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, an Olympian, beach volleyball world champion, former Nebraska
Cornhusker and longtime pro both indoor and on the beach.
And I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international coach and resident stat guy.
Round one and two of the NCAA volleyball tournament finished on Saturday and there were a lot
of entertaining matches so we have a lot to dive into there.
Also we're going to take a look at the PVF draft that happened a couple weeks ago and
answer some listener questions which may help people as they watch the regionals matches
this week.
There is a lot to cover so let's get started.
So this week we saw rounds one and two of the NCAA playoffs happen.
Now let's go through this starting in order.
We'll look at round one matches that maybe didn't go as expected and then we'll move
into the round two matches and there were some serious upsets including bracket busters
for both of us.
My bracket got busted in the very first match of this tournament dang it.
Yeah it's not it's not the thing I realized looking at the results was I watched a lot
of volleyball but I didn't watch enough volleyball because there were teams that I hadn't seen
play who were very good and I wish we would have known or seen them a little bit earlier
in the season.
So round one notable highlights here Loyola Chicago beat the five seed BYU three straight.
Claire Little did not have a great game she only hit 086 on 35 sets and I think the story
there was Loyola Chicago out dug BYU 53 to 37.
We watched this game and Loyola Chicago would literally get hit by the ball and it would
be controlled.
Like I was watching it and part of me just felt bad for BYU.
I honestly at the beginning based on body language and stuff I got the impression that
they thought that they were going to roll through that match.
Is it true?
I don't know can't say for sure I'm just talking about what I observed but I wouldn't say BYU
played like terrible but there were some things everything was going Loyola Chicago's way
like broken plays, plays that had no business like trickling over the net getting pelted
with swings and their control like I felt bad for BYU.
It was interesting watching BYU's body language in that match because the roll off the tape
would happen the tip just over the block would happen and you could see them trying to shake
it off but it looked a little laissez faire and they just never seemed to hit their stride
or be able to bounce back from all of those little plays not going their way.
So that's the match that just really set things off for my bracket toast before we even began.
The other round one surprise maybe highlight I don't know was that Ole Miss defeated the
seven seed Florida State 3 to 2.
Now this game was very close by the numbers we saw Sasha Ratcliffe hit 458 on 24 sets
and we had Peyton Burgach go 500 on 30 sets.
They also had Nia Washington get 43 and Shayla Meyer go 39 sets so they distributed their
offense really well and they had a couple hitters who played incredibly well with really
good numbers.
I think the difference for me looking at this match was Ole Miss had 19 blocks to Florida
State's 8 and out dug them 66 to 56.
In a close match where sets are decided by two points those stats make a difference.
I mean it's impressive how evenly distributed the Ole Miss offense was like the two players
you mentioned at the beginning Ratcliffe and Burgach are middles that's good numbers and
they got set similar amount to the outsides.
Yeah one that was a testament to their ball control in that match they had the option
to run those two players and they performed.
We saw Corey Lewis for Florida State also had a good game hit 486 on 35 sets and Taylor
Head went 229 on 48 which was also a decent performance.
I mean we saw about half of this match and it was a good volleyball like there wasn't
anything that we were just like scratching our heads you know.
Yeah there were no glaring mistakes or missteps it was just high level volleyball and Ole
Miss made plays down the stretch when it counted.
Those are the two noticeable upsets in round one but let me tell you round two got intense.
There were some amazing matches we're going to talk about those a little bit later but
man what a great three days of volleyball.
As we mentioned last week we are going to go over the PVF draft that happened.
I mean it's a very exciting time you're finishing your college career you have the opportunity
to play at the professional level at home meaning not having to go overseas so I think
this is a big deal so we just wanted to touch on that draft and like the notable you know
things that happened with that.
So in looking into the draft I thought it was important to have some background information
about the league I personally didn't know much about it.
I'm assuming some of our listeners do but some of them may not so I'm going to hit you
with the highlights of the league and then we can get into the draft.
So PVF has eight teams in their league.
Atlanta Columbus Grand Rapids Indy Omaha Orlando San Diego and Vegas.
Now the draft was five rounds so 40 players total.
For those of you who are interested the league starts in January goes until May.
Now this part was interesting and affects draft decisions in my opinion.
They play with eight substitutions so FIVB is six and NCAA is 15 so what we're going
to see is teams needing to draft players that can play a full six rotations.
That's very different from the college game and I think the smart teams will have taken
that into consideration.
A couple other interesting things about the PVF for people to know is it's a 24 match
season they have a 14 player roster with a maximum of two foreign players so they need
to have and fill their rosters with players from the US.
It's a 14 playoff so your regular season really matters.
Now we didn't watch any of the league last year so we don't know anything about the teams
but from my understanding and if anyone knows differently please correct me the players
are not required to play in this league so it's different than other major sports where
you declare for the draft and the team that gets you you don't have any option other than
to play with them.
These athletes can be drafted and then decide to go play professionally overseas they can
decide to go play for another league or they could decide just not to show up.
So it's not a true skill choice necessarily you have to take into consideration whether
this athlete is going to choose to play for your team and that includes the location,
team, coach all of those things.
So there's probably a lot of conversations that go on with these players that we don't
see or know about going into the draft.
Yeah I mean as Adam said we didn't follow the PVF last season we know you know who won
who played in the final last year but other than that we didn't really follow too closely
you know based building off of what you were saying there are obviously some notable senior
athletes that were not in the draft Sarah Franklin, Lexi Rodriguez two that are just
off the top of my head.
So when I was watching the draft and stuff I was wondering you know this is also a curiosity
and a question if any of our listeners out there have the answer is I know that these
athletes have affiliations with love I don't know if they have made commitments to play
love or play overseas I know you were saying that if a player is drafted they don't necessarily
have to play so maybe they just knew that they didn't weren't interested in playing
in that league and so they're like do not put my name on the list like the pool of athletes
we aren't sure of the details of exactly who was in it and I think a notable thing to mention
is Jess Merzik was the last pick in the fifth round so like that kind of also adds into
it like let's hedge our bets like maybe she'll come maybe not but like maybe she'll make
a different choice so I thought that was interesting.
Yeah let's talk about the round one draft order and then we can kind of build on what
you were saying as far as international rules and why we think certain decisions were made.
So if we look at the first round we saw Atlanta choose Merrick Beeson.
Which is interesting let me just jump in I didn't even give him a second there.
Nebraska Atlanta is actually coached by Kayla Banorth who is a former Nebraska corn husker.
Coincidence I think not I mean Beeson's a good player obviously but yeah just interesting.
Indianapolis chose Anna DeBeer from Louisville Orlando Nora Siss from Creighton Vegas Cameron
Hanna from Penn State San Diego Devin Robinson from Wisconsin Atlanta Corey Lewis from FSU
Grand Rapids Raven Colvin from Purdue and Omaha Toyozzi Anabonjo from Kansas.
So as you were mentioning because the substitution rules are closer to international volleyball
than NCAA we need or teams are going to need players that are reliable for six rotations.
So when we look at the college game and the number of substitutions what you generally
see is players who will come in play three rotations in the front row very good attackers
very good blockers then they go out and they're replaced by a DS and those DS players play
three rotations in the back and then come back out and because of the number of substitutions
you can rotate them in and out all match.
That is not the case when it comes to a more international substitution rule.
So we actually have a player in the first round who got chosen and I was a little surprised
you had Devin Robinson who plays that for Wisconsin you also have Anna Smreck who was
drafted later on who plays that same role.
These players are really hard to choose high in the draft because you really only get them
for one rotation unless they develop their full volleyball skills.
So what you're seeing are like Merritt Beeson is she doesn't necessarily play six rotations
for Nebraska but she is capable you know she's a threat offensively from the back row Anna
DeBeer six rotation player Cameron Hanna like we don't know exactly what each individual
team needs or was looking for but typically in the pro level you do see point scorers
going first and I would say that this is the case.
Clearly Atlanta Grand Rapids Omaha they all picked middle blockers who went at the bottom
of round one so they clearly had a need for that position but it also brings up the libero
discussion for example Elena Scott went at the top of round two outstanding libero but
because she's not scoring points for a team it is very rare to see a libero go early so
that's the explanation I agree with you looking at this list I have no comments it makes sense
to me other than Devin Robinson.
I agree with you looking at Devin Robinson the thing to think about that we don't see
maybe she's a six rotation player in practice we don't see it at the NCAA level obviously
the DS is a better defender than she is but she could be capable and just not given a
chance in matches so I'm assuming that GMs and coaches have done their homework they've
talked to coaches you know Devin Robinson can play in the back row she might need a
little practice but it's probably close that would be my best reasoning through that choice.
With Love starting up this season too I'm very interested to compare the two leagues
you know Love has backing from really big names national team athletes those like founding
athletes of the program and then when we go through the rosters of PVF you know we're
not seeing necessarily like powerhouse schools represented across the board or even athletes
that we recognize so I mean the same can be said for Love too I've looked at some of the
rosters and I'm kind of like has this person played in the last decade but yeah I'm very
curious to see the Love model with their national team athletes and PVF and how they're doing
things.
Well there's a couple other things now that you brought Love up that people should know
the PVF is running like a normal professional league so they have locations they have teams
there is nothing about the sport other than those professional teams and they're trying
to make that work.
Love has taken a different approach where they have bought youth clubs they're trying
to run a developmental system from club volleyball through to college and then into the professional
league so it's a more holistic approach to the development of volleyball and I think
that's where you see a lot of the national team athletes get involved because they're
helping grow the game from the grassroots they're trying to increase the number of girls
who play sport and the visibility and then work through that progression of club to university
to pro and so we have two different approaches and it will be interesting to see which one
lasts, which one takes hold, which one gains popularity.
I think we're going to see several years of them competing and my guess would be eventually
we'll see an amalgamation of those two leagues into one set pro league.
Since the PVF athletes aren't required to play if they're drafted I'm willing to bet
that this first round group the GMs and coaches were pretty sure that they're getting a commitment
from these athletes so I'm excited to watch these newly graduated athletes compete at
the professional level and see how that transition goes for them from the NCAA but yeah we're
going to be following both the PVF and Love this season so stay tuned in the new year
for more on that.
Alright let's get into the meat of the show with our second round matchups.
Unsurprisingly Pitt, Stanford, Nebraska, Texas, Purdue and Creighton all cruised through
their second round matchups.
And first round.
Three nothing, no hiccups, no blips.
Pretty much as expected I would say.
I would say the only thing like maybe people could have had question marks about Texas
USC I would say that is the one thing that I didn't mess up in my bracket.
Well we all knew Texas has championship pedigree it was just a matter of did they have enough
runway to get it together and to gel and so far the answer is yes.
Penn State dropped a set to North Carolina in their second round and Wisconsin dropped
a set to Georgia Tech in their second round.
For the most part the teams we expected to take care of business took care of business.
And that is where the predictability stopped this year.
Yes.
Let's get into a few of them.
We watched I think five matches front to back this week.
We'll talk about those in a little bit more depth but we also saw Marquette beat Utah
in five.
That was a four five matchup so I'm not sure it was an upset but we saw Marquette hit four
twenty four in the first set which they won and then they won the second set hitting oh
ninety one which seems a little strange to me and they ended up winning the fifth set
hitting oh eighty seven.
Looking at the air totals Marquette made thirty nine hitting errors to Utah's twenty four
and they were out blocked seven to seventeen but they had nineteen more digs.
So it seems like it was a very strange match.
Let's just give sets away.
Let's just give them away with straight up hitting errors.
Once we saw that Marquette was up two zero we tuned in so we caught part way through
the fourth and the fifth.
It was wild.
Okay I think Marquette was up like twenty four twenty.
Yes.
Twenty four nineteen actually in the fourth set to close out this match and then Utah
sided out.
And won twenty six twenty four.
We were hooked at that point.
We had to finish it out.
And then the fifth set was fifteen twelve and like I said Marquette hit oh eighty seven
in the fifth set which was better than Utah's zero.
So it wasn't necessarily a very high execution level.
They battled it out and they kept going and Marquette ended up winning that one.
Jardine showed up for me.
The right side for Utah.
I think she's single handedly won that fourth set for them and then every time she came
in she's a front row player because Utah runs a six two.
Every time she came in they were just like feeding her the ball and she was unconscious.
This girl was on a mission and then when it really came down to it they set somebody else
who then made an error and this this girl she looked like she wanted to kill somebody
understandably.
Your team is on the ropes and you are like hitting a thousand from that point on and
then they set somebody else and they mess it up.
Come on.
I think it was if my memory serves me correctly they ran a middle ball on that one and she
was blocked for the game.
You've got a hot hand on a right side who single handedly won you the last set.
I don't care if everybody in the gym knows the ball is going to her.
You go here you have the chance to win or lose for us.
I was shocked at that set selection.
It was fun to tune in for the end of that.
A four or five matchup.
Can you consider it an upset?
No really it's pretty close.
So this was a bit more of an upset.
We had Texas A&M beat Arizona State which was a 3-6 matchup and they won 3-1.
We had Logan Lednicki hit 500 on 48 swings for Texas A&M.
That'll do it.
Yeah seriously you don't need anything else to happen other than for that stat line to
be true.
Get your serves in please.
Now I will say they had 19 more digs than Arizona State which gives you a ton of attacking
opportunities that your opponent doesn't get.
But other than that the stats across the board were pretty similar other than the team hitting
percentage which was 303 for Texas A&M and 181 for Arizona State.
I think when you have two teams that are generally balanced teams one player having a great night
can often tip the scales and in this case Lednicki was able to do that.
In the last round two matchup that we didn't fully watch Dayton beat Baylor 3-2 to make
their first regional semi-final ever which is very exciting.
Stats wise this match was very close when we looked at service errors, service aces,
blocks were 8-8.
We had 66 digs to 62 digs.
Hitting percentages were very similar.
Dayton hit 275 as a team.
Baylor was 282.
Again for me this match came down to execution after 20 and who was able to make plays.
Alma Dovar from Dayton 34 kills.
Pretty good numbers if you ask me.
I think the surprising thing though is Elise McGee was held to pretty low points and Baylor
kind of leans heavily on her for the most part.
So I think we hadn't really watched a ton of Dayton and again for me this was one of
the realizations that we need to watch a few more mid-major teams throughout the season
so that we have an idea of what their strengths are and what their matchups are going to be.
I mean again this was a 4-5 matchup so big upset.
No.
It was upsetting to me in my bracket however because I had not watched Dayton so I'm like
you know what let's go with what I know.
Big mistake.
Well I did the same thing.
If I looked at two teams who were matched up I did some quick research and then I looked
at the conference and that was kind of how I made those choices where I hadn't watched
the team play a ton.
So most weeks we watch a whole bunch of matches and then we pick a couple that we really want
to talk about that we found to be interesting or noteworthy.
This week we watched a ton of matches and when we were looking at each other like which
ones do we talk about we couldn't decide which is why we're kind of touching on all of them.
So this week we're getting like the brief overview of like all the matches we watched
without diving too too deep because to be quite honest teams are playing their best
volleyball right now and there weren't many matches that we watched and we were just like
confused about the decision making or things like that.
Like we are on a typical conference week let's say.
So we're just doing it all because we couldn't decide.
Well let's look at the TCU Oregon match to start.
This match in my opinion coming in was going to be all about Melanie Parra and how she
played.
I mean it always is for TCU quite frankly.
And I think when a team is that reliant on one player the further along the season you
get the more video there is the more you can collect and prepare for a player the harder
it is to win and I think we saw that in this match.
Well I mean TCU won the first set and Parra put up great numbers and then kind of you
know slowed down as Oregon as a whole kind of picked up steam and it's wearing.
When you have a team coming at you stopping and focusing on one player I mean it's a lot.
And we definitely saw Oregon make some good adjustments they moved their block around
they got touches they adjusted serving strategies they just made it really hard for her and
TCU couldn't find another player to step up and take some of that load.
I think I picked TCU to beat Oregon because I'm like she can do it.
She can fight through this match.
Oregon proved me wrong.
Mimi Collier had a great game.
It was a good team effort.
Yeah I agree and I had Oregon in my bracket so I was really happy about that.
I think I mixed them up I picked TCU for one and Oregon for one.
Oregon's got a tough one coming up against Pitt so we will see what happens.
Let's talk about Kentucky Minnesota.
We hadn't watched Kentucky play all year so I was really looking forward to see what they
were able to do.
We know Minnesota we know the faults and flaws that they have but Minnesota is one of those
teams where in the back of your mind you're always thinking man if they put it together
they're going to be really good.
So I was really looking forward to watching this match.
Kentucky absolutely destroyed Minnesota in the first set.
They are big.
Brooklyn DeLay showed up the middles started off really strong for Kentucky.
I think the offense was like really well balanced and again we say it every single week when
you run the middles early it kind of sets you up for success and it sets your outside
hitters up for success later on in the match.
They definitely did slow down a little bit in the second.
It was really interesting watching this match.
It kind of looked like Minnesota was disengaged in the first set and that was evident by the
score of 25-11 for Kentucky and I wasn't sure after that set if Minnesota was going to find
anything in this match.
I was surprised that they kind of figured it out and sets 2, 3, and 4 were kind of representative
of the match I expected when I saw that these teams were playing each other.
I was impressed at how balanced Kentucky's offense was especially like Jordan DeLay she
is young but she hit 563 on 16 swings.
Brooke Baltimore had 20 swings her percentage wasn't as high but like her energy was contagious
and she like really brought it and I liked to see that.
Brooklyn DeLay like she's been the go-to player for them all season.
And she delivered.
She did 18 kills on 45 swings 267 like decent night for sure.
Her spin serve is definitely hit or miss.
It's either an ace or an error and nothing in between here.
You can have a couple players like that when you have the rest of your team is relatively
consistent so I think they have a good balanced makeup but I'm not sure what's going to happen
for them after this round.
I thought for Minnesota Julia Hansen played pretty well.
I thought she was one of their best players.
Again I don't think anybody from Minnesota was good in the first set but after that she
scored she was fearless she was going after the block and Kentucky's a big team so I thought
she played well.
I mean typical that we always see with Minnesota they do not set their middles hardly at all.
We had 15 sets between the two of them for the entire match which is wild.
I mean Minnesota blocked well that is their strength we know that but as we also see a
lot with Minnesota when a team needs a point tip it usually in the middle of the court
and it will land.
So I think Kentucky was definitely prepared and I didn't see Minnesota do anything differently
than they normally do and they just don't seem to be firing on all cylinders as a team.
Yeah something definitely seemed off there.
There was a definite lack of eye contact between players.
There was very little you know togetherness and unity.
They're out of system setting also like aside from the intangible things.
The number of unhittable balls I saw it was unacceptable.
I definitely think Kentucky was the better team in that match and they deserved to win.
They looked more prepared they looked like they had more fight and they ran a really
balanced offense.
Based on what you guys know that I am not a Minnesota fan particularly this season so
given what we've been observing this season and where I thought they fit in the big picture
I think that this is exactly where they should have finished.
But again Kentucky is going to take on Missouri for an SEC battle in the regional semifinal
so we'll see what happens in that one.
Speaking of Missouri probably the biggest round two upset arguably was number seven
Missouri taking down the two seed in SMU 3-1.
I'm so mad about this because I picked Missouri as my dark horse team and then I didn't follow
through with my bracket picks.
I'm so upset at myself for this.
I'm so upset with Adam too because here we are talking big about Missouri for I don't
even know how long and then it comes to bracket time and I'm like oh my gosh Missouri and
SMU could match up I think I'm going to pick Missouri and what does this guy say?
He's a traitor is what he is he's like oh SMU is going to beat them for sure and I'm
like wait no we've been talking about how Missouri is so good like I really think that
they can win and this man convinced me to change my bracket pick it's unforgivable.
I'm so upset and the only reason I thought about that was because Missouri seemed to
peter a little bit towards the end of conference play and I just didn't know if they were going
to get it back and I should have trusted my gut and I didn't and I'm upset about it.
But speaking of connectedness and teamwork Missouri is that.
I loved watching them.
They were in it together.
You could tell they just had this fight this we are taking this eye contact you know attitude
swagger like that was a team on the court.
This match was so much fun to see because you had two teams that in my opinion don't
necessarily have a standout star so it was really team versus team and the sets for the
most part were close other than the second one and you saw these teams just scrapping
it out.
I loved watching this match.
So Nia Sheme for SMU I thought was outstanding.
I don't think I've seen so many clean kills in my life.
She was untouchable.
Like the defense was like just straight into the floor.
No block touch no defensive like just straight down.
She hit 487 on 39 swings 22 kills only three errors.
It was impressive to watch and I know I just mentioned there were no stars on the court
but she stepped up in this role and she was the reason it was close.
A hundred percent.
I thought Okamor blocked well.
I thought she was lacking offensively.
Foster usually relied upon for her serving.
To me it felt a little off and Tabron she was okay.
No she like made appearances sometimes and then she like went into a hole sometimes particularly
at the end of set three.
And I think her passing struggled.
SMU was up what was it 24 22 or 24 21 in set three.
Missouri side it out then proceeded to ace Tabron twice in a row and that is when we
kind of saw the back and forth happening and that the end of that third set was very exciting.
Well that set went to 33 31 and SMU kept their season alive by pulling that one out.
But that's that's what I'm mentioning about her just like going into a hole like she started
set one well she was scoring well and then she would just disappear and then she'd reemerge
and come back and then disappear as we saw at the end of set three and it just so she
was like pretty inconsistent in my opinion but then Natalie Perdue stepped up from the
service line then they kept her in offensively.
So they were trying to make adjustments but I think you know the person that kind of held
it together for me for SMU was Chame.
Oh hands down.
This match looking at the numbers was incredibly interesting because they were almost identical.
You have Missouri had 46 digs to 45.
You had the blocks were 12 to 10 and the difference in the match was the serving and Missouri
was relentless.
Both teams made 14 errors but Missouri had 11 aces to SMU's one.
That is a huge difference maker and it not only are the aces points straight out but
it just goes to show the serving pressure that Missouri was able to put on SMU throughout
the whole match.
11 to 14 is an impressive.
Like 11 aces to 14 errors that's an impressive ace to error ratio.
One to 14 and you're playing at home.
That's the kicker for me is you were playing at home.
Granted I believe they're at a neutral location.
They were at the Metroplex.
I don't know if that's like their home gym usually somebody tell me.
One ace to 14 errors.
Not the best.
I thought Michael Vernon was spectacular to watch.
She has got swagger.
She is dynamic.
She's got a little attitude on her which I love to see.
She hit 308 on 52 sets 23 kills and she led the way for them.
I will say their setter is probably the backbone of their team just from an attitude and a
driving force perspective.
But Vernon led the way in terms of their offense.
Gosh I just want to look at her and be like when you don't think and just jump and swing
you're unstoppable.
It's like sometimes she'll jump and you'll see her like kind of try to look for the blocker
defense or something and like delay her swing.
That's when she makes mistakes but when she just jumps and goes and doesn't like hitch
her arm it's like so much smoother to me and so much more effective.
She had periods where the hitch came in.
Yeah she was fun to watch.
It's interesting talking about her and we talked about the professional leagues.
For me watching her play she's going to have the ability to play at the next level if she
wants to but that hitch in her arm swing is going to be the difference between whether
she makes a successful pro or whether she struggles at that next level.
I think Jordan Iliff also played awesome aced SMU off the court.
She served outstanding.
She scored well.
So Vernon and Iliff kind of like held it together from an offensive perspective.
I think Janet Demere also showed up.
That was the best I think I've seen her play.
Yeah she's been like steady but I think that she played really well.
The thing I liked about this match was players were going for kills.
There wasn't a lot of play it safe.
Both teams were swinging to win and had that attitude of I want to score this point and
I love watching volleyball like that.
No tips, no play it safe.
The athletes put the game on the line and wanted to be set.
I thought this match was incredibly entertaining.
The margins were very small and you had players making plays and this was the epitome of college
sport to me.
You could see the passion the athletes had and were playing to go on to the next round.
This was probably my favorite match to watch this weekend.
Well and it goes back to what I said before is like watching these matches and this match
in particular it was we weren't looking at each other like what are they thinking or
what is going on here.
It was just like good volleyball.
Both teams were playing well.
Obviously there are dips and blips and errors that happen along the way but like this is
what you want to see from NCAA tournament time.
I said it before I rarely cheer for the underdog.
I want the higher seed teams to win because for any number of reasons we can get into
it another day.
But this was just fun to watch and I love and we talked about it while we were watching
more and more girls are getting that attitude and that swagger and that stare down and I
love it because when I was playing college it was frowned upon and I got in so much trouble
when I did it and like you're a bad sport.
No you're a competitor you're intense and I love seeing so many girls that play now
kind of have that intensity and that firepower behind them.
Vernon had a couple blocks where she backpedaled real slow off and I was loving it.
And so did Marina Crown over.
Like I love it.
Keep doing it.
Make them feel it.
Another match that we were very excited about when we saw the bracket was Florida versus
Kansas.
We were saying last week that based on Kansas' size they could potentially have trouble
dealing with Kennedy Martin.
And we also kind of had questions about if the left side that was matched up with Martin
would be effective offensively.
We know that Kansas relies heavily on a Bon Jo for their success but we were wondering
what was going to happen with Florida's outside hitters.
I really enjoyed watching this match and people athlete individual athletes team from both
sides I think exceeded my expectations.
I agree that this match was more than I expected from certain players.
I was very I don't want to say worried is the wrong word but I thought for Kansas Caroline
Bien was going to have to have a good match and I don't think I've ever seen her play
better.
She was outstanding.
I thought she was going to struggle offensively and she was probably the best attacker Kansas
had.
I would agree with that.
Until the end of the fifth set she became a different person.
She became a completely different attacker at the end of the fifth set when things became
real and things were on the line she tightened up.
She wasn't fully swinging.
She was half speeding.
You could tell she didn't want to make a mistake and I would just was like keep doing what
you were doing before.
Like it just oh my heart broke seeing that pressure get to her.
We also saw her watch several serves hit just behind her as she was passing.
I would say what at least five.
I was going to say five if my memory serves me correctly and the balls were not even close.
They were not even a follow a turn and watch.
It was like she was hoping they were going to be out of bounds.
It was your heart breaks for an athlete like that because she played so well.
She elevated her game she rose to the moment but just couldn't get it over the edge.
It's interesting because I thought Kennedy Martin played incredibly well but then you
saw her have that same fear in the fifth set but then she came out and she was able to
overcome that and she started swinging again.
That to me was a huge difference and it was really interesting to see the difference between
those two athletes and how they handled the moment.
Yeah Kennedy Martin I think had 10 kills in the first set alone.
She was blowing them up.
She hit the libero for Kansas one time in the shoulder and it looked like she was she
got shot.
The pace that she was hitting the ball and not even the pace it sounded different than
anybody else.
Like that is a heavy ball and you can just tell by the sound of it when it hits her hand.
It was very obvious that Kansas had not kind of dealt with that heat in big 12 play because
the first set they were just like getting pelted with balls and to their credit they
settled in and then they started controlling the digs a bit better.
They got a read on the game.
They knew how fast it was coming so they made a great defensive adjustment and Martin did
slow down.
Did you see her like starting to tip a little bit in questionable moments?
I also thought part of that was the setting.
There was stretches of inconsistencies where they were a little bit low and then she was
tipping so I think it was a combination of a little bit of nerves and a little bit of
not feeling in rhythm with the setter.
Fair and then but going back to what you were saying in the fifth set I will say that Martin
we sensed that she was feeling the pressure part way through.
Kansas or sorry Florida got out to a huge lead in the fifth they were up 5-1.
Then Kansas made a push back to tie it up and at that point you kind of saw Martin start
to play it safe.
She wasn't putting the full heat on the ball.
She was tipping some more and but to her credit when it came down to it at the end she re-found
that aggression and she scored points down that down the stretch at the end.
And you love to see an athlete figure it out because she's a junior I believe.
Sophomore.
She's a sophomore so she's young.
That experience is going to pay dividends for her although I do want to shout out the
Florida Libero who made an outstanding dig at 13-12 in that fifth set.
That was probably the play of the match for me.
Oh my gosh she kept it that she made two digs in that play.
The first one was spectacular.
She's a record setter at Florida for a reason.
I will say in set two Florida had no business losing that set.
They missed almost every serve.
It was insane.
They couldn't get a serve in set two.
And I was worried that was going to continue and that Kansas was going to win the next
three sets if they couldn't figure the serving out.
And somebody let me know because we've only seen Florida play a couple times and it was
the same thing happened in all the times we've watched Florida play.
They start the match with Taylor Park setting and as soon as they lose a set Stuckey comes
in to finish the match.
And we watched them play Missouri.
Park started.
They lost the first set to Missouri.
Stuckey came in.
This time Florida won the first set and lost the second.
Parks played both of those and then in the third Stuckey came in.
And so somebody tell me who has watched more Florida than we have.
It seems to me that they're trying to manage Alexis Stuckey for her injury and just see
how far Parks can get them in the match until they have to bring her in.
That's my only explanation.
But it's happened both times.
So somebody let us know.
And I can understand that in conference play.
But that is a bold move for tournament play to just assume that somebody can come off
the bench after two sets and run your offense and your hitters find rhythm.
I mean kudos to Alexis Stuckey for being able to do that and for the hitters.
But that seems like a huge gamble because she played and she played well.
You got a starter I think.
That'll be interesting to see what happens in the next rounds.
I will say the Florida left sides did step up.
They were question marks for me.
A.C.
Fitzpatrick was a blocking machine which she needed to be because I mean if you're anybody
playing Florida you don't want to continuously run your offense into Martin and August.
So obviously you would rather have A.C.
Fitzpatrick blocking you than those two.
She did her job blocking.
So that was great to see.
And then Isabel Martin scored very well.
Especially when Kennedy Martin kind of slowed down a little bit that's when she stepped
up and that is what Florida is going to need to see from her moving forward.
She was the question mark for me going into this match and she was what's called the key
to success.
If they could balance their offense at the pins Florida was going to be tough to beat
and I thought she was very good.
Donna Bon Jo for Kansas played well she showed up as she had to if Kansas wanted to even
have a chance.
El Nadi was El Nadi.
You get the same thing from her no matter where when or how she's playing.
But I thought London Davis needed to be a little bit better for them.
She only went 115.
She had 26 attempts but six errors and only nine kills.
For me she needed to score a few more points in those big moments and you mentioned Fitzpatrick.
She made the plays down the stretch that London Davis would have needed to make for Kansas
to win.
And I'm going to shout out Cameron Turner.
I've been very critical of her since we started this podcast.
She took a swing on two at like the most ballsy time and it was very well done.
She got pulled forward in the gap between two blockers and she unloaded on that ball.
I think it was like 13-12 or something.
And I don't think she had hit a ball.
She hadn't she was saving it up for that exact moment.
I think you and I just stopped and looked at each other and kudos.
That was awesome.
Again like another really fun match to watch.
High level of execution.
You saw some ups and downs from individual players during that match.
You saw ups and downs from Florida serving during that match.
Big plays were made when they needed to happen and players stepped up that we didn't expect.
So again this is what you want to see from at tournament time.
So our last match was probably the result that was the most surprising for me personally.
Apologies to you and I for thinking that Louisville was going to roll through this match 3-0.
I was very impressed.
It was you and I might have been the most fundamentally sound and consistent that I've
seen in these first two matches.
I think I said to you like triple digit times during that match.
Their fundamentals are so good.
It's the fundamentals.
They're so disciplined.
And you're like yeah I heard you the first 99 times you said that.
To me the thing I noticed that I haven't seen a ton of other teams do and granted we don't
always have the best angle to see this but their block position adjusted based on the
pass and the hitters that were in the front row very very well.
So they had a two man block up and solid on almost every play.
They made life for the Louisville outside hitters miserable.
They understood the assignment.
They played the percentages.
They did their homework.
They knew where the ball was going in different situations and honestly Louisville is one
of the best blocking teams in the country.
They kept up with them block for block until set four where Louisville kind of went off
for a while there.
They were head to head numbers wise blocking.
Not only from a total blocks number was UNI impressive.
The number of slowdowns and touches and good touches they got on Louisville's hitters was
incredibly impressive and doesn't show up on the stat sheet but was a huge difference
maker in this match.
Across the board I thought that I was impressed with their libero and especially in set one
like the control of the digs from UNI.
In front of the 10 foot line not too close to the net like they were in control of everything
they were doing.
The thing that shocked me most was when they were like oh yes she is the co libero of the
year.
Oh yes this player is the co player of the year.
I'm sorry who else is as good as these players in that conference because these athletes
were solid.
I still don't think we can give them enough credit.
Now fun fact as to maybe why they were so prepared for this match.
I believe the coach for UNI I believe her daughter plays for Louisville.
So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that she's probably watched every Louisville game
this season.
And she probably knows all the juice of what is going on in that team.
So I thought that was a cool little addition to that match.
The thing that really impressed me about UNI was how fearless their hitters were.
And I kept wondering you know when is the moment going to get here.
You don't play in necessarily the strongest conference.
You're smaller than Louisville.
You're less experienced.
And I kept thinking when are you going to tip the ball.
When are you going to take a swing off.
And they never did not until.
No they just never did.
They swung aggressively to score points against a bigger block all match.
I have a lot of respect for that.
Those hitters were as you said fearless.
Louisville put up a record number of blocks like the most blocks they've had in a match
since I want to say 2016 or something like that.
25 stuff blocks on the match.
They kept coming because they knew that that was what they had to do to win against a good
team.
You have to keep pushing.
You have to take it.
And a good team will score their points.
Louisville will get their blocks.
But they did not stop and they were varying up their attacks.
They were switching the angles.
You know Elena Scott got off to a great start defensively for Louisville.
Great outstanding digs.
It was wild.
Okay we're going to switch up the angle.
We're going to make a change.
And then another player was able to find rhythm.
They had a plan and they stuck to it and I was so impressed.
And then they had match point.
And we kept looking at each other like when is this moment going to become too much.
And it was when they had match point.
All of a sudden it became real.
All of a sudden it became we're going to win this match.
We can beat a number one seed.
They could not get a sermon.
They missed four serves on match point.
It was heartbreaking.
It was heartbreaking to watch.
Like they were so in it and fearless.
I keep saying that word but it just fits.
Well and the crazy thing to me was they would miss a serve and then they would have a fearless
swing and then they would miss a serve and they would go back and swing again.
It was almost as if those four seconds at the baseline just overwhelmed them in that
moment.
And that's where you saw the difference is because I mean set five went 22 20.
Louisville didn't miss a serve and it's wearing and that's the difference.
This Louisville has been there.
Louisville knows how to deal with that pressure and that scrutiny and you and I didn't.
And that was the difference is Louisville executed the things that they that were in
their complete control and quite frankly serving is the only thing in volleyball that is completely
in your control.
They took care of it and you and I didn't.
And I think the other thing that's interesting from a non volleyball perspective that maybe
some people don't think about is there is added pressure when you're a number one seed
and you're hosting the final four.
And I think we talked about this earlier with the team.
I think Louisville came in expecting this to be a little bit more of an easier match
than it was.
And you saw a little bit of a laissez faire attitude in the first set to their credit
and I think Anna De Beer helped bring them around.
They entered the dog fight and they showed up.
But you have to think about hey we're going to lose this match.
We're playing at home.
How embarrassing is the wrong word but we're hosting and we don't make it and all of those
factors play in and they were able to rise up and manage the moment in a very tough situation
because you and I was unconscious.
You and I was was quite balanced.
I was impressed with their middle their outsides their right side.
Louisville's middles blocked well.
They were not effective offensively in my opinion.
I didn't think the Louisville right sides showed up in the way they had to offensively.
Charity Looper and Anna De Beer, Alaina Scott those three held it together for Louisville.
But I think moving forward they're going to need to figure this out.
Like they're not going to have a walk in the park with Purdue anytime.
But if their middles and right sides are not scoring consistently it's going to be a struggle.
And you know to Anna De Beer's credit Louisville was down 14-12.
She had a fearless swing.
She had a got a block like she got them back in the game.
And that's like we've seen that from her more than more than a few times now.
Like it's it's not a fluke.
So she is definitely that player for them.
You know Alaina Scott outstanding defensively.
Great set her setting.
I say it every time I watch them.
Charity tell us was she a setter in club or something because.
Her location is incredible.
Very accurate very hittable.
Always putting her hitters in a position to swing when they're out of system.
It's fun to watch.
So yeah Louisville's blocking very good.
The outsides Alaina Scott solid.
But they're going to need more from their middles and right sides in the next rounds.
I hope you guys had as much fun as we did watching round two.
Wow.
I know I was getting a lot of comments on Instagram asking what we're watching.
So I know that you guys were into it as well.
So it's going to be very very fun to see how the regional semifinals play out this week.
So we had a few questions come in this week as people have been watching matches and really
involved in the NCAA tournament.
And so we wanted to address a few of those and maybe give some background information
for people who don't necessarily know all the terms or all the things they're hearing
while they're watching the broadcast.
So one question that came in that I think is very important to address especially if
you're watching more volleyball is what is the difference between a 6 2 and a 5 1 and
broadcasters and announcers use these terms all the time.
And if you're not sure what they mean it can obviously be very confusing because they are
used frequently.
So 6 2 5 1 is the system that a particular team is running.
And so the first number that you hear refers to the number of hitters that a team uses
and the second number refers to the number of setters they use.
So if a team is running a 6 2 it means that they have six players that they use as attackers
and they have two players that they use as setters.
Practically what that looks like is the setters will play the rotations in the back row.
So if the setter starts in one they'll play three rotations when they rotate to the front
they'll do the teams will do a double sub where a right side will come in and play in
the front row and then the right side that rotated back will come out for the next setter.
So your setters are only playing three rotations and they're always setting from the back.
When you hear 5 1 that means that a team has utilizes five hitters and one setter.
So in this scenario you see the setter play all six rotations so obviously when the setters
in the front row they're not attacking.
So of the players on the court five of them are hitting and one is setting which is why
when the setters in the front row two people are hitting when the setters in the back row
three people are hitting.
So hopefully that clears that up a little bit.
The next question we got was why do players tip so much even if the set isn't bad.
This is a great question and I think there are several possible options.
One of them we talked about is certain players don't love to make mistakes and so when they
find themselves in a situation that's uncomfortable or they have a big block in front of them
instead of swinging and being aggressive they will tip to keep the rally going in order
to not make a mistake and see if they can continue the rally.
The other reason people tip is if there is something that the team has identified as
a defensive weakness of their opponent.
So if a team plays defense on the perimeter where all of their back row players are kind
of on the outside of the court you'll see teams attack the middle of the court with
a tip in an effort to score.
You might also see a player tip to the setter to try and take them out of the rally or force
an out of system set and that can also be a strategic play when you don't necessarily
have a kill swing in front of you.
The last question we're going to answer is what is the purpose of a short serve if it
doesn't seem to disrupt anything.
I love this question.
So there are numerous reasons why a team would utilize a short serve.
The first one would be to disrupt attacking routes.
So in many rotations you'll see the middle and an outside hitter kind of clumped together
and middles have to like typically run across the whole court if they're running behind
the setter.
And so if you're serving short you are kind of trying to disrupt their timing to not be
able to run their route smoothly.
Another option would be to make life difficult for a player who has to serve receive and
then attack.
So if they have to run up to pass a short ball it becomes more difficult for them to
get outside and get a nice strong approach.
So you're trying even if the pass may be perfect and even if it looks like a team is still
in system teams are trying to limit options.
So if a team typically has three attackers by making life difficult for their outside
hitter they can focus on the other hitters and it just really helps limit all the things
that a block in defense have to look at.
Another option and the final thing I'll talk about is a team might choose to do this to
just disrupt passing rhythm.
If you're seeing the same type of serve all match it's really easy to get into a rhythm
and then it's very straightforward to deliver perfect passes.
If you're forced to run forward and then they might serve deep again like now you're unsure
and you're on your toes and you're less steady with what is coming at you and we saw this
actually in set four in the Louisville and Northern Iowa match.
Louisville started serving short in set four and you and I who had been passing very well
all match all of a sudden started passing off the net because Louisville was forcing
them to move forward and backward in that scenario.
So hopefully those answers help clear things up for you guys.
We love getting your questions so please be sure to keep them coming.
We had a great week of volleyball this week and it's only going to get better from here.
We're going to have high level matches Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
There's going to be a lot to watch and it's going to be super exciting.
So a couple of the matches that Sarah and I are looking forward to on Thursday we have
Kentucky and Missouri.
I'm not going to pick a winner on that one because I'm not going to bet against Missouri
but I think Kentucky is playing really well so that one's going to be fun to watch.
And then after the Florida Stanford match probably around 930 or 10 o'clock p.m. Eastern
time we're going to see Louisville Purdue which I think is going to be a great game.
And then on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern we have Creighton and Texas facing off in the state
college regional semifinal and that's also on ESPN too.
This match is going to potentially be I would say a passing of the baton as Creighton has
had an exceptional season.
Texas won the last two titles.
It'll be interesting to see the dynamics which team shows up, whether Creighton can rise
to the occasion.
That's going to be a fun one.
I'm just going to say my first two rounds of my bracket were a bloodbath but my picks
for the Elite Eight are still alive so I've got a lot kind of riding on these regional
semifinal matches because man I am low in the ranks in the volley talk bracket challenges.
Even though I tried to make some sneaky picks I shouldn't have.
What was I thinking?
Anyway obviously Saturday and Sunday are the regional finals.
Pittsburgh and Louisville regionals are happening on Saturday.
Both of those matches are on ESPN too.
The Lincoln and State College regionals are on Sunday.
The Lincoln regionals being shown on ABC and the State College regionals being shown on
ESPN.
Now obviously all of these matches in the regional semifinals have the potential to
be outstanding but the ones that Adam highlighted are the ones that we are particularly looking
forward to and that we think have great potential.
As of the time of the final match there is a high likelihood that next week's episode
is going to be released on Tuesday morning or potentially later in the day on Monday
so if your download doesn't show up first thing Monday morning that is why.
It might be impossible for us to get this recorded to get it out to you Monday morning.
And you know we're not going to skip a match.
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 updates and we'd be so grateful if you
would leave us a five star review.
You can also find us on Instagram at VolleyTalk underscore podcast.
If you have a topic that you want us to discuss be sure to let us know by reaching out to
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Thank you so much for joining us and we'll be back next week.