Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to volley talk the podcast created for volleyball lovers who want to dig deep into what is going on
In NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host Sarah pavin
I'm an Olympian beach volleyball world champion former Nebraska corn husker and longtime Pro both indoor and on the beach
And I'm Adam Schultz former indoor player international volleyball coach and the show's resident stat guy
We have got a strictly in season volleyball episode for you this week and seeing as how we covered
NCAA men and love last week our feature matches will include
Champions League and
Pvf the first round of the women's champions league quarterfinals took place this week and
CAA men's conference play has kicked off and love and the PvF are
Continuing to roll with some mix-ups some standing jumps
The things we like to see you know so we are excited in particular to talk about some international teams this week
So let's get started
To kick off our weekly roundup
We are gonna start with Champions League and the away matches for the higher ranked seeds in the women's champions league quarterfinals happened
We saw sweeps across the board which was really surprising
Very surprising. I wasn't expecting
3-0
everywhere, but
Milano beat is Ozzy Boshy
Scandici took down woods which we learned that that is the pronunciation for what we were calling
Lodz it's woods the LW switch the L with the cross is a W
Fenerbahce beat Wachof bank and Koniliano beat
Breszow
Which of those results were the most surprising to you?
I mean considering I had a Zazibashi winning the entire thing
I was absolutely floored when I saw that
They were not very good. We're gonna talk about that a little bit in a little while so hang tight to that thought
Okay, you are right. They were they looked pretty bad
So basically how this works is the higher seeded teams play away for the first match
For the second match they play at home
And if the matches end up being split or there's a tie at the end of the back and forth there is a golden set
just one set that I believe it's played to 15 and right after the
Immediately after the match ends to determine the winner, so that's why the higher ranked seeds go away first
So if it does come down to a golden set they play at home those golden sets are wild wild
I think I've only participated in one of them
ever against
Dinamo Moscow in Champions League one year
We won there. They're so nerve-racking
It's because you you either win or lose a match and then you've got to flip right away and play for your life
To 15 it's one of the craziest things I've ever experienced in sport
Yeah, we could potentially see that happening with is Ozzy Bashi
We can see that happening with back of bank because those are the two higher seeds that lost this week
But exciting stuff not what we expected sweeps across the board, but it was great volleyball to watch
In NCAA men's volleyball number two UCLA beat number 10 Stanford in both of their matches this week
They won 3-1 and 3-0
And they only lost that one set because they missed 13 serves at the beginning of that match in one set alone
In the first match UCLA missed 30 serves
It was wild and I think it's worth noting Andrew Rowan was out
Trent Taliaferro
Played so I think the first set he was kind of like
Working through his nerves and stuff
But he found his rhythm Rowan did have to come in to save the day in the second night because things were kind of falling
Apart the wheels were falling off the UCLA offense was just I thought Taliaferro played better in the first match than he did in the second one
Absolutely. Yes
But we did get a question that I kind of want to touch on now
Instead of in the listener questions because it was talking about this match in particular
So our listener wrote in and asked what do we mean specifically by?
The setter middle connection and this was referencing Andrew Rowan versus Taliaferro when they're setting Cameron Thorn
So if you're familiar with UCLA, you know what I mean
So this listener said at one point Rowan almost appeared to pull Cameron in a certain direction with his quick set
Is that based on Andrew's glimpse of the other side of the net and trying to get Cameron to swing in a certain direction?
So this is a really interesting question and you never know what's going through a setters head
But I have a couple thoughts about watching Rowan set so you might not see this on camera
But when you watch him set live
He looks at the other side of the net longer
Than almost any other setter I've ever seen he does a full shoulder check
Looks to see where the offense is before he delivers the ball him and Thorn
Definitely need to be on the same page in terms of what set they're running
But it wouldn't surprise me if they've worked out like hey, I might push you a little bit or I might leave you inside and
the thing about Thorn is that he's on the floor longer than most middles because he gets off the ground so quick that he
Has time to adjust and to drift and you see him
Float into a couple sets and whether that's a designed play or whether that just happens based on his athletic ability
You'd have to ask them but their connection and the way he knows where Thorn is gonna be is incredibly impressive to watch and
Him getting him that ball is what we talked about we talked about that connection
Yeah, so the setter middle connection. It's because the play is happening so fast
It's so important to make sure that the setter is setting the ball within the hitters available window
And that the height is correct
And so that's what we mean about the connection and a lot like it's easy to dial in with a lot of middles because you can
Usually see them while they're in the air and you can see like the window that they're hitting arm creates
What makes Cameron Thorn so difficult to set is that he gets off the ground very fast
So the setters aren't necessarily seeing him as they're setting the ball and he jumps so high
That it's just kind of trippy because you can see most middles in the air
But because he probably hasn't even gotten off the ground yet on contact and the height is so high that makes it tricky
So Tally Farrell was avoiding setting Thorn correct so much and you could see Cameron getting so frustrated
Like why aren't you giving me the ball?
But I think it's because he just can't see it and as a setter you're trained like don't set your middle unless you see them
Well, you saw as soon as Rowan came in he set him four times in a row. He was happy again
Those two are just boys
So hopefully that kind of answers your question
We don't know for sure if that's a thought process but Cameron Thorn is athletic enough and jumps well enough that like no matter where Rowan sets it laterally
He can float to the ball and Rowan is definitely looking at the defensive setup as he's setting the ball
So it's definitely within the realm of possibility
Continuing on number four
UC Irvine snapped their four game losing streak beating number eight Pepperdine 3-0
Number nine Loyola Chicago beat number 12 Ball State in four
And the matches that we thought were going to be really exciting number five USC versus number six BYU
USC took both of those matches
They took the first in five and the second they swept BYU so that was very interesting
Another thing that I thought was interesting was to see Cal State Northridge jump up to number seven in this last week's poll without really having beaten anybody
Yeah, that was a little strange to me
Yeah, I'm like, did you just get that by default because like Loyola Chicago lost and then Stanford had a weird loss and like but CSUN hasn't beaten anybody in my opinion for them to earn that ranking
So I was kind of shocked at that development but what I was satisfied with was that McKendree was finally getting the respect they deserve and they had the number 11 seed this past week
McKendree has been knocking off teams above them week after week after week and like finally the committee like pushed them up a little bit so that one I was like
That one is well deserved
Yeah, the CSUN one however had me scratching my head. So we'll see how the rankings shake out this week. It's not that we necessarily saw upsets but we saw highly ranked teams losing a couple in a row
So yeah, we'll see if there's any movement this week
Looking at love from this past week the head to head saw Salt Lake beating Omaha 3-1
Omaha is continuing to drop in the rankings and to struggle a little bit
Rapid descent
And then in the weekend with love Houston beat Atlanta in a reverse sweep 3-2
I've watched half that match so far and it was really interesting. Atlanta started really well so now I'm at the part where Houston comes back and wins the next three
So I might post both that online but that has been a really entertaining game so if you haven't watched it I would go back and look at that one
Atlanta then recovered and beat Austin 3-1 and Madison continues their winning streak beating Houston 3-1
So we're starting to see some movement. Madison is coming on. Omaha is dropping. It'll be interesting to see what happens there. Atlanta still strongly in the lead but there's a lot of jockeying happening so we'll see what happens
If we look at the final standings the bottom three teams now all have four wins so coming down the stretch into the playoffs it's going to be really important for those teams to grind out some wins so let's see what happens
Well and I think Omaha and Madison are playing each other this week and they're both they're sitting at the bottom together
I think Madison is going to win
Okay I kind of felt crazy because I never really at the beginning of the season I didn't think Omaha was going to be in the discussion and then they were and they were like doing pretty well and I felt kind of crazy but now they're coming back to earth now so I'm like okay
Well we talked about this before they gelled and got off to a really good start quickly and now they're kind of leveling off and the other teams are finding a little bit of rhythm but I think your initial assessment was accurate
Again I say this every week but the one that really I dropped the ball big time was Madison but maybe maybe they are going to come on and be like just kidding we're going to start like 0 and 20 and we're going to come back and just like win everything
Well I think they found a little bit of a winning formula now it'll be interesting to watch them in the coming weeks
Looking at the PDF Vegas is in the middle of one it's not going great they lost 3-0 to Grand Rapids and then they followed that up with losses to Indy 3-1 and Atlanta 3-2 so Vegas kind of like Omaha started out really strong and they have not been able to close out
Matches so it'll be interesting to see where they go they seem to have a lot of moving parts in their lineup and they haven't really found anything that's worked for them recently so I don't know how they're going to pull out of this
We did watch their match against Indy we're going to talk about that a little bit later but I had so many questions
Watching that match. Agreed. Grand Rapids followed up their win having beaten Vegas which we talked about with another win over San Diego 3-2 and then Omaha also fought back and now has the same record as Orlando at 10-4 so they're battling it out at the top of the league
So we will see what happens and my dark horse pick Indy is right behind them so I think they're going to keep climbing
Well I think Omaha and Orlando are playing each other this week so. They are. We'll see that question in the game later on in the episode
Our first feature match of the week involves the Champions League quarterfinals Woods versus Scandicci but we did also watch Milano versus Izzazi Bashi so we wanted to just like touch on that one a little bit and then we'll dive a little bit deeper into the Woods-Scandicci match
So I think looking at the Izzazi Bashi roster we thought that they were going to be very good
I had them as my pick to win the whole thing I'm not saying they won't still but wow
There's no other way to say it other than they were terrible. Terrible. They got smoked by Milano
For people who aren't familiar with their team let's just quickly go over their roster
Highlight some of the ones that people probably know for sure. Okay so they have Katherine Plummer
Yes. Right. They have Dana Retke. They have Alexa Gray who is a Canadian left side who is very good and they have Boscovich
Highest paid player in the world everybody. Your outside core is very very good very well paid
You have a top middle in Dana Retke and they also have Jovana Stivanovic coming off the bench on that team
Like on paper they are absolutely stacked and on the court they were absolutely awful
Katherine Plummer was terrible. She hit zero. They pulled her after she got set nine times. She was non-existing
Oh my gosh like it was not good. She was not getting off the ground. She could not score. She just looked out of it
Boscovich was having a hell of a time scoring. They were not setting Retke. Honestly I'm putting a lot of this on the setter
Like the setting was very inconsistent so I could see Boscovich getting a little frustrated
The balls were not high enough for her. They were all like I don't know. I had so many questions like why are you not setting Retke?
Retke only got six. Get Tiana the ball high enough please. Retke only got six sets all match. Boscovich hit 225 on 31 sets
Which isn't terrible but if you watched her she never looked comfortable. No she did not look like herself for sure
But I did think Alexa Gray did a really good job when she came in for Plummer. I agree. I agree
But I thought I had the same feeling as you. The setter just there was no rhythm, no continuity
I didn't think they passed particularly poorly. It was just flat and you could see the coach was losing his mind
He didn't know what to do. He just threw. I don't want to say he threw in the towel but he just had no idea what team he was seeing on the floor
I 100% expect this to go to a golden set. They will not play like that again. I hope not because wow
It was shocking watching this match. I mean to Milano's credit they played very well. They completely dismantled them
Like Igonu, if we're looking at the opposite battle it was no comparison. She dominated Boscovich in that game
She hit 4-69 on 32 sets so they got almost the same number of sets and it was yeah not even comparable
And Adonaisi played really well. Milano just looked like a much more polished team, more prepared
And Izzazi Bashi just looked confused. Yeah that's the match I want to watch next week. I want to see what the response is
I mean you have to win this at this point or your Champions League is done and you know with a team like that
Their goal is to win Champions League and for them to go out that way will be hugely disappointing
Onto a better match. Woods vs. Scandici. I honestly going into this match and not having much familiarity with the Woods team
I haven't really watched much of Scandici this year. I was expecting Scandici to kind of roll through this match
And Scandici did sweep, don't get me wrong, but the sets were very close and I think the biggest difference
I don't know if you agree with this or not, Woods was there and then they would just make one or two errors after 20
And then the match, the set was gone. And so I kept or they would have a huge lead, momentum shift and then the set was gone
So I was impressed with Woods. I thought they definitely should have pushed it further than three. It was a fun match to watch
Yeah it was really well played. I think it's interesting Woods is almost completely Polish players so they don't really have any foreigners
And not that that matters because the Polish players in the league is very good
But it always helps when you can bring in a couple foreigners to kind of help your team
And so to have an all local team I think A is really cool and B it just shows the strength of the league in general in my opinion
So what you see is like there are usually foreigner limits in when you're playing within your country's league
So for in Turkey for example you can only have two foreign players on the court at the same time
But then when you go to Champions League those rules don't count anymore
So that's why because Turkey has so much money that's why you see them stack their roster with really strong foreign players
Who they might rotate through the Turkish league but they're there to win Champions League
The Italian league allows like I want to say five foreigners on the court at one time
So I'm not sure what Poland's is but because Poland can't offer as much money as those countries
Foreign players cost more and so it doesn't shock me like their opposite is Italian
Their left side is Serbian and the rest of the roster that was playing on the court was Polish
And I thought the right side played pretty well actually
And Wan Wu she was up and down for me
You very much are error averse and so I understand why you're saying that because she was 11 for 27 kill wise
But she also made five errors being blocked four times
So I think the thing we saw with her was I'm not going to call her reckless
But there were definitely some plays where she made I call them eyes closed swings against a well formed block
That didn't end up in her favor and if we would have seen maybe some better decision making a tip or keep that ball in play
Her stats would have been better but they also needed somebody to score points
So I like the way she approached the match and I thought going after and scoring points was important for for Woods
She I mean she was definitely their best point scorer
I agree with you there I mean if you're not familiar with Scandi she some of the players that you might recognize from that team is
Antropova is their opposite
Carol from Brazil is one of their middles my own Yanavich from Serbia is their setter
Brenda Castillo is their libero and then Kara Badjma and Brit Herbots are there outside so bigger names for sure
So it doesn't shock me that Scandi she was such a strong blocking team like cuddles an excellent blocker
Antropova is six seven putting up massive wall there
Yeah, they're opposite for Woods the opposite was definitely the focus the left sides for Woods particularly Blagojevich
Struggled she unfortunately was matched up with Antropova and she hit minus 150
She got 20 sets she only had three kills and she was blocked five times
So it's just not a good matchup for her at all
No and we talk about the sets being close like we're talking 25 22 25 22 25 21 and if we look at the numbers
Scandi she out blocked Woods 16 to 8 and in the first two sets Woods only had one block in set one one block in set two
They ended up getting six in the third set but quite frankly watching that match blocking was the difference and especially at the end of sets
When you knew where the ball had to go for them to score points that was the difference in my mind
Well and we like Damascus for Woods I thought she did a pretty good job. She was pretty fearless started out hammering sharp angle and Scandi
She's block was like out of position and you saw Scandi she make that adjustment and move the block in creating some errors for Damascus
She tried to find the line. So I liked to see the adjustment that way
Drujjowska came in for Blagojevic who she was much bigger. Yes, and I think that she started slow because they targeted her on server
Steve immediately and it was like two aces in a row
But she found her rhythm and was able to score some points and put up a bigger block against Antropova, which helped
Yeah, you know, I thought from a coaching standpoint that there were good adjustments made throughout the match the whole way through
You talked about the blocking adjustment. I like the serving strategies in general of players coming in and out and trying to serve seams
And I mean Woods was they were smaller like there was that definite advantage to Scandi and so seeing how they adjusted for that
How they tried to load up and what their game plan was defensively. It was a well coached match. I thought I did not love the Woods
Lubeiro with Wizak. She really struggled in my opinion in all facets of her position when your libero is targeted the most on server
Steve and gives up the most aces. So they got aced six times in that match. Three of them were by her and she had 23 receptions
Which was more than anybody else on the floor. Double. That's not where you want to be. And you know, some liberos take up half the court and they pass both seams
You just tell the ones who are confident or like I dare you to serve me. Yeah. And sometimes that happens. She was not passing half the court
They were like pinching her out almost. Yeah. I honestly because you saw at the end of matches she got a little tight and then you knew the ball had to go outside
And Scandi. She was just waiting for those sets. I'm very curious if they would have passed better, especially down the stretch
If they could have pulled out one or two of those sets and I'm interested to see if she starts the next match like if I don't know who else they have on the roster
They have another libero on the roster, but I don't know. I didn't feel like Woods ran the middle very much. Maybe they did. And I just like blacked out
No, they were outside heavy. They had 39 sets to Damaski. They had 27 to and one who and Blagojevich got 20. They only set their middles like five, seven and five. So I think they just need to
I know I preach on this all the time. Like even if your middles aren't going to score like help your outsides out a little bit and just like feed them early, you know
Yeah. So let me ask you this. What did you think of Scandi. She's serving like, do you think that they applied enough pressure to take the middle out or do you think that that was a setting error by woods
I mean, as we said, the libero wasn't passing great. But like, I don't think they passed so horrendously that they couldn't run the middle. I mean, Scandi she was definitely bringing it from the service line. Don't get me wrong.
But like you see that from woods. But then conversely, you see, I was shocked at how little Scandi to ran their left side. They were very right side middle dominant and like Badgama can score and her bots is like more of a ball control left side.
But I was really surprised at how little they ran their left side. Well, so let me ask you this. You played with cattle cattle in my opinion moves incredibly well laterally she closes the outside really well as a blocker, but she's a little undersized.
If I'm looking at that team, I'm I want to run against her out of the middle to try and get her to commit because she's a little bit smaller and maybe slow her down, moving out to the outside pins and I thought that was an area where woods could have had an advantage and they didn't run at her in the middle at all and she closed and blocked really well so that's an adjustment that I would expect them to make coming into the next set.
Yeah, I mean, cuddle makes big moves out of the middle. But again, with a size matchup like she jumps well don't get me wrong. But like just keep her honest, like you were saying like even if she makes a big move on your middle and gets a block like at least make her pay attention to them for a little longer to hopefully create a seam or something because cattle reaching laterally is not clearing the net by very much cattle full max jumping is putting a roof over her head.
I hope they do the same thing to make it a better match. Next time. I mean, I thought this was an incredibly entertaining match. I think Scandici is going to end up winning, but I think that the next one could go for five. Like I think that woods is close enough with a few adjustments if their passing gets a little better and runs the middle that it could be they could steal a couple sets here so I'm interested to see this rematch this week. Yeah, I mean, and definitely like this is where you see the difference between the two sets.
This is where you see the cream rise to the top and in the final fours of Champions League. You do typically see Italian teams, Turkish teams and Russian teams when when Russia is involved like it's not often you see other countries.
So, I mean, woods is definitely good. And it was an entertaining match I think they can push them but do I think they're a final four level team. No, our second feature match of the week takes us to the PVF for the Vegas thrill versus the Indy Ignite.
There were some interesting things happening, namely Cameron Hannah was not playing for Vegas. And we saw Anna De Beer in her second career start after returning for from her ankle injury that she got in the final four in December, meaning Nina
De Beer's switch was out and Elena Scott is still the starting the Barrow it's been a few matches now. So look at how happy Adam is Wow. So yeah, a couple interesting lineup switches for both sides.
More not head scratching on the Indy side but definitely had me wondering what's going on from the Vegas perspective. Well I'll tell you what's happening from the Vegas perspective.
Vegas has a consistency issue, namely with their two outsides.
You have Hannah Maddox, who is either all world or can't find the court.
And this last match was an example of can't find the court. I am not sure in the whole match, whether she hit a single ball in the lines on the court, because every time she swung it looked like she was trying to get a touch, she just could not.
She could not find it last night. And this is not uncommon for them and that's the problem. I've seen this from Maddox all season long.
Hannah Maddox is a very dynamic athlete, you watch her play and she's fun to watch because she gets off the ground well she jumps well she swings hard, but she's not settling in as the year goes in, and she's not getting better, in my opinion in fact she might be
moving the wrong way in that regard. And people really like her though.
Yeah, and it's for every reason that we talked about right it's she's fun to watch she's dynamic, she has all of those positive attributes that could make her a great athlete, but she was set 34 times last match and she hit 029.
You just you can't, she got blocked four times and she made six hitting errors. You just can't play like that. Now, when she's good. She's really good and that's what you saw when they were winning those matches was that she was scoring but teams have either started to
figure her out, or she's having some connection issues. I can't put my finger on it, but it's, it's not going well.
No, I have been saying this about her since the probably the first match we watched her play.
She's either amazing or goes on these error streaks. And you see it in all skills, including her serving passing. Yeah, and you saw it again and so Cameron Hannah wasn't playing they put Jardine in to start, who I feel like is another similar player to Maddox in in what we were just
saying as far as is either unconscious all world or can't find the court.
I feel like those two athletes are very similar in that. And last night wasn't can't find the court issue with Jardine to, I think that's the profile of almost all of their outside hitters opposites included, like look at their roster, I feel like Cameron Hannah has been there
as a consistent athlete though I don't know what has happened like in the last, maybe she was injured maybe you know she really was terrible last match or something I don't know but like she has been pretty consistent for me all season and like, say what you want about charity
and she's not streaky she might not score all the time, but she's not making straight up errors. Well she started the last match six total set she hit minus 333. So, like, they didn't give her a chance. That's my point they like took her out right away and then didn't put her in.
So it's literally a revolving door of substitutions from that point forward and I'm like, what are you doing, I don't think the Vegas coach knows what to do at this point. I don't think I think he had an idea of what he wanted his lineup to be at the beginning
of the season and it's not working. And now he doesn't know which outsides to put in and he and it looks like the confidence of all of the outsides is eroding. Like, when I watch that team, it seems like they don't know what their roles are they don't know whether
they're going to play, they don't know what the expectation is. It almost feels to me like all of the outside hitters are looking over their shoulder wondering if this error is going to be the one that gets them pulled off the court and I'm not blaming the coach, but that's just the feel on the floor when I watch the match.
It's a scary place to be as an athlete if that's what you're wondering. But again, if I were to ask you who are the starting outsides on Vegas, I don't think you can answer that question. And it's not like they don't have good athletes.
Charity Looper is not playing like you said Cameron Han is not playing. They have like, I don't know, we watched Willow Johnson come in and light it up like it's a set and then she just like got came down to earth and got blocked like we saw who started
Looper and Maddox started, he gave up on Looper right away put Mayfield in who I'm sorry.
She didn't do much. It's not like she came in and like made a huge difference. And then meanwhile Mayfield's in and then Hannah Maddox just takes a complete dive and is making errors left and right, keeps Maddox in forever.
And then finally puts Grace Lohberg in who also came in and did nothing. Meanwhile, Looper's there on the bench and I'm like, why are you keeping these athletes in who are not moving the team forward?
I think he views Mayfield as the steadying force there. That's got to be what it is because she hit 238 on 21 balls like seven kills, one block one error like I think that maybe he feels she can be that steady player and then he's rotating and trying to find a point score who's on at that point.
I think you just from a coaching standpoint, you've got to try and figure out how to maximize the athletes you have and maybe that's, you know, leaving them in for a set to work through it like which of your athletes are going to work through their slow starts, which are going to come out.
How do you find a way to motivate them and I'm not saying it's easy and I don't know him as a coach but that's what I'm seeing from the outside with how those athletes are playing.
I did think that Stout played a pretty good game. Their middles were solid. Oblad and Stout were solid, but you just saw the outsides just nobody knew what was going on.
Yeah. What did you think of the setting decision in that match because I, Childress just needs to play all the time. Oh my gosh. I understand why they originally came in.
So there was a double sub that happened in set three and then Carly Graham and Willow Johnson came in for that double sub and then they stayed in.
Okay Willow Johnson went off in set three. Understandable. Keep her in in set four. See if she can keep rolling with that.
But you need to put Childress back in. I was scratching my head being like why is he keeping this Graham girl in because the sets were all over the place and Childress is like the calming presence.
She's the leader on the court. She's an outstanding setter. Like is she able to run down like balls that are spraying everywhere? No, but like she delivers a ball. Neither can Graham. Exactly.
But so this this to me is this was the defining moment where I was like okay this coach has he doesn't know how to get his team going because you have your outsides rotating in and off the court in a turnstile fashion.
You have Childress is no longer in her prime, but she has experience. She knows how to set the ball and they weren't passing particularly poorly.
So Childress was there and able to deliver the ball and the fact that you took her off the court when she wasn't playing well means that you're just playing well.
It was just like well let's put a bigger block in the front row and and you're out for good. Well you're outside your outside hitters have no rhythm and instead of dealing with that situation for what it was you switch the setter hoping to find some kind of rhythm or banking that Willow and Graham are going to keep the magic running.
Like it's just it's happening so quick. It doesn't seem like all of the decisions seem reactionary. I was just going to use that exact term watching it.
I'm like this is very impulsive and reactionary instead of like well thought out watching the match the coach and Childress need to find a way to bring some steadiness to that team to bring some calmness and some tranquility there and and the outside hitters you have good enough athletes.
They will figure it out. But when everybody is kind of running around it doesn't it doesn't work well. Okay let's talk about Indy. All right. So we occasionally get accused of being too negative which occasionally which fair enough about Vegas.
But I will say I saw some really good things from Indy. So first and foremost I thought Sydney Hilly played a really good game all the way through. I have been critical of Sydney Hilly this season I will admit it and I have said that she usually starts out really well in the first set and kind of like declines as the match progresses in the matches we have watched.
She in this match stayed consistent and I thought she ran a good offense. I loved seeing Anna DeBeer on the floor like that's just a really good feel good story. It's cool that her and Elena are back on the court together. I think Elena has done a great job.
Adam loves Elena Scott for his favorite libero ever. And honestly I'm happy to see her starting now because I was kind of scratching my head earlier in the season like when is this switch going to happen. Yeah and she she is playing well she's defending well.
I think that she brings a good presence to that floor. I love her out of system setting. Yeah we know that that is a passion of mine liberos setting.
So and I thought Anna did a pretty good job like they said her 22 times she hit 273 you know didn't make a ton of errors. You got from her I think what you expect. One thing I'm curious and I know she's only played two matches is she was able to find the floor in college against blockers and against defenses.
I'm not sure if she's not quite as dynamic or she's not quite back to where she was but she used a lot of hands which is fine you know but I didn't see kind of as much of those terminal angle swings that we saw back in college.
I hopefully she's able to find that rhythm because I think that she's going to need to elevate just a little from an offensive standpoint if Indy is going to keep kind of pushing up the rankings.
I saw the same thing and like coming back from an ankle injury is tough like you're not able to like be as explosive you're a little tentative perhaps we didn't her angle swings were like very deep angle right to the little barrel we didn't see her trying for anything sharper.
Her only swings that were really scoring were as you said when she used the block or was hitting down the line. I'm not sure she's hitting hard enough right now to be able to be terminal without using hands.
Yeah. So she's either going to have to put more on it or start using her wrist to get the ball to move a little more and that is something that like, as you transition to higher and higher levels you have to do and it's something that you figure out.
But as defenses get better like you have to start making the ball move you can't just hit straight again is it injury related.
Maybe, but we'll see how she problem solves. So the thing about Indy, I think overall is that their outsides including their opposite are a little undersized.
They're a little small. And so they're going to have to run the middle, really well and pass well and pass well and you know with Anna and Elena, I think you have a good passing core there, I thought that Sydney Hilly did a good job of running the middle,
we saw Lydia Martin go seven for 12 with no hitting errors she hit 583 like so she was a threat which was really good. I think if Indy is going to push those top two teams that Crawford is going to need to be more of a threat in the middle.
We know, we all know she's a very good blocking middle, and she can stabilize the defensive unit, but because they don't have a monster on the outside. She also needs to be a threat, and that's something that her and Sydney are going to have to work out.
She just doesn't put enough pace on her slide. It just looked like she's not upright it always looks like she's kind of falling backwards or is like, yeah, it doesn't look smooth and she's just not putting enough on it to to score.
And it's not like they're not setting her like she got 13 sets, she's set way more with any than she ever was with Wisconsin. Yeah, and I hope that she's able to figure it out because she made two errors and she only had three kills so she's not that efficient and
that to me is going to be the key of whether they can push those top teams is, can she be productive offensively. Well part of me wonders like is Martin capable of running behind the setter, because I would almost, if she is I would put Crawford with the two hitters in the front row, let her just hit the basic like
quick and 31, because Crawford is a very good blocker. Yeah, so I'm like, I'm wondering if Martin isn't good off of one foot and it's just Crawford's there by default but I think if they made that switch like it could be more productive perhaps.
Yeah, it'll be interesting. I think for me watching Indy and I think they're playing well right now that are played better than I've ever seen her like I've been critical of her hitting from the pin like she, she was scoring well.
Yeah, but again, they don't have any doesn't have an out of system hitter that they can just set the ball to and have them go up and rip away against three blocks and so with the way they're built.
If Crawford can be a threat, I think you'll, you'll keep seeing Taylor have a good game member men I have a good game and it appears will be able to find, because they can all kind of work the holes in the block if they're half a second late or if there's a little bit of movement, but the middles
need to be active for that to happen. And I thought like I said I thought Lydia Martin did a good job at Crawford is going to need to be a little better. I thought it was overall it was a good game.
Yeah, Vegas, but Indy was stable. Yeah, and I thought that you're seeing these teams on different trajectories in my opinion, I think Indy is starting to figure it out, I think they're finding more stability with Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer on the court and Vegas.
There is no consistency there they don't know who's going to play they don't know who's going to stay off the court, it looks like people are worried.
I don't know if they're going to be able to kind of solidify that I would almost just pick a lineup for a match and go you guys aren't coming off the floor like you need to figure it out. That's to me maybe the next step there but yeah it'll be interesting to watch these two teams
because they're very close in the standings and to see what happens in the next couple of weeks. All right, it's game time here on the pod and today we're going to play a little game called confirm or deny.
It's been a while since we played this one but he's bringing it back. So I am going to make a statement.
And you are going to either confirm that statement or deny that statement and then we can chat about it if it's, if it requires. So this week in Champions League we saw all sweeps, 3-0.
Confirm or deny you think that the Women's Champions League second round will also all end in sweeps. Deny.
I feel like the Azazibashi Milano match will go further than three. I hope Azazibashi like wins just because I picked them to win but I think Milano is good enough to take at least a set off of them for sure.
Maybe I'll just be completely wrong and Milano will win the whole thing but. So I think that one will go past three and I also think the Vacav Bank Fenorbashi match will go past three.
I want the Wood's Scandici game to do it but like playing in Scandici I'm not convinced and I just think Koneliano is like OP.
Fair enough. I think that those are odds wise that's probably the right choice and I think the matches that you picked make sense to go more than three.
Looking at the Love League and specifically Atlanta who is in first place. We saw Grubbs who's their opposite go down two weeks ago I believe.
And Grubbs has been replaced by Coutinho on the right side and it looks like the return time for Grubbs is undetermined at this point. So they might have to play with Coutinho for the rest of the season.
Do you think that Atlanta can stay at the top of the standings without Grubbs going into the playoffs?
Interesting question. I'm going to go against my instincts here and say confirm. I think we've seen certain players on Atlanta elevate.
Emily Adams for example like she has gotten better and better. She's been very good. Yeah it's been really cool to see.
Kelsey Cook has like kind of stepped up particularly on I mean she's always good defensively but she has really stepped up. So I think for Coutinho the load doesn't have to be on her.
She can be more of a support player offensively. So I don't think I mean Grubbs has obviously had a great season and she scores a lot of points for Atlanta but I think because other players have kind of elevated I don't think it's going to
affect her loss will affect them as much as it may have like a few weeks ago.
I think in the regular season they're far enough ahead that it won't matter. I think. Was your question including playoffs? I'll keep what I said.
Well I was going to say I think for the regular season it won't matter. They're far enough ahead that and they're skilled enough in the other positions that they'll beat most of the teams.
My worry would be if they play Houston again in the finals they're going to need production from her. Now Coutinho has had a couple really good matches but she's also had a bunch of mediocre matches.
So she's a little less consistent than Grubbs I would say and so my worry would be for the finals if they when they make it that far versus the regular season.
Right. Now we I alluded to this at the beginning of the podcast. Omaha and Orlando are at the top of the standings in PVF. They will play two more times this season.
Confirm or deny that Orlando will win both of those matches.
I have to give respect where respect is due. Confirm. There is no indication to me that Orlando will lose those matches. They've handled Omaha the last few times they've played them like if I was seeing something in other matches and stuff that like made me kind of take a second look.
Fine. But like I haven't. So I'm going to say confirm. I'm going to deny this. I think they're going to split. I think they're going to go one on one. I do think that Orlando will end at the top of the standings but I think they split these last two games one on one.
Okay and last question for confirm or deny we're going to move to the NCAA men's league. Long Beach is the only undefeated team left in the NCAA. They still have to play four games on the road against very good teams. So two at UC Irvine and two in Hawaii.
Do they finish the season undefeated. Confirm or deny. Deny. I think if they're playing on the road in Hawaii that's a very hostile environment and it's very pro Hawaii. Hawaii is also a very well rounded team.
I think that I think that every team is very very rare that you see a team go undefeated throughout a season and I think that hiccups are kind of part of the process to winning long term. So even if they do lose I wouldn't be concerned but I don't think they're going to go unscathed.
Well that's those are the questions we had for confirm or deny like to keep it across all the leagues and everything we're watching but I like your answers.
I'm sure there's going to be so many disagreements with me. I want to hear them because I'm probably wrong in a lot of these.
It is time for listener questions. We've got a nice lineup today. Our first question it was submitted a few weeks ago.
But I think it's still worth discussing. So for Love Atlanta do you think that Fairbanks runs the offense better than Maddie Bug. You have said in the past during NCAA season her setting tends to deteriorate at the end of sets.
I can see what you're talking about but they're doing really well.
I think that Fairbanks has a higher ceiling than Maddie Bugs. I think I think if Fairbanks and Bug are both playing at their best I'm taking Fairbanks.
I also think that Fairbanks runs the middle better than Bug does but Bug seems to have a really good connection with the left sides for Atlanta.
So this is kind of a very nuanced question in terms of where are your point producers coming from and who do you need to be playing well in order to win.
So if Adams is going to be your main point scorer and she looks at the coach and goes I want Bug in I hit her ball better it's tough.
Right and then it doesn't really matter for Fairbanks what's going on or how she's setting because your top point scorer is grooving off Bug.
And I'm not saying that's happened but there's a little bit of nuance here in terms of who players like and how you're scoring your points and I think especially with the injury that they have to Grubbs.
So I think all things equal you want Fairbanks playing but Bug has solidified herself with the left sides in my opinion.
Our second question is with the American Leagues taking potential 2028 contenders from playing overseas.
What is the probability of a random joining the rosters out of left field and by random this person was referring to Kim Hill who didn't have a prolific NCAA career she played at Pepperdine she was kind of under the radar but then emerged and became a star for USA and had an outstanding pro career.
So do we think that there's going to be someone like that that's under the radar who might make big moves.
I think it's always possible. We're at the beginning of a quad. We have many years until the 2028 Olympics.
You know you could find some super athletic kid who's unpolished who just goes to a program and experiences some success and two years out from the Olympics gets a shot with the national team because you know she touches 11 feet and you know away you go.
Am I banking on that if I'm in the USA gym. No, but is it out of the realm of possibility. No.
I think with the new coaching staff they're probably on the hunt for athletes they're defining what they want their team to look like and we may see some players that we're not considering now I think it's definitely a possibility.
I think you get players who maybe fly under the radar and NCAA but like sign contracts overseas and very quietly make their way up through the leagues and like even watching Champions League like I've never heard of some of these, like, there's a girl who went to UC Santa Barbara
and she's like, Oh, I've never heard of her before. Do I think that she'll be on the national team. No, but I'm just saying there's some players that kind of fly under the radar and are getting better and are competing at a really high level that we don't even know about.
What I think the other thing too is, you know, maybe you didn't have the best club coach, maybe you went to a school for academic purposes and then you go overseas and you find an international coach who just can explain the game to you or trains you in a way that really gels with you and all of a sudden you have this prolific increase in your skill like that definitely happens as well so yeah, always a possibility.
Our third question is, I was wondering if you thought Elena Scott has a chance to play for Team USA I know you were impressed with her at Louisville, and she's playing really well for Indy.
I feel like it's so hard because I feel like USA is, or like national team programs can sometimes be political. And I think I love Elena Scott I think she's so good. I think, because Lexi Rodriguez has endeared herself to the public and to the volleyball community
and to the football I feel like she is just on people's radar because of that. I'm not saying it's fair but I think that could kind of play a role maybe. I think she will be like one of the first left off the roster.
She's not to be in the gym. I think they will look at her. I think she has to do a lot to prove herself in terms of playing at that level with the speed and the angles that the ball come at she, there's no, there's no reference point for her for playing against
the top international players. And if she wanted to do that, she would need to go find a contract overseas in my opinion I want these, I want Scott I want Rodriguez to go overseas because I feel like, not that they're limiting themselves but I feel like they could get so much
better being exposed to the international style of play, as opposed to staying domestically. I want to say that yes she would have a chance I think she's good enough but I also think that the jump from the level she's currently playing at to the Olympic level is large.
Our fourth question is how do you project Andrew Rowan's career, do you think he can be the answer for USA after Micah Christiansen?
Oh, I love Andrew Rowan.
This is a great question. So here's, here are my initial thoughts, Andrew Rowan is a cerebral setter. You can tell that he's thinking about how to execute his offense, how to move the defense around, where are they lined up, what are they trying to do against me, all of the
mental components of being a great international setter, I think he has the framework to develop those skills. He needs to develop the other aspects of his game, he needs to put on a little bit of weight, in my opinion, you know, probably needs a little bit of a better serve and you know blocking wise he's not a small setter.
The setting component, I think is there, it's the rest of the game which will need to come into play for him to take that spot but I think, I mean I've seen Karch in the gym, watching UCLA, several times this year, and I'm sure he's got his eyes on him so I think it's, it's definitely a possibility.
It's also it will be interesting to see, you know, Tred is 6'11", you know, coming in a little bit younger, you always want size but is his offense quite as good, you know, and so there will be, he'll be in the mix I think for sure.
And the last question we have for listeners questions is Sarah, how important was the Brazilian League for your development as a player? And do you think that the Superliga, which is the name of the Brazilian League, is viable for young athletes to develop before going to Italy or Turkey?
I want to say that the two leagues I played in that probably helped my development the most were the Italian League and the Brazilian League. At the time that I played in Brazil, all of the Brazilian national team women were playing domestically.
You weren't seeing them leave. So the league was very, very strong at that time. And just and Brazil had just come off of winning the gold medal at the Olympics so I was exposed to an incredibly high level of play every single day in practice, and in matches and then having
to train on our own coach like, I learned a lot. I think everywhere I played kind of helped my development but playing in Brazil was, it was great. I think I got a lot better playing there.
A follow up piece to that question was, do you think that it was the league that made you better or the coach specifically like what was the, what would be the benefit versus the Brazilian training style is definitely different it's very high volume, high rep,
without a lot of like talking in between so you're you're kind of learning on the fly and you're figuring it out like by trial and error in the moment, which I thought was very interesting because my whole career as an athlete I was like told, do this, try this and so it was very
interesting for that self learning and self teaching model with economic situations etc you've seen a lot of the top Brazilian athletes move overseas for bigger contracts and stuff.
So I think now the Brazilian League is still good and it's still strong there's still a core group of athletes there that make the level high. So, yeah, I definitely think it's a great place for young athletes to learn, be exposed to that style of training, that level of competition,
will they will the athletes who are capable and have that potential necessarily make the same amount of money they would make in Italy or Turkey, not today.
But I definitely would recommend to anybody to go play there because I think it's outstanding. All right, looking forward to this week there is a lot going on in the volleyball world so there will not be any lack of matches to watch will highlight a few here.
The head to head this week is on Thursday at eight o'clock p.m. Eastern.
The bottom two teams will be battling it out to stay out of last place so Omaha versus Madison we've given our opinions on that one that will be on love live or the zone.
The weekend with love is in Houston on Friday and Saturday. The Friday match between Houston and Atlanta which will be again will be on ESPN plus played last week. Let's watch them again and that match was the reverse sweep so it'll be interesting to see what happens
with that when I would circle that one on your calendar and give that, give that a watch, and the rest of the matches on Saturday will be on love live or the women's sport network Champions League on the women's side quarterfinals are going to wrap up this week.
So definitely watch those you can see those on Wednesday and Thursday on euro volley.tv and men's Champions League the quarterfinals first rounds are also starting this week as well.
Those matches will be on Tuesday and Wednesday also on euro volley.tv in NCAA men's action, the outrigger invitational is happening this week in Hawaii ball state Penn State USC will be heading to the
island for matches Thursday through Saturday.
Stanford and Pepperdine have back to backs this week on Friday and Saturday at 9pm Eastern. Those matches will be on Big 10 plus.
And then Saturday at 6pm Eastern Lewis and McKendree will face off also on ESPN plus that will be another interesting matchup given the rankings of those two teams.
All right, if we look at PVF Thursday at 7pm Eastern Omaha plays Indy go Indy my choice.
Omaha then also plays Orlando on Saturday at 7pm Eastern and we'll see whose prediction comes right in that one. And we also have the rest of the PVF matches on the YouTube channel, although in the last couple weeks they've also been on Roku as well so
those two that you mentioned in particular said they're on YouTube so
yeah, just keep an eye out on the website. They've been moving some of their channels around in case you're looking for them.
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.
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