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 Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat
guy. We are business as usual this week. And
full disclosure, we are going to take more of
an international focus as the Men's Champions
League quarterfinals started up and the Women's
Champions League semifinalists are now set. So
we are pretty excited about that. Conference
play in NCAA men's volleyball continues to roll
on with things going pretty much as expected
this week. For the most part, there were a couple
upsets, but nothing crazy. And of course, we
have our usual love and PVF roundup. We are so
excited to talk volleyball with you all. So let's
get started. Diving into our weekly highlights,
let's start off with Champions League. That was
like a little treat this week. It was all of
a sudden out of nowhere we had some amazing volleyball,
both on the men and women's side. Highly encourage
you to check it out if you haven't been watching
it already. We watched some men's and women's
matches in the Champions League space. And to
basically let you know why we are focusing so
much on Champions League this week is because
the Final Four isn't until May. So you're going
to get your love in PVF and NCAA men's fix for
the next month and a half because the Champions
League semis aren't for a long time. So we wanted
to touch on those today. But the away matches
happened for the top teams in the men's side
of Champions League. Things went as expected.
Almost. Zavirze beats Lunenberg 3 -0. That one
was decisive. Yes. Perugia took down Monza 3
-1. I think the most shocking part to me for
that game was that Monza crushed the first set.
And then nothing. Yeah. The last three sets went
pretty much as I expected. I feel like Perugia
was definitely... is definitely the stronger
team. And we did get a question that we touched
on last week of like, how the heck is Monza in
the quarterfinals of Champions League when they're
literally second last in the Italian league?
It's a fair question. It happens. Well, I think
you see it sometimes where they can't get it
together in their league. And for whatever reason,
whenever they have to play a Champions League
match, everything just clicks. You do see it
from time to time. And it was, this is one of
those cases. Check it out. It was a decent match,
but not the one we're going to talk about today.
Halkbank Ankara beat Warsaw 3 -1, and the one
no one expected. Olympiakos Piraeus took down
Jastrzewski Vigil 3 -2. That is the match we
are going to talk about today, because, oh my
gosh, it was wild. Well, and just as a little
preview, the announcer was shocked. The announcer
was just hoping that Olympiakos could just like
make it respectable. Yes. And that theme continued
even as they were winning. Even as they're winning,
the announcer is like, what is happening? I was
like, what is happening? I think Jastrzewski,
even Olympiakos were like, what is happening?
This was an upset for the ages. The odds on this
and the prediction of this, nobody thought they
would win. People lost a lot of money on this
game. 100%. That's all I'm going to say. For
the women, the final four is... So, yes, you
heard that right. Three Italian teams and one
Turkish team. All matches went 3 -0 again. Except...
We are talking about that one because holy man,
that was another very exciting one. And just
as a little spoiler, we got our golden set, everybody.
Okay. If you roll it back to last week when Adam
was asking predictions about which matches are
going to go past three sets, I was so convinced
that Azibashi was going to get it together and
win a set. I was wrong. The games were a lot
closer. A lot closer. But Milano still won 3
-0. Yeah, I was not expecting that. I also expected
Fenerbahce to come out of the match we're going
to talk about simply because they had two chances.
They only had to win two sets in the match, and
then they had a chance at the golden set, and
it just did not happen. Yeah. As expected, Scandici
and Corneliano, handy dandy. No problems there.
Actually, Scandicci won way more decisively than
I expected. It was a beatdown over Woods. But
the matchups are... Conigliano is going to be
playing Milano in the semi. And then Scandicci
is playing Vakifbank. Istanbul is hosting. And
the way that the final four works is it's just
like one match. Like one match semifinal, one
match bronze. you know, the typical tournament
format. I feel because Istanbul's hosting, they
really wanted to make sure that Vakafenk was
in the final. So I... They got the third Italian
team. They got, in my opinion, the weakest of
the three Italian teams, and then the other two
are going to battle it out. But very exciting
stuff. It was a great week of volleyball. Great
week. In NCAA men's volleyball, our only... I
don't want to say major upset because there was
one more baby upset, but the only major one saw
Lindenwood take down number 14, Lewis, 3 -1.
And then Lewis turned around and also lost in
five to McKendree. Right after I said I really
liked how Lewis was playing and how fundamentally
solid they were. So I'm going to keep those opinions
to myself from now on. We just can't play these
games anymore. Which is what we're doing this
week. And we just can't even. talk about the
teams we like anymore because as soon as we talk
about it they tank even like when i'm announcing
or commentating games i'm like i'll say something
so nice about a player which you guys know i'm
pretty harsh so like those compliments are hard
to come by but i'll say something so nice about
a player and then the next play they'll just
like do something ridiculous and i'm like okay
great well and Again, we are talking about 18
to 21 -year -old men, so there's not always the
most consistency there. But man, I did not think
Lewis was going to lose those two matches. But
McKendree is holding on to their ranking. No,
and McKendree was a little more... Predictable,
because it was a 14 -10. Yeah. The Lindenwood
one, Lewis probably wants that one back. Like,
McKendree has legit climbed their way to number
10, and they are proving that they belong there.
The team that still has not proven it to me is
CSUN, who is still ranked number 7, got crushed.
By Long Beach State. I know it's not just CSUN
getting crushed by Long Beach State. Long Beach
State, I want to see them play somebody ranked
in the top five. Okay, they've kind of cruised.
UCLA, when they played them, were just like out
to lunch. It was not good. So I want to see Long
Beach State actually play a top five team. Anyway,
confused how CSUN is in the top ten when they
haven't really beaten anybody. I think they beat
Pepperdine in one match and that's it. Well,
that might change because they play a couple
ranked teams. Coming up this week. They do play
some decent teams this week. Number nine Pepperdine
beat number 11 Stanford 3 -1 two times. Back
to back in Palo Alto. I thought that would be
better than it was. Well, I think this was a
case of Stanford makes you beat them, but they're
a little undersized. And Pepperdine is a very
big physical team. So it's not a great matchup
for Stanford. Fair. And finally, our baby upset.
is USC won the Outrigger Invitational. They beat
Hawaii 3 -1. So by the end, Hawaii and USC were
unbeaten. Ball State and Penn State were also
at the event. So this was technically like the
final, even though everybody was playing everybody.
And yeah, USC beat them 3 -1. I'm surprised.
That was a 4 -5 matchup, so it's not like anything
crazy, but I like... I need to stop saying that
I love Hawaii so much because I'm like setting
them up to fail, I think, against USC and against
Long Beach when that comes. Well, it's hard to
go into Hawaii and beat them. And I expected
Hawaii to win that tournament. Now, that match
happened late last night, so we haven't had a
chance to watch it yet. That's on my viewing
list for today. But I'm curious what USC's strategy
was. I'm curious how they went about. dismantling
hawaii because i thought hawaii would win or
did hawaii dismantle themselves well that's also
a possibility so maybe we can come back to that
next week and we'll see what happens after we
watch it overall i feel like the ranking like
last week heading into this week the ranking
stayed pretty steady uh particularly for the
top 10 you saw like A couple teams move like
one spot, nothing crazy. I think we'll see the
same thing this week. Curious to think about
if USC will take over the number four spot in
place of Hawaii. What the heck is going to happen
to Lewis? Are they going to plummet? Which given
what we've seen down there in the rankings, I
would be shocked if they punish them for this,
but we will find out. So another good week in
NCAA men's volleyball. Looking to love. We saw
in the head -to -head match, Madison beat Omaha
3 -1. Now, Madison is skyrocketing up the standings
after being in dead last. They are now tied for
third with Salt Lake. And we'll talk about this,
but Madison and Salt Lake play this week. They
have the same record. They have the same record.
They have Madison ahead of them. I don't know
if it's like how they've won, because I feel
like Salt Lake goes five with everybody. Yeah,
I'm unsure on their tie -breaking methodology,
and I don't think it's posted anywhere, but they
play this week, so there will be a clear -cut
3 -4 coming up, and we'll predict that match
later on in the episode. If we go to the weekend
with love, Houston beat Atlanta, so Houston keeps
winning, and then Atlanta recovered beating Salt
Lake City. Houston also went on to beat Austin
3 -1 over the weekend. Houston and Atlanta are
definitely sitting at the top. They have kind
of separated themselves. Houston has won the
last couple meetings with Atlanta, but Atlanta
holds a better record, so we'll see how that
ends up panning out. And as we said, Madison
and Salt Lake City are tied for third with their
record currently. They play this week, so that
will get sorted out. And Omaha and Austin have
made their way to the bottom of the league. So
we currently have Atlanta in first, followed
by Houston. Madison and Salt Lake, quote unquote,
tied for third. And then Austin followed with
Omaha at the bottom of the league. So things
are starting to kind of find their way to where
we thought they would at the beginning of the
season, which is interesting to see. And we'll
see how the league pans out over the next few
weeks. Now turning to the PVF, Orlando did not
have a great week. They were stopped twice. San
Diego defeated them 3 -2. And then Omaha came
back for a little payback and beat them 3 -1.
Just as I said from that game last week, oh,
is Omaha going to beat Orlando? And I'm like,
no, absolutely not. I've seen nothing to say
that Orlando's going to crack. Guess what? They
were a little egg being thrown against the wall
this week. Holy. So we'll see how Orlando rebounds
coming this week after dropping two. Atlanta
had a really good week going 3 -0. They beat
Indy and Grand Rapids 3 -1, and then they beat
San Diego in a really close 3 -2 win that went
16 -14 in the fifth. So they had a very good
week. And Vegas continues to struggle, as we
talked about last week. They lost their only
match to Columbus 3 -0. So that does not seem
like it's going to right itself anytime soon.
I mean, they looked pretty rough and discombobulated
last week, just like we kept talking about the
panic that it seemed like with throwing subs
in and out, in and out, like who the heck is
even playing? Doesn't look like they've sorted
that out. They need to find some sort of stability
from somewhere, whether it's from the coaching
staff, whether it's from a player. Nobody seems
to have any idea what's going on. They started
so well. I'm like, what happened? Is it an internal
thing? Have teams just figured them out and they
also were just coasting, didn't want to, not
didn't want to, but didn't make any adjustments?
Like, I'm wondering. I feel like it's a little
similar to Omaha in love. They clicked. very
well early in the season, and they just haven't
been able to keep that going or make adjustments
when teams have played them tough. So I don't
expect that to change anytime soon. I don't know
where it's going to come from, but it'll be interesting
to see how they finish because if they don't
turn it around, they're in trouble. We have both
Omaha and Orlando continuing to push for the
top of the league. Right now, Omaha has a record
of 12 -4, which puts them at the very top. So
this week they're winning. Last week, Orlando
was winning. We'll see if they just keep flip
-flopping. Correct. So we'll see how that ends
up going. But then the two teams following them
are Atlanta and Indy. So we have a close matchup
kind of with 1 -2 and 3 -4. That's probably how
the league is going to play out. Well, I think
it's the same. Like 5 -6 are kind of similar
and then 7 -8. So there's just like groupings
of two that are like kind of competing against
each other. So those... individual matchups will
be really interesting to see in the coming weeks,
especially when those teams go head -to -head.
Those are the matches that are going to mean
something because the gaps in between are relatively
large. And it's like, can you win your head -to
-head, but also just maybe squeak out a win from
teams that are ranked higher than you? Or even
push them to five. Yeah, make up the difference.
So the league, there are... Starting to be some
really interesting storylines in terms of individual
teams, who they're up against, and where it's
going to be. All right. Our first feature match
of the week is on the men's side of Champions
League. Olympiakos versus Jastrzewski -Wigil.
And I'm going to refer to those as Greece and
Poland just because my international pronunciation
is not the best. Totally fair. So this... was
very humbling for me personally. As I'm watching
these teams warm up, I'm like, wow. Olympiacos
looks like a bunch of players who are on the
verge of retirement. They're so old. What are
they, like in their 40s? I looked at this roster
because I was like, these guys are just like...
cruising through the end of their career, just
living life in Greece, loving it. There were
only two players that were my age, like literally
born at my year and the rest were younger. And
here I was being like, wow, these guys are so
old. No, apparently I'm the old one. So that
was incredibly humbling. So now that that's out
of the way. Well, I think we should put a little
context on this match for people who didn't watch
it or don't follow internationally as closely.
Greece is not the best league in Europe. Like,
this team had to fight through, as we've been
talking about champions, this team, Olympiakos,
had to fight through the preliminary rounds.
Like, Greece does not get a team directly in.
Correct. So this team had to go through the preliminaries
before even being able to compete. Yeah, and
if you looked at the rosters and who's playing,
the Greek team definitely has players who, like
you mentioned, are kind of at the end of their
career. I would say one of their best players,
Gord Perrin, who's Canadian, has retired from
the national team, no longer playing internationally
for their country. Probably took this contract.
You're living a good life in Greece. It's a good
league to be in. It's a good country. It's not
where people go for the highest level of competition.
Or for the most money. Right. It's just comfortable.
And from what I've heard, it's just very laid
back. You practice a few times a week. But don't
get me wrong. These guys on this team. They have
resumes. Or legends, okay? 100%. They have resumes,
but I was like, I didn't realize that we were
legit the same age. Yeah. Or they were younger.
I was impressed sitting on my couch watching
these guys play who are a year younger than me.
I mean, okay, so the setter is Dragan Travica,
who he is Italian, Croatian, but he played for
legendary teams like Forever, Trentino, Modena.
His dad is a legendary coach. So he is very good.
Like 2012 Olympian, Gord Perrin, Canadian, also
great career. Masulovic and Pajink are the middles.
So Serbian, Slovenian, Atanasievic is their opposite.
So like these guys have a lot of international
experience for Serbia, for their country. They
just haven't. And some of them still are playing,
but they just, like, compared to Jastrzewski,
where you're seeing Polish national team guys,
like, we've got Thomas Fornal, who is a starter
for Poland on the outside, Norbert Huber, who
starts for Poland in the middle, Anton Brem,
German middle, Lukasz Kaczmarek, who is one of
the better opposites in the world. I think he
got VNL opposite of the year, like, a couple
years ago. Benjamin Tony Uti is their setter,
who's French. He's a little older. But looking
at the rosters, we're talking about current stars
for very strong national teams versus former
stars for national teams. Listen, so this match
was in Greece. None of the Greek fans thought
they were going to win. Nobody on the Greek team
thought they were going to win. Nobody watching
the match. thought they were going to win, including
the announcer, who's supposed to be unbiased.
And, you know, the Polish team, they thought
they were going to come in here and walk over
this team, which they did in the first two sets.
In the first two sets, yeah. It wasn't even close.
You had to watch this match all the way through
because if you watch the first two sets, the
Polish team just dominated. They were physically
better. I felt bad. Watching it almost. Agreed.
Like, they were blowing up these guys with their
serves. Like, with their attacks. They were going
up. It was like one -on -ones. It looked like
the other team didn't even know what to do. These
guys were going up, hammering one -on -ones at,
like, the five -foot line. I was like, oh, gosh.
Yeah, it was, you know, watching it, you would
have turned the match off after two sets and
go, this one's over. They're heading back to
Poland. Like, see you in the next round. And
then the third set happened. And, you know, looking
at the stats, it's still confusing because the
Polish team, I mean, quite frankly, was better
than them. They had a better balanced offense.
Their setter did amazing. They passed the same.
They won in most of the statistical categories
that matter. But the difference to me was, and
I hate to say this, The Greek team dug or got
hit by balls on defense and found a way to score
afterwards. Gord Perrin went off and was almost
untouchable in the last three sets. He had 35
swings and had 20 kills. It didn't matter what
he did. He scored. And their opposite went 14
for 32. on the match, and he wasn't very good
in the first two sets, but he went back at one
point. So the turning point in the third set
for me was the opposite goes back and rips three
aces, and we're talking hitting sidelines. No,
it was just like they were just playing the first
two sets, and then it's like this guy goes back,
Atanasievich, and was like, you know what? We're
getting absolutely demolished right now. I am
going to yass this ball up here and hit it as
hard as I possibly can. And whatever happens,
happens. They stayed in. But we're talking one
curls away from the libero who gets aced. The
libero shifts over. The next one he hits into
the seam. And then he goes to the other sideline.
Three aces in a row. Poland sides out. And then
they go back and they get three massive blocks.
They scored six points in seven or eight rallies.
And they never looked back after that. It was
crazy. And they didn't set anybody else. Those
two players. Well, I thought Trevika set the
middle. I think his hands are beautiful. The
man is not jump setting. He's like, forget it.
I need to save my energy here. I'm just going
to stand on the ground and set. The delivery,
though. He puts those hitters in a perfect spot.
He was running that middle. I understand they
were setting Perrin and Atanasievich predominantly.
But I would say their Greek outside, Dalakouras,
he came out of nowhere. And he started doing
really well. Well, he's a baby, too. Baby, baby.
And then Travita was running the middle from
all these angles. And I'm like. Whoa. But I want
to go back to that because watching the match,
you got the impression that he set the middle
a ton. I did because when he did, I was like,
dang, that delivery is so good. I did not expect
you to set that. And I thought the exact same
thing. Do you want to know how many sets their
middles got? Oh my gosh, this always happens.
This always happens. Go ahead. Nine and four.
In five sets? In five sets. Oh my God. And this
is the beauty. I'm going to call him a magician
for a setter, is when you feel like he is setting
the middle at an uncontrollable pace, but he's
not. But that's the thing. As viewers who understand
the game very well, if we're thinking that, as
a player or something who is so invested in the
moment and is so focused on the game, you're
probably thinking the same thing. Like, I have
no vested interest in this match, and I'm watching
this man's set being like, wow. He runs the middle
incredibly well. If you are under that much stress
as a player, you're probably not processing it
either. So that was one of the reasons why I
thought they were able to turn that match. They're
outside hitters. It played incredibly well. But
it just felt like the middle was always an option.
And that opens up the pins for Perrin and the
opposite, who, again, scored when they had their
chances and had great... third, fourth, and fifth
sets. But that feeling that the middle is always
an option goes a huge way to opening up and allowing
those outsides to be efficient. I will say Olympiacos,
it's like in the first two sets watching them,
you could got the impression as a viewer that
they felt like they didn't belong there. They
were not cheering. They were just like head down.
Do not make any waves. Like, we know we're not
supposed to be here. Just like, sorry, we're
just going to play. Keep quiet. And then after
those aces that you were talking about by Atanasievich,
all of a sudden they started getting animated.
They started cheering. They started to be like,
wait a minute. And even the fans started to be
like, whoa. He dragged them into that match emotionally.
Yes. It was. incredible to see so there were
two things that stand out to me looking at the
stats for the match one was they out aced poland
eight to three three of those happened all in
a row so over the course of the match it was
really five to three which is neither here nor
there statistically over five sets but that was
the turning point and then for me greece had
121 attack attempts to poland's 104 So they were
digging the ball or getting hit by balls. But
that's the thing. I don't like attributing luck
to victories. But the ball luck that Greece found
in those last three sets, there were situations
where it was off the shoulder of the defender,
chicken wing from somebody in the front row,
perfect set. And there were a couple... It's
situations where the setter went up and hit the
third ball and there was no block because nobody
understood what was happening. They were still
under fire from Poland. And whether you credit
it to defensive adjustments, to being in the
right place, or to not being able to see the
ball because it was coming so fast at them, they
continued some rallies that were just spectacular.
Watching it, though, I honestly felt bad for
Jastrzewski because... you could see them just
like not knowing what the heck is going on and
not knowing what to do. And I can relate to that.
I've been in those situations where you're playing
a team that you are better than hands down. And
for whatever reason, they are just unconscious
and just everything is going their way. And you're
just like, okay, let's keep going. Let's keep
pushing. We can do this. We're going to figure
it out. We're going to break through. And it
just wasn't happening. And you could see them
like, holy, what do we do here? And they had
a couple pushes. Like the third set happened
and everyone kind of, you could see the Greek
team was kind of laughing about it. Like, wow,
three aces in three blocks. Like, let's see if
we can keep this going. And the Polish team came
out. You could see them take a deep breath and
come back and be like, okay, there's no chance
that this is going to happen again. But I will
say the Greek team kept the service pressure.
They went after every serve. Nobody took a night
off. Nobody played it safe. They came at Poland
hard from the service line. Well, and I will
say, Timotei Karl, the French left side for Jastrzewski,
he struggled. So I thought that was an interesting
tactic. He does not like passing with his forearms.
Oh my gosh, he went down to his knees to pass
with his hands a few times, and I'm like, my
man, literally, let's learn how to use the platform,
okay? They went after him with a couple float
servers, dropping that ball in short where he
was like going to the ground and not passing
particularly well. And I thought that was a genius
strategy by Greece. Oh, absolutely. I was watching
this match being like, this guy needs to be subbed
out. And they did not take him out. They kept
him in because he was a liability passing for
them and attacking. He was struggling too. But
I think like Yastrzemski is loaded. With Huber
and Brehm in the middle, like, come on now. And
then you've got Fornal, who is, I really like
him. Me too. He's got personality. I really like
him. And Kosmarik on the right. Like, there is
no reason why you should not be able to score
if you're Yastrzemski. But Timotei Carl's passing
was a problem. Totally agree with you. And attack
wise, he got set 22 times. He had 12 kills, which
isn't terrible, but he made seven errors getting
blocked five times. Like Greece scored a whole
bunch of points off of him directly. Him specifically.
And why, why he stayed on the court. That was
to me, that was the one kind of coaching error
or head scratching piece. I was like, clearly
you have really good players on your bench. Like
why not take him off the floor? Well, they're
loaded. They've got some Argentinians on the
bench. They're stacked with Polish players. I
was like, at least switch it up just for a few
points to see if somebody can make a better impact,
but they refused. It's like they didn't believe
that they were going to lose. It's like, no,
we are doing this, and we are not bending. I
don't think they made a sub at all. No, I don't
believe they did. Four and all started amazing.
And then you could see, like, he started to go
down a little bit as the passing broke down and
then, like, some passing issues of his. Like,
yeah, it was, I felt bad for them. Well, to me,
this is the definition of this is why you play.
Anything can happen. When you have skilled players
on both sides. People can have matches of their
life. They can come out. A team can click like
this. This was a match to me of why you play
sport. It was so much fun to watch. You could
see the team shifting. You could see the tension.
You could see Poland puckering a little and looking
at each other and be like, I literally don't
know what to do. We did not prepare for any of
these guys to do these things. No. And they just
couldn't get it back. So the thing working in
Yastrzemski's favor here is that they went five.
So you will probably remember us talking about
the PVF scoring system. So that scoring system,
as we have talked about, is used all over Europe.
It's used in Champions League. So if you win
in three or four sets, you get three points.
If you win in five sets, you get two. If you
lose in five, you get one. So Jastrzewski left
there with one point. So basically, if they can
manage to win at home next week in three or four,
they win the series. I want no prediction. because
this is coming later. I am not predicting anything,
okay? So that is working in their favor. They
do have an opportunity. And I will say that environment
in Greece was hostile. Those fans were unhinged.
Unhinged. I expected bottles to be thrown on
the court eventually. And trust me, I've seen
it. I've played in Southern Italy. It happens,
okay? So don't come at me for hating Greek people.
That's not it at all. The environment was amazing
for the Greek team. I think everybody in that
stadium sang for two and a half hours straight.
And then as they won, it got unhinged. They were
yelling at servers. It was wild. The Polish people
love volleyball, so I expect them to really show
out. But that environment is going to be hard
to beat. If you're just looking for a volleyball
match to watch for the sake of watching good
volleyball, this was a really fun one to watch.
It never was dull. You were always curious as
to what was going to happen. The momentum shifted.
The team dynamics changed. This was just great
entertainment. Go wait until the beginning of
April if you want so that you can get just by
one month of Eurovalley TV just to last you until
the final four. Eight euros. Just spend your
eight euros, your ten bucks. Two coffees. If
you don't want to get more than one month. Just
wait a couple weeks and then binge all these
games because you will not regret it. Our second
feature match of the week is another Champions
League game, this time on the women's side between
Vakifbank and Fenerbahce. Wowee. This was another
one that just had us just enthralled. Okay, before
we get into this, I have a question for you.
Yeah. If you were to look at these two teams
on paper, which one is better? Well, VacavBank
was my pick to win this series. Remember when
we played the game a couple weeks ago? So VacavBank
was my pick. I knew that I wasn't aware of Fenerbahce's
entire roster. I think if I had known that, I
might have had a harder time picking. I knew
that Melissa Vargas played for Fenerbahce, but
then I knew some of the deeper into the roster
for Vakavbank. Yeah, let's just go over these
rosters real quick so people have an idea. So
for Vakavbank, the outsides are Marina Markova
and Katerina Bosetti. Markova is Russian. She
played at Syracuse and Florida. And now she's
in Turkey. Katerina Bosetti, of course, captain
of the Italian national team. The middle blockers
are Yuan Jinwei, the middle for China, and Zeyra
Gunish, the middle for Turkey. The opposite is
the Canadian Kira Van Rijk, and then the setter
is Kansu Ojbe, and the libero is Aitsa Aykac.
So the setter and libero are Turkish as well.
For Fenerbahce, the outsides are Arina Fedoroceva,
the young. Russian prodigy. She has turned into
one of my favorites. Oh my gosh, I love her.
And Ana Cristina from Brazil. The middles are
Ada Erdem and Ajli Kalac. So two Turkish middles.
Both have played national team. Ada Erdem is
the legend, has played forever. Opposite, Melissa
Vargas. Setter is Bojana Dirca, the Serbian setter.
who replaced Maya Onyanovich internationally
recently. And the libero is Gizem Orze. So a
Turkish libero. Wow. That's, I mean. Studded.
Star studded. Both rosters are solid. But like
knowing what I know now, I probably would have
picked Fenerbahce because that outside combo
is loaded. It's impressive. So going into this
match. As we know, Fenerbahce won last week 3
-0. So basically they had to just win the match
or push the match to five sets to win the series
outright. Fenerbahce won the first set pretty
much on the back of Melissa Vargas who went off.
Chipped three clean aces to start the match.
And then was like unstoppable offensively. You
had the feeling watching her that she was just
going to single -handedly win that match. Which
we have seen her do before. 100%. You thought
the match was over almost before it started.
She unloaded on those serves. It was wild. Okay.
You guys have so many listeners have asked questions
like, why don't more women spin serve? Go watch
this match. There are so many women spin serving
in these matches. And you will see the difference
between this and NCAA women's. There is no comparison.
The women in this match were punishing these
spin serves. And that, if you're going to do
that, yes, spin serve. 100%. Their shoulders,
the tosses, the sheer aggressiveness. The spin
they're putting on it. From the baseline. The
movement they're creating. Like, you do not see
that from college volleyball. Well, and so I
think it's important. This match to me makes
sense to kind of go almost set by set because
you saw the match kind of shift. So in the first
set, the story for me was Vargas. She was untouchable.
She had three aces. I thought Fenerbahce blocked
really well in that set. And the key stats to
me that made the difference in that first set,
which they won 25 -19, so it wasn't really close,
was Fenerbahce had five aces to... and they out
-blocked 3 -2. So you had significant serving
and blocking pressure from Fenerbahce that was
just unmatched by back -of -the -bank in that
first set. Well, and Melissa Vargas was going
off, which completely opened things up for Federer
at Ceiba, who things should not be opened up
for Federer at Ceiba, okay? She hits a heavy
ball. And high. Like all of these women, these
outsides are hitting the ball so high and at
such a great like angle. Like, okay, keep going.
So at that point, watching Fenerbahce win the
first set, they only have to win one more set.
They literally just have to win one. You thought,
I thought that the match was pretty much over
at that point. The way that the first set went,
absolutely, that was the feeling. And as the
second set progressed, it was super close. And
they were winning, weren't they, in the second
set? They were up. What was interesting to me
was you could feel the tension in the second
set. There were two timeouts called in the first
six points. So I believe, if I'm remembering
correctly... Guidetti called a timeout at 2 -0.
It was 2 -0 for Fenerbahce. Then it flipped to
4 -2, Vakith Bank. Fenerbahce calls the timeout.
There was so much tension in that second set.
That, to me, was the match. I mean, it wasn't
the match, but it was so interesting to watch
the back and forth. Well, I want to say, wasn't
Fenerbahce up like 22 -20 or something at one
point? They were up going down the stretch. And
I was like, oh my gosh, this is over. Vakith
Bank changed their setter in the second set for
a stretch of time to try and change the momentum
and get it going. And they did. And you had Vakith
Bank won that set at the end, three aces to one
and five blocks to three. And you started to
see Markova. come on in the second set for Vagath
Bank. And we'll keep talking about her. Well,
and Vargas decreased in performance. But you
know what I think was so impressive? Zara Gunesh,
her blocking. Yes. And when her and Markova are
paired up together, holy, they caused a world
of hurt for Melissa Vargas. So this might be
a hot take, but I think Gunesh was the player.
Of the match. She was so good. She. I think I'm
like, did this woman have like 15 blocks? How
many does she have? If you watch internationally,
you know who she is. She is outstanding. She
had nine of their 17 blocks. Nine. And these
things were coming down fast. They were like
hitting the center line. Okay. So Vakith Bank's
strategy was to ride two players. You had Markova,
who was. Lights out. She got set 53 times and
had 26 kills. Almost half of the time she swung,
she scored. And then, to her credit, Kira van
Rijk had 41 sets with 17 kills. Now, I thought
she started slowly, but I thought by the end
of the match, she canceled Vargas out. There
wasn't a significant difference minus the first
set as to their point production. And it took
her a little while, but she found her footing,
and I thought she played very well. So keep this
in mind, 53 sets and 41 sets. I'm going to read
the totals of the other players who were set
in this match. The next highest was 11, and then
10, 9, and 6. Holy. But neither team really set
their middles. This was essentially outside hitters
versus outside hitters. And quite frankly, Markova
just set herself above the rest. At the beginning,
she was hitting insane angles. And then she started
looking for hands more as the match progressed.
Kira Van Rijk, give that girl line, she's going
to take it. Okay, she doesn't have a great angle
swing. She doesn't hit sharp. Do not let her
hit line because I was impressed with how she
was able to find it. And she hits a heavy ball
too. Heavy. Yes. So those two. And then we had
Vargas start great. Federer at Seva was pretty
solid all match. Anna Christina was quiet in
the first two sets, but I thought her set three
and four were so good. Yeah. She was actually
the most efficient player for Fenerbahce. So
the set totals were interesting. For Fenerbahce
as well. So Vargas had 47, while Federer -Tseva
had 48, and Ana Cristina had 33. So they distributed
the ball between all three pin hitters better
than Vakithbank did. But Vargas was 18 for 47
with 11 errors on the night. She got blocked
a lot. She got blocked a ton. And to me, that
was the difference. Like, those blocks, because...
Vakith Bank out -blocked them 17 -11. Gunish,
for me, was the difference in that regard. They
didn't set her a ton, but she set the tone when
she was in the front row. And emotionally, she
was so engaged, so fired up. I mean, her and
Vargas are international teammates, so there
was a little bit of swagger going on there. Well,
they're buddies, too, I think. And she let her
have it. And it was, it was fun to watch. It
was a little chippy and I'm all for it. But like,
so going back to what you said, they distributed
for all three attackers. Katerina Bosetti is
not there to score points for back of bank. She
is there to pass and play defense. When she was
getting set, it was, it was a struggle. Like
she's not as big. She's not jumping as touching
as high as the other way. Like she is there.
For ball control, and that's it. And defense.
She dug a ton of balls. Ball control. Yeah, fair
enough. Oh, I'm just saying she did her job well.
She 100 % did her job, but every single set when
it came down the stretch, they subbed in Daria
Chebichoglu to score points, and I thought this
young girl did outstanding. Like, got subbed
in every set when Katarina went to the front
row. did her job, scored some points for the
team, and then Katarina came back in to pass
again. So I think that was a really smart sub.
I wanted to see them use Yuan Jinwei a little
more. I think she's like 6 '8", and every time
they were running her on the slide, she was pretty
effective. I think I would have liked to have
seen both teams run the middle more, but it was
really fun watching the outsides go at it. Well,
I totally agree. But I had to think, watching
Fenerbahce, when Vargas kept getting a two -man
solid block, that at some point they would have
thought, hey, we need to run the middle a little
bit more. Gunas is just going out to the pin,
sealing the block. That was the adjustment that
they could have made to make life a little bit
easier for Vargas. Well, no, do you remember
they were trying to run the middle early, Fenerbahce
was, and Gunas was just... chomping on it and
then they said like when you're running a quick
do not run it create space because every time
you're running a quick they're they're all over
it so use the quick as a decoy only set the middle
if you're gonna run something they said that
at a time out well and and that's fine because
you She got those blocks early, but you have
to go back to it. You can't let a player shut
your whole middle attack down at the beginning
of a match and not use it again. The mindset
of playing is just so, yeah, 100%. That is 100
% right. But it's just like everybody gets so
wrapped up. We saw the coaches sprint onto the
court three times. These people are getting so
wrapped up in the moment that you probably can't
think. as clearly as you want. You know what
I mean? But that's your job as the coaching staff.
I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying
you could see the emotions were just out of control.
But yeah, they didn't go back to the middle at
all. As fun as it was to watch the outsides and
to watch the blocking on display, I was quite
disappointed with the setting from both sides.
I thought it hurt. So two things. I thought...
Fenerbahce's setter straight out hurt them. I
didn't think she played particularly well. And
I thought Vakifbank's out -of -system setting
hurt them. It was not very good. Yeah, agreed
on both fronts. And honestly, is it any coincidence
that Serbia had the worst international season
in recent memory with this girl setting them
last year? Seeing her set against Vakifbank,
I was like, this is terrible. And VacavBank was
digging so many balls, and they could not put
any away because their out -of -system setting
was all over the place. Yeah, it was crazy because,
like you said, Bosetti was digging a ton of balls,
and they would put over free balls. So many rallies
lasted forever where it was just VacavBank getting
bombed with these balls and then sending free
balls over and over again until somebody finally
executed it. It was, whoa. Well, and the last
thing that I wanted to touch on was in set four,
Fenerbahce had multiple leads. They were up 16
-12. They were up 19 -16, and they couldn't close
it out. This game was so exciting just for that
fact. It's like they win the first set, and it's
like, oh my gosh, Fenerbahce just needs to win
one more set, and they make it to the final four.
They're up in the second set. Vacavbank fights
back, wins it. And it's like, holy crap, they
just had that opportunity. Then VacavBank wins
the third set. Then the fourth set, and it's
like, okay, Fenerbahce, this is their last chance
to win this outright. They're up big, and we
looked at each other so many times, like, how
did they lose this? Because they were up so big.
VacavBank just, like, found a way, and it was
insane. And they, like... pushed it to the golden
set because they won in four. And Fenerbahce
was up 6 -2 in the golden set? You guys, it is
crazy. I don't even know. It was like they would
come up with these aces at the most perfect times
and they would get blocks at the most necessary
times. So one other thing, we talked about not
running the middle for Fenerbahce, which I thought
was an issue. The other thing that kind of had
me scratching my head from a game plan standpoint
was I thought Fenerbahce served Bossetti too
many balls. Like, her only job is ball control
and passing. You need to make Markova pass every
single ball. You need to serve her short. You
need to move her around. And granted, Bossetti
was... poaching balls and stepping in front of
her, which was what they probably trained to
do. But they did not try and exploit Markova
enough from the service line. in my opinion.
Now, you have a couple girls who go back and
bomb. Vargas has the green light to go back and
just hammer the ball wherever she wants. She
hits it hard enough to cause trouble wherever
she decides to serve. But with the other players
who aren't serving with that much velocity, they
didn't target her enough, and she was free to
go out and swing far too often, in my opinion.
I agree. Katarina Bosetti, her passing is impressive.
Markova used to be a middle, and what she's doing
transitioning to the outside and what she's able
to do, it's quite frankly incredible. But challenge
her. She's 6 '7". Like, serve her short. Make
her move. Just keep the pressure on her. With
somebody, you're going to, if you have a choice
between serving Katarina Bosetti or Marina Markova,
the choice is simple. Yeah, and if you look at
the stats, Markova passed 30 balls, Katarina
passed 16, but it was too much. And their libero
passed 40. So, yeah, they just didn't generate
enough trouble from the service line to the right
person, in my opinion. Overall, so entertaining.
Not just from a skill perspective, but from what
was on the line. Is Fenerbahce going to do it?
Are they not going to do it? Like, we love a
golden set. We've talked about this so many times.
And an iconic rivalry. An iconic rivalry. Like,
up 6 -2 in the golden set. Like, there were so
many times where, as a viewer, you're like, oh,
Fenerbahce's got this in the bag. And then, Vakafeng
just found a way. It was so entertaining on so
many levels. It was, to watch this caliber of
athlete, like, Federer -Otseva. her career is
going to be incredible. She's 20 years old. Even
these players, Anna Christina is early 20s, Melissa
Vargas, say mid -20s. The future is going to
be very exciting, and it was just so fun to be
able to watch this. Totally agree. If you are
a volleyball fan and you're looking for something
to watch, and I know we say this. probably too
often, but this is the best volleyball there
is. It was incredible. Like you want to see what
we mean about the Turkish leagues, the Italian
leagues, go watch this and you will see the differences
that we are talking about between these leagues
and other ones. So we are in the heat of it.
We're starting to see specific matchups. We're
starting to see. Final fours in place for Champions
League. So what I wanted to do this week is I've
picked out a couple matches from each of the
leagues that we follow, highlighted a few games
that are coming up, and I want your take on what
you think is going to happen in those matches.
Well, should I do what I think or should I do
opposite day? Because whenever I make these predictions,
they're wrong. No, I want you to give me what
you think, and I will do this as well. So let's
start with the Women's Champions League. So we
have the semifinals are set. And remember, these
are one -off matches. So we have Milano versus
Conigliano. Gut instinct, who's going to win?
Conigliano. Give me a three, four, or five. I
think they'll win in four. I'm going to say Canigliano
in five. I think Milano's going to push them.
That's an Italian Cup rematch, which was a really
good match. So I'm going to say Canigliano in
five. And the other semifinal, which we alluded
to, is Vakith Bank versus Scandici. Where are
you with that one? I'm going to say Vakith Bank
in three. I'm going to say Vakith Bank in four.
Okay, so there's our Women's Champions League
predictions for their semifinal. Now I want to
go back. I'm curious what you're going to think
here. So we watched the Greece versus Poland.
We talked about that at length. What a great
game. Now that was the first round of the men's
quarterfinals in Champions League. They are heading
back to Poland. What do you think is going to
happen in that match in Poland? My instinct is
that Poland will win in three. But should I give
Olympiakos a bit of respect and say four? Well,
I was going to say that Poland's going to win
in three, and my caveat was going to be they're
going to hold them to 20 and under in each of
the three sets. I think they will for sure have
something to prove, and Olympiakos had no business
winning that match. That was a match of a lifetime,
in my opinion. It was one of those magical moments.
And I just don't see that happening again. Okay,
I'm going to say Ostrowski in three. Okay. So
those are our Champions League predictions. One,
we have to wait until May. The other one, we'll
know what happens next year. Well, I think the
other Champions League men's matches will all
be the same result that we saw. Yeah, I agree.
I agree. Moving forward to NCAA men's. So CSUN
has two matches. this coming week against ranked
opponents. And, you know, we've been talking
about them having a ranking and not playing anybody
quote unquote good. So CSUN, who is seven versus
Lewis, who I sewered last week at 14. You were
nice to them. That niceness sewered them. Exactly.
I picked them as being very well ball controlled,
you know, a team that makes you beat them and
they went and lost both matches. CSUN and Lewis.
What's your prediction? Full disclosure, I haven't
watched CSUN at all. I'm just like, yeah, why
are they ranked top 10? Maybe I should watch
them. CSUN and Lewis. I'm going to say CSUN.
Okay. And then CSUN and Loyola Chicago. That's
a 7 -8 matchup later in the week. These are hard.
I'll say Loyola. These aren't like informed predictions.
No, that's fine. So we've watched Lewis and Loyola
Chicago play. We haven't watched CSUN, like you
said. I think Lewis wins in five and Loyola Chicago
in four. You think CSUN's going on two? I think
they're going to go 0 for this week. That's my
prediction. Dang. Okay, moving on to PDF. We
have the Orlando Valkyries and the Atlanta Vibe.
Oh my gosh. Play this week. Last week I was like,
Orlando's not going to lose. I've never seen
it. They haven't given me any indication. But
like momentum would say. Well, and this is the
interesting thing. So they're close in the standings.
Orlando's coming off an 0 -2 week. Atlanta's
coming off a 3 -0 week. I think Orlando was 1
-2. I think they also had three matches. But
they've lost two in a row. Dang, Atlanta's off
of a 3 -0 week. Who's hosting? Do we know where
they're playing? That I actually don't know.
Oh my gosh, this is a really tough one. I'd like
to think that Orlando can turn it around again,
but maybe people have figured something out.
You know what? I love a momentum shift. Let's
say Atlanta. I'm going to go Orlando in five.
I think this one's going the distance. But I'm
a fan of Orlando, so I think Orlando in five.
Okay, okay. And our last prediction moves to
love. So Madison and Salt Lake play each other
this week. Records are tied for third. And I'm
curious who you think is going to win. Well,
I just said I love a momentum kind of play here,
and Madison's on a roll, so why not continue
it? I'll say Madison. I like the way Madison
has been playing. I think they're also going
to win. I actually think this one's going to
be 3 -0. Madison's just like, surprise, everybody.
This is the only team Adam has hated since we've
started the podcast, and now look at them. They're
like... Coming on. Hey, I am willing to change
my opinion if they figure it out and teams change
how they're playing. So those are my predictions.
It is time for listener questions. I've got a
larger roundup than usual this week. So question
number one is, do you think the relaxing of the
rules on carries and double touches is positive
for the game? I'm so torn about this. You are?
I am not, shocker. So do I think that it is good
for the athletes? No. Do I think that it's good
for the viewing experience? Yes. You don't want
to have whistles and stop action. From a purely
viewing standpoint, I understand why they made
the rule. I think the thing that bothers me the
most is when a team gains an advantage from being
able to do something super sloppy. Like if I
hit the ball at you really well and I run a good
play and it's like off the shoulder and the setter
like flicks it from their chest, like you should
call that. If you're in good position and, you
know, the middle doubles the ball on a set because
they got stone hands, like let that go. You know
what I mean? I think there needs to be, and I
don't know how you referee this fairly, but a
little more gains in advantage to the call. If
I could do it properly, that's how I would do
it. I am a volleyball purist. I think it is a
beautiful game, and I think that these rule changes
are making it sloppy and ugly. I don't like it,
and quite frankly, if you can't set, go practice.
How to set. I think I said this in a very early
episode. It's called Volleyball for a reason.
The title skill should not be mutilated. Okay.
So I think that the game is supposed to be played
in a very clean, beautiful way. And I do not
like it. And that's all I have to say about it.
So this question came. as we've been talking
about players and national teams, and it was,
do you think Liberos should really go overseas?
And this person was specifically talking about
Lexi Rodriguez and Elena Scott. Love has very
good athletes, and it's not like Liberos get
to sign with Italy and Turkey frequently. So
they're kind of comparing... You know, are they
getting better playing in love and PVF or is
it worth going overseas if they're not going
to make a ton of money or play in a lower league
because they don't really sign liberos? I'm curious
what you think about this. Okay, we have said
that it is tough for liberos to make a career
overseas. If people are bringing in foreign players,
they're usually point scorers. So it is tough
for foreign liberos to like make a lot of money
overseas. And you typically, I mean, in Italy
and Turkey, the liberos there are outstanding.
Fair point. I get it. My question is, is it better
to sit on the bench in love and get no playing
experience, or is it better to play in the PVF,
which I personally do not think that the level
is quite there? than to go play in Germany and
France. And we can argue about how Germany and
France level compares to love all day. I'd be
happy to. But there is something to be said for
practicing with and against those types of players
every day versus being on a B side and not getting
adequate game experience. Add to that the fact
that you have opportunities to play Champions
League, Chev Cup, matches like that, where you
are going against national team athletes. The
ball is coming at you faster, different angles,
which you will experience internationally. So
quite frankly, yes, I do think that Lexi Rodriguez
and Elena Scott should go overseas because the
opportunities for them to see. the opponents
and the level of competition that they will play
at the international level is just more realistic
and more likely to happen than it is in love.
And again, I personally go watch some Champions
League games. It doesn't even have to be the
Turkey quarterfinal matches. Go watch them. The
level is not the same. And so, yeah, I think
it is important for them to do that if they want
a national team career. And that's... That's
exactly the case that I think makes sense. If
your goal is to play internationally for the
U .S., as I imagine that it is for Elena Scott
and Lexi Rodriguez, go and be the second libero
for one of those teams in those top leagues.
And listen, national teams do this all the time.
Everybody knows each other. They could go and
make $2 ,000 a month. And play for those teams
and be in the gym. Those arrangements can be
made. And you will play defense against Vargas,
against Markova, against all of these top players.
And it's just different passing that ball every
day in practice. It's not even about the competition.
It's about understanding the speed and the angles
of how the game is played at the highest international
level. Are they going to make a living? No. And
that's fair. But it depends on what your goals
are. Okay, this one's for you. If you hadn't
played for Nebraska, what program would you have
chosen to play at? And if you played in the NCAA
today, what program would you choose to play
for? Ooh, okay. A little story time with Sarah,
I guess. So my recruiting journey was very interesting.
When it really came down to it, I would say my
top four. choices were Nebraska, Minnesota, Stanford,
and Penn State. I was choosing between those
four programs. And then I guess after visiting
them all, my final two were actually Nebraska
and Minnesota. So if I hadn't gone to Nebraska,
I probably would have chosen Minnesota at the
time. And actually my freshman year, they made
the final of the NCAA tournament. So back then
they were like very good. Today, well, and actually
I loved the coach, Mike Hebert. When I called
him to tell him I wasn't going, I literally cried
because he was such a nice man. And I loved the
Twin Cities. Anyways, there was a lot of reason.
Minnesota would have been a great fit for me,
I think, as well. But Nebraska was where I was
meant to be. Um, today, if I played in the NCAA,
this is a very interesting question. I probably
would still choose Nebraska or Pitt or Penn State.
The reason I say Pitt and Penn State, well, I
say Nebraska because I had an incredible experience
there. I think it's like an incredible volleyball
environment. It's second to none. Like I wouldn't
have traded my experience for anything. But observing
the NCAA now, what I see from Pitt and Penn State
is just a culture that seems very conducive to
who I am as a person. And I think it's so beautiful
to see how much the athletes seem to respect
Dan Fisher and Katie Schumacher -Cauley. It's
just like... It seems like a real family atmosphere
where excellence is at the core. And they're
gritty. They're gritty. Like, I just have really
liked what I've seen both on the court and interpersonally
from the team, like the athletes, and how the
athletes engage with the coaches in those programs.
So I would pick one of those three probably.
Question four is, can there be in -season trades
in PVF and Love? So the short answer is in PVF,
yes. Wait, really? Yep. Teams and general managers
can trade players, trade picks. In -season. As
far as I'm aware, I believe that that is the
case. I don't think you see it very often as
of right now, but I believe that it is allowed.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe
that's the case. Now with Love, it's a little
more tricky because none of the teams are singly
owned and operated and it's done by the league.
I'm not sure what the process is. Now I know,
and I think it was either Omaha or Madison recently.
Madison recently added a player to their roster.
So if I had to guess. I'm guessing the teams
go to the league and make a petition of like,
hey, we have an injury or we have this, this
player's available, you know, can we bring them
in? But that's different than trades. I don't
think there would be trades. Right, I don't think
there are trades either. But I'm just, in terms
of bringing players in, I looked at trades as
in like modifying your team. So, yeah, I very
much doubt that teams would trade between each
other, but in terms of adding players to your
roster, I don't know what the mechanism is, but
it can be done. Question five is where does innovation
separate from rule changes come from? Does it
come from coaches or players? And this person
by innovation meant a new technique that impacts
the opposition or affects how the game is played
and is adopted by others. Yeah, I mean, I think
all of those kind of competitive advantages,
which is essentially how I see the question come
from. players and coaches trying to do things.
You can think about servers lining up behind
defenders and blockers so you can't see. You
can think about people coming in and faking a
hit on two and jump setting a ball. It's all
of these things that some are driven by players,
some are driven by stats guys, some are driven
by coaches who have ideas and you try them in
practice, you see what happens and then... You
break them out in a match and someone goes, oh,
I really like that. I'm going to do that as well.
So yeah, I think generally by players and coaches
as they try and find advantages over other teams.
And I mean, I think the biggest type of change
we've seen from an innovation perspective is
on the beach volleyball side recently. I would
say the game since 2021 Tokyo Olympics to now,
it's a completely different game. They've relaxed
the hand setting rules. So you're seeing women
in particular, so many women hand setting. The
speed of the game has increased tremendously.
You're seeing the offense be run almost like
indoor right now with like how it's run to the
pin, the jump setting. And I would say the jump
setting innovation was probably started by the
Swedish men. They came on the scene. They were
really young, 19, 18 years old, and they were
jump setting and nobody had seen that before,
but it was effective. so many teams trying to
do it so I think yeah it's like coaches being
like I wonder if this would work or players it's
a collaboration for sure but yeah and the last
question we have for today is regarding positions
so Skinner moved to the opposite as a hitter
for love and she played left side in college
what are the differences in the roles between
an opposite and an outside And then also, is
there a difference between the two outside hitting
positions on a team? Opposite is typically regarded
as the point scorer. So their main role is to
score points in the attack, blocking, and serving.
Outside hitters, you typically see them be a
little more well -rounded and perform all skills.
So they are required to pass and play defense
in addition to scoring points. So I would say
that that is like the main difference between
the two positions. As an outside, you have to
focus on both sides of the game. Not that you
don't as an opposite, but the expectation of
your role is not. on the defensive side whereas
like as an opposite it's mostly like a single
-minded focus of just score points so it's definitely
a different mindset shift and the expectation
of what you need to do on the court changes there
is a difference between the two outside hitting
positions so as we know there are three rotations
when the setter is in the back row so there are
three hitters in the front row and then when
the setter gets to the front row there's only
two So typically when the setter is in the front
row and you have one less attacker, you want
your stronger attacking left side to be up front
with the setter because you have less options.
You want to make sure that you have a prolific
score up there with them. The hitter who is typically
in the front row when the setter's in the back
row is usually better at ball control and defense.
They aren't required to carry as heavy of an
offensive load because there are other hitters
in the front row with them. So I would say that
that's the biggest difference, unless you have
something to add. No, I think that that was very
succinctly put. Thank you so much to everybody
who submits questions. We still have a very long
list that we have to get through, but we love
hearing what you guys have to say, answering
the things that you're curious about. So continue
to send them in. We love to receive them. And
this is always my favorite part of the show.
All right, looking forward to this week. Now,
we talked about some of these in our predictions,
but we'll go over them here, and you'll see them
in the description on YouTube. If we look at
Love this week, the head -to -head match is on
Thursday at 8 o 'clock Eastern, and that's between
Madison and Salt Lake, Madison winning 3 -0.
You can see that on Love Live or DAZN. The Weekend
in Love is in Omaha, so we'll see if they can
turn things around on Friday and Saturday. The
Friday matches are Omaha and Austin. That's on
ESPN+. And the Saturday matches can be found
on Love Live or the Women's Sport Network. Champions
League men's quarterfinals are going to finish
up this week. Those matches are going to be Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday, and you can find those
on eurovolley .tv. If we look at the NCAA men's
action, Friday and Saturday at 9 o 'clock Eastern,
Grand Canyon and BYU play a back -to -back series.
That's going to be on Big Ten Plus. And then
on Saturday, CSUN plays Loyola Chicago at 7 o
'clock Eastern. Again, Loyola Chicago is going
to win that one. Probably on ESPN+. And finally,
if we look at the PVF, Wednesday at 10 o 'clock
Eastern, San Diego and Orlando have a rematch
from this past week, and that is going to be
on the PVF YouTube channel. On Saturday at 7
o 'clock PM Eastern, Omaha plays Indy, and that's
on Fox Sports 1. That concludes this week's episode
of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking
in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed
this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so
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be back next week.