1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,880 Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to Volley Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:10,000 who want to dig deep into what is going on in NCAA and international volleyball. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,120 I'm your host Sarah Pavin, I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball world champion, former Nebraska 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,520 Cornhusker, and longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,040 And I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international volleyball coach, and the show's 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,600 resident stat guy. 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,040 Happy New Year everybody! 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,160 We hope year 2025 is off to a great start. 9 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:38,880 This is obviously our first episode of the new year and it is time for us to shift our 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:47,000 focus a little bit from NCAA women's volleyball to love, PVF, big happenings in other pro 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,220 leagues around the world, and NCAA men's volleyball. 12 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:57,920 So it was a very exciting week this week as love kicked off its inaugural season, PVF 13 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:06,240 began their second season, the transfer portal has been popping still, and the NCAA men's 14 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,280 preseason is underway. 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:26,760 So we have a lot of fun stuff to discuss today, so let's get started. 16 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:35,200 We are starting out our traditional weekly highlight segment with transfer portal updates 17 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,200 this week, a lot has happened. 18 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:44,600 We also had quite a few comments and opinions on our last episode when we dove into the 19 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,480 transfer portal, and some of them I'd like to address and discuss a little bit more. 20 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,400 Yes, so what were they Adam? 21 00:01:53,400 --> 00:02:00,640 So one of the common themes that we didn't discuss was about money being a big factor 22 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:05,000 for athletes transferring, and totally correct. 23 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,560 Athletes are leaving for really good sums of money, you know it's something that we 24 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:16,660 didn't want to address primarily because we didn't have any concrete information. 25 00:02:16,660 --> 00:02:20,200 Quite frankly it's not always on the top of our mind because that wasn't our college 26 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:21,200 experience. 27 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,960 In the meantime we have done a little digging, it's a very accurate statement. 28 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:30,560 There are very large sums of money being thrown around to athletes who have to make decisions 29 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:35,880 about staying with their team or securing their financial future, and it is definitely 30 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:41,200 playing a role in decisions, and yeah we just wanted to acknowledge that and there were 31 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,300 a lot of really good points around that. 32 00:02:43,300 --> 00:02:48,840 So thanks to all of you who shared that with us again, yeah we missed that. 33 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,060 So thanks for bringing it up, it's a valid point. 34 00:02:52,060 --> 00:02:55,560 So that kind of leads into our first transfer. 35 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,720 Tori Stafford is heading to Texas. 36 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,840 I want to say like two minutes after it was posted that she was entering the portal I 37 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:12,040 got tagged in a message on Instagram with somebody being like, look at this, and I have 38 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:13,960 to admit I was unwell. 39 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,320 Like this rattled me for a couple days, you guys. 40 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:19,160 I was not okay with this. 41 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:26,640 I mean I agree and this was one of the ones there were rumored big money around this deal. 42 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:31,720 You know initially there were thoughts around Babcock going to play pro and the coach leaving, 43 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,600 none of which appears to be true, and you know Tori Stafford came out and said I want 44 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,620 to be close to home, I'm feeling a little homesick. 45 00:03:39,620 --> 00:03:45,340 You know at this point, and I get it's not going to be a popular decision with her teammates, 46 00:03:45,340 --> 00:03:50,040 if you're going to do it and you're going to chase the payday, which is totally her 47 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,400 right, own up to it and do it. 48 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,800 Just like let's call it what it is. 49 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,480 Homesick, you're not going home. 50 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,400 So I was rattled when she announced it and I was even more rattled but not shocked at 51 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:09,100 all when it was Texas because if you remember last episode I was like so surprised that 52 00:04:09,100 --> 00:04:12,120 Texas hadn't picked up more players and I was like just wait. 53 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:17,920 They wait for the blue chip athletes to enter the portal and they snag them, shocker. 54 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:19,960 Tori Stafford it is everybody. 55 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:24,460 Rumor has it Texas didn't even give her the highest offer. 56 00:04:24,460 --> 00:04:29,400 There were schools that gave her higher offers than Texas but Texas is the choice. 57 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,980 So great pickup for Texas after losing Skinner. 58 00:04:33,980 --> 00:04:38,080 So that breaks my heart, I can't believe it, I can't think about it. 59 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,040 That one hurt me. 60 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,640 They win the transfer portal this year for sure. 61 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,920 One of the other things that came up in the comments around transfer portal was athletes 62 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:53,440 taking a little bit of ownership back about their careers and my personal opinion about 63 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,720 this is that is true and the athletes should have the ability to make their decisions. 64 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:04,360 I think some of the comments that we talked about was lamenting the fact that college 65 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:08,640 sports has become professional and a business at that point. 66 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:16,880 That's the reality of it and when we talk about loyalty and lessons and building as 67 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:23,680 a team those to me were the skills that we learned as a transition athlete from high 68 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:29,040 school to professional and it wasn't about, our comments weren't about disempowering 69 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,840 the athletes or them having no control over what they want. 70 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:39,480 Both of us had very positive experiences in college dealing with hard situations, succeeding 71 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,840 through tough lessons and tough situations and coming out on the other side. 72 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:49,520 Now that's not always everybody's experience and people should never stay in bad situations 73 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:59,460 but we both do lament the loss of that pure athletic pursuit because it really is very 74 00:05:59,460 --> 00:06:01,400 professional at this point. 75 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:07,900 But we also were told about Avery Carlson's situation in Texas which we did appreciate 76 00:06:07,900 --> 00:06:10,080 that info as well. 77 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,960 Apparently when she won the starting spot she was getting hate messages from Texas fans 78 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,560 even when the team was winning. 79 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:23,120 So in that scenario I know I was critical of her now entering her third program but 80 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:29,520 that is one of the situations we talked about where it's like okay, yes this is like making 81 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,600 you mentally unwell like it is fair. 82 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,600 But speaking of her she is heading to SMU. 83 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:42,240 So SMU has now picked up six portal athletes and we already know my feeling about that. 84 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:48,920 Lourdes Meyer from Purdue has committed to Minnesota and Flormarie Heredia Colon from 85 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:54,220 Miami is heading to Florida which good pickup for them I think a good compliment to Kennedy 86 00:06:54,220 --> 00:06:55,620 Martin. 87 00:06:55,620 --> 00:07:00,240 And another fun fact that I was looking at is Arizona State has now picked up five players 88 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,240 from the portal but they only lost one. 89 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:10,560 So they are another program that is like consistently poaching from the portal year after year. 90 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:16,120 So I'm curious to see if more of their players enter the portal in the second phase now that 91 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:17,520 they've brought so many players in. 92 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,620 It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic works out moving into the spring season. 93 00:07:21,620 --> 00:07:25,620 So there was a lot of talk about what was going to happen in the women's program now 94 00:07:25,620 --> 00:07:29,800 that Karch had moved over to the men's side and we have an answer. 95 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:35,240 Eric Sullivan was named the USA national team women's head coach. 96 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,000 He's been an associate at Texas for the last 14 years. 97 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,080 He was selected because of his reputation as a master of defensive systems, his ability 98 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:50,360 to develop top tier talent and the experience in high pressure environments. 99 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:56,600 He was a two time Olympian as a player in 2000 and 2004 and a team leader for the USA 100 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,880 men's team at the last three Olympics. 101 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:00,880 So I think that's a really good hire. 102 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,840 You want to keep somebody who has that experience who's been in the system. 103 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:11,000 I do believe that Dan Fisher was in the conversation but given his international experience and 104 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,200 where he's been I think that that's a smart choice. 105 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,760 I like that hire actually. 106 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:19,840 I think it's a great choice. 107 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:26,960 He's been a part of the system since his days as an athlete and I mean everything that was 108 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:32,480 highlighted on the website as to why he was selected. 109 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:34,320 You can't disagree with it. 110 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:39,920 But I also think like the women's team has like such a foundation of excellence and they've 111 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:44,360 really worked on developing that solid culture especially with Karch. 112 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:51,480 And so I think like that's a perfect transition because I think that he will embody those 113 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,760 values that the team has. 114 00:08:54,760 --> 00:09:01,920 I also think given that the Olympics are in LA in 2028 both programs have been relatively 115 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,840 successful pressure is going to be high. 116 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:10,960 I think bringing somebody in who hasn't done the cycles or been a part of that that's a 117 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:16,720 lot of pressure and a little probably a little bit too much of an unknown for USA volleyball 118 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,800 going into that highly tattered Olympics. 119 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:26,680 Oh absolutely and the international game and the planning the strategy all of that like 120 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:31,800 it is a hundred percent different than the college game where there's such an emphasis 121 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,600 put on recruiting and things like that. 122 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:37,480 So I'm excited about that pick. 123 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:38,480 I think it's great. 124 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,440 Yeah I was a little shocked. 125 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:46,480 I didn't pay close attention to it but I looking at it from the lens now I think it's a really 126 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:47,480 good hire. 127 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:55,120 We also had the love debut and the beginning of PVF season two this week. 128 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:02,600 So in the first match in love pro history Salt Lake City defeated Atlanta 3-1. 129 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:07,520 This game was actually played at the Gateway Center Arena which is the same venue used 130 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:10,160 by the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. 131 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:15,840 So for basketball games that typically it has a capacity of 3,500 people and it was 132 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,280 posted that the love attendance was around 3,300. 133 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:21,560 So pretty close to selling out the venue. 134 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:22,560 Good crowd. 135 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:24,440 Pretty good for that venue. 136 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:30,880 In the weekend with love series Houston beat Austin 3-2 in a reverse sweep. 137 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:36,180 Austin beat Madison 3-0 and Omaha beat Houston 3-0. 138 00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:38,960 We also had the PVF season openers. 139 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,280 Orlando beat San Diego 3-0. 140 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:47,280 Vegas beat Grand Rapids 3-2 at home and then Omaha did the same thing to Atlanta. 141 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:52,040 Our final highlight of the week is NCAA men's volleyball. 142 00:10:52,040 --> 00:11:00,440 So the AVCA preseason poll came out December 30th and it had UCLA at number one, Long Beach 143 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:08,320 State at two, UC Irvine was three, Hawaii at four and Ball State was five. 144 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:15,000 The next poll is coming out January 13th which is obviously different than the women's poll 145 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,760 because there's way fewer teams. 146 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:23,160 But the preseason began at the very beginning of January and this week in particular there 147 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,760 were a couple interesting matches that happened. 148 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:34,760 Number 12 Loyola Chicago beat number eight Penn State 3-1 and number five Ball State 149 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:40,200 handled number 13 Stanford 3-0 on Friday. 150 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:45,520 So we're seeing teams play like back to backs and things like that so it's really interesting 151 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:49,660 how they're all mixing it up but I personally thought that those two matches were particularly 152 00:11:49,660 --> 00:11:50,800 interesting. 153 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:57,900 So so much volleyball to be played, so much transfer portal drama as always so it's a 154 00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:01,040 spicy start to 2025. 155 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:06,760 This episode we kind of did a love PVF preview and we're asking a lot of questions and we 156 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,400 got those questions answered. 157 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:14,480 And now having watched some matches we also have some answers but I wanted to give a huge 158 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:20,200 shout out to one of our listeners named Rudy who gave us an in-depth rundown of both leagues. 159 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,320 The info was outstanding. 160 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:28,200 We're going to do a little comparison of love and PVF to give like the overview of each 161 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:29,360 league. 162 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,480 And I'm assuming that we will continue to learn about each league as we watch a little 163 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,060 bit more and go through. 164 00:12:35,060 --> 00:12:39,480 So as we pick up more tidbits of information we'll also share that with you but this is 165 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:41,040 what we have so far. 166 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:45,560 Some questions have been thrown around as to why the certain locations were selected. 167 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:51,640 I do know for love they picked the cities they did because they were the biggest youth 168 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:56,280 volleyball and club volleyball markets in the US. 169 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,200 So it might be confusing why Austin and Houston each have a team. 170 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:05,280 Both of those cities have massive club volleyball presences and so they selected the cities 171 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:06,720 based on that. 172 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,960 For the PVF I don't think it was as deliberate. 173 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:14,720 I obviously think they picked cities based on where there's a huge volleyball following 174 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,640 but I don't think it was as specific as love was in their market research. 175 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,880 So as far as the scheduling goes PVF has eight teams. 176 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:29,080 Each team plays each of the other teams four times two times at home two times away. 177 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:34,280 That's a total of one hundred and twelve regular season matches and then there's a four team 178 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,620 single elimination playoff. 179 00:13:36,620 --> 00:13:43,320 So each team will play 14 home matches and most matches last season ended up drawing 180 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,840 like four to six thousand people by the end of the season. 181 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:53,060 Love however has six teams and each week there's one head to head match and then the weekend 182 00:13:53,060 --> 00:13:59,720 with love series featuring three matches between the four other teams. 183 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:01,480 If it sounds confusing it's because it is. 184 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,840 So this format rotates among each city and I know we touched on this last episode but 185 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:13,000 just to reiterate that is a total of 48 regular season matches and each team will play six 186 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,000 home matches. 187 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,440 So there's also a midseason tournament in February and a playoff tournament at the end 188 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:19,440 of the season. 189 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,240 I'm not a huge fan of the love format. 190 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:28,920 I prefer the traditional format that we see with PVF and typically overseas you'll see 191 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,120 teams play one match a week. 192 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,960 The PVF format is a little different because a couple teams are playing two matches in 193 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:40,380 a weekend because obviously the season timeline is much much shorter than you see in Europe. 194 00:14:40,380 --> 00:14:44,340 But I'm not a huge fan of the love system particularly when you're bringing four teams 195 00:14:44,340 --> 00:14:47,680 to a place and a couple of those teams are only playing one match. 196 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:54,000 It's like I don't know not to mention the limited number of home matches but that is 197 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,080 the difference between the schedule. 198 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,840 That decision seemed really interesting to me because I think you're going to have people 199 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:06,640 struggle to identify with their home team because they're not playing there very often 200 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:11,840 and we'll talk about the branding later on but I'm really curious to see how that pans 201 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:12,840 out. 202 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:15,900 Let's talk about the look and design of both of those. 203 00:15:15,900 --> 00:15:17,960 So now we've watched a couple matches of each. 204 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,000 We've seen the presentation. 205 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,700 PVF has a very individual team design. 206 00:15:24,700 --> 00:15:28,440 You get a feeling that the team is created unto itself. 207 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,440 They are trying to win and nothing else matters. 208 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:33,440 They're playing in a league. 209 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,320 It's a very kind of NFL, NBA, baseball feel to it. 210 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:40,040 They talk about the general managers. 211 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:41,520 They're talking about the draft. 212 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,880 They're talking about trading players. 213 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,960 It feels very professional sport. 214 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,640 Well, they all have completely unique uniforms. 215 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:56,360 They have their own unique team name, a really cool logo. 216 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:02,600 Everything is very specific to each team and I like that a lot. 217 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:09,720 It allows you to connect with a team or a coach or a player on a team and have some 218 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,560 affinity to that group of athletes. 219 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:18,400 I think that that's really important and one of the keys in why people watch sport. 220 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:24,880 If we look at love, there's not really any individuals that are being prioritized. 221 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:29,720 I mean that both as athletes other than the founding athletes, but the teams as well. 222 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:35,080 Everything that we've seen so far in the pro section is about the love brand. 223 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,280 They all have very similar uniforms. 224 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:43,100 All of their logos represent the city they play for, but they're all kind of the same. 225 00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:48,980 It's really hard when you watch to actually tell the teams apart on TV and the players 226 00:16:48,980 --> 00:16:52,540 names on the jerseys are really small and below the hair. 227 00:16:52,540 --> 00:16:59,280 It's really hard to kind of get into a team and it almost felt watching this week like 228 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:04,580 it was a scrimmage or a friendly match. 229 00:17:04,580 --> 00:17:07,720 Just not to take away from the level or how it happened. 230 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,640 It just that was kind of the atmosphere that I got watching it on TV. 231 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,600 Yeah, I don't like that the uniforms are the exact same. 232 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:21,160 The only thing that changes is like an accent color and maybe a sponsor name on the front, 233 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:28,600 but like even the court is completely love branded and the big love brand sponsors. 234 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:33,940 Whereas you watch the PVF and it's like the team's sponsors are all over the court. 235 00:17:33,940 --> 00:17:39,240 So yeah, and the small names on the jersey like no, I didn't like that. 236 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:40,240 Yeah, I agree. 237 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,520 It was very and again on the men sometimes you can get away with that because the hair 238 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:44,560 is not in the way. 239 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,080 Almost every woman's ponytail block their name. 240 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,680 So if you didn't know who the player was, it was very hard to figure out who they were. 241 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:55,480 And finally, let's compare the general brand love. 242 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,840 It is very clear is all about the pathway from club to college to pro and being able 243 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:06,240 to keep that accessible to girls all over the country for the entirety of their career 244 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,120 so that they always have a place to play. 245 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:16,240 PVF seems more autonomous and more of a standalone league. 246 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:21,040 You don't really see as much of the crossover to the club or youth. 247 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:26,160 Obviously they do community engagement, but it's not as at the forefront or like what 248 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,800 the mission is like it is for love. 249 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,640 I honestly think love is winning in the TV department. 250 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,640 I mean without seeing the numbers, I would agree with you. 251 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:41,240 And it's just like way easier to find like ESPN ESPN plus versus like Fox Sports 2 or 252 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,480 like YouTube. 253 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,440 One match on volleyball world TV. 254 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,560 So I liked the accessibility of the love games. 255 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:56,960 This love as I mentioned earlier, the love sponsors seem to be league and brand wide 256 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,320 instead of specific to the individual teams. 257 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:06,980 So one of the interesting things watching the two separate leagues this week is love 258 00:19:06,980 --> 00:19:12,120 was all about their mission as a league and as a brand. 259 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:16,960 Every time something happened on the court or there was a play, it came back to a founding 260 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,840 athlete or the athletes playing at home or you know how many kids they're having the 261 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,400 stands and the athletes connecting with them. 262 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:25,600 All of which is great. 263 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,040 I actually personally love the love mission. 264 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,880 I think it's a very worthy approach to sport and a holistic view. 265 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:35,280 I'm all for it. 266 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:42,300 When I'm watching the pros play, I personally want to watch the volleyball. 267 00:19:42,300 --> 00:19:45,440 I want to hear the analysis of what's going on. 268 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:50,760 I want to hear about the decisions about the match I'm watching. 269 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:56,880 And for me that was lacking in the broadcast and I understand it's week one. 270 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,920 I understand they're bringing their brand to the world. 271 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:01,920 I get that. 272 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:08,680 I hope that it becomes less as they continue playing and that their professional broadcasts 273 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:13,520 lean more into the volleyball and less into the mission and the background of the company. 274 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:14,520 I agree. 275 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,920 I mean it's clear also that love is trying to position itself among the top leagues in 276 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,720 the world like the number of times we heard like oh the top players in the world are playing 277 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:24,720 here. 278 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:29,880 It's like well they're yeah sure there are a couple but like let's let's be honest. 279 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:34,880 But they kept pushing that narrative too about how like the best players are playing here. 280 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,560 So I think that is definitely their long-term goal. 281 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:40,220 Which is totally fair. 282 00:20:40,220 --> 00:20:42,760 But you don't get that messaging at all from PVF. 283 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,240 It was strictly about just the volleyball. 284 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:46,240 Correct. 285 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:50,520 Well from what we've seen so far the love level of play is much higher. 286 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,920 For me PVF seemed like an extension of college volleyball. 287 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:56,320 They delivered a great product. 288 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:57,640 It was entertaining to watch. 289 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:03,320 I enjoyed hearing the analysis that was missing from the love broadcasts. 290 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,580 But you cannot compare the level. 291 00:21:05,580 --> 00:21:12,800 I mean and I think for me one of the biggest pieces of that was across the board love seems 292 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:18,440 to have experienced international setters which I think makes a really big difference. 293 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,040 They're able to push the pace. 294 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,240 We'll talk about this a little more in the game analysis. 295 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:28,440 But I think getting those top and setters along with really credible international coaches 296 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,520 is going to help continue to push that level and you saw that in the first week of competition. 297 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:37,200 And I mean the final thing to touch on here that love is very transparent about is how 298 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,920 they are providing health insurance and maternity leave to their athletes. 299 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:48,120 Which honestly in professional volleyball around the world maternity leave is not a thing. 300 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:49,880 It's just like you're having a kid. 301 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:50,880 Good luck. 302 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:52,560 Hopefully you can come back. 303 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:57,360 The health insurance like clubs do purchase health insurance for their athletes when they're 304 00:21:57,360 --> 00:21:58,360 overseas. 305 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:03,240 Obviously the American system is different than the systems we see around the world. 306 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:11,280 But the love mission is very focused on female empowerment and giving women the choice and 307 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,200 the opportunity to pursue whatever they want. 308 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:21,380 And I think that that is a very noble mission especially because it's been so lacking for 309 00:22:21,380 --> 00:22:22,620 so long. 310 00:22:22,620 --> 00:22:23,880 So that's really cool. 311 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:30,000 And I want to end this section by saying I am wholeheartedly on board with the love mission 312 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,440 and the end goal of what they're doing. 313 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:32,720 I think it's amazing. 314 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:40,440 I hope that once they kind of get that messaging out there that we transition into focusing 315 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:46,480 on the volleyball because it could be very, very good in the future and it could be its 316 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,400 own standalone product. 317 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:49,400 All right. 318 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,120 We are going to get into our feature matches of the week. 319 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:58,260 The first feature match is love Houston versus Austin. 320 00:22:58,260 --> 00:23:00,660 What are your initial takeaways? 321 00:23:00,660 --> 00:23:03,080 Not even takeaways but just like thoughts. 322 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,840 I really enjoyed watching the game. 323 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:13,400 I thought that both Merzik and Skinner were very good which was really good to see. 324 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,680 We kind of talked about how Merzik's game would transition to a pro level and we talked 325 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:22,240 about her ability to find the block and how we thought that that would be a skill that 326 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,380 would come in handy when she started playing pro. 327 00:23:26,380 --> 00:23:28,840 And let me tell you she's still finding fingernails. 328 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:30,560 Wow. 329 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:36,040 It was impressive to watch and I really enjoyed the match overall. 330 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:37,320 It was very close. 331 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:38,680 It was very competitive. 332 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,560 Yeah, very positive. 333 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:41,560 I enjoyed it. 334 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:48,760 I was unsure of how Jess Merzik would transition to a higher level of play and based on what 335 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,720 I saw in that match, I shouldn't have doubted her. 336 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,320 Obviously, it's the very beginning of her career. 337 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:03,800 I don't know what will happen but for where she's at right now, I was very impressed. 338 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,040 In the NCAA season, we talked about how she tends to start a little slow. 339 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,880 That was the case this match as well, ladies and gentlemen. 340 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:16,520 She got blocked several times early, got taken out in set one but re-entered the match and 341 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,780 honestly was their best player I thought. 342 00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:22,600 Very consistent. 343 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,000 Great blocking. 344 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,840 Picked up some great balls on defense. 345 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:27,840 Found the fingertips. 346 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,240 We were like, okay, she's very good at this. 347 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,720 Yeah, I think she won player of the game and I think it was well deserved. 348 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,060 She was very good and she didn't miss a beat. 349 00:24:37,060 --> 00:24:40,880 I was also going to say you have to remember that these college players who came in got 350 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:45,200 probably two weeks of training with their teams, with their setters. 351 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,880 And so for her to come in and to find that offensive rhythm that quickly in the match 352 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,800 was kudos to both of them. 353 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,200 Skinner was very good as well. 354 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:59,000 I was pretty confident that Skinner would transition well to a higher level of play. 355 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:04,040 I was surprised that they switched her to the opposite. 356 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,560 What do you think of that move? 357 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,600 Oh, I think it's a strictly ball handling decision. 358 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:15,560 I think the left sides that they have in the two that they chose to start in Janari and 359 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:20,120 Hawk, I think they are much better passers than Skinner. 360 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:27,760 So I personally think it was a ball handling decision and like let's just have Maddie score 361 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,200 and just focus on scoring points. 362 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,200 I think it was a good move. 363 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,760 I honestly was surprised that Hawk was starting for them. 364 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,480 I wasn't shocked to see Janari. 365 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,000 She's got a ton of experience. 366 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,040 She's an outstanding player. 367 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,240 The Hawk decision I was a little surprised about. 368 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,680 I don't know who I expected to play instead of her. 369 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,960 Maybe Eggleston. 370 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,880 But again from a passing perspective it was a good choice. 371 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,120 Well we ended up with pretty much all Texas roster in the fifth set. 372 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,600 So that was kind of fun to see and I think a cool storyline for Love. 373 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:09,000 Looking at the match overall it seemed to be a game of giving up leads. 374 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,160 Oh my goodness. 375 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:12,160 Literally every set. 376 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:13,880 Yeah, it was really interesting. 377 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:23,400 So the first two sets Houston was up big after 20 and Austin came back to win both of those 378 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:29,080 and I thought Austin had a massive lead in the third set that they were going to sweep 379 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:30,680 in three. 380 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,840 But the team who was winning late in the match did not win the sets. 381 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:40,200 Austin also gave up an 11-6 lead in the fifth set which is mind blowing. 382 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,760 It was like 10-4 at one point. 383 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:44,560 It was insane. 384 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,640 Every like literally every single set whoever had a big lead lost the set. 385 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,960 A question I had for you was who do you think won the setting battle? 386 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:58,400 I think overall Micah Hancock won the setting battle. 387 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,320 I think she delivered some good balls. 388 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,320 I think she ran a solid offense. 389 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:05,880 My critique of her is that she didn't. 390 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,640 I don't think she ran the middle enough. 391 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,120 Particularly Raffaella Foley. 392 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:14,680 I think Foley is an experienced middle. 393 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:19,320 She's a great attacker and Hancock was not running the middle at all. 394 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,700 She basically was only setting Mirzik and Jordan Thompson. 395 00:27:23,700 --> 00:27:30,480 She was also winning on to crunch time particularly in sets one and two when Houston had the lead. 396 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,080 She made some terrible sets like almost unhittable. 397 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,360 But then on the same side I think the setting in general was a little inconsistent. 398 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:42,320 I just think Micah Hancock was we saw her inconsistency near the end of sets. 399 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:49,240 Yeah she was really good up until 20 and then I agree some of the executions seemed to drop 400 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:50,240 off. 401 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:55,400 That was also exacerbated by the fact that Thompson could not score at the end of sets. 402 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:01,080 I believe she went 0-7 on set points when she was attacking. 403 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,080 A lot of tips. 404 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,160 She got blocked. 405 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,700 It was crazy to see because other than that she was very good. 406 00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:11,920 So many tips and so many sets over. 407 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:17,600 And I will say when they found themselves in that position she was stuck on the left 408 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:25,680 side which she's not a left side attacker but you'd think she'd find a way. 409 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:32,720 And I was just stunned at how she was not able to put the ball down in crunch time. 410 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:37,280 Yeah it was like you said her efficiency on the left side was a stark difference from 411 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:43,960 her efficiency on the right side and they always got stuck in that rotation one late. 412 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:48,960 And it'll be interesting to see how they address that issue moving forward because it was a 413 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:49,960 problem. 414 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:57,120 I did like when they did the double sub the finish setter ran the middle a lot. 415 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,360 And the announcers were very critical of running the middle because they're like you've got 416 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:06,080 a bug up there like why do you keep setting she's such a good blocker. 417 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:12,620 And it's like sometimes it's not even about scoring the point it's about creating some 418 00:29:12,620 --> 00:29:18,480 confusion or making them think a little bit longer so that the outside hitters don't have 419 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,840 a wall in front of them. 420 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:26,200 And I really appreciated how the finish setter came in and ran the middle consistently whenever 421 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,600 she had that chance. 422 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:37,280 I do think Hancock saved them at the end of set four and set five with her serving wowee. 423 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,760 That lefty five to five serve is a killer. 424 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:46,160 If you're a lefty out there and you want to spin serve even if you've got it is such a 425 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,720 messed up angle for the passers. 426 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:53,400 It just visually is so strange and the ball spins in a different way than they expect 427 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,000 like use that. 428 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:01,760 Well it's interesting you talk about running the middle because in sets one and two Austin 429 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:07,440 out blocked Houston 14 to 6 in those first two sets. 430 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,120 And then by the end of the match it was much more even. 431 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:14,200 Now we can talk about players starting slow we can talk about whatever you want but at 432 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,600 the end of the day running that middle does open up seams both on the pins and coming 433 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:27,680 out of the back row and I think that that was at least a large portion of why they the 434 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,720 hitters were more successful after that. 435 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:37,160 I will say Austin's blocking was outstanding outstanding particularly I was so impressed 436 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,640 by a bogbos blocking. 437 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:46,680 I know she got best blocker at the Olympics you guys I know that but like wow it was wonderful. 438 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:51,760 Austin controlled the net from a block standpoint finishing the match with 22 blocks to Houston's 439 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:57,880 15 but Houston dug better 80 digs to 58. 440 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:05,060 They also had seven aces to Austin's five and they were in system more of the time. 441 00:31:05,060 --> 00:31:10,760 So it was an interesting trade off but Houston won a lot of the categories outside of the 442 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:11,760 blocking. 443 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,360 They also managed to close the gap in sets three four and five. 444 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:21,400 You know Austin was coming after Merzik and I think she handled it very well. 445 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:28,900 I think you know down the stretch Hawk for Austin Hawk was replaced by Eggleston and 446 00:31:28,900 --> 00:31:36,040 Micah Hancock was going after her or going after seams and got a few aces that way. 447 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,480 She was clutch when she needed to be from the service line. 448 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,300 I don't think they win that match without her doing that. 449 00:31:42,300 --> 00:31:43,800 It was impressive. 450 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:48,320 I did think that Austin had a bit of a lack of connection with their middles. 451 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:54,360 I know we talked about setter inconsistency but and you could really see it from the middle 452 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,920 a lot of them were under set like a little low the slides were not really working but 453 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:05,880 so we did see a sub Sage I'm going to butcher her last name you know who I mean came in 454 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,080 for Carly Lloyd late in the match and I think her connection with the hitters was better 455 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,960 obviously it was basically like her college team so she set them all before but things 456 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:20,020 seem to be running a little more smoothly then but yeah my my criticism overall for 457 00:32:20,020 --> 00:32:22,800 both sides was that they didn't run the middle enough. 458 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:28,520 Well and I think probably to be expected given the teams are just coming together it's the 459 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:34,640 first match of the league you know it's going to take a little bit of time to gel so I think 460 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:41,120 I agree with you it didn't happen enough I'm curious to see which team can establish that 461 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,600 and utilize those players as we get a little more training and a little further into the 462 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:52,120 season and like I understand that this is really early in the season like they are working 463 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:59,560 through their finding their system finding their rhythm there are growing pains the players 464 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:04,020 who are playing in college just joined a couple weeks ago like I understand that it's not 465 00:33:04,020 --> 00:33:10,040 as polished as it will be a month from now but just from where it was right now those 466 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:16,280 were my observations I did appreciate too how in all the love matches we watched the 467 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:23,240 coaches were experimenting with lineups and that you saw a lot of changes happening you 468 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:29,400 saw players coming in and staying for you know the rest of the match or the rest of 469 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:34,360 a set and so you could just see the coaches experimenting trying to see what's working 470 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:39,180 what's not working and you don't as we've talked about in the past you don't often see 471 00:33:39,180 --> 00:33:44,440 that in the college game because there are so many other things at play so I thought 472 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:45,940 that that was really neat. 473 00:33:45,940 --> 00:33:53,180 I did appreciate how often Austin ran the back row they ran it predominantly with Skinner 474 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:58,040 and they were moving her around which I thought was really nice out of the pipe and on the 475 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:03,520 right Houston was running Jordan Thompson out of the back row but predominantly from 476 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:09,160 the right and then they didn't really use Merzic much in the back row they didn't really 477 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:16,800 use it aside from from Jordan Thompson so I did appreciate that addition and sometimes 478 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:21,720 you know you had Austin running two players out of the back row which when they're in 479 00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:25,000 system and if they can keep that going they're going to be tough to stop. 480 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:30,800 I agree I really like the back row option that they had going especially with two players 481 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:35,640 and you saw Skinner was very effective both from the front and the back and I thought 482 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:37,880 that that connection was really good. 483 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:42,440 You had mentioned to me as we were talking that Carly Lloyd had not played in a little 484 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:46,680 bit she had been on the beach she was transitioning she wasn't sure what she was going to do so 485 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:53,780 I'm expecting to see her connection with her teammates improve as we go and we see the 486 00:34:53,780 --> 00:34:56,320 season progress. 487 00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:01,880 Overall I thought that it was a great match honestly the level of this particular love 488 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,580 match was higher than I expected. 489 00:35:05,580 --> 00:35:12,460 It was a lot of fun the teams you can see them you know they're starting to gel the 490 00:35:12,460 --> 00:35:18,360 coaches are invested you can tell that they're very passionate so overall I think this match 491 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:23,920 was a ton of fun to watch and I'm really excited to see how these teams and these individual 492 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:32,800 players develop as the season goes on and interestingly Merzik, Skinner and Franklin 493 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:38,400 Sarah Franklin playing in Madison are the only three players of the love six that saw 494 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,760 any time so good for them. 495 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:49,320 Our second feature match of the week is PVF Atlanta Vibe versus Omaha Supernovas hit me 496 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,440 with your thoughts. 497 00:35:51,440 --> 00:36:01,560 It was fun to watch I thought the presentation was great the fans in the stadium were fantastic. 498 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:09,480 I was really engaged the whole match and in fairness I believe we watched the first match 499 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:17,760 of love which was Atlanta and Salt Lake City and there were a few production issues with 500 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:22,880 that one and that was our first taste of love and then we watched this one and the comparison 501 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,840 between those two in my opinion was quite stark. 502 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:26,840 Oh yeah. 503 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:33,240 That was a lot of fun to watch this match like you said the level was not it seemed more 504 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:43,240 along the lines of the college game and specifically in my opinion the set speed and location was 505 00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:47,880 not as fast and given we watched Jordan Poulter in that first match who runs a super fast 506 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:52,440 offense so there were some stark differences from a production standpoint and then from 507 00:36:52,440 --> 00:37:00,160 a volleyball standpoint in that regard but an entertainment value in that match was very 508 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:06,760 high Beeson played really well at the beginning and the end of the match it was good to see 509 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:12,480 her at least start well given how her college season ended. 510 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:17,040 And then she scored six at the end which was like literally was unconscious at the end 511 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,400 of the fifth set and I'm like did you just take a three and a half set break like what 512 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:21,920 is going on right now? 513 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,240 But she looked like she was having fun. 514 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:30,520 She didn't look quite so stressed or high strung as we saw her look at the end of the 515 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,800 college season. 516 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:40,680 And the other thing I appreciated about the PVF was that team environment they were invested 517 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:47,080 they were competing they were coming together it felt like pro sports. 518 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:51,760 That was the biggest there are a lot of positives for me but that is the thing that made me 519 00:37:51,760 --> 00:38:00,840 smile the most was these women were so invested they were intense they really really looked 520 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:08,120 like a team they had that connection I talk about it all the time like the eye contact 521 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:18,320 the you know talking to each other between play like it was cool to see that like camaraderie 522 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:23,760 especially with so many young new players that had joined the rosters. 523 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:28,880 Yeah it was incredible to see how many fans were there you know the supernovas people 524 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:35,720 are in like all these sparkly clothes I thought it was so cool the amount of merch that I 525 00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:41,440 saw the fans and the crowd wearing I'm like this feels like a pro sport. 526 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:48,760 I didn't necessarily get that level of engagement feeling or that level of intensity from the 527 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:54,960 love matches the level was higher but it was just exciting to watch and coming off of the 528 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:59,320 NCAA season it was like a really cool transition. 529 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:03,800 Well we talked about there being 3300 people at the love match and the match we watched 530 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:10,520 in Omaha had close to 10,000 people over 13,000 was it over 13,000 so the stadium was 531 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:16,480 packed the atmosphere was loud and you could really hear everything that was going on which 532 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,440 I really appreciated. 533 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:24,440 So at the start of the match the only rookie on the court period was Merritt Beeson and 534 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:31,040 then as the game progressed we started to see more rookies being given opportunities 535 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:36,960 on the Atlanta side unfortunately Shelly Fanning the middle blocker went down early in the 536 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:42,600 second set with an ankle injury so Corey Lewis the rookie from Florida State came in to replace 537 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:47,880 her so that's like an unfortunate situation but I think she came in and did a great job 538 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:53,600 we saw Lindsey Krause come in and serve a couple times we saw Baton Horse come in. 539 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:54,760 Baton Horse played well. 540 00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:02,360 She did very well I was very impressed with her so it was it was cool to see the rookies 541 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:07,600 start to be integrated obviously like we said with love they joined their programs very 542 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:12,240 late so we might see more integration as the season progresses and they can like work into 543 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:16,760 the system a bit more but it was cool. 544 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,000 Who were your MVPs from each team in this match? 545 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:30,640 For Omaha I really liked Nunevillar I think she brought intensity she brought energy she 546 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:38,640 is a great ball control player she had the hustle the fight she scored well and then 547 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:43,080 especially down the stretch she was unconscious I think she hit over 800 in set five. 548 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:48,000 Yeah she was 228 on the match with 22 kills and 57 attempts so she definitely led the 549 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:49,400 team in that regard. 550 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,800 So she was my MVP what about you? 551 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:56,840 Yeah for I would say I would agree with you I thought Nunevillar was the probably the 552 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:03,240 best player in the match she was very standout very noticeable on the court she moved the 553 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:07,040 ball around scored in different ways she was impressive to watch. 554 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:13,960 I also really liked if we're comparing setters which we like to do I really liked Valentin 555 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:20,320 Anderson the setter for Omaha as well I think her serving choices were excellent the way 556 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:25,200 that she had that zone four serve dialed in like she caused a lot of problems for Atlanta 557 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:31,520 with that I think her decision making was good her defense she picked up some incredible 558 00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,840 balls her leadership like she's been playing pro for 16 years. 559 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:40,760 She brought a calmness and a competitive spirit to that team and she was the leader. 560 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:44,540 I honestly didn't love the setter for Atlanta. 561 00:41:44,540 --> 00:41:51,440 There were too many sets over so for me I don't think she did a bad job but she wasn't 562 00:41:51,440 --> 00:42:01,200 as good and it still felt very college-esque to me setting balls over trying to catch teams 563 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,040 score cheap points it wasn't. 564 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:07,840 Yeah she kept doing and he doesn't mean set over like she's setting a hitter and setting 565 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:13,600 over the net it's the side set like the dump we don't love that. 566 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:19,200 Well I mean you have to you have to change with how the game changes you in general have 567 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:23,360 higher IQ players at the professional level they've seen more they read the game better 568 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:27,880 their eye works are better their progressions are better they play defense as a team you 569 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:33,640 need to be focused on putting your hitters in good positions running and offense and 570 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:40,000 I obviously she had a plan but you couldn't tell who she was trying to isolate in different 571 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:45,640 rotations who she was trying to get going it was hey I'm gonna set this player so it 572 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:51,720 wasn't necessarily about her execution but I think her decision-making was not what I 573 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:53,760 would want to see at a professional level. 574 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:58,560 We mentioned Beeson not being very effective in the middle of the match and I do think 575 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:06,480 that a large part of that was Omaha made an adjustment with their block defense so Beeson 576 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:13,680 particularly out of the back row hits a pretty neutral angle you know corner basically zone 577 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:23,480 six to zone one ish and she was scoring pretty effectively on that and to Omaha's credit 578 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:30,720 after set one they moved their block in they left a panel of line for their libero and 579 00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:36,280 they blocked her a lot and so I think you know we saw some of those adjustments happening 580 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:43,560 on the Omaha side I think Horde blocked very well like Sheep in particular made that adjustment 581 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:51,320 but Beeson didn't change back she didn't make the counter adjustment to that again her first 582 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:57,400 pro match but like somebody needs to tell her what's going on if she can't you know get 583 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:03,600 there herself and in fairness she scored very effectively in the fifth set so there was 584 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:09,040 there was a little bit of movement or elevated play at that point I think she has the physical 585 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:17,920 tools to do well in this league and I'm curious to see what her progression looks like with 586 00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:25,440 this team in this year under a new system we heard Atlanta was the preseason number 587 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:32,400 one so they were picked to win it all honestly their libero Morgan hence I think very good 588 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:40,560 she did a great job Atlanta passed very well they were always in system they had 53% positive 589 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:49,480 touches 31% perfect passes compared to Omaha's 39% positive touches and 21% perfect and this 590 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:55,220 was actually something I wanted to talk about Atlanta ran the middle incredibly well Vicini 591 00:44:55,220 --> 00:45:02,440 had the second most points on the team at 15 hitting 435 on 23 attempts with four blocks 592 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:08,520 anytime in my opinion that you can have a middle as one of your team's main point scorers 593 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:13,820 that's a great sign it's going to open up the rest of your team if Atlanta can continue 594 00:45:13,820 --> 00:45:20,360 to pass that well I think they're going to be a good team now I think they struggle a 595 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:25,800 little bit to have terminal hitters and so they're going to have to sort that out are 596 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,760 they going to be a team that is in system all the time and that's what other teams find 597 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:34,960 challenging they always have three or four hitting options or are they going to have 598 00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:39,400 somebody who can get them out of trouble I'm curious to see which direction the team goes 599 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:45,840 and what their identity is going to become Leah Edmond who was the player of the year 600 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:52,920 for PVF last year she didn't do much she didn't have a good match so I think you know she's 601 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:58,680 going to really have to step up and score a lot more points for Atlanta if they're going 602 00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:04,120 to be successful as you were saying like yes great sign if your middle is your one of your 603 00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:09,840 top scores because that is like showing the health of your serve receive so if your middle 604 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:15,000 is scoring that much your serve receive is on point which as Adam said the stats showed 605 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:23,520 it was but yeah Edmond was disappointing to me I mean so she hit 065 on the match with 606 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:31,000 46 attempts and 11 kills I have to imagine if she was player of the year that that match 607 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,840 was an anomaly yeah so that'll be something that'll be interesting to keep an eye on I'm 608 00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:41,520 curious how good she normally is and how consistently she'll be able to score points for them at 609 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:48,920 the end of that match though Omaha just seemed better to me one of the things that I think 610 00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:56,560 Atlanta will be spending a lot of time doing this week is their tip defense holy moly guy 611 00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:01,740 there was there was not a lot of tips coming up like zero yeah and again you know we're 612 00:47:01,740 --> 00:47:09,860 talking about new team new system new season you know all of that but that was a glaring 613 00:47:09,860 --> 00:47:17,200 issue to me and we'll see if they can get their responsibilities together quickly and 614 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:21,520 understand who's taking what balls but that was that to me was a glaring issue watching 615 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:27,440 that match overall it was a it was a really positive experience I really enjoyed watching 616 00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:33,560 the game which I think is a huge win you know obviously professional sports is about winning 617 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:38,720 but at the end of the day it's also an entertainment product and while you know we discussed the 618 00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:45,080 level maybe not being the same the product was very entertaining and we will only see 619 00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:50,480 those teams get better as the year goes on as they have a chance to gel and push towards 620 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:56,640 you know their final as you said we play 114 matches as a league so we're gonna see a lot 621 00:47:56,640 --> 00:48:01,900 of volleyball and I really enjoyed watching that match so I'm gonna call this section 622 00:48:01,900 --> 00:48:08,280 hot take slash listener comments because it's gonna be a mashup of both so I don't know 623 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:14,840 if I'm in the wrong on this or I have an unpopular opinion but it happened in both leagues where 624 00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:20,560 we watched and the commentators were talking about you know the athletes smiling and being 625 00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:26,960 good people and a whole bunch of things I love watching her play she always has a smile 626 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:34,080 on her face and you know me again maybe this is just a personal preference this is a both 627 00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:39,800 of us hot take FYI everybody so you know feel free to tell me I'm wrong and to disagree 628 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:45,560 with me but that's not what sports about that you can be a great person and that's and that's 629 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:51,240 great but your ability to smile on the court and do things has no effect on the outcome 630 00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:56,400 of your play I don't really think it needs to be highlighted as much as it is in women's 631 00:48:56,400 --> 00:49:01,880 sport you never hear that in men's sport oh never just think of how ridiculous it would 632 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:08,020 sound if commentators were saying that about men you can't you I like I can't even picture 633 00:49:08,020 --> 00:49:13,800 it so like why do we have to talk about it for women why do we have to talk about like 634 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:18,840 she looks so happy to be there I understand good vibes are part of being on the court 635 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:24,020 but like but talk about it in terms of in terms of leadership talk about it in terms 636 00:49:24,020 --> 00:49:30,760 of the qualities that it brings to the team and allows you to participate and I understand 637 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:34,480 that there's a different dynamic on women's teams and men's teams I think that we can 638 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:40,960 agree that that is a thing and it just it's communicated in a way that not that it lessens 639 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:47,800 female sports but I it's just a difference and I think we should be focusing on the sport 640 00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:52,520 the athletes in and of themselves just my opinion having listened to a couple of the 641 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:58,240 matches at the end of the day I think whether you like a player or not you can choose to 642 00:49:58,240 --> 00:50:04,160 like or dislike whatever athletes you want but it should come down to especially on a 643 00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:10,520 broadcast that is about the game it should be about the players skill and and things 644 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:16,320 like that and not so much about if the player is likeable or looks like they're having a 645 00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:23,200 good time like it just lessens the women's abilities in my opinion so we had another 646 00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:29,920 tough question on the YouTube channel and I think it was a fair question given you know 647 00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:34,240 what we said about this topic and several people asked us you know why we didn't go 648 00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:41,400 into the San Jose State transgendered issue in more detail other than highlighting it 649 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:48,460 for me my experience in talking about this situation is that people have a very hard 650 00:50:48,460 --> 00:50:58,200 time separating the social and political stance on this from the sport context or the science 651 00:50:58,200 --> 00:51:04,060 or and the science because I think the sport and the science discussion are very tightly 652 00:51:04,060 --> 00:51:11,000 intertwined we love doing this podcast because we love the sport of volleyball and what we 653 00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:16,180 don't want to happen is for this to become hey they said this we're not going to listen 654 00:51:16,180 --> 00:51:20,600 to the podcast or we have different views or you know at the end of the day we want 655 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:27,360 to bring you volleyball and what's happening and even if our social views and our sport 656 00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:33,980 views are different my experience has been that it's very hard to have a rational conversation 657 00:51:33,980 --> 00:51:39,080 about this and we want to keep this about the volleyball and about what's happening 658 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:47,040 so I appreciate the question we're always up to have a debate and a good argument if 659 00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:51,920 you will with people about what we see and what we hear and what we talk about but this 660 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:58,260 particular issue is one where I don't think that discord would be A kept civil and B productive 661 00:51:58,260 --> 00:52:01,800 so thank you for the question you know we'll keep our eye on it we'll keep everybody up 662 00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:05,600 to date with what's going on but that's probably as far as we'll go in that regard 663 00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:12,320 all right looking forward lots of volleyball happening this week so if you're into NCAA 664 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:18,440 men's volleyball the matches that we suggest watching are number five ball state is playing 665 00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:25,340 number six BYU on both Thursday and Friday so that could be very exciting and on Saturday 666 00:52:25,340 --> 00:52:32,160 at 8 30 p.m. eastern time number two Long Beach State is playing number 14 Lewis and 667 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:39,400 at 10 30 p.m. eastern that same evening Saturday number one UCLA is playing number eight Penn 668 00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:45,440 State we also have the love head-to-head match on Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern we have Austin 669 00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:52,080 playing Atlanta and the weekend matches are happening in Madison this week for PDF on Friday 670 00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:58,240 at 10 p.m. eastern Vegas is hosting Omaha and on Sunday at 6 p.m. eastern Atlanta is 671 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:03,320 hosting Grand Rapids so there's lots of volleyball to watch this week those are our personal 672 00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:09,200 picks of what to watch but we know you'll do you and let us know what you end up watching 673 00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:14,280 and what you think that concludes this week's episode of volley talk there's always something 674 00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:18,840 shaking in the volleyball world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix be sure to follow 675 00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:23,640 the show so you don't miss any updates and we'd be so grateful if you'd leave us a five-star 676 00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:29,920 review you can also find us on Instagram at volley talk underscore podcast if you have 677 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:34,840 a topic that you want us to discuss be sure to let us know by reaching out to us on Instagram 678 00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:41,080 or at info at Sarah pavin.com thank you so much for joining us and we'll be back next 679 00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:54,840 week