, which was after the pit Louisville game Louisville just seemed a little
Deflated they didn't seem to have you know, the same energy the same fight the same swagger
As they did in the pit match like completely understandable. They they did not pull off the ACC championship
They knew you know, their fate was kind of sealed but I do have to say
Building off of what you said
Anna De Beer when she was in the back row Louisville was giving up runs of points and you notice that particularly in set three
Stanford was up to oh
it was near the end of the set there Louisville had a
Decent lead. Yeah, like and then before you know it
It's 24 all or something. It was like closer than it should have been at the end of that match and Anna De Beer was in
The back row now
Do you think that's all Anna De Beer being in the back row or do you think it has to do with who was setting at?
Those times as well. We we can talk about that situation a little later
But once Anna De Beer got to the front row at that point, she scored like four points by herself
I think basically to win that set. Yeah, it was incredible
She swung I think she got a solo block and two hills. Yeah, she she was really really good
I'll also say I love cammy minor
I love her the woman can deliver the ball and she is offensive at the perfect time
She blocks. Well, she serves well
She's like a leader. You can tell that everybody kind of turns to her
She's like a calm presence on the court like for me. That is what you want out of a setter
Well, the other thing I really appreciated about watching her play Louisville is a very good blocking team and
Unless you were really paying attention
She was able to move the ball along the net for her hitters incredibly
Well for her middles you saw Sammy Francis hitting out at the pin hitting halfway in between hitting close behind
Making life difficult for the blockers to line up and you saw the same thing on the outside pin running inside catching the blockers a little far
Moving the ball all the way to the pin to open up the line swing
She was able to make life for the very good Louisville blockers
Tough and they had to pay attention and she caught them out of position a few times. They were out of position
Frequently and I think if you don't if you weren't watching you might not have noticed but but it was very well thought out
it was very well planned and
Cammie Miner is good enough that there is no way she's missing that many sets a hunter
It was completely deliberate and she the way that they were moving their hitters around. It was a thing to see
I'm very curious if any of the teams that play Louisville in the tournament are gonna pick up on that and be able to use it
Against them continuing on with the exciting matches that happened this week
SMU swept Florida State and then you know followed that up with a loss to NC State
To finish ACC play because you know, why not Purdue also beat Oregon in five in what was another
Incredibly tight match and then we saw Kentucky beat my still-standing
Darkhorse team in Missouri in four and they hung on to the title
Kentucky is solo SEC champs. Yes, we've talked about this a little bit
But Pitt was also tested this week and I think that's good for them
They went for with Louisville who's obviously a great team and five with Georgia Tech
We alluded to this Georgia Tech played teams tough this week
So Pitt actually lost their first set since October 27 against Louisville and then went on to drop to to Georgia Tech
So a little bit of adversity is never a bad thing heading into the tournament sharpens the focus
makes you aware that you're not infallible and that you have to show up and play really well and
So we'll see what happens to them understandable that after you beat Louisville
You maybe let your foot off the gas a little bit against Georgia Tech, but
They're ready to go. I mean the Pitt Louisville match was the one to decide things and as we mentioned earlier
That win over Louisville earned Pitt the outright ACC championship
We will be talking about that match more in depth a little later on and the other match that we're going to talk about
Later on as well was Penn State versus Nebraska
Penn State handed Nebraska their first big ten loss of the season winning 3-1 and
Claiming a share of the big ten title in the process. So
Penn State upset a lot of people this week namely
Cornhusker fans
I'm not gonna lie. I didn't see that upset coming and
It was a game to watch not sure that this coming week is going to be as exciting as what we just witnessed
But we were very lucky to have this much excitement over Thanksgiving break
Our first feature match this week is Pitt versus Louisville
The showdown that was to determine the ACC champion
What were your you know key takeaways from watching that match?
Well, Pitt obviously wanted to get Babcock going early and she was
Lights out in the first set. She came to make a point
Babcock had seven kills in the first set. Pitt as a team had five blocks and
Sided out at roughly 80 percent in that set those numbers are absolutely
Staggering they had a message to send. I loved Louisville's pushback in the second set Pitt
Struggled to pass in that set Louisville's block was really disciplined forced some hitting errors gave themselves a chance to get back into the match
It was it was a good pushback to see in that second set and then after that it was just a dogfight
I really appreciated how many balls Rachel Fairbanks set to Babcock right off the bat
You would as a right side?
No, I'm not like that's the thing is I really do appreciate that because
As a player I had a very similar role to Babcock and I can't tell you like if you are
A traditional point scoring right side
You need to establish a rhythm early and as fast as possible. So
I really loved I want to say I'm making this up
But it seemed like you know three out of the first four balls
Of the match were set to Babcock and then she established her rhythm and was able to carry that on
As a right side, it is really tough
when
Your
Setters kind of distributing it to everybody and then when you need points, they start setting you. It's really tough
So I really appreciated that and Olivia Babcock actually tied her career high
In kills against Louisville with 23. So I thought
Pits served really well. They did a good job of pushing Louisville back
Louisville had a lot of passes around the 10 foot line in that first set
I thought the setter for Louisville Cabello did a really good job of pushing Louisville back
Cabello did a really good job of getting her feet to the ball getting square in that tough situation and giving both her middles
Which probably shouldn't have been an option with passes like that and the left side hittable balls
Louisville did not make her life easy and I thought her specifically did a really good job at that
I was shocked at how bad Louisville's passing was in the first set agreed there
I don't even think there were very few passes in front of the 10 foot line, but that was all predicated on
Pitserving
They were you didn't see the Louisville passers
pass anything in their
You know wheelhouse they were moving back on every single pass
And as a server, that's what you want
You don't want players to just be able to be static you want them to either have to come forward
Or drive back and I thought that that was that was the difference for me in the first
I agree. I thought that pit serving strategy overall was really good
I did think that Louisville did a good job of adjusting in the second. It looked like their passers took a step back
They pushed the ball tighter in the second set, which i'm sure was a focus from the coaching staff
And they ratcheted up their serving pressure in the second set and it the first two sets to me kind of flipped
Because pit struggled to pass in the second set and then Louisville's block was able to take over
100 and you saw pit was advancing the ball better in the second than Louisville did in the first
But the passes were really low and fast
So you saw Fairbanks having to almost go to her knees to try to throw sets up and that
completely
destroyed Babcock's rhythm too because she was
Making errors and Louisville's blockers were getting hurt like she got blocked a few times in that second set and again
I as you were saying it was a flip-flop situation of the serve receive. So I think once the first two sets
Kind of ironed themselves out from a serve and pass perspective. Then we saw kind of like the true
Meat of the game. If you look at the hitting numbers for the match, it was really interesting
The first set was very close percentage wise and that set was obviously 25-23 in pit
In pit's favor, but after that the teams that won the sets hit over 400
So you had pit hitting 424 and 417 in the third and four sets and louisville hit
481 in the second set to win so the ability to pass and be efficient was crucial in this match
It was interesting to see it was like pit tested to beer on serve receive early. She did not pass well
She finally sort of got her footing under her and set two
So then they switched up their strategy and started serving short
Which also was effective for a while then louisville figured it out
And then they finished off the game and kind of saw it through serving charity looper. We've seen nebraska implement
Similar serving strategies and I think that this is really important going into the tournament is that
That it's going to come down to adjustments and this is something I was thinking about as I watched matches
This week was
At the beginning of the season teams are focused on building their own skill
But as we've gone and watched big matches in the last couple of weeks, you're starting to see
Game plans come into place. You're starting to see more adjustments teams are refined
I thought the wisconsin game against nebraska was a prime example of that
And so these big hitters who get a ton of balls
I think life is going to become increasingly difficult for them in the tournament because teams are now prepared
They're focused on game plan and executing that and things are firing on all cylinders
So it's going to be really interesting to see the response of some of these hitters
Well, and it's also like nobody knows if they're going to play tomorrow
So teams are putting all of their resources all of their brain power all of their time
into you
Because you are what is in front of them right now
It's not like okay. Well, we have like for sure have two matches this week
So let's like spend time on both. It's like no if we lose this match. We are not playing anymore. So
Let's go all in I want to kind of talk about louisville in general here a couple things first
First we said it last time we covered louisville elena scott setting
Outstanding totally agree one of the best
Setting liberos out there. I would say i'm a huge fan number two. This might be a controversial statement
Let me know what you think about this louisville runs a 6-2
Cabello is a much much better setter
than glock
for me
Watching the game. I don't even notice when glock is on the court and when they're giving up runs of points, I'm
Don't get me wrong. There could be a correlation with tabir being in the back row like call it what you will
But I think as a setter you need to have a certain amount of presence
And I feel that from cabello. I do not notice glock's presence on the court at all
I've actually wondered
Why they're running a 6-2
versus a 5-1 because I think that some of the players who are struggling
could benefit from finding some consistency from one setter and
My thought is i'm wondering if this is purely strategic
or if they're trying to get players playing time so that they don't lose them to the transfer portal or
Keep their younger players so that they can transition the team. I'm
I would be very curious to get a frank answer on is this the best
Method for winning now or are you doing this looking ahead to the future?
I mean reese robbins had a great week overall and she put up great numbers
Against pit and she hit 533 on 15 swings
Maldonado Diaz
She's steady. She's solid. She did not play well in one of the matches at least this week against pit
She hit 095 so she was not particularly efficient in this match. See so it's it's tricky
I mean, I personally think that they would be better off running cabello
In a 5-1, but what do I know? I just I
And she's a freshman
That's the crazy thing is like she is running a much better offense
She seems confident. She's not even small like she can't put up a block
They do keep her in they kept her into block for a couple rotations against pit
She is capable. I mean, I think danny's a very good coach and she's obviously running a really good program
I just haven't been able to figure out what the factors are that go into that decision
And then the last thing I want to kind of key in on on louisville is the number of x plays they run
They are running a 6-2. So they always have three hitters in the front row
They run x plays with both the right and left sides
frequently so they will have the
middle run a slide and the right side come around and hit like a
meter ball
As we call it in canada and then on the left they'll run a 31 with the middle and have the left side come in
I don't know. It's very 80s to me. I want to understand what they think the benefit is because
For example when you're taking the middle on the slide the right side coming around sure the left side has to come over
and focus on the slide
But if you have a right side blocker who is competent at all
You're still going to have a double block on the meter ball in the middle. Like it just it i'm confused
I mean I can see a little bit of motion from the right side in the middle
Being something you can use to kind of catch blockers off guard
The one that really confuses me is when they bring the left side in to run a quick and they push the middle
Into a b or a shoot set because now you're clumping all the blockers in one place and you don't even really have an outlet
Your right side in your middle just don't have to move those blockers can just stand there and block both players at once
I can see the right side, you know, maybe you catch some players off guard. Maybe they're not used to it
That would be a very situational thing for me in terms of when you use it. They seem to use it a lot
But i'd be curious what the actual efficiency is and if they're tracking it
As to again, like you said, it's not necessarily a bad idea. It just doesn't pass the eye test for me
Yeah watching watching it. I just unless you think like
Cressy is that good at hitting a slide that would be my only
Consideration but the crazy thing is they set the right side on the meter ball
More often than they set the slide
So if cressy's that good at the slide that you want to get her the ball set it to her
Use the right side coming around as a decoy and set her but like
You're setting a high ball in the middle more often than not
The only thing that would make sense to me is if you're going to use a back row attack on top of that
So you're creating motion in the front row and then running the back row over top, but I don't
If memory serves, I don't remember seeing that very often if at all
The only way the back row attack would be effective is if they move it because with a hitter coming around
The approach angle and the timing of the set
Would get in the way of a pipe. So you either need you need to move your position six
pipe hitter
In between the gaps so either run them, you know in zone five or run them on the c
Ball in in between the slide in the middle, but like running a straight pipe would not be effective
That is something about louisville that like really bothers me because like I've been running a straight
Sometimes you're just hittingulfers and you're doing this if you're trying to 여
Din cold, you know, I've been hit aít thinking why is that?
I'm makingapplause at that point. Okay, so if you're taking a curve back in swing
If you're just going for it bad you'll go slow
If you're just trying to hold it
sei
Im not really fear
I'm afraid i don't have fair prize
But yeah, that's basically what I feel bad. I don't think you have tosm fall
good for a critical error though. Whether from the service line, taking an ace, whatever.
What does that face for? You and I have different opinions on De Beers. What? Okay, I kind of like it.
I, the only thing I will say De Beers tends to miss serves after timeouts or freezes in play
where there's a challenge or something happens. I will give you that, but we just talked about her
scoring four points in a row to win a set. I'm a big De Beers fan. I think she's clutch. I think
even though she's not raw raw on the court and she looks stone-faced all the time,
she's a leader for that team. They all look to her. Whoa, whoa, whoa. First of all, I think you
missed the part where I said she's a very good player on both sides of the ball. And let me
tell you, I am the last person who will ever criticize a player for not smiling. When I played
pro in Korea, you want to know what my nickname was? It wasn't Smiley. It was not Smiley. It was
the ice princess. You know why? Because your girl had an angry face most of the time. I am,
I will never criticize an athlete for being serious or intense or whatever. That is not my
problem with her. She makes errors at bad. We saw it against Stanford. She got aced at the end of
set three. Granted, she made up for it with those points at the end, but she got aced at a very bad
point. And we see her miss a ton of serves at critical times. I will give you the serving one.
I think she's more clutch than you give her credit for the one thing when she makes errors,
normally their terminal, which sometimes can kill your team. But I think, I think she's incredibly
important to that team. The one last thing I wanted to talk about in this match, and we,
we alluded to it in terms of teams game planning for players. I think a really good example of this
is if you look at Stafford for Pitt and you look at Charity Looper for Louisville. So in that match,
Stafford started hitting the ball cross court predominantly and was very effective. Louisville
adjusted their block defense, started giving her the line. And do you know what Stafford did? She
detonated balls down the line. It was insane. Right. That to me is she has the ability to see
what's going on, to see what they're giving her and to take it and be effective. Charity Looper,
however, likes to hit the ball cross court and seems to have the mindset of cross cross or more
cross. Yes, he just hits straight pretty much. And that is the difference between being able to
figure out what a team is doing to you and make an adjustment and just doing what you're comfortable
doing. And that's going to be a huge difference in the tournament, I think. But I like, not every
player is capable of coming to those in game realizations themselves. So in cases like that
where the player is not aware or maybe doesn't have that vision or volleyball IQ, like the coaches
need to step in and be like, hey, this is how the defense is playing you now. Let's try this. But we
saw it against Pitt and Stafford, Looper hit the same swing almost every time, if she wasn't tipping.
I also, this is like not volleyball related, but I am obsessed with Babcock, Stafford and Jones's
handshake. When the three of them are in the front row, please take note if and when you watch Pitt
play next. When those three are in that rotation when Pitt is serving and they're all in the front
row together, they have got the cutest handshake and they do it every single time and I love it.
If we're not talking about volleyball, Louisville needs to burn the white and black uniforms or
the mostly white uniforms. They're awful. I love the red. Go with the red. Go with the red, go with
the black. I was also not a fan of the white ones. As a summary, you get a completely connected,
on the same page, go to battle for each other feeling from Pitt. And I honestly think at this
level that type of attitude goes so far. I mean, I said it before and I'll use it here as well.
Pitt was just better. Well, yeah, I mean, you mentioned like looking at the stats across the
board, every category of stats was pretty equal. But if you really look at it, if you are a stats
person and you really want to focus on the stats, the difference to me is that Pitt is getting huge
hitting numbers from their outside hitters and Louisville is not. The best like hitting numbers
were coming from Louisville's middles, which is great. You want your middles to be hitting well,
but when you're getting those numbers from your outsides who are getting 60% of your sets,
that is what a good team needs. I thought that the match was really entertaining. It was
fun to watch. I think that it puts Pitt in a really good place going into the tournament.
They are firing on all cylinders. Louisville has had to battle. I'm curious to see what their
response is going to be. But that was a great game, very entertaining. Our next feature match
was the one to determine the Big Ten champion. And we are talking about none other than Nebraska
versus Penn State. Adam, what were your thoughts? I very much just like being wrong. Oh my gosh,
me too. The conviction I had that Nebraska was going to take this in four or three. I just didn't
see them kind of, I don't want to say they fell apart, but not execute that late in the season.
I thought with a match that was going to give them the title outright, that they would have come out
with a little more, I don't know, I think emotion is the wrong word, but with a little more kind of
fight and grind. And I didn't think that their outside hitters as a core played well enough to
win. I've got a couple thoughts, just building off of what you just said. You always have a
lot of thoughts when it comes to Nebraska. So I'll strap on here and have at it. No, I connected to
what you're saying. Let's, I'm going to kind of speak to the outside hitter situation first.
All season, Nebraska has, you know, been getting pretty consistent performance from Harper Murray.
They've been getting pretty consistent performance from Merritt Beeson. And that other left side
position has kind of been the hole or the wild card. And so Taylor Landfair has come in and kind
of held it steady for the last several weeks. But for all intents and purposes, Nebraska has
come to kind of depend on or rely on performance from one outside, from their middle, from their
right side. This game, however, Beeson kind of disappeared and the second left side kind of
disappeared. So having both of those kind of positions under produce at the same time was
a killer to them. It was a really, there were a couple of storylines here that I thought were
interesting. One is I thought Nebraska did a really good job at putting Merzik in trouble
from an offensive standpoint. And that, I mean, that was obviously going to be the game plan.
In general, when you play Penn State, if you can control Merzik, you have a good chance at winning
the game. However, they forgot that a grudge can really come back and bite you in the butt.
Penn State has two players that transferred from Nebraska that are not usually required to carry a
heavy load in order for the team to have success. And let me tell you that Jura Vicious was on a
mission in this match. And there's no better way to stick it to a team that wasn't going to give you
a chance than to go out and be a stud. And I can't say it any other way. This girl hit 414 on 29
swings. And quite frankly, was the reason they won. And at the same time, Maggie Mendelson
also had probably the game of her season. And the two of them just refused to let Nebraska beat
them. I mean, I had my popcorn out. I thought it was great. Okay, yes. My second statement,
you were saying like, you expected more fight, more attitude, more conviction from Nebraska's side.
There was no shortage of conviction and attitude on Penn State side. And I loved it. Okay, let me
tell you, Rebecca Alec, she's got swagger. She's got attitude. That's normal. Andy Jackson, don't
kid yourself, the girl has got attitude as well. And I'm here for it. I love I love a stuff and
stare. I love this like a backwards walk, like look over your shoulder, do it all. I'm obsessed
with it. Those two, they were themselves, they did the same thing. Nebraska operated like themselves.
Penn State did not like those stare downs. They did not like the backwards glances. They
they took it personally. And you saw Jura vicious giving it to them. It was it was coming back
in Nebraska. I'm sorry, I'm a fighter. Okay, so if a team is like operating like that, oh baby,
you are lighting a fire under my butt and I'm getting in your face. Nebraska didn't really
change the two who like usually bring the attitude continued. But like you didn't see anybody else
step up and be like, what did you say? Say it again. And that's kind of been the knock on
Nebraska for me, all season long, you don't you don't have an outside who really takes over matches.
They're just they pass so well that they're always in good positions to score. And there's not it's
not that they don't care. But I haven't seen them need to ratchet up against the team. And when they
got some pushback, they didn't respond well, in my opinion, and your middles the two people who bring
it, they're only playing half the match it what I would have loved to see somebody kind of like,
get not get into it. And I know like, maybe that is a huge, attractive quality that a lot of people
see in Nebraska is their kind of business as usual mentality. But like you're fighting for a big 10
championship here, like, are you gonna let a team take that from you? Because for like, Nebraska,
it was in their hands. You know what I mean? And like when push came to shove, you didn't see
that attitude of like, this is mine, this is ours. And that was kind of disappointing to me.
You can make up any storyline you want about Jura Vicious and Mendelsohn and their feelings
about Nebraska. There may or may not be something there. We don't know. But it sure looked like
there was man to see how bad those two girls were fighting. And that they had that chip on the show
on their shoulders, you have to respect it. So there are two things that worry me about Nebraska
going into the tournament. The first one is this pushback and this attitude, because the stakes are
only going to get higher. And when I look at those outside hitters, I've seen it from Beeson more
than any of the other two or three left sides, she will sometimes you can see want the ball and be
willing to put the team on her back and take some swings. But which of their outsides is going to do
that? When the pressure mounts, when they're playing for a spot in the Final Four, when they're
playing for the championship, they haven't had to do that because they're so good as a team. But when
the chips are down, who's going to respond and who's going to carry the team? So I would have that
question in the back of my mind after watching that game. I 100% agree with you, but it also makes
me are they allowed? You know, the team culture in recent years has been such that it's we are
balanced, we don't have one star. And so do they have the freedom to be like, get me the ball right
now, I am going to take over again, we don't know. But I think they have been trained to just
to just understand that we are a balanced team, we are all, you know, doing our jobs, we all fulfill
a role is one person going to be able to like kind of look at Riley and be like, get me the ball right
now. I'm telling you right now they will not cruise through the tournament without at least one of
their outside hitters having to take over a match, it's not going to happen. And I thought Penn State's
strategy of serving Harper Murray was very effective, something we haven't seen a lot of
teams try and do. And there were some passing issues. And when there are passing issues,
you can't run your two middles as effectively. And you need an outside to step up. Nebraska's
superpower is their ability to control the ball and have four hitting options on every play. It's
incredible to watch. But what happens if that breaks down? What are you going to do? There are
some interesting questions they're going to have to answer because I think that's going to happen
at least in one match in the tournament. To be fair, we haven't we've watched many Nebraska
matches, but we haven't watched all of them fair by any means we have watched like the big ones.
And in those matches, we have not seen teams kind of try to bury Harper Murray on serve reception,
we have seen teams the matches that we have watched and I understand we have not seen all
of them. So take this for what it is. We have seen teams be overly concerned with the middles.
And we have seen that play out kind of by serving to position one. I also was especially after
in my opinion, Penn State's miss in the serve serving strategy department against Wisconsin,
it was really great to see them go after Harper Murray as relentlessly as they did. Because
earlier in the season when we saw them play, she was not passing well. And do we need to mention
the final from last year, where she got served off of the court by Texas, Harper Murray is a good
player, she is not a great passer. And I think that that was evident against Penn State. We
talked about Jura Vicious and Mendelson playing really well. Nebraska set out to neutralize Jess
Merzik. Mission accomplished. Mission accomplished. She hit zero. What what they did was they
what what they did not prepare for. And it makes sense. Jura Vicious has not been she's she has
played but she has not put up crazy numbers. Nobody could have predicted her to go off the
way she did. And here is my opinion about how all that played out. Nebraska was very focused on
Merzik stopped her. Okay, when Jura Vicious was getting set, Nebraska as they should,
were leaving the line open on attacks that were coming from the right side of the court,
whether it be a slide, whether it be Jura Vicious on the right side. Why? Because you've got one of
the best liberos in the country digging down the line, let her dig the ball. That totally makes
sense. I think a big reason for Jura Vicious having so much success and gaining confidence
as the match went on is in set one in particular, the majority of the attacks that were coming from
the right side of the court from Penn State were down the line. And Lexi Rodriguez was not picking
up the ball. If you're hitting down the line at arguably the best defender, the best libero in
the country, and she is not able to handle that, that increases your confidence. And it makes you
more willing to take risks to take big swings that you maybe wouldn't if balls had come up.
And I turned to Adam, I remember early in the match saying, Rodriguez needs to pick up these
swings or this is not going to go well for them. And she just did not deliver. She was digging the
cross court swings very well, but down the line, not enough. So I have a question for you. So you've
neutralized their best player, according to your game plan, everything's going well. And all of a
sudden, you have somebody have the match of their life, which Jerovich is dead. You see that she's
hitting exactly where you want her to. But your best libero in the NCAA and she is I think she's
very good. But she's not executing on that night. And we do we very rarely think about defensive
players not executing. Do you just leave it like they did and say, you know what, she's going to
come out of it, she's going to dig this ball? Or do you make an adjustment? Because I kept waiting
for Nebraska to take the line away from Jerovich's and make her swing angle. And they never did.
And I'm curious, because as I started to think about other matches, I've watched Nebraska play,
Rodriguez passes incredibly well. And she reads cross court attacks better than probably any other
libero in the NCAA. I haven't seen her need to dig that many balls down the line. She digs the tips
really well, but not the hard driven. And I'm wondering if that look and just having a fraction
less time affected her ability to do that. And should should Nebraska have made an adjustment?
Simple answer. Yes. The thing is, is I truly believe that a lot of coaches tell their right
sides or players hitting on the right side of the court not to challenge Rodriguez, I truly believe
that that is a conversation before games. So she hasn't had to be tested. But what you saw is
Penn State was like, I don't care. I'm hitting what is available. And it worked. And then tips
down the line started working because Rodriguez for the first time is sitting there, dug in because
she's being challenged. And then she wasn't able to react to the tips down the line as effectively.
What Nebraska should have done is shut down the line completely because their middles were blocking
machines. That game. Andy Jackson and Rebecca Alec were blocking incredibly well. And so what
you want to do is because of that, they are going to you want to funnel the attacks to them, they're
having a great night, let them shut her down in the angle, at least try it. But and we did talk
about this to Jurevich's was unconscious. Absolutely. There may not have made a difference.
It may not have made a difference. There were balls that like she probably should have been
blocked on that rattled around and were weird. Like, nothing was going wrong for her. Correct.
And sometimes, you know, do I think she made like incredible swings for the whole match? No,
she was fearless and set one and was able to carry that momentum forward. But then she had a lot of
rattlers and weird stuff go on like it happens. But I think if they had like shut it down early,
she would not have had the match she did. And if she doesn't play that way, Nebraska wins that game.
She was the only Penn State attacker that like really did anything because Jess Merzik was,
quite frankly, a non factor, which, in another controversial opinion, really makes me wonder
about her potential as a pro. We saw her completely disappear against Wisconsin,
we saw her completely get shut down by Nebraska. What do you think is going to happen at the
professional level, where now you've got the best of the best who are able to execute game plans
every night, who are all big, who are all skilled, just something to think about, kind of switching
gears, continuing on to Penn State, I thought Jillian Grimes, the libero played very well.
She was noticeable in that match for me. And that's not something I usually say about Penn State.
I thought next to Jerevichas, she was their second most important player. And while I think she
started slow, Izzy Stark really got better as the match progressed. You saw she set some unhittable
balls, in my opinion, in the first set, which is kind of uncharacteristic from her. You don't often
see that. But she looked nervous to me. Oh, understandably, understandably. It's her first
time, you know, playing Nebraska, you're playing to give your team a shot at the Big Ten Championship,
like it's not a small moment. So she definitely took a bit of time to kind of ease into the match.
But she got better and better. And I thought she did some outstanding things. Kudos to her. I mean,
she still set Jess Merzik a ton of times. Merzik got 52 sets. But she went to Jerevichas, who had
the hot hand. And to me, that's a feel thing that is important to have as a setter, because I'm going
to tell you right now, their game plan, their offensive game plan was not, we're going to set
Jerevichas a lot. That's that was not in the plan going in. And for her to be able to feel that out
and pay attention to it and put her in a spot to score, I thought showed really good composure as
the match went on. And honestly, outperformed Bergen-Reilly in every category. More assists,
more blocks, more day like, I mean, we've been an Izzy Stark fan on this podcast since we started,
I think she's incredible. And I think she's going to lead the NCAA for the next four years
is the best setter. So Lanfar didn't have the best of nights. She hit 077 on 26 balls. And we saw
Lindsey Krause come in for her later on in the match. Only set four, I believe. You expected more,
to be honest, I thought she was awful. Why did they set her so much? She got 17 sets in one set.
And hit negative 118. Like you almost got as many sets as Lanfar did in three sets. My question is,
okay, I understand subbing her out. They needed to make a sub either with Beeson or Lanfar,
because both of them were having a rough time. But you're coming in. And not only are you getting
set almost every ball, you're hitting worse than the two that were already struggling. Like why did
they not put Lanfar back in? I mean, maybe you're giving her a chance. You're going to give her the
set, see what happens, try and make sure she's got some feel going into the tournament. But this is
what we talked about this earlier. This is what worries me about the Nebraska outside hitting
core. You don't have somebody who when things break down, can hit those out of system balls as far as
we've seen so far. And then you bring your next player in off the bench who performs that way.
I'm worried it's a get it done by committee or not get it done at all. I mean, yeah, sometimes you do
need one player to step up. And that's not to say that those players aren't capable of it. But it'll
it'll just be something to pay attention to in the tournament, I think. Well, Nebraska is going to
have to hope that their ball control is on point. Because this this game honestly was the first
time that I've seen them this season where I was like, wow, their passing is is not okay. And wow,
they're not digging this ball like Nebraska's bread and butter aside from being well balanced
is their service even defense. And during that match, I had questions about both aspects.
So, and I mean, let's not overreact. They went 18 and one on the season, they've beaten a lot of
good teams like this formula has definitely worked for them all season long. But it will be
it will be interesting to see what other teams take from watching this match when they play
against them. And if we see similar strategies implemented, and how Nebraska responds, Oh,
I still think that Pitt and Nebraska are are the two best teams in the country. Don't don't take
these statements as like, the sky is falling. No, I think Nebraska and Pitt are the best teams.
It just makes you take note because this was the first match of the season where it was like,
something was on the line, you know, it was either we lose this and we have to share the title or we
win it and we take it all it was the first this is it match of the season. And so it'll be
interesting to see because now it's all important do or die matches. It'll be interesting to see
like, you know, a regional final perhaps or a final four match or the final like, it's something
tangible on the line now. So I'm curious to see if the if this was just kind of a blip on the radar
or if it's, you know, something is there. I think it'll be interesting to see how both of these
teams perform in the tournament both are going in as number one seeds in their respective regionals.
So you know, Nebraska having this loss maybe some renewed motivation, some taking a look at some new
things, Penn State seeing that they can win without an outstanding performance from their star player
like I think some positives can be taken from both sides. So I'm curious to see how this affects
the team's mentality and how they perform going into the tournament. Selection Sunday just happened
the bracket has just been released. Oh, wow, I don't even Okay, we're gonna it literally just got
released. So we're gonna have to talk about this as we kind of take a look here. But just off the
top volley talk has two brackets open for our podcast community. So I've included the links in
the show notes below this episode if you're listening to it on a podcast platform, or if
you're watching on YouTube, it is in the description box below. One of them is through ESPN and it
requires a my Disney account to log in. So if you have ESPN ESPN plus Hulu, etc. Use that login
information. And there are unlimited number of members that can sign up for that one. And then
on the second bracket, it doesn't require registration or anything, no email, no account.
But it is limited to 50 members. So the first 50 people who sign up for that bracket, I'm sorry,
that's the limit. So yes, be sure check out the links that I've included in the show notes below
to sign up and join us because we are submitting our our own brackets to take everybody on.
Okay, let's take a look here, everybody. This was interesting. And I think next week,
we'll dive in a little bit more and do some analysis on certain matchups, who's coming,
what's come out of week one. But for now, we just kind of want to highlight some of the collision
courses that we're looking forward to off an initial look at the draw. This is going to be a
bumpy road. Okay, so in the top half of the bracket, which is the one seed is pit. I mean,
no surprises there. And it looks like Penn State has moved up to the three seed overall with that
went over Nebraska also makes sense. Nebraska is the two seed and Louisville is the four seed. So
I mean, I don't think anything about that is particularly surprising. Creighton had a really
good record, but their strength of schedule just wasn't good enough to push them into the top four.
Totally. We've also got it looks like if the bracket holds, two ACC teams will play in the
national semi final two big 10 teams will play in the national semi final. They've also got like
the similar conferences potentially knocking each other out in the regionals. So if you go back to
Episode one, back when we were baby podcasters, we the question we asked was who is going to get
SMU looks like it's pit everybody. The only team to have defeated pit this season. That is the
potential matchup to go to the final four, which I think is like kind of evil. And you can't tell me
that somebody wasn't looking at that going, we'll just slot them there and we'll see what happens.
Oh my gosh, that is so evil. Just for the record, pit's not going to lose that match.
I don't think it is not losing that match. Are you kidding me? So, okay. Looking at these,
this layout, some things that jump out to me. First weekend round two potential Missouri SMU
matchup. I actually think that is going to be a really good match. I think SMU is going to be
a really good match. I think SMU doesn't really have a stud and neither does Missouri. So there
is the potential for that to be a which players step up, which team serves the best. I think that's
a really interesting matchup. And that same kind of regional, we've got a potential first weekend
of Kentucky versus Minnesota. I haven't watched Kentucky play, but Minnesota is one of those teams
that if they decide they're going to be good and everything clicks, you don't want to see them.
Kentucky's got to be at least somewhat unhappy about that. I think. Well, I think there's no
escaping here. It used to be like first and second rounds were like kind of a yawn for like
seated teams. That is not the case anymore. Okay. Are you kidding? Kentucky, Minnesota in the first
round, second round. Well, sorry, I said first weekend. Yeah. And then potential Oregon TCU
first weekend, Oklahoma pit. I'm thinking pit, you know, I don't want to jinx anybody. Any,
any top seeds. I don't love underdog wins. I'm just going to put that out there. I like when the good
teams, the teams who are supposed to win, win. That's just my thing. Shocker. I think pit will
move through run one and two pretty straightforward, but they're in that top left part. Week one could
be interesting. Then we go to pit the Penn state side. We've got a Florida state Creighton potential
matchup there in week one. We've got a Texas USC matchup that could come to heads. And Texas for
me is a huge wild card because you know that they have the potential and the firepower to be really
good, even though they haven't really found a stride this season, in my opinion. So that'll be
a team that I'm paying attention to and I'm watching. And like, it is not lost on me that they put
Texas in Creighton's side of the bracket. It's kind of like Creighton is the wild card high seed
here. Like their conference isn't as strong as some of the other ones. They've been ranked very
high all season, but then Texas has won the last two national championships. So like, you know,
let's just let them face off because we don't know what's going to happen. How good are you?
That's the question for this. How good are you Creighton? That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
Are you really there? Are you for real? And can you beat a team that has proven to be a winner,
but isn't currently playing super well? I think Utah will move through the first weekend. They
potentially will match up with Marquette in round two, but I think Utah will have that under wraps.
And then Penn State potentially facing North Carolina. I think Penn State will be okay.
As we move down to the Louisville side of the bracket, Louisville, I think, first and second
around, probably the most straightforward of any. BYU Purdue matchup is an interesting one for me.
BYU Purdue could be interesting. We've got similar structure depending on their left sides here,
both teams similar, similar. I think, you know, I think Purdue will take that. I think their
middles are better. But then looking up, we've got Kansas Florida as a potential, which given the
size of Kansas's left sides, I think Kennedy Martin could do some serious damage there.
Yeah. That's a matchup for Florida. I think if you can neutralize Kansas's middles, you're looking
at going, okay, we have a shot here. I'm, I'm curious about that one. That one for me is tough
to predict. And then I think, you know, Stanford will potentially see LMU. LMU has got Washington
in the first round though. So don't sleep on that. But I think if everything holds, I think
Stanford will be totally fine. This honestly, this quadrant seems like Pitt's quadrant seems
substantially more difficult. Like Pitt's regional grouping seems so much more difficult
than this one. I don't know. Well, I think, I think in Pitt's bracket, you have a couple teams
that are kind of wild cardish. Like SMU has been good all year. They've beaten good teams, but you
don't look at them and think they're a powerhouse. You have Minnesota in that one who is also really
good athletically. They could have a match where everything clicks. And the other one, you know,
Stanford's bracket, you know, which teams, you know, what you're going to expect. There's a
little more consistency there, I think. And then we come to Nebraska's side, the, their regional
looks like they could face off with Miami in round two. Who are the ranked team killers. Who are also
wild cards. Yeah, like those girls, they're passing and ball control is like, really all over the
place, but they can hit and out of system ball. But I do think like Nebraska's discipline will
win out. Well, I think they're the strength of Nebraska serving is really going to put them out
of system, I think, and they're a disciplined blocking team. So as much as Miami is a bit of
a wild card, I think they actually play into Nebraska's strengths. The Dayton Baylor, that
one's weird to me. Dayton, again, kind of similar to Creighton, but in a even weaker conference,
in my opinion, I think Baylor could potentially cause some trouble there. I don't, I don't want
to say for sure. But then we've got Arizona State and Texas A&M that could potentially match up in
the second round. I think Arizona State's playing pretty well. Yeah. Wisconsin Georgia Tech, a
potential second round. That's a tough second round matchup, but I think Wisconsin's size
will cause Georgia Tech a lot of problems. I agree. But looking even forward to the regional,
a potential Nebraska, Wisconsin. Shocker. Shocker. I honestly thought that Wisconsin would be put in
with Penn State with Penn State. But then that would mean that they would have had to put Creighton
with Nebraska. Well, I also like, do you want both Nebraska schools? I don't, I feel like they did
that for public interest more than anything. I also think that Penn State winning move the needle
with where they would go. Yeah. I don't want to be like a big baby here, but I think Pitt and
Nebraska have the toughest, like regionals for sure. You have the two teams that have performed
the best. Like let's make it as hard as hard as possible on you. Like, I don't know. I'm not
loving this. I think Penn State and Louisville, well, Penn State more than anybody has the most
direct route to the final four, depending on which Texas team shows up. I honestly don't mind them
having a tougher route. I think it sharpens focus going into the tournament. You know, you can't
take any games off. I don't think it's a bad thing to be honest. We literally just got access to this
like right before we started this segment. So this is off the cuff. Yeah. No preparation. We have not
prepared anything for this. Just on this first glance, any surprises, any head scratchers?
I think it's, it's more competitive in the first rounds than I was thinking it was going to be.
I haven't watched a bunch of these teams play, so I'm going to need to dig into this a little bit
and take a look at it. But I think the, the Nebraska Wisconsin quarterfinal
is going to be really interesting. I think that's potentially the toughest route in.
Well, Louisville Stanford is tough. I think, I think Louisville Stanford and Nebraska Wisconsin
are the two toughest, should everything hold true, the two toughest regional finals.
I don't think SMU Pitt is going to be the game that, you know, there's going to be extra
motivation there for Pitt to kind of put a stamp on that. And let's be honest, if Pitt is playing
well, I don't think SMU matches their firepower. I agree with you. Yeah. Some of these potential
second round matches, I am surprised at how difficult they are. And then other ones are just,
they seem so much more straightforward. I can imagine it's very challenging to come up with
this bracket, but like based on the layout, it is very clear that they were like, let's put all the
same conference teams in the same regionals. So if everything holds true, then we'll have an ACC big
10 final. Like that's what I'm taking from this. I've been hearing a lot of rumblings that the ACC
is the new top conference. So we'll find out where that all lies after the tournament.
Regardless, this is very exciting, very interesting. First and second round matches
starting this week, we will dive into our bracket picks and kind of go more in depth into what our
predictions are next episode, but be sure to sign up for one or both of the brackets that we have
set up for the volley talk community. Be sure to get your picks in by Thursday because the submission
deadline, it closes right before the matches start on Thursday. So head to the links in the show notes
below, fill out your bracket so we can keep track. And that's also why we can't, we can't give away
our secrets on this episode today because we are competing against you guys and against each other.
So you will hear what our picks were next episode. This is going to be really exciting.
That concludes this week's episode of volley talk. There's always something shaking in the volleyball
world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss any
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