WEBVTT

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Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to Volley

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Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers

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who want to dig deep into what is going on in

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NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host

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Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball

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world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and

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longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And

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I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international

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volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat

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guy. I was naive this week, everybody. Here I

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was. Thinking that things would be straightforward.

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And then the NCAA men had to go and prove me

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completely wrong. The men's side is having its

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own NCAA basketball March Madness bracket where

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you never know what's going to happen. I could

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not have predicted things that happened this

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week. So things were wild over there. And unfortunately

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for some of these teams, these matches had massive

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implications into... Their conference tournaments

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that are happening in a few weeks. So there's

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that. We are also coming up on the end of Love's

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inaugural season. And the matchups for next weekend's

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final are set. And PVF has also been seeing some

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big moves as players return from their contracts

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overseas. Players are being waived, etc. So we

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have got a lot to cover for you today. So let's

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get started. All right, everybody, buckle up

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because this weekly highlights and happenings

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is about to rock your world and it might be very

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long. So grab yourself a snack while we dive

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in here, okay? We do have some news from the

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NCAA women's side. They can't stay away for long.

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So Grace Lopez, the transfer from Miami to Wisconsin,

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has torn her ACL. Not sure what that is going

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to mean for Wisconsin. Well, that's normally

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a six to eight month recovery, if I'm not mistaken.

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At least, yeah. She'll be lucky if she's able

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to get into form for the tournament next year.

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Yeah, so Wisconsin's either going to have to

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pull from their bench or pull from their bench.

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I don't know. But that is a really unfortunate

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circumstance. Hopefully she's okay, but it's

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very interesting to think about what Wisconsin

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is going to have to do to adjust here. The Italian

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League semifinals are happening. So in that league,

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the semifinals are a best -of -five match series.

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So Novara is playing Conigliano on the women's

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side. Novara actually snapped Conigliano's 40

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-match win streak. So they are currently tied

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1 -1 in their series. Match 3 is happening as

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we're recording. A lot of the matches in Italy

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are happening as we're recording today. So if

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you want to watch, you'll have to wait for the

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next one. Milano is up 2 -0 on Scandici, so that

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series could end today. I thought that the Milano

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-Scandici series was going to be closer and that

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the Cornigliano series was going to be more of

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a blowout. So that kind of flip -flopped from

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what I was expecting. To be honest, I thought

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both Cornigliano and Milano were going to win

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3 -0. So I'm shocked that Novara pulled off that

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win, but I think ultimately it will end up being

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Cornigliano and Milano. But it's good to come

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back to earth every now and then. Well, you never

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want to be unbeaten because then you lose at

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the wrong time. So losing one game in the series

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is probably not a bad thing for them. On the

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men's side, Trentino is playing Piacenza. They're

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starting their series now. And Perugia is currently

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up one match to none on Civitanova. Lots happening

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over there. The Italian League is my favorite

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league, so I just wanted to... Let you guys know

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what was up. And it's easy to access and watch.

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So that's another reason I bring it up. You can

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find those games on Volleyball TV. So if you

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don't have a subscription to that, there's lots

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of good stuff there if you're a volleyball fanatic.

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We're just peddling volleyball subscription services

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left and right on this show. Well, you know what?

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Sometimes it's really hard to find where you

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can watch the games. And so just throwing it

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out there. So if anybody's interested, go for

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it. Are you ready for this? NCAA men's volleyball.

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We'll start with a straightforward one. BYU handled

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Stanford in both of their matches in Provo. They

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won in three and four. I thought this was going

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to be one of the more competitive matchups of

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the week. I was very wrong. I was disappointed

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in Stanford's performance. I was expecting them

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to put up more of a fight. I thought this could

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be a statement match for them. But they have

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not been good in the last few weeks. And it was

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disappointing, quite frankly. I think they're

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second last in the MPSF. My initial read on them

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as a team was they were going to make you beat

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them. That just hasn't been their identity. in

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conference play. They have made errors. They

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have not looked cohesive. Their best players

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have not risen to the occasion. They've been

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disappointing this season, in my opinion. And

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I think for me, every match that I watch of Stanford,

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it keeps coming up how, well, Stanford was gonna...

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they banned their program or they canceled their

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program and so they never recruited in 2021,

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blah, blah, blah. It's like, okay, well, it's

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2025 now. I understand you might not have a group

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of seniors, but you have some juniors on the

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team. You have some guys that do have experience

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and granted, yeah, you don't have a core senior

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group, but you're not a team. That's just playing

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freshmen. Do you know what I mean? Oh, I know

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what you mean. But also a lot of the top teams

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are also very young. It's not going to get any

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easier over the next three or four years. And

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we saw Stanford have good matches early in the

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season. They just didn't continue to develop

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or play at the same rate, in my opinion. And

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I think that's one of the disappointing things,

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that there was potential there. Ohio State came

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up with two big wins this week over Ball State

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and Lewis. So that was big because those teams

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were all like decently close in the rankings.

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And Ball State also lost to IPFW though. So great

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week for Ohio State, not so hot for Ball State.

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Friday was a wild day. Nothing that I thought

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was going to happen happened. It was opposite

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day and my world was absolutely rocked. So starting

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off, CSUN beat Hawaii in three. UC San Diego

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beat UC Irvine in three. And then GCU beat UCLA

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in three. It was not great. So I think CSUN probably

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listened to the podcast last week. That's what

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I get, you guys. Not super favorable to them

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having lost to, we'll call them lower ranked

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teams in their conference play, but then coming

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out and beating Hawaii. I've been like. criticizing

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their ranking for the last month, and then they're

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like, you know what? We've had enough. Okay,

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so we actually watched this game, and it's not

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going to be our feature matchup, but... Here's

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the thing, though, is we went through so many

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potential feature matches that we thought were

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going to be feature matches, and they all ended

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up being so bad that we're like, we can't talk

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about this game. This was one of them. High level.

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CSUN played almost perfect. Everything went their

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way. All of the bounces went their way. Every

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single player on their team had what seemed like

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a career night. And the crazy thing was, Hawaii

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didn't play that poorly. They weren't great.

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Their left sides were not good enough. Their

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left sides weren't good enough, fair enough.

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And Tread, his setting was... Pretty inconsistent,

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especially in transition. But it wasn't... But

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other than that... I mean, those are fair points,

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but you didn't watch the game and go, man, Hawaii's

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awful tonight. Well, it reminded me a lot of

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the UC Irvine -Long Beach State game that we

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watched last week, where UC Irvine put together

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a flawless performance, and Long Beach State

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wasn't necessarily bad. They just weren't...

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The things that worked for Long Beach State just

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weren't working as well. And I think that this

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was the case here. Yeah, it had a very similar

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feel. And this is the one thing that is interesting,

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in my opinion, about men's volleyball specifically

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is the athletes are so physical. And I would

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say in general, a little more inconsistent than

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the college women's game. But when you catch

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a team on a good night where. Three of the six

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players are just on fire. Those teams are really

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hard to beat, regardless of where they are in

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the rankings, because you have such physical

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athletes. Yeah, you don't see that in the women's

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game nearly as much. And so, yeah, it was interesting.

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And you expect the top teams to be able to come

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out. But we saw, you know, Hawaii just couldn't.

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get it going. You could see Trisky and Tread

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trying to push and will their team, but they

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just couldn't snap out of it. And whether that's

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travel or CSUN at home or, you know, pick one

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of any number of things, they are also young,

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not a lot of adversity, and they just couldn't

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get it done. CSUN is very athletic. They are

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like an, I would say overall an undersized team.

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They don't have any... huge guys I would say

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like the tallest starter is like 6 '5 for them

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probably they are incredibly athletic some of

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those guys are jumping out of the gym wild so

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there was one thing that I noticed about the

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Hawaii block which I think was really tough for

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them to find so Jaden Phillips who's their opposite

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jumps out of the gym but he hangs and waits when

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he hits so the timing on the block was a little

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tough to kind of find against him and then they

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had uh 6 -1 left side his name was joao who's

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brazilian and he came up and he jumped pretty

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well but his arm was so fast but he was small

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so it was everything was compact and so having

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to wait and delay on Phillips and then come in,

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and their block was never finished or pressed

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on João, it was, from a blocking standpoint,

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I think really hard to find their timing. And

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João was matched up against Tread, so a 6 -11,

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6 -1 matchup. Should not have been in João's

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favor, but he did a great job. Yeah, he did a

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good job. And their middle, Shane Nem, I think

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it is, also jumped out of the gym. Yeah. I got

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the impression watching that CSUN was instructed

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to absolutely hammer the crap out of their serves,

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who cares what happens, and just be fearless

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on the attack because they were just going for

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everything, and everything happened to be going

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their way. Even they'd get hit by the ball on

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defense, and it would be a perfect dig. It was

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actually crazy to watch. I'm like, I cannot comprehend

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this, and it's probably so frustrating for Hawaii.

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While Friday was a bit of a mind meld, Saturday

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things settled back to what we expected. So Hawaii

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came back and beat CSUN in three. UC Irvine came

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back and beat UC San Diego in three. And UCLA

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beat GCU in five. The question is, though, is

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the damage already done? So I think we're going

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to talk about some of that later. And finally,

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Pepperdine and USC split their matches this week

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with both teams winning in four. So because of

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all the ups and downs with so many teams in both

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big conferences, will this affect rankings? Maybe

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not so much, but it could affect the final outcome.

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Well, there's a couple things at play here, and

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we'll talk about this a little later. As we said,

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there's generally three really strong teams in

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each conference. So winning your conference makes

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it much easier to get to the final, which is

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how you qualify for nationals. So there were

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some opportunities blown in that. And then with

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two at -large bids, based on your overall ranking,

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there were chances for some of these top teams

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to pull ahead, but almost all of them... to lower

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-ranked teams. So I'm very curious to see where

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the overall rankings land next week and which

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losses were considered quote -unquote worse in

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the voters' eyes. So Love wrapped up their inaugural

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regular season this past week, and in our head

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-to -head, we saw Atlanta beating Omaha 3 -0.

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Not shocking. As we headed into the weekend with

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Love, Madison beat Salt Lake in four. So that

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puts them in third overall. Yes, and it gave

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them a chance to finish second. Correct. Except

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that Houston went on and won 3 -0 in their match.

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So it's going to be Atlanta and then Houston

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in the 1 -2 spots, meaning that they get the

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bye. Salt Lake held on to fourth place by beating

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Austin in five. So with Atlanta and Houston getting

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the first round byes, we have Madison playing

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against Omaha. I think Madison's going to win

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that one. I think both of those teams are just

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trending in opposite directions. And the winner

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of that will take on Houston. And then we have

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Salt Lake versus Austin. My money's on Salt Lake.

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And the winner will then play Atlanta. But my

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kind of prediction is that we're cruising for

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a Houston -Atlanta final. All signs would point

00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:49.139
to yes. We've got a lot of news in the PVF this

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week. More than results. Yeah, so let's get started

00:14:53.210 --> 00:14:55.389
with this, and you can throw in your opinions

00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:59.450
when you have them. So Eric Sullivan recently

00:14:59.450 --> 00:15:03.110
attended the Omaha Supernova match against the

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Vegas Thrill. Who is he looking at? Because he's

00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:09.549
not there for fun. Great question. What's your

00:15:09.549 --> 00:15:11.830
instinct? I have been thinking about this so

00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:15.929
much. I have no idea. I don't know who he would

00:15:15.929 --> 00:15:18.470
be there watching. Do you think maybe Brooke?

00:15:19.800 --> 00:15:23.120
I feel like she's undersized for what they're

00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.539
trying to accomplish internationally. That may

00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:28.519
be true. Maybe as like a DS or something. Well,

00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:32.299
I'm thinking, yeah. There's the potential, given

00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:34.519
the outsides that are coming down the pipeline,

00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.039
that ball control is going to be an issue. They

00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:40.759
are losing Jordan Larson. I don't... think she's

00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:42.779
going to play into the next cycle. She'll probably

00:15:42.779 --> 00:15:45.899
surprise all of us. That's why I said I don't

00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:47.879
think, but you never know what she's going to

00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:51.279
do. But you need a player to come in and stabilize

00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:55.299
the pass. And she's capable of that, and she's

00:15:55.299 --> 00:15:58.419
a pretty smart attacker. So the U .S.'s team's

00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:02.019
kind of, let's call it a persona, has been pass

00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:04.500
well, good ball control, run the middle, have

00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:08.299
a fast offense. we are potentially seeing a transition

00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:11.299
of style of play with them given some of their

00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:14.860
player turnover. And how much can you afford

00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:18.259
to lose that ball control? And so I think Brooke

00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:21.139
may be, I don't want to call her a safety blanket,

00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:25.480
but an option there if you need it. That's what

00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.279
comes to my mind. She's definitely not going

00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.740
to be a point scorer internationally. So I can

00:16:31.740 --> 00:16:34.539
see her fulfilling a similar role to Kelsey Robinson

00:16:36.190 --> 00:16:40.450
couple years maybe but when I look at Omaha as

00:16:40.450 --> 00:16:42.830
a whole like yeah they're a good PVF team but

00:16:42.830 --> 00:16:45.629
I don't see any of those players really playing

00:16:45.629 --> 00:16:48.929
at the international level and then for Vegas

00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:53.570
same thing outsides undersized with Charity Looper

00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:58.230
she's not an international caliber athlete Cameron

00:16:58.230 --> 00:17:01.909
Hanna hasn't been playing also not what they

00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:05.990
need on the right side like I honestly have no

00:17:05.990 --> 00:17:09.869
idea who he was there to watch unless Omaha was

00:17:09.869 --> 00:17:12.650
playing at home in Love the same weekend. And

00:17:12.650 --> 00:17:15.029
he's like, why don't I make a stop in? Yeah,

00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:16.650
we'll see. I mean, you have to give him credit

00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:18.869
for doing his due diligence and watching as much

00:17:18.869 --> 00:17:20.890
as he can to find players. I mean, yeah, he has

00:17:20.890 --> 00:17:23.230
to. But my instinct, and I don't know this for

00:17:23.230 --> 00:17:24.849
sure because I didn't check the schedule, but

00:17:24.849 --> 00:17:28.049
I feel like Omaha might have been at home for

00:17:28.049 --> 00:17:32.619
Love. So there could be that. All right. There

00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:34.940
has been a lot of movement throughout the league

00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:37.259
in the last couple of weeks, so here are some

00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:39.359
of the highlights that we haven't talked about

00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.599
yet. Tori Dilfer -Stringer moved to the practice

00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.220
squad in Columbus and announced a pregnancy.

00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:48.220
Congratulations. So that's probably why she got

00:17:48.220 --> 00:17:50.579
moved to the practice squad, then the injured

00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:52.920
reserve list. That would make sense to me, at

00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:55.059
least. That's a happy entry, quote -unquote.

00:17:55.259 --> 00:17:59.700
Yeah. Devin Robinson was waived by San Diego.

00:18:00.410 --> 00:18:02.470
And then picked up by Grand Rapids. So we're

00:18:02.470 --> 00:18:04.170
starting to see some player movement, some roster

00:18:04.170 --> 00:18:05.549
construction. Well, they haven't used her at

00:18:05.549 --> 00:18:07.529
all. I'm pretty sure she has not stepped on the

00:18:07.529 --> 00:18:10.450
court once for San Diego. San Diego signed former

00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:14.470
SMU setter Celia Cullen. And I will say this

00:18:14.470 --> 00:18:16.990
is one thing that I really enjoy about the PVF

00:18:16.990 --> 00:18:20.549
because I love the management team construction.

00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.599
how you can move players from practice squads.

00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:26.819
So seeing all this move and how people look at

00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:29.740
their teams, I find an interesting part of the

00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:34.259
PVF. Orlando brought in Melanie Schaffmaster

00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:38.480
to their active roster and waived Adora Anne,

00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:41.920
who was picked up by Vegas. We're going to talk,

00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:44.180
but do you want to talk about this now or we

00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:47.920
did Orlando and Omaha as our feature match? Should

00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.259
we leave it until then? I mean, we can leave

00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:53.700
it till then. I am very curious about what happened

00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:57.440
with Adora Anae because she, for half the season,

00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:01.240
was killing it for them. Was their second highest

00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:04.000
point score behind Abercrombie. She was doing

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.000
great and then just disappeared. And so I have

00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.059
a lot of questions about what went on there,

00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.960
but I don't know. Yeah, it would be interesting

00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.440
to be a fly on the wall there. And I'm not sure

00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:19.380
this helps Vegas. This is now just another. question

00:19:19.380 --> 00:19:22.539
mark as who to play and I know that they're looking

00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:24.359
for something and they are sliding in the wrong

00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:27.420
direction but you somehow you would just have

00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:30.200
to solidify a roster not add more volatility

00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:34.119
into it in my opinion Vegas sent Lane Van Buskirk

00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:37.680
and Grace Loberg to their practice squad so I

00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:39.619
mean obviously they had to move some players

00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:41.380
out when they brought in some new ones yeah but

00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:45.079
Van Buskirk's a middle and she was starting like

00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:48.289
on and off Like, they were kind of rotating through

00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:50.990
three middles. Well, they've been rotating through

00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:53.410
a whole roster. Well, Van Buskirk was starting

00:19:53.410 --> 00:19:56.710
for, like, maybe half the match. Like, and she's

00:19:56.710 --> 00:19:58.890
not even the same position. It's confusing. Grace

00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:01.230
Loberg, I understand, replaced her with an A,

00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:04.490
whatever. But, yeah. I'm curious if there are,

00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:06.250
and I don't know this, rules around how many

00:20:06.250 --> 00:20:08.269
players you can have on your roster. Like, if

00:20:08.269 --> 00:20:11.890
it was a roster spot or why they would move her

00:20:11.890 --> 00:20:15.650
down. I'm talking about Lane, but it's an interesting...

00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:18.940
More roster shakeup in Vegas. And we have Grand

00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:21.200
Rapids sent Erica Pritchard to their practice

00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:25.319
squad, exchanging her for Eleanor Holtos. Erica

00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:27.960
Pritchard was a starter for Grand Rapids. Do

00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:31.200
you think we're seeing a tank mode here, going

00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:35.759
for a draft pick or lottery? I mean, that's a

00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.880
legitimate strategy at this point if you're not

00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:39.619
going to make the playoffs. I just feel like

00:20:39.619 --> 00:20:44.210
this is insanity. I understand teams trying to,

00:20:44.250 --> 00:20:47.069
like, make a push and try to get in the top four

00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:49.529
or the top four trying to stay in the top four

00:20:49.529 --> 00:20:51.549
and this and that. Like, I get it. But, like,

00:20:52.569 --> 00:20:56.710
these – and, like, this list is minute compared

00:20:56.710 --> 00:21:00.089
to the number of changes that have happened.

00:21:00.750 --> 00:21:05.109
And it just seems, like, overkill considering

00:21:05.109 --> 00:21:08.789
how few matches are left in the season. Like,

00:21:08.829 --> 00:21:11.680
how much are you paying these people? Like, what

00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.779
about, you're introducing new players to a roster

00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:16.819
that has been playing and practicing together

00:21:16.819 --> 00:21:20.640
for months at this point. Like, there are bigger

00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:24.779
implications than just, like, how do we pay this

00:21:24.779 --> 00:21:27.519
person? It's like team dynamics, on -court dynamics,

00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:31.019
like, so much stuff, and it just seems unnecessary

00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:35.099
to me. Like, it's crazy. Well, it'll be interesting

00:21:35.099 --> 00:21:37.200
to see in the future if these moves pay off in

00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:39.670
a positive or negative way for these teams. Speaking

00:21:39.670 --> 00:21:42.369
of salary, rumor has it that the PVS salary pool

00:21:42.369 --> 00:21:46.470
is going up significantly. So currently one player

00:21:46.470 --> 00:21:51.730
at $175 ,000, two at $120 ,000, and four at $75

00:21:51.730 --> 00:21:55.430
,000, and the rest at $60 ,000 to $65 ,000. So

00:21:55.430 --> 00:21:58.630
with those numbers, we're not entirely sure if

00:21:58.630 --> 00:22:00.529
this is going to be a tiered structure moving

00:22:00.529 --> 00:22:03.849
forward or just a general salary cap, but to

00:22:03.849 --> 00:22:06.049
see the salaries going up is a positive thing

00:22:06.049 --> 00:22:08.849
for the league and attracting more talent. Which

00:22:08.849 --> 00:22:11.470
is also interesting because we came across some

00:22:11.470 --> 00:22:14.170
numbers this week that highlighted the attendance

00:22:14.170 --> 00:22:18.970
this season compared to last season. And aside

00:22:18.970 --> 00:22:23.410
from Omaha that has seen a 15 to 16 % increase

00:22:23.410 --> 00:22:26.549
in their attendance from season one, every other

00:22:26.549 --> 00:22:29.750
team, their attendance has gone down significantly.

00:22:30.710 --> 00:22:35.460
In particular, Orlando. And San Diego, whose

00:22:35.460 --> 00:22:38.440
attendance has dropped close to 50 % from last

00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:42.319
season. So I'm curious how these teams are making

00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:45.579
it. Obviously, they always talk about how well

00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:49.440
the PVF is doing. And again, am I positive that

00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.559
this information I stumbled across is accurate?

00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:56.940
No, I'm not sure about that. But based on the

00:22:56.940 --> 00:23:00.819
data I saw, the attendance has just plummeted

00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:04.619
everywhere except in Omaha. I'm scratching my

00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:06.319
head here. It'll be interesting to see if they

00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.240
actually release those numbers and what that

00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.460
looks like. But again, these leagues generally

00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:14.319
require a lot of investment up front to get it

00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:17.079
going, so hopefully they can learn and get people

00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:19.980
back in the seats. Finally, wrapping up the week,

00:23:20.140 --> 00:23:22.759
a few more results. We saw Columbus take down

00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:27.319
Indy 3 -1. We saw Omaha beat Orlando 3 -1, and

00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:29.579
we'll talk about that game. And Grand Rapids

00:23:29.579 --> 00:23:34.849
beat the struggling Vegas 3 -0. There's the clear

00:23:34.849 --> 00:23:38.829
top four, bottom four. They have definitely separated

00:23:38.829 --> 00:23:41.569
themselves at this point. Playoffs and tank teams.

00:23:41.930 --> 00:23:43.609
And that's how the rest of the season is going

00:23:43.609 --> 00:23:47.049
to go. Our first feature match of the week is

00:23:47.049 --> 00:23:50.769
NCAA Men's Volleyball USC versus Pepperdine.

00:23:51.470 --> 00:23:53.990
There was a lot of rough volleyball being played

00:23:53.990 --> 00:23:56.490
on the men's side, but this match in particular

00:23:56.490 --> 00:24:00.019
was a good one. Well, we stumbled onto this game

00:24:00.019 --> 00:24:04.099
almost by accident. We thought the BYU -Stanford

00:24:04.099 --> 00:24:06.119
game was going to be better, so we watched that.

00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:08.480
It was not. And then this game was on afterwards,

00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:11.759
so we just flipped to it, and it was thoroughly

00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.599
entertaining. I had a ton of fun just as a fan

00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.140
watching this match. It was pretty good volleyball.

00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:21.640
I expected USC to just roll through Pepperdine.

00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.220
Disclaimer, Dylan Klein, something's up with

00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:29.900
him. He was not getting set. He wasn't spin serving.

00:24:30.099 --> 00:24:34.640
I feel like he is injured in some capacity. So

00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:38.720
do I think that that may be evened the playing

00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:44.519
field? Quite possibly, yes. But regardless, it

00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.599
was still a good match. I mean, you have to play

00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:48.660
the team in front of you, and I thought that

00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:51.259
was one of the better games that I've seen Pepperdine

00:24:51.259 --> 00:24:54.650
play. They had a couple players who stood out

00:24:54.650 --> 00:24:57.569
to me. I thought Ryan Barnett had a really good

00:24:57.569 --> 00:25:02.769
game. He had 41 attempts and hit 341 on the night.

00:25:03.069 --> 00:25:06.890
And just his overall game was really good. He

00:25:06.890 --> 00:25:09.309
had two aces. He had a couple block assists,

00:25:09.730 --> 00:25:12.849
eight digs. Overall, really solid performance

00:25:12.849 --> 00:25:15.710
from him. And this is the first match. We're

00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:18.289
talking about the Friday night match that USC

00:25:18.289 --> 00:25:22.210
won. Pepperdine won the next night. But the one

00:25:22.210 --> 00:25:26.230
we watched was Friday. Yeah. I thought the most

00:25:26.230 --> 00:25:31.150
impressive player on the floor for me was Parker

00:25:31.150 --> 00:25:35.170
Tomkinson. So if you're not familiar, he's a

00:25:35.170 --> 00:25:39.789
seven -foot middle. Freshman. Freshman. And he

00:25:39.789 --> 00:25:49.079
was unstoppable. He hit 579 on 19 swings. He

00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:52.519
just looked like he was playing in his own league.

00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.799
He was higher than everybody else. He was moving

00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:59.619
well. He was a factor on the floor. Every time

00:25:59.619 --> 00:26:02.059
he was out there, I thought he served really

00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:05.720
well. The serve, the angle that that thing is

00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:08.299
coming, it's like a float serve, but it's like

00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:12.500
coming down at you so fast. And he had a bunch

00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:16.220
of digs. He had a bunch of digs. It was awesome

00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:18.579
to see. I was thoroughly entertained watching

00:26:18.579 --> 00:26:21.200
him. Right away thought, this guy's going to

00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.039
get looks for national team. Everything about

00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.779
his game looked pretty polished, quite frankly.

00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.019
And I thought that USC did a really good job

00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:33.299
getting him the ball. In fact, overall, I was

00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.440
really impressed with how USC ran the middle

00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.400
of the court. in general. Both teams, I thought,

00:26:39.460 --> 00:26:42.079
really pushed the middle, which was really good

00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:44.839
to see. Pepperdine did it too. Yeah, it was a

00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:47.160
good middle battle. I thought USC had the edge

00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:50.380
in that regard. But yeah, he was a lot of fun

00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:52.359
to watch. I was really impressed by him. He's

00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:56.599
literally unstoppable. He had great vision of

00:26:56.599 --> 00:26:58.980
what was in front of him. He was able to swing

00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:04.259
both ways. Like you said, the serve picked up

00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:09.640
balls on deep. Yeah, he was really solid. And

00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:12.460
I love how Caleb Blanchett runs his offense.

00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:15.819
Yeah, he was very good. And the interesting thing

00:27:15.819 --> 00:27:20.960
is Pepperdine is also a big team. So while he

00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.420
may be 7 foot, I think Cole Hartke is 6 '10".

00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:26.920
Yeah, close to that. So, you know, we're not

00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.339
talking about a 7 -footer against. 6 -5 guys.

00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:34.319
Pepperdine is a big team, and they're a pretty

00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:37.940
good blocking team, so he was still able to kind

00:27:37.940 --> 00:27:39.460
of be in a league of his own, which was pretty

00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:42.140
impressive. Well, we've seen Cole Hartke just

00:27:42.140 --> 00:27:45.420
dominate. I think he's a freshman as well, so

00:27:45.420 --> 00:27:47.400
he started on the bench for most of the season.

00:27:47.460 --> 00:27:52.460
We saw him kind of make his breakout performance

00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:55.440
against Grand Canyon. We were watching that game,

00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.509
I don't know, like a month ago or whatever. And

00:27:58.509 --> 00:28:02.430
he's had a starting spot since and has been dominant.

00:28:03.009 --> 00:28:08.450
And he dominated set one against USC, but USC

00:28:08.450 --> 00:28:13.049
found a way to really hone in their block defense,

00:28:13.190 --> 00:28:15.809
in particular their blocking, and they caused

00:28:15.809 --> 00:28:19.970
him a lot of trouble. Yeah, I like the adjustments

00:28:19.970 --> 00:28:25.279
by USC on Hartke. Again, this is going to be

00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:27.480
Pepperdine's recipe for success, in my opinion.

00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:30.000
Ryan Barnett played really well. We already talked

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.839
about that. Cole Harkey hit 220 on 41 sets, so

00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:37.220
he got a ton of balls. And he's going to have

00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:40.420
to find a little more range to his attack when

00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:44.140
teams kind of settle in to what normally works

00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:47.220
for him. He likes to hit over the block to the

00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:50.359
deep corner. And that's a great shot. And that

00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:53.269
pretty much sums it up. And it's been successful

00:28:53.269 --> 00:28:56.589
because he can go over most blocks. He hits so

00:28:56.589 --> 00:29:01.009
high. But USC ended up lining up Tompkinson with

00:29:01.009 --> 00:29:03.650
him as the match progressed. I don't think they

00:29:03.650 --> 00:29:06.910
were lined up initially, but USC moved Tompkinson

00:29:06.910 --> 00:29:09.730
to block him. And then once that happened, you're

00:29:09.730 --> 00:29:12.430
not going over top of him. And that's when he

00:29:12.430 --> 00:29:14.269
started to struggle. So he's going to have to

00:29:14.269 --> 00:29:16.769
develop some more range and some more angles,

00:29:16.869 --> 00:29:19.349
I think, if he wants to progress to the next

00:29:19.349 --> 00:29:23.890
level. Overall, very good. Yeah, and again, as

00:29:23.890 --> 00:29:27.210
a freshman, as somebody who's that big, that's

00:29:27.210 --> 00:29:29.329
part of your development, and hopefully they

00:29:29.329 --> 00:29:31.650
focus on that. But I think he's going to be a

00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.369
really key player for them moving forward. As

00:29:34.369 --> 00:29:38.450
we said, Dylan Klein was not getting set. Only

00:29:38.450 --> 00:29:41.970
21 sets. And it was literally when they had no

00:29:41.970 --> 00:29:45.400
other choice. Yeah. It was obvious, like, something's

00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.079
up. You knew he wasn't getting the ball. Yeah,

00:29:48.140 --> 00:29:53.099
they were forcing balls to Duker, who was steady,

00:29:53.299 --> 00:29:55.880
but I think he really trailed off as the match

00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:57.519
progressed, and they ended up taking him out.

00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:01.039
Yeah, so, I mean, his numbers are okay, but again,

00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:03.599
over four sets, you can kind of pad and minus

00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.559
those stats. So he had 36 swings overall, and

00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.380
he hit 278, which... Well, he was getting all

00:30:09.380 --> 00:30:12.670
the balls that... Klein usually gets in addition

00:30:12.670 --> 00:30:16.950
to his own. So, you know, like you said, he tailed

00:30:16.950 --> 00:30:18.970
off towards the end of the match. I think he

00:30:18.970 --> 00:30:23.150
started well. But I mean, as Pepperdine, if you

00:30:23.150 --> 00:30:25.269
identify that one of the players on the team

00:30:25.269 --> 00:30:27.349
is probably not going to get set, like that makes

00:30:27.349 --> 00:30:29.869
your block defense so much easier when you can

00:30:29.869 --> 00:30:32.069
take away one of those options. So I don't want

00:30:32.069 --> 00:30:34.170
to say they were kind of playing shorthanded.

00:30:34.589 --> 00:30:36.250
Once the team figures out you're not going to

00:30:36.250 --> 00:30:39.210
set that guy. What did you think of the serving

00:30:39.210 --> 00:30:42.500
battle? Who did you think put more pressure on

00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:45.900
which team? I actually, watching the match, said

00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:48.339
a couple times, like, this feels, like, very

00:30:48.339 --> 00:30:52.099
even. I thought both teams served pretty well,

00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:56.160
but I think Pepperdine put more on it. Am I completely

00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.359
off? No, you're not. The serving stats were very

00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:03.619
even. So Pepperdine had four aces and 14 errors.

00:31:04.259 --> 00:31:07.680
And USC had five aces to 12 errors. So they had

00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:12.259
a slight edge on that. I thought that USC, I

00:31:12.259 --> 00:31:13.819
mean, both teams ran the middle pretty well.

00:31:13.900 --> 00:31:16.759
So the ball control was decent. But I thought

00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:19.079
USC had a little bit of edge on their serve and

00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:21.400
pass. They were in system, it seemed, just a

00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:24.920
little bit more. Maybe that's because the setter

00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.380
for USC I thought was a little bit better, was

00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:29.579
able to force the middle a little bit more. So

00:31:29.579 --> 00:31:31.599
they kind of look in system that way, but I thought

00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:34.160
there was an edge there. Where I did notice the

00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:37.019
biggest difference in this was I thought USC

00:31:37.019 --> 00:31:40.599
blocked better than Pepperdine did. They had

00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:44.220
no solo blocks, which is somewhat of a misleading

00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:47.940
stat because it generally means... you have two

00:31:47.940 --> 00:31:52.299
blocks everywhere you go. So they had 23 kind

00:31:52.299 --> 00:31:55.440
of team total block assists, which is impressive.

00:31:55.839 --> 00:31:59.279
So like 11 and a half blocks. Yeah. Pepperdine

00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:04.039
had one solo block and 15 block assists. 11 and

00:32:04.039 --> 00:32:07.099
a half to 8 and a half. The difference to me,

00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:11.920
though, was that USC's blocks... came at critical

00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.839
times in the match, and they had several after

00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:20.180
20 in multiple sets. And that to me is just high

00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:23.380
volleyball IQ in terms of knowing where you're

00:32:23.380 --> 00:32:25.799
going, being prepared, and kind of dialing in

00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:28.460
to who's going to get the ball. And they got

00:32:28.460 --> 00:32:32.579
Cole Hartke a few times in those situations late

00:32:32.579 --> 00:32:35.920
in sets. Well, I mean, Ryan Barnett had a really,

00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.000
really good match, but like George Dyer for me

00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.440
is... so -so like he's undersized you're he's

00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:48.200
not the guy that I want to be setting out of

00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:50.200
system when everybody knows where the ball is

00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:53.579
going so it makes sense that they are like forcing

00:32:53.579 --> 00:32:57.859
balls to heartkey because for me George Dyer

00:32:57.859 --> 00:33:02.680
just isn't it well he hit 095 on 21 attempts

00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:06.119
like he's your p2 if you're relying on him to

00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:09.160
score you're probably gonna be in trouble if

00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:12.420
you're a whatever top 10 team but I think Ryan

00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:14.119
Barnett as you were saying earlier like he stepped

00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:17.380
up and he was better than I've seen him play

00:33:17.380 --> 00:33:19.160
like granted we don't watch every match that

00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.980
Pepperdine plays but of the ones we have seen

00:33:21.980 --> 00:33:24.579
I feel like that was his best performance offensively

00:33:24.579 --> 00:33:26.579
yeah I would agree on that and you had again

00:33:26.579 --> 00:33:29.319
you had two threats at the pin and both of those

00:33:29.319 --> 00:33:31.359
guys playing relatively well that's a recipe

00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:33.200
for success for Pepperdine because they don't

00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:35.859
run a super fast offense but you have to be able

00:33:35.859 --> 00:33:40.119
to score from both pins Johnny Dykstra I am usually

00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:43.400
a huge fan. I feel like he kind of struggled

00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:47.539
a little bit this match. He was really having

00:33:47.539 --> 00:33:52.779
trouble finding a defensive rhythm. Granted,

00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:54.000
you're saying they were running the middle a

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.160
lot, but his passing wasn't as good as I'm used

00:33:56.160 --> 00:34:01.440
to seeing. It's good to see that USC was still

00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:04.000
able to manage when Dykstra wasn't at his best,

00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:09.380
when Klein was almost unserviceable. And, yeah,

00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:12.679
like, they managed to find a way. Well, and I

00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:15.519
think that speaks to them as a team. I, you know,

00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:18.980
they don't have any quote -unquote standouts

00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:21.059
when you watch them as a team. Well, climbed

00:34:21.059 --> 00:34:24.940
usually is. Fair. And the middle obviously played

00:34:24.940 --> 00:34:26.699
really well, and he stands out because he's seven

00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.420
feet tall. But they seem very well -rounded,

00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:33.960
which I appreciate. You know, you have, let's

00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:36.500
take Hawaii, for example. You know, you have...

00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:40.340
Tread and Tatriski on kind of the right side

00:34:40.340 --> 00:34:41.940
of the court. They stand out. Their left sides

00:34:41.940 --> 00:34:45.519
are good, but they're not standouts. But you

00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:48.380
have all of USC, like all of those guys seem

00:34:48.380 --> 00:34:50.099
like they can score. And they've got threats

00:34:50.099 --> 00:34:52.739
everywhere. And just the way they run their offense

00:34:52.739 --> 00:34:55.400
is it's pretty balanced and engaged. And that

00:34:55.400 --> 00:34:58.960
was, I think, super important for them. And I

00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:01.920
think they're going to cause trouble at Nationals.

00:35:02.329 --> 00:35:05.110
assuming they qualify just because they can run

00:35:05.110 --> 00:35:07.949
the middle of the court and they have good options

00:35:07.949 --> 00:35:10.849
all the way around outside like there's no there's

00:35:10.849 --> 00:35:13.010
no undersized player there's nobody who can't

00:35:13.010 --> 00:35:15.769
score on their roster I really like their team

00:35:15.769 --> 00:35:17.829
construction well I'm excited for them because

00:35:17.829 --> 00:35:21.570
they're young true like of the players like their

00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:24.809
middle guy Guinness is a senior Jack Duker is

00:35:24.809 --> 00:35:26.969
a senior but other than that like all of them

00:35:26.969 --> 00:35:30.420
are coming back And all of them are underclassmen

00:35:30.420 --> 00:35:34.079
except Klein. He's currently a junior. They are

00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:36.380
going to be good, and they have a solid foundation

00:35:36.380 --> 00:35:38.619
to get them through the next few seasons. And

00:35:38.619 --> 00:35:40.199
I think that the way that they've structured

00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:45.780
their roster is very balanced. And, yeah, they're

00:35:45.780 --> 00:35:50.489
solid. Watching and getting into the men's NCAA

00:35:50.489 --> 00:35:53.489
this season, I think it sets up to be really

00:35:53.489 --> 00:35:55.170
exciting for the next couple of years. There

00:35:55.170 --> 00:35:58.110
are some very good top -tier teams that have

00:35:58.110 --> 00:36:00.929
a lot of young players. We're going to see some

00:36:00.929 --> 00:36:03.190
great battles for the next few years, for sure.

00:36:03.469 --> 00:36:06.809
Overall, I really like this game. I thought Pepperdine

00:36:06.809 --> 00:36:08.829
stepped up and had one of their better games

00:36:08.829 --> 00:36:10.269
that they've had, and obviously they won the

00:36:10.269 --> 00:36:13.969
next night playing against USC. I like USC as

00:36:13.969 --> 00:36:16.949
a team. I really hope that Klein gets healthy.

00:36:17.449 --> 00:36:19.449
and they're ready to go in the next few weeks.

00:36:19.750 --> 00:36:23.030
But this was a really good game, and I'm really

00:36:23.030 --> 00:36:25.409
excited to see where USC goes for the rest of

00:36:25.409 --> 00:36:28.130
the season. Our second feature match of the week

00:36:28.130 --> 00:36:31.610
is on the PVF side, Omaha Supernovas versus the

00:36:31.610 --> 00:36:35.170
Orlando Valkyries. There were not a lot of matches

00:36:35.170 --> 00:36:37.809
to choose from this week, everybody. And given

00:36:37.809 --> 00:36:41.010
how we haven't talked about PVF in a few weeks,

00:36:41.090 --> 00:36:43.789
we definitely wanted to touch on them for sure.

00:36:44.289 --> 00:36:46.409
Wouldn't have been shocked if this was a barn

00:36:46.409 --> 00:36:50.650
burner or if this was a blowout. It was the latter.

00:36:50.969 --> 00:36:53.070
Well, you got a little bit of everything. Kind

00:36:53.070 --> 00:36:57.110
of. So, I mean, to start, it was a tale of two

00:36:57.110 --> 00:37:03.489
cities. We had Orlando come out, tied 5 -5. in

00:37:03.489 --> 00:37:05.989
the first set, back and forth, settling into

00:37:05.989 --> 00:37:08.929
a great match. And all of a sudden, it was 19

00:37:08.929 --> 00:37:14.369
-9 for Orlando. And Omaha just couldn't get it

00:37:14.369 --> 00:37:17.829
together. They couldn't pass. They couldn't hit.

00:37:17.929 --> 00:37:23.150
Nothing was going their way. It was wild. And

00:37:23.150 --> 00:37:27.730
we had some crazy stats overall in the first

00:37:27.730 --> 00:37:33.280
set. Omaha hit negative 0 -26 as a team. In the

00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:37.800
first set. It was an absolute disaster. And meanwhile,

00:37:38.059 --> 00:37:43.639
Orlando was all world in that set. I don't know

00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:47.179
what I watched. You had Schwan hit 400. Abercrombie

00:37:47.179 --> 00:37:52.460
hit 333. Brown hit 800. Foster hit 333. Everything

00:37:52.460 --> 00:37:56.500
they touched was gold. And at the end of the

00:37:56.500 --> 00:38:00.219
first set, you were watching it going, they're

00:38:00.219 --> 00:38:03.449
going to roll them 3 -0. Well, I was just happy

00:38:03.449 --> 00:38:05.989
because I was like, okay, Brittany Abercrombie

00:38:05.989 --> 00:38:09.250
has refound her rhythm. She struggled for a stretch

00:38:09.250 --> 00:38:11.849
there, and we were wondering how she was going

00:38:11.849 --> 00:38:15.269
to do. And she's been climbing her way back.

00:38:15.409 --> 00:38:18.530
But in that set one, I'm like, okay, here she

00:38:18.530 --> 00:38:21.989
is. She's back. They were running the middle.

00:38:23.070 --> 00:38:28.050
New setter in the lineup. Your favorite. He's

00:38:28.050 --> 00:38:33.400
being sarcastic. Yeah. Brought Melanie Schaffmaster

00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:38.380
back or in from her Greek contract she finished

00:38:38.380 --> 00:38:46.500
up. Shampoo on the bench. And I will say, Schaffmaster

00:38:46.500 --> 00:38:50.179
is not my style of setter. She's not my favorite.

00:38:50.219 --> 00:38:55.239
But in set one, she looked great. One of the

00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:58.579
things. that I thought Orlando needed to do was

00:38:58.579 --> 00:39:01.400
run the middle more. They have two players who

00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:05.920
I think can be effective there, and I'm guessing

00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:07.760
the thought process was we bring in a bigger

00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:10.079
setter, maybe we have a better connection with

00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:12.320
our middle, and we can make that a priority.

00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.360
And for the first set, she did a really good

00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:17.460
job of that. Okay, I'm going to argue because

00:39:17.460 --> 00:39:21.860
I don't know. Granted, I think most teams need

00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:24.079
to run the middle more. We know this. I say it

00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:26.739
all the time. I think the only thing that Shaftmaster

00:39:26.739 --> 00:39:30.239
brings to the floor over Shampoo is her size.

00:39:30.539 --> 00:39:33.360
Honestly, I think the only thing that she potentially

00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:36.420
could do better is block. I'm not going to necessarily

00:39:36.420 --> 00:39:39.920
argue with you, but you have somebody who's bigger.

00:39:40.139 --> 00:39:43.340
I mean, Shaftmaster in her last year for her

00:39:43.340 --> 00:39:46.639
NCAA -wise was rough, but that team she played

00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:48.280
for... She's still that first team, all big 10.

00:39:48.360 --> 00:39:50.280
Okay, I can't dive into this because I'm going

00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:53.500
to go crazy, but... There is potential there

00:39:53.500 --> 00:39:56.539
for her to be a good player in the PVF. And so

00:39:56.539 --> 00:39:59.480
I'm okay with them exploring that and seeing

00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:01.679
what happens. It's a good waiver wire pickup.

00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:04.019
And it really worked for them in the first set.

00:40:05.079 --> 00:40:08.159
She played well in the first set. And then we

00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:12.119
kind of saw her revert to what we saw consistently

00:40:12.119 --> 00:40:15.599
during the NCAA season. Yes. And my question

00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:18.849
in set one was... Did you guys, Omaha, did you

00:40:18.849 --> 00:40:22.269
not watch NCAA season? Rule number one, just

00:40:22.269 --> 00:40:24.309
tip the ball to Shaftmaster and you're going

00:40:24.309 --> 00:40:30.750
to get a point. Like, hello? Yeah. So Omaha came

00:40:30.750 --> 00:40:32.889
out and made a few changes to begin the second

00:40:32.889 --> 00:40:36.929
set. So they had, they did a double sub at the

00:40:36.929 --> 00:40:39.329
end of the first set and then kept Pedroza in.

00:40:39.469 --> 00:40:42.250
And I thought she set a good game for them moving

00:40:42.250 --> 00:40:45.730
forward. And they also brought in Batenhorst.

00:40:46.989 --> 00:40:50.429
to play left side while she stayed in for the

00:40:50.429 --> 00:40:52.230
remainder of the game and did a pretty good job.

00:40:52.349 --> 00:40:54.510
So that was the switch that they made. And then

00:40:54.510 --> 00:40:58.269
they proceeded to kick the snot out of Orlando

00:40:58.269 --> 00:41:00.710
in the second set. They went up 7 -2, they never

00:41:00.710 --> 00:41:04.409
looked back, and it was 25 -17 at the end of

00:41:04.409 --> 00:41:07.750
that set. So we kind of had blowouts back and

00:41:07.750 --> 00:41:10.889
forth. Well, I think the rest of the match was

00:41:10.889 --> 00:41:13.510
a blowout. Set three, the final score was way

00:41:13.510 --> 00:41:15.130
closer than it should have been because what

00:41:15.130 --> 00:41:17.250
did Omaha give up? Like six set points in a row

00:41:17.250 --> 00:41:19.309
or something. Six set points, yeah. So it ended

00:41:19.309 --> 00:41:24.030
up so much closer than it actually was. So one

00:41:24.030 --> 00:41:26.230
of the things that I noticed, and I'm curious

00:41:26.230 --> 00:41:28.210
if they can fix this, and we were talking about

00:41:28.210 --> 00:41:32.010
the setting for Orlando. I thought the setting

00:41:32.010 --> 00:41:34.389
for both sides was questionable, to be honest.

00:41:34.949 --> 00:41:39.690
I was not loving. Pedraza's offense either. I

00:41:39.690 --> 00:41:44.050
thought she ran the middle well. She got Kayla

00:41:44.050 --> 00:41:47.230
Caffey going. She even got Horde going. Caffey

00:41:47.230 --> 00:41:49.730
was almost unstoppable. So the thing I did like

00:41:49.730 --> 00:41:51.690
about Pedraza was how she was running the middle,

00:41:51.750 --> 00:41:55.670
but I did not love her location to the pins or

00:41:55.670 --> 00:41:59.369
to the back row at all. And then Schaffmaster,

00:41:59.610 --> 00:42:03.250
all of her sets were trailing off the net. And

00:42:03.250 --> 00:42:05.929
she stopped setting the middle. Yeah, it was

00:42:05.929 --> 00:42:10.599
interesting. Watching Shaftmaster, she, when

00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:13.519
the ball gets tight to the net, her pin sets

00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:17.699
flare off. I think she's most effective when

00:42:17.699 --> 00:42:21.139
the passes are in between the net and the attack

00:42:21.139 --> 00:42:23.239
line and maybe a little closer to the attack

00:42:23.239 --> 00:42:24.860
line. High enough that she can get her feet there.

00:42:24.860 --> 00:42:26.480
That's how Minnesota was passing all season.

00:42:26.780 --> 00:42:29.559
Well, but those were the best trajectory balls

00:42:29.559 --> 00:42:32.079
for her that were going onto the net for the

00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:34.849
outside hitter. So she needs to find a way. to

00:42:34.849 --> 00:42:37.150
do one of two things. She either needs to be

00:42:37.150 --> 00:42:39.469
able to run the middle when the passes are a

00:42:39.469 --> 00:42:42.030
little closer to the attack line, which she doesn't

00:42:42.030 --> 00:42:45.210
do super well. She ran the middle well when the

00:42:45.210 --> 00:42:49.329
passes were tight, or when the passes are tightened

00:42:49.329 --> 00:42:51.510
on the net, she needs to keep those sets to the

00:42:51.510 --> 00:42:54.429
outside from flaring off the net, and she wasn't

00:42:54.429 --> 00:42:57.849
really able to run both positions off both types

00:42:57.849 --> 00:43:00.889
of passes very well. I also don't think she blocked

00:43:00.889 --> 00:43:05.030
particularly well. It was... you know from a

00:43:05.030 --> 00:43:07.329
defense and block standpoint you put her in there

00:43:07.329 --> 00:43:13.309
to block and she was kind of a liability in my

00:43:13.309 --> 00:43:16.530
opinion from there chef master only had one block

00:43:16.530 --> 00:43:20.530
in the match and omaha ran a bunch of balls out

00:43:20.530 --> 00:43:23.289
to the pin against her and i thought that that

00:43:23.289 --> 00:43:25.590
was going to be the part of the game that she

00:43:25.590 --> 00:43:28.110
was going to be more effective at and the reason

00:43:28.110 --> 00:43:30.849
they would bring her in over porn pun I did think

00:43:30.849 --> 00:43:33.010
that Nora Sisk came in for Orlando and did a

00:43:33.010 --> 00:43:36.809
good job. Agreed. I'm kind of curious why she

00:43:36.809 --> 00:43:41.110
doesn't play more often. Me too. Me too. I mean,

00:43:41.110 --> 00:43:43.650
they're winning, so it's hard to criticize how

00:43:43.650 --> 00:43:46.469
they run their roster. Are they winning, though?

00:43:46.550 --> 00:43:48.429
They were, like, up at the top, and they've taken

00:43:48.429 --> 00:43:51.150
a dive. Like, they're holding on to fourth place

00:43:51.150 --> 00:43:54.889
at this point. Like, they had Adora Anae. Then

00:43:54.889 --> 00:43:57.349
something went down with that. Vander Weider

00:43:57.349 --> 00:44:01.380
came in, has been playing since. with Schwan.

00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:07.360
Vanderwyde had a really tough time against Omaha,

00:44:07.539 --> 00:44:09.639
so they brought Norris Siss in. I want to say,

00:44:09.820 --> 00:44:12.179
was it set two or did they wait to set three?

00:44:12.820 --> 00:44:15.199
I think it was set three. But she came in and

00:44:15.199 --> 00:44:18.920
she did really well. Well, so here's my take

00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:23.579
on that. Both Schwan and Vanderwyde have smaller

00:44:23.579 --> 00:44:27.539
hitting windows. And when that ball gets off

00:44:27.539 --> 00:44:30.170
the net and they lose their vision, it's really

00:44:30.170 --> 00:44:32.309
hard for them to score because they're not in

00:44:32.309 --> 00:44:34.949
the air as long as some of the other outside

00:44:34.949 --> 00:44:37.010
hitters. Yeah, they're not playing that high

00:44:37.010 --> 00:44:40.469
above the net. Nora Siss, however, is a little

00:44:40.469 --> 00:44:42.730
bit bigger, a little bit more physical. She's

00:44:42.730 --> 00:44:44.949
in the air a little longer, and I think that

00:44:44.949 --> 00:44:47.590
we're going to see her connect with Melanie better

00:44:47.590 --> 00:44:51.269
than those other two outsides. And so this might

00:44:51.269 --> 00:44:54.389
be part of their transition if they're going

00:44:54.389 --> 00:44:57.130
to play Melanie kind of from now until the end

00:44:57.130 --> 00:44:59.429
of the playoffs. And I thought she played well.

00:44:59.449 --> 00:45:03.030
I thought she passed well. She hit .412, like

00:45:03.030 --> 00:45:06.110
did a really good job. I was impressed. So in

00:45:06.110 --> 00:45:07.849
my opinion, I think she's going to earn a starting

00:45:07.849 --> 00:45:12.949
spot in their next game. For Omaha, they, as

00:45:12.949 --> 00:45:16.369
we said, started off just on a different planet,

00:45:16.409 --> 00:45:20.610
and then things started rolling, and they were

00:45:20.610 --> 00:45:25.199
virtually unstoppable. I think the fact that

00:45:25.199 --> 00:45:28.260
they ran their middle so much more than we have

00:45:28.260 --> 00:45:32.000
seen definitely contributed to that. So they

00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.360
had 24 total sets to the middle between both

00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:40.820
players with Caffey hitting 286 and Horde hitting

00:45:40.820 --> 00:45:44.900
300. Okay, so not as good as I thought. I thought

00:45:44.900 --> 00:45:50.809
Caffey was unstoppable. Shows what I know. Well,

00:45:50.849 --> 00:45:53.389
she was 5 for 14 with one error. Okay, so not

00:45:53.389 --> 00:45:56.969
good. But she got set more. Well, and that's

00:45:56.969 --> 00:46:00.550
all you have to do, right, to run the middle.

00:46:00.610 --> 00:46:05.489
You had your outside hitters played decent, really.

00:46:05.590 --> 00:46:10.150
Like, numbers -wise, Baten Horse hit 190. Payne

00:46:10.150 --> 00:46:13.750
hit 147. How the heck did they crush this game

00:46:13.750 --> 00:46:18.809
then? Brooke hit 304. That's still not astronomical.

00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:24.719
She got 46 sets and they... What did Abercrombie

00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:28.559
hit? Abercrombie hit 234. Well, and the thing

00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:30.800
you have to remember is that all of these numbers

00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:32.699
are slightly skewed. What were the serving numbers

00:46:32.699 --> 00:46:37.679
like? Serving wise, we had six errors for Omaha

00:46:37.679 --> 00:46:44.019
and five aces. And for Orlando, we had 14 errors

00:46:44.019 --> 00:46:48.039
and four aces. So they missed a ton of serves.

00:46:48.969 --> 00:46:50.949
Again, this is the part where stats can be a

00:46:50.949 --> 00:46:53.989
little deceiving, right? Orlando's numbers are

00:46:53.989 --> 00:46:56.090
inflated because they were all world in the first

00:46:56.090 --> 00:46:59.989
set, and Omaha's numbers are brought down by

00:46:59.989 --> 00:47:02.210
how bad they were in the first set. So if you

00:47:02.210 --> 00:47:04.369
were to cut those off and look at them, like,

00:47:04.369 --> 00:47:06.409
again, you have two kind of different matches

00:47:06.409 --> 00:47:09.210
from set one and then through from two to four.

00:47:09.590 --> 00:47:13.449
But let's be honest. Brooke Nunneville runs that

00:47:13.449 --> 00:47:17.000
team. She finds ways to score. She passes. She

00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:20.440
plays defense. And she's playing very well right

00:47:20.440 --> 00:47:22.619
now. Lastly, and I think it's worth mentioning,

00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:25.199
I thought Lydia Grote came in and did a really

00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:29.239
good job for Orlando. She did. They were struggling.

00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:32.940
They couldn't find anything. And she came in.

00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:37.280
She had some big kills. She hit .267 coming off

00:47:37.280 --> 00:47:40.059
the bench, having not played. Got 15 sets. I

00:47:40.059 --> 00:47:42.900
thought she gave them a spark. I thought she

00:47:42.900 --> 00:47:45.980
came in and she pushed for that third set. They

00:47:45.980 --> 00:47:49.039
had fought off six set points, and I thought

00:47:49.039 --> 00:47:50.840
they were going to leave her in and maybe have

00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:52.920
some momentum going into the fourth set, but

00:47:52.920 --> 00:47:55.840
that didn't happen. Omaha just kind of rolled

00:47:55.840 --> 00:47:58.000
them again. But I thought she did a good job

00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:00.320
coming off the bench, and I'm curious if we're

00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:04.119
going to see a Nora Siss, Lydia Grote kind of

00:48:04.119 --> 00:48:08.320
emergence over the next little while. With Abercrombie,

00:48:08.360 --> 00:48:10.880
absolutely not. Orlando is like, we don't care

00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:13.679
how you play. You're staying in forever. So I

00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:17.059
think Lydia Grote, maybe not. But I would like

00:48:17.059 --> 00:48:20.920
to see Nora Siss play more because I think she

00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:22.980
does a good job for them when she comes in. Do

00:48:22.980 --> 00:48:26.199
you think either Abercrombie or Grote could pass?

00:48:26.719 --> 00:48:31.639
No. That's my instinct. Maybe Lydia Grote can.

00:48:31.780 --> 00:48:34.750
I don't know. But my instinct is no. That would

00:48:34.750 --> 00:48:37.829
be an interesting trio of outside hitters to

00:48:37.829 --> 00:48:41.929
see what happens there. But, yeah, I mean, Omaha

00:48:41.929 --> 00:48:44.789
keeps winning. They're more consistent than the

00:48:44.789 --> 00:48:48.570
other PDF teams. That's kind of what I'm getting.

00:48:49.030 --> 00:48:51.650
They've got, when things go wrong, they do have

00:48:51.650 --> 00:48:56.130
people who can come in and do a good job. Like,

00:48:56.130 --> 00:48:59.929
their roster is deep enough that they're not

00:48:59.929 --> 00:49:02.969
reliant on their starting six. Yeah, and this

00:49:02.969 --> 00:49:05.090
was a prime example of that. Pedroza came in

00:49:05.090 --> 00:49:09.230
and she was able to get it done. Allie Batenhorst

00:49:09.230 --> 00:49:11.929
came off the bench, did a good job. They have

00:49:11.929 --> 00:49:15.070
serviceable players, but more importantly, they

00:49:15.070 --> 00:49:17.070
know when to use them. Because I think there

00:49:17.070 --> 00:49:19.050
are other rosters that have serviceable players,

00:49:19.150 --> 00:49:23.590
but they don't necessarily have either the confidence

00:49:23.590 --> 00:49:27.849
or the cohesiveness to come off and kind of slide

00:49:27.849 --> 00:49:30.659
into that team. I think overall this was an interesting

00:49:30.659 --> 00:49:33.119
game just because this might be a playoff matchup.

00:49:33.139 --> 00:49:37.679
This might be the 1 -4 if things hold true. And

00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:41.599
if you're Orlando, how do you feel about this?

00:49:42.099 --> 00:49:44.760
Do you take away that first set win and go, okay,

00:49:44.780 --> 00:49:47.519
we have something here. We can play with them.

00:49:47.920 --> 00:49:50.480
Or do you go, man, we just don't. We can't fight

00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:54.300
with this team for a full match. I sure hope

00:49:54.300 --> 00:49:58.000
that's not their attitude. I mean, maybe not

00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:00.579
publicly, but looking at it, what is your takeaway?

00:50:00.780 --> 00:50:02.880
Well, they had a great start to the season. They

00:50:02.880 --> 00:50:07.019
beat them both matches early. And then I think

00:50:07.019 --> 00:50:09.679
given some roster changes, some players taking

00:50:09.679 --> 00:50:14.239
dips in performance, that's an issue. But I think

00:50:14.239 --> 00:50:15.960
they need to set their middle more. They need

00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:18.260
to get more production from their left sides.

00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:22.960
And then we might see a closer match. Well, we'll

00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:24.780
keep our eye on this one because this is potentially

00:50:24.780 --> 00:50:27.630
the semi. going into the end of the season. So

00:50:27.630 --> 00:50:30.010
we'll see if some of the new players for Orlando

00:50:30.010 --> 00:50:33.789
can gel. All right, so it's time for our weekly

00:50:33.789 --> 00:50:37.550
game. And I couldn't pass up the fact that we

00:50:37.550 --> 00:50:41.130
had so many upsets, specifically in the NCAA

00:50:41.130 --> 00:50:45.869
men's world this week. So for our game today,

00:50:46.150 --> 00:50:49.550
we're going to rank the upsets in terms of the

00:50:49.550 --> 00:50:53.250
most detrimental to the seasons of the teams

00:50:53.250 --> 00:50:56.460
that lost, okay? So we have a bunch here, and

00:50:56.460 --> 00:51:01.679
I've included one PVF because there was a relatively

00:51:01.679 --> 00:51:03.980
large upset in the PVF this week. But I'm going

00:51:03.980 --> 00:51:09.739
to list the upsets. I'm going to pick five that,

00:51:09.880 --> 00:51:11.400
and there were a few more that happened, but

00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:13.280
five that I think are kind of the most or the

00:51:13.280 --> 00:51:17.239
biggest. And you tell me, and maybe we'll start

00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:19.539
with the least disruptive to the season. Okay.

00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:21.440
And we'll go from there, okay? Hopefully I can

00:51:21.440 --> 00:51:23.679
keep track of them all. Yeah, and I can give

00:51:23.679 --> 00:51:27.059
you a heads up if you can. So the first one is

00:51:27.059 --> 00:51:30.440
the Indy Ignite from the PVF, who were ranked

00:51:30.440 --> 00:51:34.980
third, lost to the Columbus Fury in four, and

00:51:34.980 --> 00:51:38.539
Columbus is eight. Okay. Okay? So that's the

00:51:38.539 --> 00:51:43.900
first one. The second one is we had Ohio State,

00:51:44.139 --> 00:51:47.480
who's ranked 18th, beat Ball State, who's ranked

00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:52.579
15th. So not a huge upset. But I think given

00:51:52.579 --> 00:51:55.460
where we were in the standings in the season,

00:51:55.599 --> 00:51:59.420
that would be considered an upset. CSUN, who

00:51:59.420 --> 00:52:07.360
is 9, beating Hawaii 3 -0. Grand Canyon at 13,

00:52:07.579 --> 00:52:13.199
beating UCLA at 2 -3 -0. We're actually going

00:52:13.199 --> 00:52:17.789
to do 6. Oh, great. UC San Diego. who's ranked

00:52:17.789 --> 00:52:21.730
10, beating UC Irvine, who's ranked 4, 3 -0.

00:52:22.070 --> 00:52:27.710
And the last one is Pepperdine, who is 8, beating

00:52:27.710 --> 00:52:32.849
USC, who is 3 and 4. Now one other game of note,

00:52:32.929 --> 00:52:34.309
which we're not going to add into this, but Ohio

00:52:34.309 --> 00:52:37.610
State also upset Lewis 3 -1, and Lewis was 14,

00:52:37.769 --> 00:52:41.409
Ohio State was 18. So quick recap, we have the

00:52:41.409 --> 00:52:45.010
Indy Ignite game, we have Ohio State versus Ball

00:52:45.010 --> 00:52:48.760
State. Hawaii losing to CSUN, Grand Canyon beating

00:52:48.760 --> 00:52:53.599
UCLA, UC Irvine losing to UC San Diego, and Pepperdine

00:52:53.599 --> 00:52:58.880
beating USC. Which of those is the least detrimental

00:52:58.880 --> 00:53:01.659
to the season or least surprising? I'm going

00:53:01.659 --> 00:53:07.460
to say the Indy Ignite game. Okay. I think the

00:53:07.460 --> 00:53:11.019
top four in the PVF have separated themselves

00:53:11.019 --> 00:53:15.929
so much. And Indy was able to maintain their

00:53:15.929 --> 00:53:19.949
third position anyway. So I think Indy's not

00:53:19.949 --> 00:53:22.730
going to lose their playoff spot or get close

00:53:22.730 --> 00:53:24.809
to losing their playoff spot because of that.

00:53:25.309 --> 00:53:29.190
Okay, fair. So we'll set that at six. Five, I'm

00:53:29.190 --> 00:53:35.429
probably going to put USC Pepperdine. Ooh, interesting.

00:53:35.849 --> 00:53:37.949
Okay, because you have to think about how the

00:53:37.949 --> 00:53:45.190
rest of the stuff plays out. UCLA was two, USC

00:53:45.190 --> 00:53:48.530
was three. They were at the top of the NPSF,

00:53:48.610 --> 00:53:53.789
obviously. UCLA had a worse loss. So if these

00:53:53.789 --> 00:53:56.610
teams are battling for first in the NPSF and

00:53:56.610 --> 00:54:01.630
their opponent's loss is worse than theirs, as

00:54:01.630 --> 00:54:04.030
far as a ranking perspective and a perception

00:54:04.030 --> 00:54:08.449
perspective for potential votes for the ranking

00:54:08.449 --> 00:54:11.869
and stuff. USC losing to a higher -ranked opponent.

00:54:12.809 --> 00:54:16.829
They're still going to be top two in the NPSF

00:54:16.829 --> 00:54:21.510
regardless and probably number one because, yeah.

00:54:21.969 --> 00:54:25.510
I don't think it affects them that much. Four,

00:54:25.929 --> 00:54:29.909
I'm going to say UCLA Grand Canyon. Similar situation.

00:54:30.829 --> 00:54:36.170
They are battling with USC for the top spot in

00:54:36.170 --> 00:54:39.989
the NPSF. It might drop them in the AVCA rankings,

00:54:40.090 --> 00:54:42.929
but it's not going to drop them too far in the

00:54:42.929 --> 00:54:47.210
MPSF rankings. So basically you're asking yourself,

00:54:47.269 --> 00:54:49.750
if you're number one, you're probably going to

00:54:49.750 --> 00:54:53.030
play like a BYU. And if you're number two, you're

00:54:53.030 --> 00:54:55.230
probably going to play a Pepperdine. If you're

00:54:55.230 --> 00:54:57.690
going to win the MPSF tournament. either one

00:54:57.690 --> 00:55:00.889
of those matches as a semifinal is not, it should

00:55:00.889 --> 00:55:04.110
not be super threatening to either of those teams

00:55:04.110 --> 00:55:06.989
if their aspirations are to win an NCAA championship.

00:55:07.929 --> 00:55:11.050
So while it's unfortunate that they lost to Grand

00:55:11.050 --> 00:55:14.130
Canyon, I don't think it's as detrimental as

00:55:14.130 --> 00:55:16.969
some of the others. Okay. Three, I'm going to

00:55:16.969 --> 00:55:19.670
say Ohio State, Ball State. I thought that one

00:55:19.670 --> 00:55:21.469
was going to be lower on the list. Well, here's

00:55:21.469 --> 00:55:25.190
the thing is like the MIVA is kind of messy right

00:55:25.190 --> 00:55:28.550
now. Because you saw McKendree lose a couple

00:55:28.550 --> 00:55:31.190
matches last week. So then Loyola Chicago gets

00:55:31.190 --> 00:55:33.670
bumped up. Ohio State's been kind of like drifting

00:55:33.670 --> 00:55:37.730
around like the five spot. Any match that you

00:55:37.730 --> 00:55:42.449
can win against those, like that higher ranked

00:55:42.449 --> 00:55:44.590
group. So we've got McKendree, Loyola Chicago,

00:55:44.969 --> 00:55:47.809
Lewis, Ball State, Ohio State. Like that group

00:55:47.809 --> 00:55:51.190
of five is like, they're going back and forth

00:55:51.190 --> 00:55:54.300
every week. And there's no consistency of who

00:55:54.300 --> 00:55:57.599
is beating who. So the fact that Ohio State can

00:55:57.599 --> 00:56:02.119
snag that win is, I think, huge because things

00:56:02.119 --> 00:56:04.659
are pretty close in that conference. Well, and

00:56:04.659 --> 00:56:07.460
not only that one, but they snagged two against

00:56:07.460 --> 00:56:10.119
Lewis. Exactly, but it wasn't in the... But I'm

00:56:10.119 --> 00:56:12.679
saying your logic there makes a ton of sense.

00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:16.440
Two, I'm going to say UC Irvine, UC San Diego.

00:56:16.920 --> 00:56:20.420
So UC Irvine's currently in second last in the

00:56:20.420 --> 00:56:25.130
Big West. I'm not 100 % sure how they structure

00:56:25.130 --> 00:56:27.090
their tournament. I'm assuming the top two get

00:56:27.090 --> 00:56:33.449
a bye. If that is the case and UC Irvine stays,

00:56:33.630 --> 00:56:37.010
here's the thing. UC Irvine had to play Long

00:56:37.010 --> 00:56:41.570
Beach and Hawaii early. So after that, the expectation

00:56:41.570 --> 00:56:45.349
is that you need to win the rest of your matches

00:56:45.349 --> 00:56:50.699
to finish. Third, at least. At the minimum, finished

00:56:50.699 --> 00:56:53.900
third. Plus, winning that match over Long Beach

00:56:53.900 --> 00:56:57.619
State was huge because it put them in contention

00:56:57.619 --> 00:56:59.980
to potentially fight for second, depending on

00:56:59.980 --> 00:57:02.340
what else happened in the league. But instead,

00:57:02.739 --> 00:57:05.219
losing a match that they, by all intents and

00:57:05.219 --> 00:57:08.239
purposes, should have won, potentially gives

00:57:08.239 --> 00:57:13.739
them a Long Beach State semifinal matchup. In

00:57:13.739 --> 00:57:16.400
the Big West tournament, which that should not

00:57:16.400 --> 00:57:19.219
happen. Like it should be a tooth. They should

00:57:19.219 --> 00:57:22.059
be in the two three matchup. So I think that

00:57:22.059 --> 00:57:26.739
was a huge miss by them. Which leaves us with

00:57:26.739 --> 00:57:31.559
CSUN and Hawaii. This was such a major screw

00:57:31.559 --> 00:57:34.420
up by Hawaii. I can't even talk about this enough.

00:57:35.539 --> 00:57:40.340
Because Long Beach State lost a match to UC Irvine.

00:57:41.320 --> 00:57:45.639
If Hawaii had managed to have a clean Big West

00:57:45.639 --> 00:57:50.940
season and steal one match at home from Long

00:57:50.940 --> 00:57:53.519
Beach State, they would go into the MPSF tournament

00:57:53.519 --> 00:57:56.500
ranked number one. Which is huge. Which is huge.

00:57:56.980 --> 00:58:00.000
Plus they're playing at home. So even bigger.

00:58:01.059 --> 00:58:05.059
This was in their hands. They just had to take

00:58:05.059 --> 00:58:07.739
care of the matches that they needed to take

00:58:07.739 --> 00:58:11.059
care of. And this was one of them against CSUN.

00:58:11.099 --> 00:58:16.320
So now, even if they beat Long Beach State in

00:58:16.320 --> 00:58:19.420
a match, it's probably not going to be enough.

00:58:19.699 --> 00:58:23.920
So this was a massive, massive mess up by them.

00:58:24.119 --> 00:58:28.559
So there you have it. Upsets by Sarah. CSUN Hawaii

00:58:28.559 --> 00:58:32.440
taking the top and the PDF upset being at the

00:58:32.440 --> 00:58:35.590
bottom. But it was a very interesting week in

00:58:35.590 --> 00:58:38.409
NCAA men's volleyball, and I'm so curious to

00:58:38.409 --> 00:58:41.329
see how the last few weeks shape up leading into

00:58:41.329 --> 00:58:44.190
the conference tournaments. It's that time, everybody.

00:58:45.090 --> 00:58:48.550
Listener questions. We've got some tricky ones

00:58:48.550 --> 00:58:50.789
today, so hopefully we're capable of answering

00:58:50.789 --> 00:58:55.050
them. But our first question is, will Myles Partain

00:58:55.050 --> 00:58:58.510
play for UCLA this season? I think that's a great

00:58:58.510 --> 00:59:02.219
question. He's coming back from an injury. So

00:59:02.219 --> 00:59:06.380
we will see how that works. I think he's probably

00:59:06.380 --> 00:59:09.119
going to get cleared and be able to play. I didn't

00:59:09.119 --> 00:59:11.519
think it was injury related at all. It's injury

00:59:11.519 --> 00:59:13.900
related. I thought he had to get cleared by the

00:59:13.900 --> 00:59:17.179
NCAA because he was playing as a professional.

00:59:17.480 --> 00:59:21.179
So I believe it's twofold on the beach side.

00:59:21.320 --> 00:59:25.920
I think my understanding was that the NCAA compliance

00:59:25.920 --> 00:59:29.059
was going to be resolved and he was waiting for

00:59:29.059 --> 00:59:32.260
clearance from the doctor. To be able to play.

00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:35.519
So both things. Correct. And I believe that if

00:59:35.519 --> 00:59:37.920
he was cleared by the NCAA, he would have to

00:59:37.920 --> 00:59:42.880
pay back a lot of his AVP earnings. I don't know

00:59:42.880 --> 00:59:44.460
what the stipulations around him coming back

00:59:44.460 --> 00:59:46.360
were. I'm pretty sure that is part of it. Like

00:59:46.360 --> 00:59:49.119
if you earn money as a professional, he has to

00:59:49.119 --> 00:59:51.980
pay back some of his money in order to be cleared.

00:59:52.059 --> 00:59:53.800
So I thought he was waiting for that. I didn't

00:59:53.800 --> 00:59:58.079
know about the injury part. But... I mean, they

00:59:58.079 --> 01:00:02.320
could use a libero. Rumor has it that they were

01:00:02.320 --> 01:00:05.320
putting him on the roster to take the libero

01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:09.840
spot. Because I would say that has been a weakness

01:00:09.840 --> 01:00:13.039
for them. They're at the bottom of the MPSF in

01:00:13.039 --> 01:00:17.699
digs per set. Their passing libero gets targeted

01:00:17.699 --> 01:00:22.659
a lot. So even though he was an outstanding setter

01:00:22.659 --> 01:00:26.119
for UCLA when he played there the first time.

01:00:27.130 --> 01:00:31.789
So the word is that if he does get cleared by

01:00:31.789 --> 01:00:37.349
the NCAA and the doctor, it will be in the libero

01:00:37.349 --> 01:00:39.469
role. But time is running out. So I feel like

01:00:39.469 --> 01:00:42.829
he might as well just wait at this point. Well,

01:00:42.929 --> 01:00:44.710
I think he's doing a master's program, if I'm

01:00:44.710 --> 01:00:45.949
not mistaken. So I'm not sure he's going to be

01:00:45.949 --> 01:00:48.389
around next year. What is it, a one -year program?

01:00:48.610 --> 01:00:52.329
I think so. Again, don't quote me on that. We'll

01:00:52.329 --> 01:00:54.329
see. Dang. Part of me is like, okay, if you're

01:00:54.329 --> 01:00:56.730
going to go back and do your second year of your

01:00:56.730 --> 01:00:59.050
grad program, just like hold off and save it

01:00:59.050 --> 01:01:01.190
for next season. Like you've got a couple of

01:01:01.190 --> 01:01:03.849
weeks left of the season. Yeah. And that'll be

01:01:03.849 --> 01:01:05.889
the decision, right? If he's only here for one

01:01:05.889 --> 01:01:07.630
more semester, then you might as well hop on

01:01:07.630 --> 01:01:09.550
and see if you can help your team to a national

01:01:09.550 --> 01:01:11.949
championship. But if not, then maybe we'll see

01:01:11.949 --> 01:01:14.369
him next year. All right. So somebody asked,

01:01:14.530 --> 01:01:17.449
do you know where the love athletes are playing

01:01:17.449 --> 01:01:21.420
next year in terms of different clubs? There

01:01:21.420 --> 01:01:28.500
is one that we are sure of. And then we did some

01:01:28.500 --> 01:01:31.840
digging. We found some names of people who are

01:01:31.840 --> 01:01:35.559
leaving love, but we don't know where they're

01:01:35.559 --> 01:01:40.019
going yet. So the one we know for sure, Chiaka

01:01:40.019 --> 01:01:44.500
Okbalgu, is leaving Austin to go play for Vakafbank

01:01:44.500 --> 01:01:49.460
in Turkey. Huge loss for Austin. Huge loss for

01:01:49.460 --> 01:01:55.460
love. But potentially an opportunity for Aja

01:01:55.460 --> 01:01:57.880
O 'Neill to step in, who has been sitting on

01:01:57.880 --> 01:02:00.280
the bench the whole season. We already know what

01:02:00.280 --> 01:02:03.699
we think about some of the roster decisions that

01:02:03.699 --> 01:02:06.780
Love has made. The other players that have been

01:02:06.780 --> 01:02:12.400
rumored to leave are Drevniok, the opposite for

01:02:12.400 --> 01:02:19.840
Omaha. Janari, outside hitter for... Austin.

01:02:21.260 --> 01:02:26.199
Raphael Foley, the middle for Houston. Those

01:02:26.199 --> 01:02:28.920
are the ones that we know for sure. Oh, Marta

01:02:28.920 --> 01:02:32.579
Beckis, who she was supposed to be a setter for

01:02:32.579 --> 01:02:36.500
Atlanta, but she was injured. Don't know if she

01:02:36.500 --> 01:02:38.460
ever recovered. That's why Rachel Fairbanks initially

01:02:38.460 --> 01:02:42.719
came in. And then it's being tossed around that

01:02:42.719 --> 01:02:45.500
perhaps the players that didn't sign two -year

01:02:45.500 --> 01:02:48.000
contracts are going to leave. Are we sure about

01:02:48.000 --> 01:02:51.059
that? We don't know because on some of the broadcasts,

01:02:51.059 --> 01:02:53.579
they're talking about how they're signing amazing

01:02:53.579 --> 01:02:57.380
new players. So maybe the players that only signed

01:02:57.380 --> 01:03:01.539
a one -year deal are out. So those players that

01:03:01.539 --> 01:03:07.039
were late signings are Jennifer Janiska for Madison,

01:03:07.519 --> 01:03:10.699
Bia, who stepped in into the middle role due

01:03:10.699 --> 01:03:14.139
to injury for Madison. Rachel Fairbanks, as we

01:03:14.139 --> 01:03:17.039
said, she stepped in when Marta Bekis was injured.

01:03:17.340 --> 01:03:23.059
Vicky Savard, who plays for Omaha. And Nwokolo.

01:03:23.320 --> 01:03:25.420
So those are the players that are being tossed

01:03:25.420 --> 01:03:28.440
around. Chiaka's the only one that we know has

01:03:28.440 --> 01:03:30.980
officially signed anywhere. We've been looking.

01:03:31.539 --> 01:03:34.559
Well, it's still really early for contracts to

01:03:34.559 --> 01:03:38.360
go out. You're seeing the top athletes having

01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:41.650
decided because the... The clubs want to know

01:03:41.650 --> 01:03:43.730
where the majority of their budgets are going.

01:03:43.969 --> 01:03:47.530
So you've seen some movement from the very high

01:03:47.530 --> 01:03:52.710
-paid players. The Love athletes are not that.

01:03:53.469 --> 01:03:57.130
Chiaka signed early because she's a hot commodity

01:03:57.130 --> 01:04:01.869
in the middle market. But the other players from

01:04:01.869 --> 01:04:05.449
Love are not filling that super high -salary

01:04:05.449 --> 01:04:08.750
role anywhere. We probably won't see them sign

01:04:08.750 --> 01:04:13.289
until May, June. I'm thinking May. Yeah. They

01:04:13.289 --> 01:04:15.349
will probably sign. And I'm guessing that we're

01:04:15.349 --> 01:04:17.829
going to get some announcements soon after the

01:04:17.829 --> 01:04:20.030
finals from Love in terms of who they're targeting.

01:04:20.210 --> 01:04:21.710
I bet they've already signed a couple players

01:04:21.710 --> 01:04:24.090
that they wanted to. But it's not surprising

01:04:24.090 --> 01:04:26.530
to see a lot of athletes from Omaha and Austin

01:04:26.530 --> 01:04:29.869
going elsewhere. Those were not great seasons.

01:04:31.099 --> 01:04:33.860
No. Love is probably looking at those teams like,

01:04:33.960 --> 01:04:36.179
okay, how do we make these rosters more competitive?

01:04:37.219 --> 01:04:39.659
And interestingly, we're seeing a lot of the

01:04:39.659 --> 01:04:42.460
Italians go back. Once you're used to a certain

01:04:42.460 --> 01:04:47.579
level and standard, it's probably hard to switch

01:04:47.579 --> 01:04:51.170
it up. And those women have been playing in the

01:04:51.170 --> 01:04:53.989
A1 Italian League for a long time. Well, and

01:04:53.989 --> 01:04:56.409
it's something new, right? You go, you try it,

01:04:56.449 --> 01:04:58.730
you see what the opportunity is. They would have

01:04:58.730 --> 01:05:00.969
known a bunch of the American players that played

01:05:00.969 --> 01:05:04.190
and away you go. Part two of that question was,

01:05:04.269 --> 01:05:05.989
do you think the players that choose to stay

01:05:05.989 --> 01:05:09.210
with love will ultimately hurt themselves for

01:05:09.210 --> 01:05:14.530
upcoming Olympics or VNL tournaments? Oh, it's

01:05:14.530 --> 01:05:16.750
a really interesting question. It depends on

01:05:16.750 --> 01:05:20.550
where else they can get contracts. So if you

01:05:20.550 --> 01:05:25.130
are in the mix for the U .S. national team and

01:05:25.130 --> 01:05:30.010
you have a chance to play in A1 Italy, in Turkey,

01:05:30.170 --> 01:05:35.309
on a Champions League team for Germany or France,

01:05:35.409 --> 01:05:37.869
like one of those teams that is competing against

01:05:37.869 --> 01:05:41.539
the best athletes in the world, then... Yes,

01:05:41.599 --> 01:05:44.699
you always want to be training and playing against

01:05:44.699 --> 01:05:48.039
the highest competition possible. So I think

01:05:48.039 --> 01:05:51.599
you'll see, like Obagu, for example, that's a

01:05:51.599 --> 01:05:54.500
good move for her on a personal level. She needs

01:05:54.500 --> 01:06:00.059
to keep that level. Yeah, and so I think that

01:06:00.059 --> 01:06:05.239
this probably would affect five or six players

01:06:05.239 --> 01:06:07.980
who could really benefit from going and moving

01:06:07.980 --> 01:06:11.969
up the ranks. even from an experience standpoint

01:06:11.969 --> 01:06:15.469
of traveling somewhere other than the U .S. to

01:06:15.469 --> 01:06:19.030
play and understanding how other countries do

01:06:19.030 --> 01:06:21.949
things, how other teams operate. All of those

01:06:21.949 --> 01:06:24.389
are valuable experiences when you're looking

01:06:24.389 --> 01:06:26.809
at the international game. So I think it applies

01:06:26.809 --> 01:06:32.510
to a select few athletes. And, you know, it was

01:06:32.510 --> 01:06:36.829
Love's first year. We saw what we saw, and we've

01:06:36.829 --> 01:06:38.809
talked about that at length. It'll be interesting

01:06:38.809 --> 01:06:41.130
to see what other athletes they're able to attract.

01:06:42.269 --> 01:06:44.789
Well, and Chiaka's still in the prime of her

01:06:44.789 --> 01:06:47.789
career. True. She is one of the few national

01:06:47.789 --> 01:06:50.789
team athletes that we have seen in the recent

01:06:50.789 --> 01:06:55.150
quads who decided to play for love while still

01:06:55.150 --> 01:06:57.829
in the prime of their career. So I found the

01:06:57.829 --> 01:07:00.789
decision by her to even go to love to be very

01:07:00.789 --> 01:07:04.449
interesting. You know, the Kelsey Cooks, the

01:07:04.449 --> 01:07:07.369
Jordan Larsons, some of the setters, even you

01:07:07.369 --> 01:07:09.590
could argue Haley Washington to an extent, like

01:07:09.590 --> 01:07:13.449
they are kind of past it. So yeah, I could understand

01:07:13.449 --> 01:07:15.829
that. But Chiaka, like she's still in her prime.

01:07:15.909 --> 01:07:19.550
She still has like a quad or at least left in

01:07:19.550 --> 01:07:22.530
her, if not more. She needs to be playing against

01:07:22.530 --> 01:07:25.469
that high level. And I think if the young grads

01:07:25.469 --> 01:07:29.679
want a chance. and have aspirations to play national

01:07:29.679 --> 01:07:34.079
team like Merzik, like Skinner, like Franklin,

01:07:34.280 --> 01:07:36.820
for example, they need to leave too. Well, I'm

01:07:36.820 --> 01:07:39.980
curious if it's going to be one of them goes

01:07:39.980 --> 01:07:42.840
and then they all go, right? So if one of them

01:07:42.840 --> 01:07:45.599
sees, like if Merzik decides, and this is, I'm

01:07:45.599 --> 01:07:47.619
just using this as an example, decides to go

01:07:47.619 --> 01:07:49.500
overseas and gets a good contract, are the others

01:07:49.500 --> 01:07:51.019
going to look and go, hey, does that put her

01:07:51.019 --> 01:07:54.849
ahead of me on the depth chart? So it'll be interesting

01:07:54.849 --> 01:07:57.690
to see in the next one or two years what decisions

01:07:57.690 --> 01:07:59.949
are made. This is a very challenging question.

01:08:00.449 --> 01:08:03.909
It's a great question. And I don't know if I

01:08:03.909 --> 01:08:08.170
have an answer. But if you were king and queen

01:08:08.170 --> 01:08:11.110
of the NCAA Volleyball Committee, how would you

01:08:11.110 --> 01:08:14.369
fix the problems that the portal and NIL money

01:08:14.369 --> 01:08:17.630
have created, especially for the mid -major conferences?

01:08:18.639 --> 01:08:22.819
The NCAA created a monster, and it's going to

01:08:22.819 --> 01:08:25.539
be real tough for them to reel it back in. I

01:08:25.539 --> 01:08:28.859
think what they did with NIL was a good idea

01:08:28.859 --> 01:08:31.619
in theory, but the way that it has gotten out

01:08:31.619 --> 01:08:34.439
of control, it'll be so hard for these young

01:08:34.439 --> 01:08:38.819
athletes to have existed in that reality and

01:08:38.819 --> 01:08:42.819
then have it taken away or pulled back. But I

01:08:42.819 --> 01:08:47.050
agree that it only benefits. the really big schools

01:08:47.050 --> 01:08:49.409
and conferences, which it's like the rich get

01:08:49.409 --> 01:08:52.029
richer, the poor get poorer. I actually think

01:08:52.029 --> 01:08:56.250
the portal is more detrimental than the NIL money.

01:08:56.529 --> 01:08:59.550
I think... Well, we know how we feel about the

01:08:59.550 --> 01:09:02.149
portal. Well, but okay, if we're looking at it

01:09:02.149 --> 01:09:07.649
from a parity standpoint, like the colleges make

01:09:07.649 --> 01:09:11.229
a ton of money. They benefit off the athletes

01:09:11.229 --> 01:09:13.909
and the athletes are getting... Their education

01:09:13.909 --> 01:09:16.430
paid for, I understand that. But the sports grow

01:09:16.430 --> 01:09:18.250
and the TV contracts and whatever else, I don't

01:09:18.250 --> 01:09:20.729
have any problem with those athletes making some

01:09:20.729 --> 01:09:23.670
money while they go to school. It is what it

01:09:23.670 --> 01:09:28.449
is. The ability to just switch schools and to

01:09:28.449 --> 01:09:32.270
poach athletes from other schools and just mix

01:09:32.270 --> 01:09:36.250
up the rosters year over year, I think that's

01:09:36.250 --> 01:09:38.970
where it's really tough for coaches to develop.

01:09:39.350 --> 01:09:43.109
culture and to hold athletes and so if you're

01:09:43.109 --> 01:09:45.810
a mid -major and you know you have an athlete

01:09:45.810 --> 01:09:48.689
who comes in and you know that you're going to

01:09:48.689 --> 01:09:51.449
have that athlete for maybe two years for sure

01:09:51.449 --> 01:09:54.609
or they have to sit out a year before they go

01:09:54.609 --> 01:09:56.590
somewhere else I think you have the ability to

01:09:56.590 --> 01:09:59.430
hang on to those athletes a little bit more and

01:09:59.430 --> 01:10:02.750
to put some effort into developing those I think

01:10:02.750 --> 01:10:06.220
and again How you police this, I'm not sure.

01:10:06.319 --> 01:10:09.060
If you're in a bad situation or you need to change,

01:10:09.359 --> 01:10:11.659
you should have the ability to do that. You shouldn't

01:10:11.659 --> 01:10:14.520
be stuck in a bad situation. But the ability

01:10:14.520 --> 01:10:17.100
to just move every year to a different school

01:10:17.100 --> 01:10:21.159
with no consequences, it makes it really tough.

01:10:21.279 --> 01:10:23.399
But I would argue for some of the top schools,

01:10:23.560 --> 01:10:27.220
like NIL does tie into the portal. Because you

01:10:27.220 --> 01:10:30.380
can't tell me that Tori Stafford left for...

01:10:31.399 --> 01:10:33.859
Because she was in a bad situation or whatever.

01:10:34.079 --> 01:10:37.760
She left because the NIL allowed her to get paid

01:10:37.760 --> 01:10:41.140
a lot of money to leave. Yeah, so those are the

01:10:41.140 --> 01:10:44.180
situations that I think handling in the portal

01:10:44.180 --> 01:10:47.000
would make, would go away and leave athletes

01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:50.520
where they are. So you want to go make half a

01:10:50.520 --> 01:10:52.500
million wherever you want to go, you have to

01:10:52.500 --> 01:10:54.699
sit out a year. Well, that's how it used to be.

01:10:54.720 --> 01:10:57.539
Like if you transferred back in the day, if you

01:10:57.539 --> 01:11:00.619
transferred within your conference. you had to

01:11:00.619 --> 01:11:05.340
sit out a year. Yeah. I mean, the top four conferences

01:11:05.340 --> 01:11:09.819
are kind of doing whatever they want. Yeah. I

01:11:09.819 --> 01:11:12.479
don't know. Again, I think... But how... It's

01:11:12.479 --> 01:11:15.020
hard to police it. Like, how do you differentiate

01:11:15.020 --> 01:11:18.760
between the NIL situation, just like, I'm going

01:11:18.760 --> 01:11:20.920
to pay you to transfer and leave your school

01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:24.279
to come to mine, versus... I'm a local business

01:11:24.279 --> 01:11:26.880
that really supports the athletic department

01:11:26.880 --> 01:11:32.319
and wants to give back to the athletes. How can

01:11:32.319 --> 01:11:35.199
you tell the difference? No, you can't. And that's

01:11:35.199 --> 01:11:38.119
why the solution I'm proposing is not perfect

01:11:38.119 --> 01:11:41.279
anyway. But I'm saying if you could understand

01:11:41.279 --> 01:11:43.439
the situation, if you were omniscient and looking

01:11:43.439 --> 01:11:47.619
at the motivation for moving, I think monitoring

01:11:47.619 --> 01:11:50.939
how athletes change once they get to university

01:11:50.939 --> 01:11:55.229
could... help keep some of those mid -major conferences

01:11:55.229 --> 01:11:57.630
holding onto their athletes and not just losing

01:11:57.630 --> 01:11:59.430
them to big paydays. I feel like there needs

01:11:59.430 --> 01:12:05.189
to be a limit as well. Like a salary cap. Like

01:12:05.189 --> 01:12:09.210
a salary, like an athlete cannot make more than

01:12:09.210 --> 01:12:13.989
X. And I think it needs to be like somewhat modest

01:12:13.989 --> 01:12:18.550
to be able to bring the mid -majors back into

01:12:18.550 --> 01:12:21.810
the conversation because like The mid -majors

01:12:21.810 --> 01:12:26.270
aren't going to pay millions of dollars to athletes

01:12:26.270 --> 01:12:29.529
the way that the major conferences do. Because

01:12:29.529 --> 01:12:32.010
at the end of the day, like, you are supposed

01:12:32.010 --> 01:12:35.130
to be a student athlete. If you want to be a

01:12:35.130 --> 01:12:37.630
professional athlete, don't go to college. Like,

01:12:37.630 --> 01:12:40.390
that's why I think that it needs to be a modest

01:12:40.390 --> 01:12:44.949
amount to potentially help offset costs for schools

01:12:44.949 --> 01:12:47.670
who maybe don't have the budget to fully fund

01:12:47.670 --> 01:12:52.050
a program or XYZ, you know? Because the top schools,

01:12:52.350 --> 01:12:55.390
they are getting fully funded. They have a full

01:12:55.390 --> 01:12:58.069
ride. They're getting an education. But if they're

01:12:58.069 --> 01:13:00.710
given a modest budget for sponsorship on the

01:13:00.710 --> 01:13:04.550
side, that helps supplement what they're doing.

01:13:04.789 --> 01:13:08.390
The mid -majors, they could probably afford something

01:13:08.390 --> 01:13:12.210
like that. And it would help keep students there.

01:13:12.409 --> 01:13:15.829
I just don't like how they've completely gotten

01:13:15.829 --> 01:13:17.930
away from the essence of what it means to be

01:13:17.930 --> 01:13:24.149
a student athlete. It's just not. Our last question

01:13:24.149 --> 01:13:28.510
of the week is, of the players reaching the end

01:13:28.510 --> 01:13:31.510
of a stagnant point in their international indoor

01:13:31.510 --> 01:13:34.750
careers or the girls fresh out of college, do

01:13:34.750 --> 01:13:36.970
you see any of them with skill sets that could

01:13:36.970 --> 01:13:40.909
transition well in the beach? And would any actually

01:13:40.909 --> 01:13:43.930
make the switch? Oh, you're putting me on the

01:13:43.930 --> 01:13:46.659
spot here. Well, we've talked about her already.

01:13:46.840 --> 01:13:49.220
I think the first one that comes to mind is I

01:13:49.220 --> 01:13:51.340
actually think Brooke Nonoviller would be a pretty

01:13:51.340 --> 01:13:53.420
good beach player. She's got a complete skill

01:13:53.420 --> 01:13:56.680
set, yeah. It's just crazy. So many players that

01:13:56.680 --> 01:14:00.520
I think would be good beach players aren't. Like,

01:14:00.579 --> 01:14:02.880
I look at a player and I'm like, yeah, you have

01:14:02.880 --> 01:14:05.539
the tools. But for whatever reason, I've seen

01:14:05.539 --> 01:14:09.020
it so often, the transition just doesn't work.

01:14:09.479 --> 01:14:14.489
I think you need a very specific coach. to help

01:14:14.489 --> 01:14:19.029
you transition from indoor to the beach so that

01:14:19.029 --> 01:14:21.529
you can highlight the differences and what you

01:14:21.529 --> 01:14:25.029
need to change and be very focused on taking

01:14:25.029 --> 01:14:28.329
what you're good at that is applicable to the

01:14:28.329 --> 01:14:30.630
beach game and kind of working through some of

01:14:30.630 --> 01:14:32.689
the technical changes that way. I think if you

01:14:32.689 --> 01:14:34.510
had to figure it out on your own, it takes much

01:14:34.510 --> 01:14:37.430
longer and it's much more difficult. The coach

01:14:37.430 --> 01:14:42.060
definitely is crucial. to helping translate the

01:14:42.060 --> 01:14:45.279
difference. But, okay, if we're just looking

01:14:45.279 --> 01:14:48.180
at skill set, okay, Brooke Nunneville, I think

01:14:48.180 --> 01:14:51.539
Anna DeBeer has a decent skill set to make the

01:14:51.539 --> 01:14:55.939
transition. I think Jordan Larson would have

01:14:55.939 --> 01:14:59.920
been a good option. She's not going to switch

01:14:59.920 --> 01:15:02.979
now. I think a couple of the setters. I think

01:15:02.979 --> 01:15:07.039
Kelsey Cook could have been. Lauren Carlini jumps

01:15:07.039 --> 01:15:09.689
to mind for me. Yeah, she's good defensively.

01:15:09.689 --> 01:15:12.109
Her all -around game is pretty good. It is actually

01:15:12.109 --> 01:15:15.189
really hard to think about this. I don't know.

01:15:15.270 --> 01:15:18.409
I mean, you don't see anybody doing this, but

01:15:18.409 --> 01:15:21.590
I think Fairbanks, she's a relatively physical

01:15:21.590 --> 01:15:23.430
setter. I don't know how she would attack, but

01:15:23.430 --> 01:15:27.229
I like her overall game as well. I don't see

01:15:27.229 --> 01:15:29.329
her running around defensively, though. Yeah,

01:15:29.390 --> 01:15:34.270
fair. Potentially Charity Looper, maybe. Yeah.

01:15:35.310 --> 01:15:38.750
The transition to beach is so nuanced and so

01:15:38.750 --> 01:15:43.130
strange that this is actually a really hard question.

01:15:44.029 --> 01:15:46.829
Do I see any of those players that we named making

01:15:46.829 --> 01:15:51.390
the switch? No. Yeah. I don't. Well, I mean,

01:15:51.390 --> 01:15:53.670
you're going to make way more money playing indoor,

01:15:53.729 --> 01:15:59.189
like even playing PDF and not going overseas

01:15:59.189 --> 01:16:02.289
than you would making money on the beach currently.

01:16:02.699 --> 01:16:04.979
I feel like it takes a very specific type of

01:16:04.979 --> 01:16:09.539
person to even pursue international beach volleyball.

01:16:09.779 --> 01:16:12.439
I feel like so many, especially on the American

01:16:12.439 --> 01:16:16.079
side, they either have a tie to California already

01:16:16.079 --> 01:16:21.840
or they have a history in the sport. You don't

01:16:21.840 --> 01:16:25.060
just see indoor players be like, yeah, let's

01:16:25.060 --> 01:16:28.000
do this. Most of the ones, especially on the

01:16:28.000 --> 01:16:30.350
American side, that have made... that have played

01:16:30.350 --> 01:16:34.409
both are based in California. So it's like an

01:16:34.409 --> 01:16:37.430
easy, comfortable situation because they're already

01:16:37.430 --> 01:16:40.949
in California. International indoor players who

01:16:40.949 --> 01:16:43.130
move to the beach generally do so because their

01:16:43.130 --> 01:16:46.109
national team isn't very good. Yeah, they're

01:16:46.109 --> 01:16:49.050
looking for a reason to, a way to get to the

01:16:49.050 --> 01:16:53.550
Olympics. You saw that with Maggie Kozuk with

01:16:53.550 --> 01:16:57.189
Germany, Louisa Lippmann with Germany. You saw

01:16:57.189 --> 01:17:01.720
Helena Havelkova. for a second, from the Czech

01:17:01.720 --> 01:17:06.939
Republic. Netherlands. Oh, Manon Fleer. The teams

01:17:06.939 --> 01:17:09.880
or the women whose national team hasn't made

01:17:09.880 --> 01:17:12.840
an Olympics and they don't see themselves having

01:17:12.840 --> 01:17:14.939
the opportunity, those are the ones that you

01:17:14.939 --> 01:17:17.659
see go to the beach. Which is how I ended up

01:17:17.659 --> 01:17:20.920
there. Great question. These were tough questions

01:17:20.920 --> 01:17:22.939
this week. When I was looking at the ones I picked,

01:17:23.000 --> 01:17:24.859
I was like, what was I thinking? Because these

01:17:24.859 --> 01:17:28.670
are so hard. But keep them coming. We love a

01:17:28.670 --> 01:17:33.189
good debate. All right. Looking forward to this

01:17:33.189 --> 01:17:36.510
week, we have a few things you should pay attention

01:17:36.510 --> 01:17:40.449
to. So one, back to the Italian League semifinals.

01:17:40.449 --> 01:17:42.949
So match four between Navarra and Canigliano

01:17:42.949 --> 01:17:46.609
will be Wednesday at 2 .30 p .m. Eastern. And

01:17:46.609 --> 01:17:49.210
that's again on Volleyball TV. And the men's

01:17:49.210 --> 01:17:53.189
second matches are happening on Sunday on Volleyball

01:17:53.189 --> 01:17:55.840
TV. So tune into those if you can. The Love Finals

01:17:55.840 --> 01:17:59.000
are happening Thursday, Friday, and Sunday in

01:17:59.000 --> 01:18:02.340
Louisville. The finals are Sunday at 3 p .m.

01:18:02.340 --> 01:18:06.119
Eastern on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The first round matches

01:18:06.119 --> 01:18:08.840
start early on Thursday at 3 .30 p .m. Eastern,

01:18:08.920 --> 01:18:11.640
and the semifinals are on Friday starting at

01:18:11.640 --> 01:18:15.079
5 .30 p .m. Eastern. So that will be the season

01:18:15.079 --> 01:18:17.600
wrapping up. Those games will be worthwhile.

01:18:17.720 --> 01:18:22.000
I'm sure we'll see some intensity and a lot of

01:18:22.000 --> 01:18:24.729
good action there, so tune into those. In the

01:18:24.729 --> 01:18:27.529
NCAA men's action, Loyola Chicago plays Lewis

01:18:27.529 --> 01:18:30.810
on Thursday at 8 p .m. Eastern. That's on ESPN+.

01:18:30.810 --> 01:18:34.010
And that is that whole mishmash conference of

01:18:34.010 --> 01:18:37.750
teams fighting for playoff spots. So those will

01:18:37.750 --> 01:18:40.970
all be entertaining games. UCLA plays BYU on

01:18:40.970 --> 01:18:44.310
Friday at 9 p .m. Eastern and Saturday at 7 p

01:18:44.310 --> 01:18:47.109
.m. Eastern. Those are both on Big Ten+. And

01:18:47.109 --> 01:18:49.659
the match we've all been waiting for. Long Beach

01:18:49.659 --> 01:18:53.380
State plays Hawaii Friday and Saturday. Again,

01:18:53.420 --> 01:18:55.239
they're super late at night if you're on the

01:18:55.239 --> 01:18:59.939
East Coast. 1 a .m. on ESPN+. But it'll be there

01:18:59.939 --> 01:19:01.279
the next day if you want to give it a watch.

01:19:01.439 --> 01:19:03.819
We'll watch the replay. I hope it's worth it.

01:19:03.899 --> 01:19:05.619
All the games that I've thought have been worth

01:19:05.619 --> 01:19:07.699
it, I've been wrong. And all the ones that I

01:19:07.699 --> 01:19:09.159
thought would be straightforward have not been.

01:19:09.500 --> 01:19:11.899
But I've been excited for this one. Yeah, I'm

01:19:11.899 --> 01:19:13.159
looking forward to it. And Hawaii's going to

01:19:13.159 --> 01:19:17.460
have a fire, hopefully, given what happened this

01:19:17.460 --> 01:19:20.350
week with them. And finally, in the PVF, Grand

01:19:20.350 --> 01:19:23.710
Rapids play Orlando at 7 p .m. Eastern on Thursday.

01:19:23.770 --> 01:19:27.369
That's on Roku. And they also play Indy at 7

01:19:27.369 --> 01:19:29.949
p .m. on Saturday, and that's on the PVF YouTube

01:19:29.949 --> 01:19:33.310
channel. That concludes this week's episode of

01:19:33.310 --> 01:19:35.250
Volley Talk. There's always something shaking

01:19:35.250 --> 01:19:37.109
in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed

01:19:37.109 --> 01:19:39.850
this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so

01:19:39.850 --> 01:19:42.149
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if you'd leave us a five -star review. You can

01:19:44.859 --> 01:19:47.619
also find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore

01:19:47.619 --> 01:19:50.699
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01:19:50.699 --> 01:19:52.699
to discuss, be sure to let us know by reaching

01:19:52.699 --> 01:19:56.300
out to us on Instagram or at info at sarahpavin

01:19:56.300 --> 01:19:59.199
.com. Thanks so much for joining us and we'll

01:19:59.199 --> 01:20:00.380
be back next week.