WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.560 Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to Volley 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.759 Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:07.080 who want to dig deep into what is going on in 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:10.099 NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:12.039 Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:15.000 world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:18.120 longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.500 I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:23.500 volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:28.570 guy. Both the NCAA Men's Championship and the 00:00:28.570 --> 00:00:32.210 PVF Championship happened this weekend, and there's 00:00:32.210 --> 00:00:39.409 a lot to talk about. So we decided to break it 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.329 down. We had a ton of fun this weekend. We sat 00:00:42.329 --> 00:00:45.530 on our couch all weekend and watched volleyball, 00:00:45.770 --> 00:00:48.329 and it was fantastic. We sound like huge losers, 00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:50.450 but I feel like some of you probably did the 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:53.829 same thing, so I don't feel so bad. We did move 00:00:53.829 --> 00:00:55.789 and played pickleball today. We'll give us that. 00:00:56.030 --> 00:01:01.710 Yeah. We got our exercise in. Okay. So what we 00:01:01.710 --> 00:01:06.890 decided is we are going to cover the PVF strictly 00:01:06.890 --> 00:01:10.989 today to kind of wrap up that season. And then 00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:14.530 we're going to release next week's normal episode 00:01:14.530 --> 00:01:20.489 early. So in a few days. to cover the NCAA men's 00:01:20.489 --> 00:01:22.569 tournament because we want to give each league 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:28.049 its due. The men's final is Monday, so we figured 00:01:28.049 --> 00:01:31.310 the early episode would be welcome. So today's 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:36.189 focus is PVF, the final four, the season wrap 00:01:36.189 --> 00:01:39.430 up. Some things went the way we predicted and 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:43.310 some things definitely did not. So we are very 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:46.849 excited to break it down for you. So let's get 00:01:46.849 --> 00:02:04.299 started. We do have a few weekly happenings. 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:07.040 Housekeeping, if you will. Housekeeping. Following 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.840 up on some of the happenings from last week to 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:12.860 cover before we get into the PVF Championship. 00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:17.620 So, the noteworthy transfers that we talked about 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.139 last week. Kennedy Martin is heading to Penn 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:25.379 State. That's a big pickup for them. My question 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:28.819 is, what the heck is Caroline Jurevicius thinking 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:31.879 right now? She'll be in the transfer portal. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:35.280 Leaves Nebraska because this happened to her 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.800 there with Merritt Beeson coming in. She holds 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:43.599 her own, has a good end of the season in 2024, 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.419 and then the same thing happens and Kennedy Martin 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:49.919 gets picked up. Is Jura Vicious capable of playing 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.039 left side? I was just thinking that. Can she 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:54.939 pass is the question. Because they lost both 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:58.759 of their left sides. I would imagine. I mean, 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:01.020 she was a big part of their run to the final 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:03.259 and the championship. I would imagine they want 00:03:03.259 --> 00:03:06.439 to keep her. I think they were probably looking 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:10.500 for a solution on left side. That would be my 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:14.520 instinct. Jury's out if she can pass in the Big 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:16.759 Ten. Big pickup for Penn State, though. Yeah. 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.520 Okay. I'm not sure if this happened. I think 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.419 this happened recently, but I'm not positive. 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:24.479 This could have happened back in February, and 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:26.969 you guys are like, okay. You're way behind. But 00:03:26.969 --> 00:03:30.550 Molly Wilson, the setter for Washington, is heading 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:35.069 to Louisville. Washington wasn't great. So I'm 00:03:35.069 --> 00:03:36.909 curious how that's going to go, especially because 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:39.710 they had a freshman running the offense last 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:42.990 year in Louisville. And they did all right. Well, 00:03:43.009 --> 00:03:45.610 and they ran a 6 -2. But when it came down to 00:03:45.610 --> 00:03:48.009 it, they ran the 5 -1. Yeah. So there's that. 00:03:49.009 --> 00:03:51.930 Logan Wiley, who left Georgia Tech, is heading 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:54.969 to Miami. Not sure how I feel about that because 00:03:54.969 --> 00:03:59.490 Miami lost so many players, especially their 00:03:59.490 --> 00:04:04.590 best players. So I'm like. That's maybe a lifestyle 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.550 choice. I can't see Miami. I mean, Atlanta is 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:11.129 a pretty cool place. Yeah, fair enough. But I 00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:14.370 can't see Miami being particularly good next 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:18.149 year unless they make some late additions. But 00:04:18.149 --> 00:04:20.829 their team was kind of decimated. Yeah, that 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:26.560 move. Confuses me a lot. I'm not sure why that 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.420 choice was made. The volleyball motivation doesn't 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:30.959 make sense on that one. Maybe they paid her. 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:33.339 Maybe. I know she is from Georgia. I'm pretty 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:35.800 sure she's from Georgia originally. So she's 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:39.379 leaving. Yeah. I have questions. Tell me if you 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:42.899 know anything. And we spoke about Valentina Vallette 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:45.660 from Michigan. She's heading to Oregon. They 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:48.680 were also kind of decimated when Matt Ulmer took 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:53.160 the job in Kansas. Yeah, it'll be interesting 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:55.459 to see how all of these teams kind of pan out. 00:04:55.579 --> 00:04:58.100 The question mark still, Lola Schumacher hasn't 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:01.000 committed anywhere. There are so many. Here's 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.420 the thing. There are so many liberos out there 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:06.939 and so many of them entered the portal in the 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:11.560 first round. So it's not. a highly sought -after 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:14.240 position. You're not Kennedy Martin jumping in 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.899 in May. You know what I mean? You're not scoring 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:21.120 points. There's tons of liberos out there. You 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.300 didn't have an amazing season either. You're 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:26.300 coming from a good program. You're a good player, 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:30.439 but you're not Lexi Rodriguez. You're not... 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:35.480 We'll see how that pans out for her. I'm not 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:36.959 sure it's going to work out the way she thinks 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.519 it's going to work out. All that to say, lots 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:43.660 of questions circulating in our brains right 00:05:43.660 --> 00:05:46.199 now regarding this transfer portal, the decisions 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:48.879 that have been made, but very happy for Penn 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.920 State for the Kennedy -Martin pickup. They're 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.519 going to be good again, as long as they can find 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:55.839 another left side. But they're going to be good 00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:00.339 again. Well, Emmy Selman came. She has potential. 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:04.860 Absolutely. Is she there yet? I don't know. But... 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:08.970 They're missing a couple pieces, but they still 00:06:08.970 --> 00:06:11.990 could be very good. They did address a big... 00:06:11.990 --> 00:06:15.389 Assuming Jervis just goes to the left side, they 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:20.069 addressed a big issue. Yeah, 100%. They're going 00:06:20.069 --> 00:06:22.529 to need to be able to pass. You can always throw 00:06:22.529 --> 00:06:25.649 the ball back to Martin. She's good for that. 00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:28.269 We'll continue following this. We'll see if anything 00:06:28.269 --> 00:06:31.540 else spicy comes up. This week, but those were, 00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:33.959 we talked about them last week, wanted to circle 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.199 back, kind of fill you in on where those players 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.259 ended up. We're not going to talk about this, 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:44.199 but let's just say the NCAA men's final is Monday. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.680 The volleyball, the men's volleyball was spectacular 00:06:49.680 --> 00:07:00.439 this weekend. It was so much fun. Some of the 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:02.660 quarterfinal games were meh. Some of them were 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:06.899 pretty good. I thought the Penn State game ended 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:10.000 up being way closer than I thought it was going 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.519 to be. It was incredibly entertaining. I thought 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:17.139 the Loyola -Chicago -Pepperdine game, I mean... 00:07:17.370 --> 00:07:19.509 I want to get into it, but I'm not going to get 00:07:19.509 --> 00:07:22.069 into it. Loyola Chicago wants that match back, 00:07:22.269 --> 00:07:25.410 is all I'm going to say. And then the games on 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:28.829 Saturday were fantastic. Kind of one -sided, 00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:33.110 but very entertaining. Yeah. I mean, I haven't 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:35.509 spent a year following NCAA men's volleyball 00:07:35.509 --> 00:07:42.529 ever, and I'm a fan now. I really enjoyed watching 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:45.290 the teams, watching the players. It was entertaining. 00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:49.579 Great overall, and I'm super excited to watch 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:52.180 the final on Monday and then to get back and 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:55.139 talk about it. Tune in to that final. We just 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:57.939 wanted to mention who is in the final, Long Beach 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:02.420 State and UCLA. This has been coming. I'm heartbroken 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:04.199 that Hawaii didn't make it. You guys know how 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:08.300 I feel about Hawaii. I'm heartbroken. But these 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:10.319 two teams have held the number one and two spot 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:14.379 for the majority of the season. tune in we're 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:17.959 going to circle back in a few days to talk about 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.879 the whole championship so yeah check it out so 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:24.040 you're up to date you know what i mean all right 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:29.639 let's get into it we had three pvf matches this 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:34.000 weekend the championship just ended it was an 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.700 entertaining week of volleyball let's get into 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:41.950 the matches all right The one versus four matchup 00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:46.029 was Omaha versus Indy. Last week, both Adam and 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:50.610 I predicted an Indy victory. I love being right. 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:58.929 I don't hate it. Okay, Indy won in five. After 00:08:58.929 --> 00:09:02.889 the first set, very close. Very close scores. 00:09:03.610 --> 00:09:07.610 What are your thoughts on that match? We talked 00:09:07.610 --> 00:09:11.299 about... Indy having all of the pieces and maybe 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:16.919 having a higher ceiling. And to a person, the 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:20.019 Indy team played pretty much a flawless game. 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:25.720 Omaha didn't play poorly, I wouldn't say, but 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:28.820 Indy was firing on all cylinders. They were prepared. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.259 Everybody had a good match and they showed up 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:37.090 as a team. And Nunavut had a slow start. Okay, 00:09:37.129 --> 00:09:41.450 so our big thing with Omaha, we're like Nunaviller 00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:45.470 has proven herself capable of carrying the team 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:48.929 if not everybody is performing. We did say last 00:09:48.929 --> 00:09:52.990 week for Omaha to be successful, they need to 00:09:52.990 --> 00:09:56.450 pass well so that Nunaviller's not facing a double 00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:59.149 block all night. Do you think they accomplished 00:09:59.149 --> 00:10:04.820 that? I think they passed all right, but... To 00:10:04.820 --> 00:10:07.039 me, what was more impressive was Indy's passing. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.559 They did not miss. Indy was in system all night. 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:16.639 And if I had to pick, I mean, there are two players 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.779 that stand out for me for Indy. And granted, 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:21.759 I thought everybody across the board played pretty 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:27.240 well. But I thought that Lydia Martin played. 00:10:28.090 --> 00:10:32.269 incredibly well she was terminal Sydney Hilly 00:10:32.269 --> 00:10:35.850 set her really well they got her going early 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:40.750 and often and she was fantastic in in many aspects 00:10:40.750 --> 00:10:42.429 of the game I thought she blocked well I thought 00:10:42.429 --> 00:10:47.789 she attacked well and Nina Chayich was unbelievable 00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:50.450 I mean again like I said I thought everybody 00:10:50.450 --> 00:10:52.830 on their team played well but those two particularly 00:10:52.830 --> 00:10:56.129 were standouts so heading into the match for 00:10:56.129 --> 00:10:59.370 Indy we were like Azani Thieler needs to show 00:10:59.370 --> 00:11:02.289 up. She needs to continue on pace with what she's 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:07.110 been doing. And then we need to get some performance 00:11:07.110 --> 00:11:09.970 from the left sides. And I actually thought Thieler 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.470 was their worst player. Agreed. And she wasn't 00:11:13.470 --> 00:11:16.850 bad. She wasn't bad, but everybody else stepped 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:21.590 up so much that she didn't have to be amazing. 00:11:22.009 --> 00:11:27.559 Nina Czajic was unconscious. Unconscious. Everything 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:31.159 she touched was great. I need to read you her 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.379 stat line across the board because it was pretty 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:36.639 impressive. So she got 49 sets, which was more 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:42.940 than anybody else on the team. She hit 347. She 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:48.419 had 21 kills and four errors. Three of those 00:11:48.419 --> 00:11:52.539 were blocks. Like, she only made one hitting 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:54.639 error and then got blocked three times. Like, 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:56.740 that's fantastic. She had four blocks herself. 00:11:56.899 --> 00:12:00.840 She had nine digs. She was what she needed to 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:03.840 be to win. But her passing. Yeah. I kept being 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:06.139 like, they need to stop serving her the ball. 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:10.320 This girl passed like a 2 -8, I want to say. 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:15.159 It was so good. I made that up, by the way. Yeah. 00:12:15.179 --> 00:12:18.200 Well, and Anna DeBeer held her own. She passed 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:19.980 well. She was solid. Her numbers were pretty 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.259 good. She got set 41 times. So the left side's 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:25.279 got the majority of the share. And that hasn't 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:29.399 always been Indy's MO. So they played really 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:32.179 well. I thought that Anna DeBeer was really good 00:12:32.179 --> 00:12:35.519 in big moments. You wouldn't really notice her. 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:38.120 She was fine. You know, didn't make a ton of 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:40.539 mistakes. Very kind of Anna DeBeer that we're 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:42.820 used to seeing. But there were a couple times 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:44.879 where the game was on the line, the match was 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.639 close, she got a ball, and she made... good swings 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.960 and she was aggressive. So, I mean, I can't say 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.620 enough good things about Indy. We talked about 00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:57.179 them needing to put a real team effort together 00:12:57.179 --> 00:13:01.559 and every single player showed up. And, you know, 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:04.480 we've been hard on Sydney Hilly about not being 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:09.980 consistent and maybe not or falling off in longer 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:13.250 matches. And I thought she did a fantastic job. 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:16.029 I thought she ran a great offense. She pushed 00:13:16.029 --> 00:13:19.070 the middle. She was aggressive herself to hold 00:13:19.070 --> 00:13:21.730 the blockers and then open up the right side 00:13:21.730 --> 00:13:25.529 ball. I mean, I don't think you could have asked 00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:27.610 for anything more out of any of the players who 00:13:27.610 --> 00:13:30.929 were on the court for them. It was a great team 00:13:30.929 --> 00:13:35.190 win against the number one seed. And they had 00:13:35.190 --> 00:13:37.850 three or four options on every single attack. 00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:43.240 The back line. of DeBeer, Chayich, and Scott 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:50.120 stellar. They were 61 % positive receptions in 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.580 that match. They were just always in system. 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:56.360 And that is, when a team is coming at you like 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:59.779 that again and again and again, it's exhausting 00:13:59.779 --> 00:14:02.240 as a blocker to figure out where they're going 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.460 to get set as a defense. Nunaviller did not have 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:09.820 the same night. She didn't have the night that... 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:14.480 She needed to have. She was hitting negative 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:19.159 500 or something after set one. So she hit negative 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:24.659 200 on 10 sets in the first set. 500, 200, you 00:14:24.659 --> 00:14:28.919 get the idea. Just making sure we're factual 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.620 here on this podcast. She hit like negative 1 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:40.080 ,000. That's why Adam's here. She ended the night 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.840 with decent stats. She got set 54 times. She 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:48.820 hit 204. It's not... It's fine. But did anybody 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.720 else do anything? That's the question. It didn't 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.240 seem like it. The answer is no. Their middles 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:59.100 weren't bad. Ana Bonjo hit 269 on 26 sets, which 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:01.639 isn't great for a middle. You want your percentage 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:04.470 to be higher than that. I thought Kaitlyn Hoard 00:15:04.470 --> 00:15:08.149 played well. She got 15 sets and she hit 533. 00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:12.690 She did her job. They didn't block super well 00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:15.870 as a team, but again, Andy was in system all 00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:18.629 night, so that makes it really hard. For me, 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:22.740 the difference was... Two things. One, they pulled 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:25.799 their setter after the first set. In the first 00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:27.659 set? Yeah, towards the end of the first set. 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:29.940 And they didn't switch her out. I thought Pedroza 00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:32.000 actually did a pretty good job when she came 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.919 in. That's a tough coming in, not expecting a 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:37.559 set in the first and then running it out. I thought, 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:41.240 I didn't think she cost them that match. I thought 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:44.820 the difference, outside of the first set, Brooke 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:47.379 had a slow start. She kind of pulled her way 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:50.129 out. which, to be expected of a player with her 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:53.450 caliber, I thought where things really fell down 00:15:53.450 --> 00:15:56.009 was on the right side. They needed somebody else 00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:59.690 to score some points for them, and Landau just 00:15:59.690 --> 00:16:03.009 didn't have a great night. It didn't pass the 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:06.250 eye test, and the stats were only so -so. She 00:16:06.250 --> 00:16:11.649 got 31 balls. She hit 194. That's not good or 00:16:11.649 --> 00:16:15.850 bad. You need to elevate. In the playoffs, and 00:16:15.850 --> 00:16:17.610 especially when the team you're playing against 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.629 is firing on all cylinders. When Teeler's your 00:16:20.629 --> 00:16:23.570 worst player on the indie side, you need other 00:16:23.570 --> 00:16:27.029 people to have a performance. And they just, 00:16:27.190 --> 00:16:29.330 as a team, didn't rise to the occasion. They 00:16:29.330 --> 00:16:32.509 switched their setter out. They didn't score 00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:34.309 the same way. They tried switching left sides 00:16:34.309 --> 00:16:38.440 out. You just couldn't find... They couldn't 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.019 match the pressure that Indy was bringing consistently 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:43.700 because even the sets that they won, I think 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:47.840 they ended up winning 25 -23, 25 -23. So the 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.379 sets that they won were super close, but they 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:54.179 got beat 25 -17, 25 -20. They lost the fifth, 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:57.519 15 -13. It was close, but Indy kept pushing, 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:00.480 and Omaha just couldn't respond in those big 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:02.480 moments. They always knew where the ball was 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.279 going, and so it was always two -man block at... 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:08.920 nunaviller when it mattered overall it was a 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.859 pretty entertaining game it went five there was 00:17:11.859 --> 00:17:14.660 a lot of back and forth i mean we had kind of 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:17.660 picked a team we were i mean it wasn't heartbroken 00:17:17.660 --> 00:17:20.619 given my prediction i wanted my prediction to 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:23.720 come true you know yeah so but i thought i thought 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.240 the match overall was competitive and i enjoyed 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:29.279 watching it All right, semifinal number two was 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.160 Orlando versus Atlanta. You know, in our preview 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.900 episode, I had Atlanta winning. Adam had picked 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:38.740 Orlando, and I hate to say it, but Adam was right. 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:44.579 Dang it. Why did you think Atlanta was going 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:48.059 to win? I thought that Orlando was a little inconsistent 00:17:48.059 --> 00:17:50.440 at the end of the season, and I thought that 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:54.039 Atlanta had kind of hit their stride and was 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:59.529 like, doing well heading into playoffs. I felt 00:17:59.529 --> 00:18:02.990 that the left side battle would clearly be won 00:18:02.990 --> 00:18:06.150 by Atlanta. I haven't really loved Orlando's 00:18:06.150 --> 00:18:10.369 outsides and I thought they would win the middle 00:18:10.369 --> 00:18:12.910 battle. I thought Morgan Hentz could hold down 00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:15.789 the serve receive particularly against like a 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:18.990 foster type of serve. Yeah it didn't go well. 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:23.009 Orlando looked really good in the semi. So where 00:18:23.009 --> 00:18:26.029 was that disconnect for you for Atlanta? What 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:28.769 didn't happen that you were expecting to see? 00:18:29.009 --> 00:18:34.309 I personally was underwhelmed by Atlanta's left 00:18:34.309 --> 00:18:38.150 sides. I thought that van der Weide and Schwan 00:18:38.150 --> 00:18:41.849 from Orlando played better than I have seen them 00:18:41.849 --> 00:18:44.670 play. They were very good, and I haven't really 00:18:44.670 --> 00:18:48.329 seen them kind of step up in that kind of way 00:18:48.329 --> 00:18:51.750 yet. But I thought that, you know, Micaiah White 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:55.009 and Leah Edmonds, like they had the experience, 00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:57.190 the pedigree, they had proven that they could 00:18:57.190 --> 00:19:00.390 play at that level. And I kind of expected them 00:19:00.390 --> 00:19:06.309 to kind of really step up. And I didn't expect, 00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:09.349 it wasn't that I didn't expect much from the 00:19:09.349 --> 00:19:11.289 right side for Atlanta. I thought Orlando would 00:19:11.289 --> 00:19:14.990 win that battle for sure. But like the right 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:20.839 sides were very bad for Atlanta. Very bad. Very 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:27.700 bad. I mean, you had Jones hit negative 100 on 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:34.779 20 sets and was pulled. And Beeson hit zero on 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:40.059 12 sets when she came in. So you can't have an 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:44.140 entire third of the court produce negatively. 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:46.990 It doesn't matter which third you pick. That's 00:19:46.990 --> 00:19:48.990 a tough stat. Like, you're losing points in that 00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:51.349 third. It's just like, let's forget about them. 00:19:51.569 --> 00:19:55.210 Yeah. So that's, you needed something. And I 00:19:55.210 --> 00:19:59.089 agree. I thought the two left sides for Orlando 00:19:59.089 --> 00:20:03.569 were lights out. Like, it was one of those matches 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:05.769 for them that they could do no wrong. Everything 00:20:05.769 --> 00:20:08.970 they swung at seemed to score. Well, I think 00:20:08.970 --> 00:20:13.210 they passed better than usual, too. Yeah. It's 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.430 interesting that passing numbers weren't amazing 00:20:15.430 --> 00:20:18.529 on the match, but they looked more in system 00:20:18.529 --> 00:20:22.769 than they normally do. And in fairness, I thought 00:20:22.769 --> 00:20:26.609 that Shampoo did a fantastic job connecting with 00:20:26.609 --> 00:20:29.509 her middles, even when the passes weren't great. 00:20:29.630 --> 00:20:34.289 Like, I thought the middles for Orlando were 00:20:34.289 --> 00:20:36.750 the reason they won. Kaz Brown came with that 00:20:36.750 --> 00:20:39.630 toad, baby. Okay, she was not messing around. 00:20:40.069 --> 00:20:44.549 Yeah, it was... She got 18 sets, and she hit 00:20:44.549 --> 00:20:50.450 .556, was very good. And Natalie Foster had 20 00:20:50.450 --> 00:20:54.509 sets, hit .250. Not as great. Not amazing for 00:20:54.509 --> 00:20:57.289 middle. But the thing I liked about her was she 00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:01.369 came hard, and she hit. hard a lot of ball she 00:21:01.369 --> 00:21:03.930 didn't make any errors she got blocked once but 00:21:03.930 --> 00:21:06.309 they had to respect that she was coming so she 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:08.869 held those blockers and the defense in position 00:21:08.869 --> 00:21:12.170 because she got so many balls and I thought the 00:21:12.170 --> 00:21:14.829 middle connection was the reason the left sides 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:17.910 could find and slime out there in between the 00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:20.690 block you know one and a half blocks not well 00:21:20.690 --> 00:21:23.690 formed like that to me was a focus for Orlando 00:21:23.690 --> 00:21:25.990 you could kind of tell they wanted to push that 00:21:25.990 --> 00:21:28.309 and I thought they did a really good job at that 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.279 I was glad to see Shampoo setting. To be fair, 00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:34.599 I didn't watch Orlando's last couple matches, 00:21:34.859 --> 00:21:37.940 but as soon as Shaftmaster came back or joined 00:21:37.940 --> 00:21:39.900 the team, they had her starting, and I was like, 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.940 is this a great choice? I was really happy that 00:21:43.940 --> 00:21:45.779 Shampoo was running the office. I think she did 00:21:45.779 --> 00:21:48.799 a really good job. And Abercrombie was back to 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.819 her early season form. Like she was very good 00:21:51.819 --> 00:21:55.759 this weekend. They set her 61 times in four sets. 00:21:55.819 --> 00:21:58.759 She hit 295. I mean, if you're getting that many 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:01.539 balls, those are great numbers. She didn't make 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:03.920 any hitting errors. She got blocked four times, 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.480 but who cares? Like on 61 balls. I mean, they're 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.920 giving her, she's the garbage can. Like she's 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:11.039 getting. everything out of system like shampoo 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.720 is like running to the left side back bump setting 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.160 balls out of system to her like those numbers 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:20.519 in for somebody getting that type of being put 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:22.960 in that type of situation is is good you can 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.839 you couldn't have asked anything more for her 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:29.519 and you know the left sides were decent courtney 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:35.240 schwan hit 167 on 24 balls like not here i am 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:38.980 like they were amazing but But it's about perspective, 00:22:39.099 --> 00:22:42.400 right? You knew that they weren't going to carry 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.359 the team from an offensive load, but they didn't 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.480 make a ton of mistakes. They scored some points, 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:48.980 they took care of their balls, they didn't make 00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:51.619 a ton of mistakes, and they held it down. The 00:22:51.619 --> 00:22:55.400 defense was close -ish. Atlanta outdug them 78 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:59.279 -69, but they stayed in the fight. I actually 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.380 thought Vander Weide played really well. She 00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:05.079 scored some key points for them. Her numbers, 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:11.099 35 balls, hit. 229 that's decent again they're 00:23:11.099 --> 00:23:13.619 not the most physical left sides out there you're 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:16.660 not counting on them to hit the garbage but when 00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:19.319 they got set you know they scored when they needed 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:22.619 to to kind of shift the focus a little bit I 00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:25.180 thought Kaz Brown was the energy player of the 00:23:25.180 --> 00:23:29.579 match she was in their face she had seven blocks 00:23:29.579 --> 00:23:32.599 I believe and let them know about it you know 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.490 she drove that team from an energy perspective. 00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:38.750 I thought they had a good team game and they 00:23:38.750 --> 00:23:41.289 were well prepared. I mean, I don't know what 00:23:41.289 --> 00:23:43.269 to say about Atlanta other than I expected more. 00:23:43.630 --> 00:23:45.809 Yeah, they outdug them. They got a lot of transition 00:23:45.809 --> 00:23:48.210 opportunities, but their left sides weren't effective 00:23:48.210 --> 00:23:51.150 in transition. They were getting, Orlando was 00:23:51.150 --> 00:23:55.690 getting massive slowdowns on transition swings. 00:23:55.970 --> 00:23:59.109 I didn't think, like Vicini did nothing for me. 00:23:59.369 --> 00:24:03.539 Like I, like, was she there? And then Corey Lewis, 00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:06.259 I felt, wasn't even a big factor. Players that 00:24:06.259 --> 00:24:10.359 I felt were the X factor, I feel like they weren't 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:14.500 used or their presence wasn't felt. Corey Lewis 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:17.920 only got 12 sets. The transition swings and the 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:19.960 transition choices I felt like the left sides 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:21.900 were making were very neutral. They weren't taking 00:24:21.900 --> 00:24:27.619 risks. They were swinging straight. And the Orlando 00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:30.319 block, like I said, was getting really good touches, 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:33.500 slowing balls down. Like you needed to take more 00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:37.579 of a risk or be more creative. And it just, yeah. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:40.920 Well, I didn't think the transition setting for 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:43.900 Atlanta was very good either. Well, you know 00:24:43.900 --> 00:24:45.859 how I feel about the Atlanta setter. I'm not 00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:50.740 a fan. Yeah. I mean, it was not a super close 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:54.779 game. No. The third set where they won, we actually 00:24:54.779 --> 00:24:59.259 saw a little bit of scoring from Jones. I thought 00:24:59.259 --> 00:25:01.880 Mikael White played really well in set three. 00:25:02.380 --> 00:25:06.579 She had pretty good numbers overall. She didn't... 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:09.240 It was a little sloppy at the beginning. She 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:11.359 was still scoring. She didn't find her rhythm 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.359 until set three, but she had 44 sets and hit 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:17.380 386. She had a good night. I don't think you 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:20.380 could ask for anything else from her. But again, 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:25.259 the sets were lopsided. Orlando won 25 -18. Second 00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:29.059 set was close at 25 -23, 25 -18, and then 25 00:25:29.059 --> 00:25:32.039 -16. It was kind of back and forth. It definitely 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:36.720 wasn't as close or entertaining as the... first 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.019 match. Again, I think you saw in both of the 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.779 matches, there was a decent amount of parity, 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.019 and it was the team who had the most players 00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:48.759 show up to win the match, which I know sounds 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:51.799 kind of obvious when it comes to team sports. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:55.920 But really, at this level in the playoffs, even 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:59.809 having one more player be more on than off makes 00:25:59.809 --> 00:26:01.490 a difference. It gives the opponent something 00:26:01.490 --> 00:26:03.529 else to think about. It gives you another option. 00:26:03.690 --> 00:26:06.950 And you just had more players from Orlando engaged 00:26:06.950 --> 00:26:10.930 than in Atlanta, in my opinion. And the grand 00:26:10.930 --> 00:26:15.450 finale, obviously, was between Orlando and Indy. 00:26:15.869 --> 00:26:19.849 To be completely transparent, our feed stopped 00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:24.410 working after set three. So we missed the final 00:26:24.410 --> 00:26:28.809 set, but we watched the majority of it. Orlando 00:26:28.809 --> 00:26:33.670 is the PVF champions. They beat Indy in four 00:26:33.670 --> 00:26:38.990 and win that million dollars, the million dollar 00:26:38.990 --> 00:26:43.089 prize. It's a big win for them. I, coming into 00:26:43.089 --> 00:26:46.309 it, I felt like Indy was going to win. I thought 00:26:46.309 --> 00:26:48.950 that they were on a roll. I thought all of their 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:53.309 players were playing well and they were a well 00:26:53.309 --> 00:26:55.450 -oiled machine. I was like, if they can pass. 00:26:56.029 --> 00:26:58.789 The way that they did in the semi, they are going 00:26:58.789 --> 00:27:01.869 to win. Yeah. It didn't happen. It didn't happen. 00:27:02.190 --> 00:27:06.009 It felt another very one -sided match to me. 00:27:06.269 --> 00:27:10.049 Yeah, I agree. Specifically, Anna DeBeer did 00:27:10.049 --> 00:27:14.890 not show up for the team. She struggled. I really 00:27:14.890 --> 00:27:16.829 like her as a player. I've liked her all the 00:27:16.829 --> 00:27:19.190 way through her college season. I like her mentality. 00:27:19.410 --> 00:27:22.650 I like her attitude towards being aggressive, 00:27:22.750 --> 00:27:28.210 how hard she works. Just couldn't find it in 00:27:28.210 --> 00:27:32.829 this match. And, you know, she got set 14 times. 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:35.670 She got pulled after the second set. She hit 00:27:35.670 --> 00:27:41.869 negative 357. You know, you have a lot of leaders 00:27:41.869 --> 00:27:44.930 on this team, but it seems whatever team she 00:27:44.930 --> 00:27:48.450 goes to, people look to her to provide that calming 00:27:48.450 --> 00:27:52.480 influence. You don't necessarily have to play 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:54.539 well to be that influence, but you have to play 00:27:54.539 --> 00:28:00.059 better than that. She looked uncomfortable, offensively 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:03.740 in particular. It was not going her way at all. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:10.140 And Chayich, while she still played well, it 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:13.579 was not. at the level that she played in the 00:28:13.579 --> 00:28:16.099 semifinal. And to be fair, that level that she 00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:19.059 found in that match is incredibly hard to replicate. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.140 You know, as Ani Thieler played pretty well, 00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:24.440 I thought they ran Lydia Martin incredibly well. 00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:29.740 I still think the middles did a good job blocking. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:33.319 Martin was set. I thought Hilly did a good job 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:36.019 finding her. But she wasn't effective. They were 00:28:36.019 --> 00:28:38.660 ready for her. Like, they set her 17 times, which 00:28:38.660 --> 00:28:42.470 was good, but she only hit 118. What? Oh, my 00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:44.390 gosh. Watching that match, I'm like, oh, wow. 00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:47.750 She's doing great. She had six errors. She was 00:28:47.750 --> 00:28:50.750 blocked four times and hit two balls out of bounds. 00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:52.829 It happened in set four. It happened in the set 00:28:52.829 --> 00:28:54.289 that we weren't able to watch. You know what 00:28:54.289 --> 00:28:56.710 I mean? I'm just kidding. I mean, as a team, 00:28:56.710 --> 00:29:00.890 they hit 132. That's just not good enough. That's 00:29:00.890 --> 00:29:02.430 just not going to cut it. And the thing was, 00:29:02.609 --> 00:29:07.269 they passed pretty well. They were 51 % positive 00:29:07.269 --> 00:29:12.849 on the passing. The digs were even across the 00:29:12.849 --> 00:29:17.009 match, 53 -53, but the Orlando Valkyrie had 15 00:29:17.009 --> 00:29:22.509 blocks to Indy's six. And you have Kaz Brown 00:29:22.509 --> 00:29:26.390 just elevating in that match. I thought she played 00:29:26.390 --> 00:29:30.289 really well again. And Abercrombie showed up 00:29:30.289 --> 00:29:34.460 again. I thought Vanderweide didn't play as well 00:29:34.460 --> 00:29:37.599 as she did in the semifinal, but Abercrombie 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:41.180 did her job, and they could not stop her. Let 00:29:41.180 --> 00:29:43.180 me read you the stat line, because, you know, 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:45.359 everyone knows I love that, and it's quite impressive. 00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:51.579 62 sets, and she hit .387 and only made three 00:29:51.579 --> 00:29:54.339 errors, two hitting errors and one block. Like, 00:29:54.359 --> 00:29:57.400 that's... That's why she got MVP of the PVF, 00:29:57.440 --> 00:30:01.559 everybody. Yep. She had a blip there. Like six 00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:04.380 matches. Two -thirds through the season where 00:30:04.380 --> 00:30:07.920 she kind of slowed down. But to her credit, she 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.940 carried that team all season long. And when it 00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:15.160 mattered, she showed up and she did her job, 00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:17.740 put the team on her back. The next closest person 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:22.880 was Vander White at 22 sets. I think she got 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.279 more sets than everybody else on the team combined. 00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:29.539 It's insane. And they could not stop her. Couldn't 00:30:29.539 --> 00:30:32.369 stop her. I mean, they had Anna DeBeer lined 00:30:32.369 --> 00:30:33.829 up with her originally, and I'm like, that's 00:30:33.829 --> 00:30:36.470 not a great matchup. Even though DeBeer's a pretty 00:30:36.470 --> 00:30:38.650 good blocker. When they subbed Anna DeBeer out, 00:30:38.710 --> 00:30:43.609 they put in 6 -3 Baird, which is a better height 00:30:43.609 --> 00:30:46.910 matchup at the block, but even still, it didn't 00:30:46.910 --> 00:30:50.130 matter. No. And I mean, she got 20 sets and she 00:30:50.130 --> 00:30:53.210 hit zero. Yeah. They weren't getting the offensive 00:30:53.210 --> 00:30:55.769 production that they needed, and you knew that 00:30:55.769 --> 00:30:58.539 they weren't. Like, Teeler played pretty well. 00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:01.980 She had 41 sets and hit .244, but she wasn't 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:04.220 going to match Abercrombie. She wasn't going 00:31:04.220 --> 00:31:06.240 to match Abercrombie, and there's no way they 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.319 were going to let Chayich go off the way that 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.799 she did in the semi either. No. They were going 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:15.940 to need to win that middle battle. And my perception 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:17.380 of what happened in the middle is completely 00:31:17.380 --> 00:31:21.160 wrong. Yeah, they just did. I mean, again, I 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:24.059 thought Kaz Brown had a phenomenal playoffs. 00:31:24.750 --> 00:31:28.430 I thought from a leader standpoint, she was the 00:31:28.430 --> 00:31:30.710 one who was calm. She was getting blocks. She 00:31:30.710 --> 00:31:33.450 was pumping up her teammates. Like she looked 00:31:33.450 --> 00:31:36.410 like she was willing that team to win. And it 00:31:36.410 --> 00:31:39.410 almost seemed like, hey, everybody look at me. 00:31:39.450 --> 00:31:41.150 I'm going to put the team on the back. Nobody 00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:42.750 pay attention to Abercrombie. Just let her put 00:31:42.750 --> 00:31:45.009 her head down and go to work. Everybody was paying 00:31:45.009 --> 00:31:47.150 attention to Abercrombie. I meant from a team 00:31:47.150 --> 00:31:49.089 perspective. Like, I'm going to bring the energy, 00:31:49.210 --> 00:31:50.650 I'm going to do this, and we're just going to 00:31:50.650 --> 00:31:53.369 let Abercrombie do her thing. I thought her leadership 00:31:53.369 --> 00:31:56.170 on the court in terms of how engaged she was, 00:31:56.190 --> 00:31:58.250 the energy she brought engaging with her teammates 00:31:58.250 --> 00:32:00.390 was very good. She brought that swagger. Absolutely. 00:32:00.509 --> 00:32:03.230 She was like, hey, everybody in the crowd, pay 00:32:03.230 --> 00:32:06.250 attention to me. Everybody on the other side, 00:32:06.430 --> 00:32:10.390 pay attention to me. I got that swagger going 00:32:10.390 --> 00:32:13.750 on. I mean, if you look at... from just a straight 00:32:13.750 --> 00:32:17.569 hitting percentage standpoint, Indy made 16 straight 00:32:17.569 --> 00:32:19.890 -up errors and were blocked 15 times. That's 00:32:19.890 --> 00:32:25.829 31 total errors. To Orlando's 15, nine hitting 00:32:25.829 --> 00:32:28.789 errors, and they were blocked six times. You 00:32:28.789 --> 00:32:35.509 can't win with those numbers. I had really hoped 00:32:35.509 --> 00:32:38.569 that I would have seen the Indy team that showed 00:32:38.569 --> 00:32:41.839 up. in the semifinal where the serve receive 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:45.980 was dialed in, where, you know, players, everybody 00:32:45.980 --> 00:32:48.660 was kind of stepping up, showing up, but like 00:32:48.660 --> 00:32:53.680 everybody except Teeler was just like a little 00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:57.680 bit worse. Except Lydia Martin. But don't pay 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:00.400 attention to that because that's not right. Well, 00:33:00.420 --> 00:33:03.279 I actually thought Caroline Crawford had a better 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.380 game than Lydia Martin in that one. She blocked 00:33:05.380 --> 00:33:08.640 better. She had better offensive numbers. I think, 00:33:09.509 --> 00:33:12.430 They could have won that middle battle, but I 00:33:12.430 --> 00:33:14.150 think that Kaz Brown played really well. You 00:33:14.150 --> 00:33:18.329 need to neutralize Abercrombie a little, like 00:33:18.329 --> 00:33:23.029 stop her a little bit. There were, okay. I was 00:33:23.029 --> 00:33:25.329 losing my mind about their defensive decisions 00:33:25.329 --> 00:33:31.190 on Abercrombie. Go ahead. What? You're like, 00:33:31.329 --> 00:33:34.109 here we go again. No, no, no, no. I have, I have 00:33:34.109 --> 00:33:35.730 an opinion about this, but finish and then I'll 00:33:35.730 --> 00:33:38.420 tell you what I think. Okay. Early in the match, 00:33:38.579 --> 00:33:41.240 Abercrombie, she's a lefty. She's got a really 00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:46.039 good angle swing. She can mix it up, okay? But 00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:49.019 she's capable of hitting angle. Orlando was bringing 00:33:49.019 --> 00:33:53.019 their off blocker under for tips, putting their 00:33:53.019 --> 00:33:57.200 position one right beside the attack line. And 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:01.039 they had position six chilling in six. You were 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:07.430 leaving the entire... right side of the court 00:34:07.430 --> 00:34:11.469 cross court shot which she is more than competent 00:34:11.469 --> 00:34:14.690 at hitting wide open then finally they decided 00:34:14.690 --> 00:34:18.929 to triple up in the angle but then they would 00:34:18.929 --> 00:34:21.570 leave her a truckload of line I'm like okay the 00:34:21.570 --> 00:34:24.690 coordination between the block setup and what 00:34:24.690 --> 00:34:27.269 the defense was doing was just completely lacking 00:34:27.269 --> 00:34:30.769 there is no I am not trying to minimize what 00:34:30.769 --> 00:34:33.750 Brittany Abercrombie did she played unbelievably 00:34:33.750 --> 00:34:36.369 well But they didn't make her life difficult 00:34:36.369 --> 00:34:39.610 at all. There is no way you can allow a player 00:34:39.610 --> 00:34:43.010 to do that to you. This is professional level. 00:34:43.050 --> 00:34:47.070 Make an adjustment. They weren't even close. 00:34:47.429 --> 00:34:52.630 I think they had a couple issues. One is, Taylor's 00:34:52.630 --> 00:34:56.090 not a very good defensive player. She just doesn't 00:34:56.090 --> 00:34:59.429 dig a ton of balls. It is what it is. So I think 00:34:59.429 --> 00:35:01.309 they started bringing her up for tips because 00:35:01.309 --> 00:35:03.050 they didn't think she was going to execute on 00:35:03.050 --> 00:35:06.090 the dig. The second one is, I think with the 00:35:06.090 --> 00:35:10.809 Anna DeBeer lineup, they wanted to give her the 00:35:10.809 --> 00:35:17.070 line to try and funnel her into Scott. They didn't 00:35:17.070 --> 00:35:19.909 take away any options with the block. They needed 00:35:19.909 --> 00:35:24.190 to either rotate and line her up against Nina 00:35:24.190 --> 00:35:28.579 to see if... She could slow her down or yeah, 00:35:28.619 --> 00:35:30.840 I don't know. They just didn't have, I didn't 00:35:30.840 --> 00:35:34.059 feel like the block took anything away. Well, 00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:36.139 and then sometimes the block was committing on 00:35:36.139 --> 00:35:38.159 the middle with Abercrombie in the front row. 00:35:38.260 --> 00:35:40.659 And I'm like, you need to understand who is in 00:35:40.659 --> 00:35:44.260 the front row on the other side. Shampoo is able 00:35:44.260 --> 00:35:47.760 to run a fast offense behind block the middle 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:51.280 one -on -one. You cannot miss your responsibility. 00:35:51.539 --> 00:35:54.920 If you have Abercrombie on the right. I wonder 00:35:54.920 --> 00:35:58.139 if they watched the semifinal game and saw how 00:35:58.139 --> 00:36:01.820 well the left sides played and switched their 00:36:01.820 --> 00:36:05.880 game plan thinking, if I was going to play Orlando, 00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:09.699 I would say, we are going to make life miserable 00:36:09.699 --> 00:36:12.360 for Abercrombie. She is going to see two to three 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:15.699 blocks the whole game, and we're going to make 00:36:15.699 --> 00:36:18.139 the rest of the team beat us. And I'm wondering 00:36:18.139 --> 00:36:22.280 if Indy... watched how well the left sides play 00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:25.659 and like shifted their block strategy or didn't 00:36:25.659 --> 00:36:27.840 do there's no reason that abercrombie shouldn't 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:31.099 have seen more solid blocks than she did it just 00:36:31.099 --> 00:36:32.460 shouldn't have been the case you want to beat 00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:37.420 orlando serve aggressively go for it to take 00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:41.730 the middle out overload the right side You know 00:36:41.730 --> 00:36:43.909 what? Leave the left sides one -on -one a bit 00:36:43.909 --> 00:36:45.849 if you need to. You've got Sydney Hilly there, 00:36:45.969 --> 00:36:48.650 six feet tall. Azani Teeler, she jumps pretty 00:36:48.650 --> 00:36:52.369 well. And Scott digs well into the cross court. 00:36:52.510 --> 00:36:56.489 Make those left sides who are not the most dynamic, 00:36:56.690 --> 00:36:59.389 who are not clearing the net by very much, make 00:36:59.389 --> 00:37:01.750 those two beat you. And if those two are capable 00:37:01.750 --> 00:37:04.250 of beating you, congratulations, you did a good 00:37:04.250 --> 00:37:09.769 job. But I was so disappointed. I thought the 00:37:09.769 --> 00:37:13.110 game plan for Indy was a big miss. Huge miss. 00:37:13.409 --> 00:37:16.389 Huge. They could have done so much more. I agree. 00:37:16.530 --> 00:37:20.010 And not to say that Orlando still wouldn't have 00:37:20.010 --> 00:37:25.409 won. No, but you need to make sure that Brittany 00:37:25.409 --> 00:37:30.110 Abercrombie does not hit with a one -man block, 00:37:30.309 --> 00:37:33.389 with a hole in the block. She has got four hands 00:37:33.389 --> 00:37:36.650 in her face the entire time. You are lining up. 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:40.440 on her body, so she is not aware how much line 00:37:40.440 --> 00:37:43.340 she has and has to try to go high hands. Because 00:37:43.340 --> 00:37:45.179 let me tell you, she's good at seeing the block. 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:46.780 She's good at hitting around the block. She's 00:37:46.780 --> 00:37:49.400 not as good as finding hands and hitting off 00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:53.139 of hands. But the number of holes, one -on -ones, 00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:56.460 complete truckloads of line that I was seeing 00:37:56.460 --> 00:37:58.960 her being given, I was like, this is actually 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.440 ridiculous. Listen, Orlando had 50 kills on the 00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:07.559 match. Abercrombie had 27 of them. But as a coach, 00:38:07.619 --> 00:38:09.300 how are you seeing this happening? Are you just 00:38:09.300 --> 00:38:14.340 like, no, she's so good, too bad? No, your job 00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:17.860 is to come up with a solution. Yeah, I don't 00:38:17.860 --> 00:38:20.820 know if they... When you have players like that, 00:38:20.980 --> 00:38:24.260 sometimes it's... You know, they're going to 00:38:24.260 --> 00:38:26.119 score their points. It's going to happen. You 00:38:26.119 --> 00:38:28.360 know, let's keep going. But I don't, they didn't 00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:30.719 apply enough pressure on her. Serve short to 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:33.079 that position. Jam her up. Try and take her approach 00:38:33.079 --> 00:38:36.079 away. Serve short to Kaz Brown. Make her pass 00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:38.059 and then load up on the outside. I just didn't 00:38:38.059 --> 00:38:43.219 see, I didn't see enough trying to throw off 00:38:43.219 --> 00:38:47.599 her rhythm. And I, to me, that was a game plan 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.780 miss. Again, Orlando showed up. The players that 00:38:51.780 --> 00:38:55.260 needed to do their job, they did. They executed. 00:38:55.579 --> 00:38:58.079 I was hoping for a better game. I was hoping 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:01.619 for a better match. Going into this, would I 00:39:01.619 --> 00:39:03.920 have ever expected Orlando to be the champion? 00:39:04.579 --> 00:39:10.239 No. Fair. Absolutely not. But they showed up. 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:13.539 Their best players were their best players in 00:39:13.539 --> 00:39:18.519 the finals, period. So congrats to Orlando. And, 00:39:18.519 --> 00:39:21.230 you know. Indy expansion team came out, made 00:39:21.230 --> 00:39:24.110 it to the finals. You know, they were a fun team 00:39:24.110 --> 00:39:26.130 to watch. I think if I had to pick a favorite 00:39:26.130 --> 00:39:29.510 team to watch this season, I would pick Indy. 00:39:29.510 --> 00:39:32.030 I liked their players. I liked how they played 00:39:32.030 --> 00:39:33.829 the game. I liked that they got their middles 00:39:33.829 --> 00:39:36.329 involved, you know, as much as they could. They 00:39:36.329 --> 00:39:39.710 were overall my favorite team to watch. And I 00:39:39.710 --> 00:39:41.250 loved how many rookies they had on the court. 00:39:41.570 --> 00:39:43.929 Yeah. Well, and Teeler was like a practice player 00:39:43.929 --> 00:39:48.130 last year. So you really... Only had Sidney Hilly, 00:39:48.250 --> 00:39:52.469 who had been around the rest of the people on 00:39:52.469 --> 00:39:54.889 the court, were rookies, which I think bodes 00:39:54.889 --> 00:39:57.150 well for the future. And they arguably lost their 00:39:57.150 --> 00:39:59.750 best player. They did, and they still made it. 00:39:59.949 --> 00:40:03.670 So, yeah, it was a fun weekend. Wish the ending 00:40:03.670 --> 00:40:07.070 could have been a little closer, but the team 00:40:07.070 --> 00:40:09.090 that showed up, the team that played the best, 00:40:09.190 --> 00:40:12.289 won. The team that deserved to win this weekend 00:40:12.289 --> 00:40:15.960 won. Agreed. All right, we kind of did this with 00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:20.480 love, so we wanted to do kind of a season wrap 00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:24.440 -up analysis for PVF as well because they are 00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:27.099 new leagues. I think it's worth discussing the 00:40:27.099 --> 00:40:31.179 things that they really nailed and they did great 00:40:31.179 --> 00:40:35.119 and the things that maybe could be adjusted if 00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:38.360 we were the commissioners, you know. So what 00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:43.179 do you think of PVF's mission basically to be... 00:40:43.869 --> 00:40:46.769 quote unquote, real pro volleyball and bring 00:40:46.769 --> 00:40:53.989 the major league professional vibe to volleyball 00:40:53.989 --> 00:41:01.030 as far as trades and salaries and all of that? 00:41:02.230 --> 00:41:05.010 I mean, that's what I'm used to having been involved 00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:08.210 in the foreign leagues. So I think the mission 00:41:08.210 --> 00:41:12.860 is great. I like the idea of having a true, we'll 00:41:12.860 --> 00:41:16.559 call it a professional league set up in the stereotypical 00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:20.960 way. I wish that there was maybe a little more 00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:25.179 activity around trading players, trade deadlines, 00:41:25.380 --> 00:41:28.219 that that was a little more. kind of out there 00:41:28.219 --> 00:41:30.780 it would be interesting to see you know the top 00:41:30.780 --> 00:41:33.199 four teams they trade some draft picks and bring 00:41:33.199 --> 00:41:35.300 somebody else in like that's one of the parts 00:41:35.300 --> 00:41:37.320 of sport that I really enjoy like leading up 00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:39.320 to the trade deadline I think they can do a little 00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:42.320 bit more like because they are a pro league with 00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:45.019 that team building and how it works like we had 00:41:45.019 --> 00:41:48.280 to go looking for that yeah we can talk about 00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:51.539 that part of it later but I like I like the mission 00:41:51.539 --> 00:41:54.139 I like the idea of team building I like that 00:41:54.139 --> 00:41:58.250 you have independent GMs building teams and structures. 00:41:59.610 --> 00:42:04.769 I'm a big fan. What are your feelings on the 00:42:04.769 --> 00:42:10.110 format? So each team played all of the other 00:42:10.110 --> 00:42:13.170 teams four times. At the end of all of that, 00:42:13.329 --> 00:42:17.409 the top four make the quote -unquote playoffs 00:42:17.409 --> 00:42:22.940 for just a quick semis and finals. So this is 00:42:22.940 --> 00:42:25.079 where I would probably make some adjustments. 00:42:25.300 --> 00:42:31.179 For me, there were too many dead weeks or games 00:42:31.179 --> 00:42:37.619 that were just not engaging. So a couple ideas 00:42:37.619 --> 00:42:40.280 that I would do. I really like how the Italian 00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:44.139 League does the in -season cup. where you have 00:42:44.139 --> 00:42:46.480 an additional competition that kind of means 00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:48.619 something that runs within the regular season 00:42:48.619 --> 00:42:51.420 and so you have this kind of single elimination 00:42:51.420 --> 00:42:55.800 match to bring interest to winning you know a 00:42:55.800 --> 00:42:58.579 kind of mini championship within the season I 00:42:58.579 --> 00:43:01.280 think that's a good way to bring meaningful matches 00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:04.739 into a regular season that maybe gets a little 00:43:04.739 --> 00:43:07.659 boring a little bit dull there were weeks where 00:43:07.659 --> 00:43:10.139 they would play the same team like three out 00:43:10.139 --> 00:43:15.380 of four matches and Those weren't always good 00:43:15.380 --> 00:43:20.920 matchups. I just think playing two or three matches 00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:25.820 in a week is so much. And they had matches Wednesday 00:43:25.820 --> 00:43:32.619 through Sunday, which is also a lot. I don't 00:43:32.619 --> 00:43:35.820 know. I understand keeping the interest and having 00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:39.820 volleyball available for people throughout the 00:43:39.820 --> 00:43:45.039 week. But it just seemed like a lot to me when 00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:47.500 a team would play like Thursday, Saturday or 00:43:47.500 --> 00:43:51.199 Wednesday, Saturday or, you know, and there wasn't 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:54.639 a consistency to who you were playing. It was 00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:57.320 very all over the place, which kind of made it 00:43:57.320 --> 00:44:02.920 hard to follow. I am a very like linear thinker. 00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:06.079 So for me, it's just like, OK, yeah, run through 00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:12.960 the like. gamut however many times, but even 00:44:12.960 --> 00:44:18.039 I think four per team is a lot. Yeah. So I don't 00:44:18.039 --> 00:44:21.320 like when the schedule is not quote unquote even 00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:25.619 because you had, you had some teams play the 00:44:25.619 --> 00:44:28.440 same teams. Three of their four matches happened 00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:30.860 within three weeks. What happens if that team 00:44:30.860 --> 00:44:33.659 gets better or one team gets worse? There's a 00:44:33.659 --> 00:44:35.340 little bit of competitive stuff around there. 00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:38.460 But even from a rest perspective, it's like some 00:44:38.460 --> 00:44:41.500 teams would have a week off. And then some teams 00:44:41.500 --> 00:44:43.400 would play one match a week. And then another 00:44:43.400 --> 00:44:45.739 team that same week had to play three matches. 00:44:46.199 --> 00:44:48.019 But what if in your third match you're playing 00:44:48.019 --> 00:44:50.199 a team that only had to play once? That's not 00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:54.900 fair. Do you know? Yeah. I also think that... 00:44:55.469 --> 00:44:58.050 So I would reduce the number of times you play 00:44:58.050 --> 00:45:00.809 each team during the season. I would put in kind 00:45:00.809 --> 00:45:03.150 of a mid -season cup, which I think brings some 00:45:03.150 --> 00:45:06.210 excitement. And I know we talked about this with 00:45:06.210 --> 00:45:10.630 Love too, but I'm a big proponent of having series 00:45:10.630 --> 00:45:13.869 in playoffs. They don't have to be best of seven. 00:45:13.969 --> 00:45:16.489 You could do a best of three. I would maybe, 00:45:16.730 --> 00:45:21.409 yeah, I think I would do... at least a series 00:45:21.409 --> 00:45:23.710 for the playoffs because you get to see some 00:45:23.710 --> 00:45:26.429 of those adjustments. We had really intense matches. 00:45:26.590 --> 00:45:29.409 I would be curious to see if Indy could beat 00:45:29.409 --> 00:45:34.130 Omaha two out of three times. Like, was it just 00:45:34.130 --> 00:45:36.210 a fluke where all their players showed up? Give 00:45:36.210 --> 00:45:39.429 me a little bit of that story for me personally. 00:45:39.909 --> 00:45:42.570 And I definitely, it resonates with me what you 00:45:42.570 --> 00:45:45.690 said about just like the frequency or like the 00:45:45.690 --> 00:45:49.400 timing of when these matchups would happen. It 00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:54.179 needs to be spaced out because you need to play 00:45:54.179 --> 00:45:58.099 the team. Like, A, we agree, cut down the number 00:45:58.099 --> 00:46:00.039 of times you're playing each other. Four times 00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:04.300 is wild. But then, like, go through the round, 00:46:04.360 --> 00:46:08.679 beginning, middle, end, because teams make adjustments. 00:46:08.739 --> 00:46:11.239 Things are different at the beginning of the 00:46:11.239 --> 00:46:13.219 season than the end. And if you're playing teams 00:46:13.219 --> 00:46:16.380 back -to -back. two three weeks in a row it's 00:46:16.380 --> 00:46:18.199 just it's not giving you a good representation 00:46:18.199 --> 00:46:21.059 of who the better team is throughout the season 00:46:21.059 --> 00:46:23.000 and you look at like there were a couple teams 00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:26.219 that went on wild swings like vegas won a whole 00:46:26.219 --> 00:46:29.340 bunch of games in a row and then lost a whole 00:46:29.340 --> 00:46:32.000 bunch of games in a row i think wasn't it orlando 00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:34.639 that one that lost like seven of their last eight 00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:37.300 games indy lost seven of their last eight games 00:46:37.300 --> 00:46:40.900 coming into the playoffs like there's just i 00:46:40.900 --> 00:46:46.789 think with a little more around the schedule, 00:46:47.030 --> 00:46:49.929 it's more engaging from a fan perspective because 00:46:49.929 --> 00:46:52.349 you can tell what's going on. You can highlight 00:46:52.349 --> 00:46:55.429 certain matches of the week and there's other 00:46:55.429 --> 00:46:57.909 things to pay attention to. So I would make some 00:46:57.909 --> 00:47:01.070 tweaks. Okay, let's talk about the level of play. 00:47:02.050 --> 00:47:05.130 The level of play is competitive for the most 00:47:05.130 --> 00:47:08.829 part across all teams, which I think is a positive. 00:47:09.389 --> 00:47:12.369 I didn't pay a ton of attention to the league 00:47:12.369 --> 00:47:15.670 last year, but from what I could see, you had 00:47:15.670 --> 00:47:19.530 more players kind of towards the end of their 00:47:19.530 --> 00:47:23.010 careers playing last year, and they seem to bring 00:47:23.010 --> 00:47:26.349 in more young college players, which I think 00:47:26.349 --> 00:47:30.710 for me is the future of the league. I think it's 00:47:30.710 --> 00:47:34.449 really hard to just start a league and get all 00:47:34.449 --> 00:47:36.909 of the best players to come no matter what you're 00:47:36.909 --> 00:47:40.820 doing. You know, nobody understands what you're 00:47:40.820 --> 00:47:42.559 bringing to the table, how competitive you're 00:47:42.559 --> 00:47:44.360 going to be, what the structure is around all 00:47:44.360 --> 00:47:49.400 of that. For me, I think the PVF needs to continue 00:47:49.400 --> 00:47:51.559 to get college players in there. It needs to 00:47:51.559 --> 00:47:54.659 be an extension of the college game. Volleyball 00:47:54.659 --> 00:47:57.820 is a sport where athletes hit their peak on the 00:47:57.820 --> 00:48:02.340 female side, 27 to 31, right? I love that the 00:48:02.340 --> 00:48:05.599 league. can give these athletes a chance to reach 00:48:05.599 --> 00:48:08.000 their potential if they didn't necessarily get 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:11.639 it in college. And I think if they keep going 00:48:11.639 --> 00:48:15.000 along and pulling in the Anna De Beers, the Corey 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:17.559 Lewis's, like those players who have come in, 00:48:17.619 --> 00:48:20.460 Sidney Hill, I think that this league can get 00:48:20.460 --> 00:48:25.719 very good. Currently, you're seeing skilled athletes 00:48:25.719 --> 00:48:29.019 who aren't as big and physical as some of the 00:48:29.019 --> 00:48:30.980 other top leagues. I thought the caliber got 00:48:30.980 --> 00:48:35.019 better as the season went on. But it's not a 00:48:35.019 --> 00:48:38.260 top league yet. It's not there. I agree. I think 00:48:38.260 --> 00:48:42.900 the thing about volleyball is that when you have 00:48:42.900 --> 00:48:48.019 competent athletes who know how to play, if they 00:48:48.019 --> 00:48:51.920 are playing against similarly skilled players, 00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:57.139 it's very entertaining to watch. If a PVF team 00:48:57.139 --> 00:49:00.219 tried to play a love team, it wouldn't be fun. 00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:02.920 It wouldn't be fun for the spectators because 00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:07.860 it's just like there's a discrepancy in physicality 00:49:07.860 --> 00:49:12.860 and skill level. I enjoy watching PVF, even if 00:49:12.860 --> 00:49:16.039 the like overall level of the individual athletes 00:49:16.039 --> 00:49:19.480 might not be what it is in love or overseas. 00:49:20.219 --> 00:49:24.639 The teams are close enough in level skill that 00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:28.239 it's fun and it's competitive and it's back and 00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:32.119 forth. I definitely think it is a step down from 00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:36.699 Love domestically. You don't see quite the same 00:49:36.699 --> 00:49:39.260 pace on the serves. You don't see the same hitting 00:49:39.260 --> 00:49:43.860 angles. You don't see quite the same player adjustments 00:49:43.860 --> 00:49:48.679 because the players don't have as much experience. 00:49:49.019 --> 00:49:52.679 And I think PVF should lean into that and build 00:49:52.679 --> 00:49:57.099 into that. And I think that it needs to be seen 00:49:57.099 --> 00:49:59.400 as like... We're going to develop our homegrown 00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:03.500 players and make them and build that league into 00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:05.239 something that's respectable. I think that should 00:50:05.239 --> 00:50:07.920 be the goal of the league. Okay, moving on to 00:50:07.920 --> 00:50:12.480 branding. I personally am a huge fan. I love 00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:14.079 what they've done with the teams. I think it's 00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:18.159 fun. I think the merch that you see the fans 00:50:18.159 --> 00:50:21.619 wearing, it's all you can tell who they're rooting 00:50:21.619 --> 00:50:26.440 for. The fans are decked out in hoodies and t 00:50:26.440 --> 00:50:29.539 -shirts and the swag from the team. I love that 00:50:29.539 --> 00:50:34.119 there's different mascots or logos for the teams. 00:50:34.320 --> 00:50:36.960 Say what you want. I know people have it out 00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:40.519 for the jerseys or the style or what they look 00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:44.000 like. But I like seeing the individuality. And 00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:46.480 I love seeing that individuality represented 00:50:46.480 --> 00:50:51.179 in the stands as well. I agree. I don't know 00:50:51.179 --> 00:50:52.960 where this point kind of fits with our season 00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:55.260 wrap up, but along with branding, I think the 00:50:55.260 --> 00:50:59.000 communication around the league needs to be better. 00:50:59.539 --> 00:51:01.980 Like there were oftentimes I was looking for 00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:05.079 things, you know, I couldn't find them. I wanted 00:51:05.079 --> 00:51:07.960 to find stats on players. You know, you couldn't 00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:10.719 download the game sheets. You didn't always know. 00:51:11.579 --> 00:51:13.719 what was happening in the league or the highlights 00:51:13.719 --> 00:51:16.699 of the different matchups that were coming up. 00:51:16.800 --> 00:51:18.980 And again, there's so much to do when you're 00:51:18.980 --> 00:51:20.380 doing a league. They're in their second year. 00:51:20.519 --> 00:51:22.360 I think they did a good job, but it would be, 00:51:22.460 --> 00:51:25.960 I think that that's one area where they can do 00:51:25.960 --> 00:51:28.840 a better job engaging with people who are interested 00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:32.460 in the PDF. And our last point, which we were 00:51:32.460 --> 00:51:35.519 very passionate about when it came to love, is 00:51:35.519 --> 00:51:39.780 the presentation. Two things. I only have two 00:51:39.780 --> 00:51:42.369 comments. One, Nobody's better than Paul Sunderland. 00:51:42.530 --> 00:51:47.349 He is great to listen to. He has this ability 00:51:47.349 --> 00:51:51.010 to criticize athletes during the play in a way 00:51:51.010 --> 00:51:54.150 that doesn't sound demeaning, but he's realistic 00:51:54.150 --> 00:51:59.050 about what is happening on the floor. And around 00:51:59.050 --> 00:52:01.409 the world. That was a huge knock we had with 00:52:01.409 --> 00:52:05.010 Love, is how they were just not telling the truth. 00:52:05.519 --> 00:52:07.980 And this isn't across the board in PVF. Trust 00:52:07.980 --> 00:52:11.559 me, there are some announcers for PVF that we 00:52:11.559 --> 00:52:15.219 scratch our heads. But when it came to big matches, 00:52:15.340 --> 00:52:18.579 the team of Holly McPeak and Paul Sunderland, 00:52:18.800 --> 00:52:24.239 they were on point. They were honest about the 00:52:24.239 --> 00:52:27.780 level. They were honest about what is out there 00:52:27.780 --> 00:52:31.860 in the volleyball world. Honest about the play. 00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:37.539 We heard about the play. Yeah, I think there 00:52:37.539 --> 00:52:40.420 were some top moments and then there were some, 00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:43.460 I know for PVF, every team is responsible for 00:52:43.460 --> 00:52:48.400 kind of acquiring their own commentary staff 00:52:48.400 --> 00:52:53.179 or whatever. So some nailed it. Some didn't. 00:52:53.179 --> 00:52:57.000 Some didn't. But I will say the information that 00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:00.820 was generally trying to be communicated. was 00:53:00.820 --> 00:53:04.360 very much in line with what was happening on 00:53:04.360 --> 00:53:07.139 the court. It was volleyball -focused, which 00:53:07.139 --> 00:53:11.679 was nice. Yes. Two other things. One is... Love 00:53:11.679 --> 00:53:14.840 bolt six as well. I love bolt six, but I hate 00:53:14.840 --> 00:53:18.400 the automated... Like, for a while, every time 00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:20.820 it was within six inches of the line, that just 00:53:20.820 --> 00:53:24.579 went up, and it's like... Okay. Let's only show 00:53:24.579 --> 00:53:26.739 it for the close ones. Yeah, you need to figure 00:53:26.739 --> 00:53:29.539 out how to add in some of those graphics. I thought 00:53:29.539 --> 00:53:31.900 some of the timing around when they would cut 00:53:31.900 --> 00:53:35.119 to stats and things like that was sometimes a 00:53:35.119 --> 00:53:38.900 little janky, like it wasn't polished. The one 00:53:38.900 --> 00:53:41.280 thing they did, though, that I really liked was 00:53:41.280 --> 00:53:44.139 they showed, especially towards the end of the 00:53:44.139 --> 00:53:47.780 season, more of the play from that baseline camera, 00:53:47.900 --> 00:53:51.260 and I... personally love watching volleyball 00:53:51.260 --> 00:53:54.559 from that angle and I really enjoyed how they 00:53:54.559 --> 00:53:56.460 tried to work that in with the different angles 00:53:56.460 --> 00:53:58.699 where you could see you know the play coming 00:53:58.699 --> 00:54:01.440 together where the blockers were going who was 00:54:01.440 --> 00:54:04.400 lined up against who so that part I actually 00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:07.099 really liked and I you know as their teams come 00:54:07.099 --> 00:54:09.920 together their presentation teams their broadcast 00:54:09.920 --> 00:54:12.900 teams I think those things will tighten up but 00:54:12.900 --> 00:54:15.099 I think that they can I think there's a little 00:54:15.099 --> 00:54:17.960 room for improvement there just to make it like 00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:20.860 a true professional sport experience? I mean, 00:54:20.860 --> 00:54:24.380 overall, it was their second season. I like the 00:54:24.380 --> 00:54:28.500 product that they are putting forward. Again, 00:54:28.619 --> 00:54:34.059 some of their, you know, fan -facing media and 00:54:34.059 --> 00:54:37.539 information statistics could be improved, but 00:54:37.539 --> 00:54:43.059 I think the overall viewing experience is enjoyable. 00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:48.730 Again... The level is what it is, but I think 00:54:48.730 --> 00:54:53.849 it is encouraging to see the direction that they're 00:54:53.849 --> 00:54:56.449 moving in, to see the passion and the fire and 00:54:56.449 --> 00:54:59.349 the fight with the athletes. Yeah, I think they 00:54:59.349 --> 00:55:05.170 do a good job. Overall, I enjoyed picking the 00:55:05.170 --> 00:55:07.550 matchups that were going to be quote -unquote 00:55:07.550 --> 00:55:10.610 good and watching those matches. I think they 00:55:10.610 --> 00:55:14.070 can do some things to make more of the matches. 00:55:14.670 --> 00:55:17.489 desirable to watch but when i watched i enjoyed 00:55:17.489 --> 00:55:21.010 the product it's time for listener questions 00:55:21.010 --> 00:55:23.769 we've got a few on the docket for you guys today 00:55:23.769 --> 00:55:27.510 our first question is sometimes it looks like 00:55:27.510 --> 00:55:29.329 players attack from the back row while having 00:55:29.329 --> 00:55:32.150 their foot over the 10 foot line are my eyes 00:55:32.150 --> 00:55:34.949 completely deceiving me or are there instances 00:55:34.949 --> 00:55:38.989 where the players in the front row are attacking 00:55:38.989 --> 00:55:42.090 that far off the net your eyes are not deceiving 00:55:42.090 --> 00:55:46.619 you I think there are several instances where 00:55:46.619 --> 00:55:48.800 players do touch the 10 -foot line when they're 00:55:48.800 --> 00:55:52.159 attacking, but they don't catch it. There are 00:55:52.159 --> 00:55:55.820 also times where front row players, where the 00:55:55.820 --> 00:55:58.320 sets are so bad that it's really hard to tell 00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:01.860 whether they're front row or back row, and they're 00:56:01.860 --> 00:56:03.760 kind of over the line. So if you're not really 00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:05.760 paying attention or you don't know the rotation, 00:56:06.059 --> 00:56:09.519 you could think... you know, an opposite hitter 00:56:09.519 --> 00:56:11.920 is coming in on a set that's so bad that it's 00:56:11.920 --> 00:56:15.579 near the 10 foot line. But they're like the refs 00:56:15.579 --> 00:56:19.539 are responsible for calling the foot on the line 00:56:19.539 --> 00:56:23.320 and they do miss it. It is challengeable, but 00:56:23.320 --> 00:56:27.199 a lot of the time, like the coaches aren't staring 00:56:27.199 --> 00:56:30.380 at the foot. So I think there are players who 00:56:30.380 --> 00:56:33.480 they get away with it sometimes for sure. If 00:56:33.480 --> 00:56:37.079 it's egregious. then it's probably a player who's 00:56:37.079 --> 00:56:40.159 in the front row hitting a bad set. We did have 00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:43.619 a question about where the heck is Melanie Parra? 00:56:44.639 --> 00:56:47.159 This person was like, I think she would be an 00:56:47.159 --> 00:56:49.800 immediate impact to any team on the PVF. She 00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:51.980 could have been a good left side for a team that 00:56:51.980 --> 00:56:58.010 lacks depth in love. Where is she? I don't know 00:56:58.010 --> 00:57:01.309 if she was still in school at TCU. I know that 00:57:01.309 --> 00:57:03.190 she was present for their volleyball banquet 00:57:03.190 --> 00:57:06.550 and stuff. So I want to say that she was there. 00:57:07.070 --> 00:57:10.989 Maybe she didn't graduate, but she did recently 00:57:10.989 --> 00:57:14.449 sign. She will be playing next season. She signed 00:57:14.449 --> 00:57:18.269 with Busto Orsiccio in the Italian A1 League. 00:57:18.489 --> 00:57:21.489 So she will be making a comeback and you will 00:57:21.489 --> 00:57:24.929 be able to watch her play this fall or this summer 00:57:24.929 --> 00:57:27.269 with the Mexican national team. One of the reasons 00:57:27.269 --> 00:57:29.369 I love hearing you dissect the game is how real 00:57:29.369 --> 00:57:31.630 you are. Is it ever hard to do that given all 00:57:31.630 --> 00:57:33.630 the relationships you have? Has a player ever 00:57:33.630 --> 00:57:35.570 reached out and been upset about something you've 00:57:35.570 --> 00:57:37.769 said? How do you balance breaking down the game 00:57:37.769 --> 00:57:40.929 versus trying not to hurt feelings? Nobody has 00:57:40.929 --> 00:57:45.090 ever reached out to say anything. So something 00:57:45.090 --> 00:57:50.809 that I really value is authenticity and honesty. 00:57:51.690 --> 00:57:56.389 And so I am not somebody who will try to sugarcoat 00:57:56.389 --> 00:57:59.869 things. I don't think I'm capable of it. She's 00:57:59.869 --> 00:58:06.710 not. But it's not hard because I think with sport, 00:58:06.869 --> 00:58:10.849 sometimes it's just not good enough. And I think 00:58:10.849 --> 00:58:15.070 as athletes, if an athlete has made it to the 00:58:15.070 --> 00:58:18.050 point they have in the levels that we're discussing, 00:58:18.429 --> 00:58:22.639 they have received critical feedback. It's the 00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:26.960 only way that players improve. And so I don't 00:58:26.960 --> 00:58:30.159 necessarily feel bad about being honest because 00:58:30.159 --> 00:58:34.599 I'm not saying the player is a bad player. A 00:58:34.599 --> 00:58:37.579 certain string of points might be bad. Some decisions 00:58:37.579 --> 00:58:41.900 might be bad here and there. But I would never 00:58:41.900 --> 00:58:45.320 say that an athlete is a straight up bad player 00:58:45.320 --> 00:58:50.340 or they don't try or things like that. I try 00:58:50.340 --> 00:58:55.320 to keep my feedback very objective and my opinion 00:58:55.320 --> 00:59:00.079 as opposed to saying things that are about the 00:59:00.079 --> 00:59:05.559 person. And so, no, we haven't received any reach 00:59:05.559 --> 00:59:09.019 outs. But like I was a professional athlete for 00:59:09.019 --> 00:59:14.199 a very long time. played on a program in college 00:59:14.199 --> 00:59:17.340 that got a ton of attention. And were positive 00:59:17.340 --> 00:59:20.199 things always said about me? Absolutely not. 00:59:20.380 --> 00:59:25.139 I have heard really terrible things said about 00:59:25.139 --> 00:59:29.920 me and the way I play and anything that's possible, 00:59:30.059 --> 00:59:32.670 I've heard it. But the thing is, is like, does 00:59:32.670 --> 00:59:35.090 it change when I was an athlete? Did it change 00:59:35.090 --> 00:59:38.949 how I prepared or how I entered a game? No, everybody's 00:59:38.949 --> 00:59:41.050 entitled to their opinion. Not everybody has 00:59:41.050 --> 00:59:44.750 to think I'm good, but it doesn't change what 00:59:44.750 --> 00:59:46.849 I'm going to do. And I just feel like, especially 00:59:46.849 --> 00:59:49.349 today where there are so many opinions out there 00:59:49.349 --> 00:59:52.630 on social media and otherwise, like I feel like 00:59:52.630 --> 00:59:56.510 it's par for the course. Yeah. And I think for 00:59:56.510 --> 01:00:00.320 the most part, athletes are generally. harder 01:00:00.320 --> 01:00:04.539 on themselves than anybody else could be not 01:00:04.539 --> 01:00:06.719 all athletes are like that but that's when you're 01:00:06.719 --> 01:00:08.739 playing at that level you have to be able to 01:00:08.739 --> 01:00:13.300 be critical about your game and you know like 01:00:13.300 --> 01:00:16.559 you said I don't think we try and bury anybody 01:00:16.559 --> 01:00:19.500 we talk about what happens and I would imagine 01:00:19.500 --> 01:00:22.320 if athletes listen to this you know if we've 01:00:22.320 --> 01:00:24.159 said something about having a poor performance 01:00:24.159 --> 01:00:27.929 it's probably Yeah, you know, the things they 01:00:27.929 --> 01:00:31.730 said are relatively accurate. So a lot of times 01:00:31.730 --> 01:00:33.550 when you discuss sports, you talk about the things 01:00:33.550 --> 01:00:35.610 that go sideways or the teams that lose because 01:00:35.610 --> 01:00:39.190 that's kind of generally the story. But we do 01:00:39.190 --> 01:00:42.369 also try and highlight A, when people do a good 01:00:42.369 --> 01:00:46.579 job, but B. Also, if we say something about an 01:00:46.579 --> 01:00:49.199 athlete who hasn't performed well or we don't 01:00:49.199 --> 01:00:51.440 quote -unquote maybe like their decision -making 01:00:51.440 --> 01:00:54.420 or style of play, if they show up, we try and 01:00:54.420 --> 01:00:55.619 be the first people to say, well, I got that 01:00:55.619 --> 01:00:57.460 one wrong, like this person proved me wrong and 01:00:57.460 --> 01:01:00.440 they had a good match. And, you know, like you 01:01:00.440 --> 01:01:03.460 said, honesty and authenticity. This is an interesting 01:01:03.460 --> 01:01:07.260 question. Do certain teams play better on certain 01:01:07.260 --> 01:01:09.159 sides of the court? In volleyball, you'll see 01:01:09.159 --> 01:01:11.099 a team win a set on the right side of the court, 01:01:11.199 --> 01:01:13.199 drop a set on the left side, and then win when 01:01:13.199 --> 01:01:15.320 they go back to the right side. Is that a thing? 01:01:16.139 --> 01:01:20.320 My instinct is no. There might be certain gyms 01:01:20.320 --> 01:01:24.780 where maybe the lighting is bad on one side or 01:01:24.780 --> 01:01:28.760 the scoreboard hangs over more on one side. But 01:01:28.760 --> 01:01:33.420 I think for the most part, where you're playing 01:01:33.420 --> 01:01:36.800 inside unless there is something visually that 01:01:36.800 --> 01:01:38.900 really throws you off on one side that you're 01:01:38.900 --> 01:01:42.480 not used to it doesn't it doesn't really matter 01:01:42.480 --> 01:01:45.880 i mean every team has a side that they like to 01:01:45.880 --> 01:01:49.019 start on like the home team they always have 01:01:49.019 --> 01:01:51.400 their side that they start on it's just like 01:01:51.400 --> 01:01:54.900 how it is does that qualify as being like their 01:01:54.900 --> 01:01:58.079 favorite side maybe but i don't think the side 01:01:58.079 --> 01:02:02.400 of play really affects that much Unless it's 01:02:02.400 --> 01:02:05.260 beach. Yeah. If you're outdoors, it's a different 01:02:05.260 --> 01:02:08.380 discussion. I would imagine if you dug into the 01:02:08.380 --> 01:02:11.719 numbers, it's statistically irrelevant. That'll 01:02:11.719 --> 01:02:15.719 be Adam's project. Last question here for the 01:02:15.719 --> 01:02:18.179 episode. What are your thoughts on the Pepperdine 01:02:18.179 --> 01:02:21.719 libero? Honestly, throughout the season, he didn't 01:02:21.719 --> 01:02:25.900 really do much for me. He was one of those liberos 01:02:25.900 --> 01:02:28.239 that I didn't really notice, which maybe that's 01:02:28.239 --> 01:02:31.480 a good thing. But I had my group that like really 01:02:31.480 --> 01:02:33.980 stood out in a positive way. I had a group that 01:02:33.980 --> 01:02:37.539 kind of stood out in a negative way. And he kind 01:02:37.539 --> 01:02:41.340 of fell in the middle. As we have gone through 01:02:41.340 --> 01:02:43.920 the postseason, however, I have been more and 01:02:43.920 --> 01:02:50.159 more impressed with him. The mustache is top 01:02:50.159 --> 01:02:58.530 notch. He's good defensively. I have gained a 01:02:58.530 --> 01:03:01.630 greater appreciation for his skills and how good 01:03:01.630 --> 01:03:04.949 he is. As I've watched them play down the stretch, 01:03:05.170 --> 01:03:08.389 would I put him on the same level as my favorite 01:03:08.389 --> 01:03:13.510 liberos of Johnny Dykstra or Evan Porter or Choi 01:03:13.510 --> 01:03:16.690 from Hawaii? I don't think he's as good as them, 01:03:16.909 --> 01:03:19.949 but he's solid. All right, love those questions. 01:03:20.030 --> 01:03:22.489 We always appreciate people sending them in, 01:03:22.570 --> 01:03:25.920 and we love having these conversations. If we 01:03:25.920 --> 01:03:28.039 look towards this week, the only thing I'm thinking 01:03:28.039 --> 01:03:32.280 about is the game tomorrow, probably tonight 01:03:32.280 --> 01:03:34.539 if you're listening to the episode, but we are 01:03:34.539 --> 01:03:37.920 recording on Sunday, 7 o 'clock p .m. Eastern, 01:03:38.179 --> 01:03:45.300 Long Beach, UCLA, men's national final. Let's 01:03:45.300 --> 01:03:47.960 get it going. You got to watch this. That needs 01:03:47.960 --> 01:03:50.460 to be your Monday night entertainment. And that's 01:03:50.460 --> 01:03:52.219 the only thing we're going to talk about because 01:03:52.219 --> 01:03:55.079 we're going to be back in a few days. to talk 01:03:55.079 --> 01:03:56.800 about the tournament, so you don't need to watch 01:03:56.800 --> 01:03:59.519 anything other than that, okay? Look for the 01:03:59.519 --> 01:04:02.880 next episode either Wednesday or Thursday. That 01:04:02.880 --> 01:04:05.179 concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk. 01:04:05.400 --> 01:04:07.119 There's always something shaking in the volleyball 01:04:07.119 --> 01:04:09.519 world, and we hope you enjoyed this little fix. 01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:11.840 Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss 01:04:11.840 --> 01:04:14.159 any updates, and we'd be so grateful if you'd 01:04:14.159 --> 01:04:17.210 leave us a five -star review. You can also find 01:04:17.210 --> 01:04:20.369 us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore podcast. 01:04:21.050 --> 01:04:23.030 If you have a topic that you want us to discuss, 01:04:23.130 --> 01:04:24.969 be sure to let us know by reaching out to us 01:04:24.969 --> 01:04:29.070 on Instagram or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks 01:04:29.070 --> 01:04:31.630 so much for joining us and we'll be back next 01:04:31.630 --> 01:04:35.489 week. In a few days. Not next week. You know 01:04:35.489 --> 01:04:36.409 what I mean. Okay, bye.