Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to Volley
Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers
who want to dig deep into what is going on in
NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host
Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat
guy. The past week was week one. of women's VNL,
and we had a wide range of experience and depth
show up on the various rosters from these teams,
okay? I think it's fair to say we had some moments
where we were very impressed and some moments
that left us concerned. Confused. Scratching
our heads. But we are very excited to share our
thoughts on what we observed from this week of
play. And it is early. We understand that. But
we have thoughts anyway. You know that. So as
I said, we're very excited. So let's get started.
We've got just a quick little rundown of some
highlights this week. Something that nobody probably
expected. Flore Marie Heredia Colon, who left
Miami for Florida in NCAA Women's Play, of course.
Can we go an episode without touching on it?
No. She's heading back to Miami. That's just,
it's an awkward situation. So awkward. I'm leaving
probably to look for more money. oh wait or a
better team because i don't think this team's
good enough or whatever her reason was we don't
know and took a few months in florida now nobody
else wants me so i'm back no kennedy martin pieces
out the writings on the wall for florida and
she's like hey can i come back it's yeah well
they took her so maybe she left on good terms
but she is heading back she just took a sabbatical
that's it's okay down the road to gainesville
It's a tough look for the team coming into the
dressing room, I think. I think it's going to
be. Yeah, that's tricky. But I wanted to touch
on that because it was just kind of different,
you know? Different than what we usually see.
We also have a few new signings for Love. There
were three more added this week. The first one
is Indre Sorokaite. She is a very experienced
Italian player. She, gosh, she's got to be close
to my age at this point. I played against her
from the beginning of my pro career, which was
eons ago. So I'm pretty sure her last international
appearance for Italy was in 2017. But she is
very experienced. She's played in numerous Champions
Leagues, Cups, Super Copas, you name it. So Sorokajce
is heading to love. We've also got Magdalena
Jurczyk. She's Polish. I like to try my hand
at the accents, you know, and to get the names
right, I'm butchering all of them. But she has
played her entire career, I believe, in Poland.
played for Poland's national team, was at the
Paris Olympics. Poland came sixth, so she's heading
there. And a Bulgarian player named Miroslava
Paskova also signed. So those are the three new
additions that are confirmed for Love Season
2, aside from the ones we touched on last week.
Since we're talking about everything not VNL,
one of the questions was, have we heard anything
about Major League yet? Crickets, everybody.
Crickets. I can't even keep a straight face because
they had a lot to say. In January. In January.
They had a lot to say about all the stuff they
were going to do and how major it was going to
be. Time's a ticking. You're going to get this
league going in six months, apparently. So, no,
we haven't heard anything. I wonder if it's going
to happen. I wonder what's going to happen to
the Omaha Supernovas after all of that bluster,
too. Because you've got to think that the owners
of the leagues are not happy with how that all
goes down. So it'll be interesting to see. Maybe
forced new ownership. Who knows? I mean, you
stir up all that in the PVF, you better execute.
I don't know. Anyway, crickets. We love the drama.
We love it so much. But no, we haven't heard
anything about that. See? Wow. snip snap super
quick just had to hit on you know a couple things
that happened that crossed my eyeballs that we
had to share so that is what happened aside from
women's vnl this week let's get into the vnl
because there's lots to talk about we are breaking
this down into a couple sections so let's start
with the vnl week one recap Japan, Italy, and
Turkey all went 4 -0 with Japan currently in
first place because they have a perfect set ratio.
Yeah, Italy and Turkey won a couple matches in
five, I believe, or one of them in five. So I
would say not surprising. I was a little surprised
at how dominant Japan was. But I expected Italy
and... Turkey and that group to kind of be up
there, yeah. I will say Japan, their serving
just puts teams in so much trouble and their
ability to keep rallies going was impressive
to watch. The consistency of their service pressure.
As we're watching all these games, and to be
frank, we didn't watch every single game, you
guys. We didn't watch every single team. So please
keep this in mind before... You get mad at us
for something. I mean, but we did watch a lot.
We watched a bunch, but we didn't hit everybody.
I think I watched six or seven matches. I think
you probably watched ten. I don't even know.
I was addicted to it this week. Yeah, we watched
a legitimate amount of volleyball this week.
But, okay, yeah, we didn't see absolutely everything.
But Japan, you see a lot of these games. And
you'll see some ebbs and flows with the service
pressure. Like when teams are feeling it, they
really go for it. And then you can see the puckers
start to happen sometimes and they like really
take the pressure off. Japan does not quit. No
matter what the situation, they know that they
need to get teams out of system and keep them
off the net. So they are relentless in their
service pressure and they're very consistent.
Yeah. So those teams top the heap going into
week two. Poland and Brazil are in. fourth and
fifth with three wins each fair enough again
expected yeah Italy beat Brazil handily which
I wasn't really expecting Brazil was missing
Gabi but but they had they had a lot of players
there so Rosa Maria wasn't there yeah so that
I was a little surprised to see that result but
I'm not surprised that they did well in pool
play and then we had Korea and Serbia are at
the bottom they went Oh, and four. Serbia has
three points. Korea has one. Serbia almost squeaked
one out against Canada at the end, but did not.
And then we have USA, France, Thailand, and Belgium
all with one win each. They all have three points
except for the US who has four. So, yeah. We've
got, of course, this is week one. Things are
going to change. Things are going to shake up.
You know, we got solid group, usual suspects,
kind of what we expect at the top. Korea probably
expected to be at the bottom. Serbia, I mean,
we'll get into the roster construction for week
one soon, but like Serbia probably doesn't intend
to stay down there. But that is what happened
this week. That's where the teams currently are
sitting, heading into their week off. So I think
a question that I have for you is, which teams
made a good impression on you and which ones
did you feel were disappointing? I would say
for me, when I looked at China's roster, who
has an average age of 21 and a half on their
week one roster, they were better than I thought
they were going to be. China for me... They surprised
me at how well they played, how much composure
they had for such a young roster. Yeah, I was
not sure. And a 16 -year -old setter. Yeah, I
was not sure what I expected when I saw their
roster, but it was not that, and they were good.
Netherlands, for me, was also surprising. They
have a lot of young players, a lot of... kind
of 2002, 2003, 2004 in critical positions. And
we are going to get into the roster breakdowns
later. We understand that some teams showed up
with their stars. A lot of teams did developmental,
but we will touch on that later. So hang tight.
Yeah, so I think watching them play, I was impressed.
And then probably Germany, I thought. did better
than I was expecting. I think they pushed a couple
teams in pool play, which I thought were probably
going to be 3 -0 beatings. So I didn't watch
them play a ton, but the results given at the
pool they were in, I was surprised. I did watch
them play against Brazil. They were solid. The
full team effort, not one player was relied upon
super heavily. I thought, yeah, very balanced.
I thought they did a good job. The only team
that I would kind of add to that is Turkey, simply
for the fact that they brought a more developmental
roster. They did have Baladin there. They had
a few players there, but the meat of their roster
that we typically see at big tournaments did
not even show up. They were not there. to see
the sort of B -line, the B -side, play so solidly,
I would add them. But I agree. I had Germany,
Turkey, China on my list. China was playing at
home, which is helpful, but that does come with
a lot of pressure at the same time. But with
a 16 -year -old setter stepping into that role,
very, very young athletes going head -to -head
with Poland, with Turkey. There were a couple
weaker teams in their group, but yeah, they impressed
me as well. I think, and maybe this is bias,
but I was disappointed by North America. Those
are the two teams I had on my list as well, not
going to lie. Yeah, and in fairness, I thought
Van Rijk played really well. Pretty much all
pool play matches. Like, she was very good, but
the rest of the team kind of is lacking. They
won a couple matches riding her ability to score
and serve. Matches that, honestly, they won in
five, and I don't think it should have been five.
Yeah. They lost opportunities, for sure, this
week. Fair. So, you know, credit where credit's
due, Van Rijk is very good, but... They don't
have any other pieces there that I thought could
help carry the team. Nobody else could score
consistently. And then if I look at who they're
going to possibly bring in, I'm not sure who
that is. Alexa Gray's not even on the V &L roster,
so she's not playing. I kind of felt like that
was maybe the best roster they could put on the
floor. Agreed. The only one is they had Jazz
White as an alternate. Who played against Serbia.
They called her up in the final match against
Serbia. But other than that, I'm pretty sure
they brought the best roster they could. And
they didn't have very many of the best teams
in their pool. No. I was expecting more. Bree
O 'Reilly struggled. I thought their outsides
struggled to score. I thought Maglio was good
at times, but their passing wasn't super consistent
to get her the ball. I thought Thockboom, as
a young player coming in, did a pretty good job.
But they're going to need to find more players
to score points other than Van Rijk. It can't
be a solo show. I think I knew they were in trouble
in match one. When they played Bulgaria, which
Bulgaria, they did better than I expected this
week, but they had to set Van Rijk almost every
ball. Like as when I'm like, if they're going
to rely on her that much against the likes of
a Bulgaria, this isn't going to be a smooth VNL
for them. And I understand they're missing a
huge piece in Alexa Gray, but I think this week
really showed how big of a piece. They are missing
with Alexa Gray. And a lot of the starters from
last season, the last couple of years or back,
we had Thockboom switch with Jazz White. We had
Mitrovic come in for Alexa Gray's spot that we've
typically seen. But I agree. I was very disappointed
in Brie O 'Reilly. I think her location and her
consistency was not good. And I was... Her bump
setting was... Sorry. I was disturbed. Honestly,
that's the best word I can come up with for her
bump setting. Unhittable. And she had to bump
set a lot of balls. But not just her. The team
in general, their out -of -system setting, not
okay. The number of free balls that were put
over or balls that people didn't even jump on
where you're not even running that far to set
it. The added system setting, lack of production,
and Hillary Johnson, for me, you've been a starter
for years, and where did you go? Where did you
go? Not producing offensively, ball control was
lacking. I was not happy watching that. I think
the last piece I want to talk about for Canada
was their lack of on -court leadership. Again,
we're not on the court, but in observing, it
seemed like a lot of the energy, a lot of the
pushback was coming from Guidetti on the sideline.
And there was nobody on the court that really
looked like they were running things from an
emotional, motivational perspective. It just
seemed like a lot of going through the motions
and nobody was really taking charge. on the court
and in crunch time it looked like most athletes
were tentative except for van rijk well she can't
afford to be tentative i'm sorry and she did
again she did a good job but it'll be interesting
to see listening to some of the timeouts guidetti
is very blunt very kind of in your face with
his feedback with what's happening i felt his
feedback was accurate though totally very It
was right. Totally agree. But there were the
body language coming out of those timeouts sometimes
looked like a little shocked or surprised at
what they were hearing. And, you know, given
Canada's history with European coaches, it's
not stellar. I'm curious to see how this goes
and processes with kind of that. That little
bit of clash, I would say. Okay, so here's my
take on that. This might be a hot take, but this
is from years of observation and experience firsthand.
My experience is that North American athletes,
North American volleyball players in general,
there are obviously exceptions to this. North
American volleyball players in general do not
like to be confronted with their inadequacies
in... a straightforward in your face way. North
Americans like to be, have it massaged, you know,
like say it to me, but say it to me in a nice
way. Being thrown this information in an aggressive
way, being held accountable in a very blunt way.
I've seen it so many times. It is not always
received well. And while I think Guidetti's feedback
was spot on. Totally accurate. You could almost
see the players shrinking. He looked at the left
side and said, you're passing at under 33 % past
the ball in one of the timeouts. Totally fair
and accurate. I was watching the game. I'm like,
100%. Yes. Yes, that's exactly what's happening.
The world of volleyball, aside from North America,
is very in your face, blunt. This isn't good
enough. you are confronted with your shortcomings
in a very direct way. And yeah, in my experience,
North Americans struggle with that broadly. So
that'll be interesting to see how that plays
out. Like Van Rijk has played in those situations.
So, I mean, she'll get over it. You've seen her
perform. No, she did her job. You could not ask
more from Kira Van Rijk this weekend. Unfortunately,
it is going to be a very long VNL for her and
for Canada in general if somebody else can't
figure out how to score a point. Yeah. So it'll
be, I'm curious to see because their next pool
is not going to be easy. No. The U .S. Okay.
I know what I am disappointed in. What are you
disappointed in? So I understand that the roster
is not young, but they're not experienced. I
think a whole bunch of players played fine. I
mean, you're up against Italy and Brazil. Who
brought good rosters? You're not going to win.
I was expecting to see a little more pushback
in those matches than I did. Like they got, you
know, minus one set against Brazil. I think they
went to overtime, but they got rolled pretty
good by those teams. Czech Republic, you got
reverse swept against them. You know, that's
a team that's in their first VNL. So they have
even less experience than you do. You know, that's
a game you probably shouldn't lose, you know,
and they won their last one, which was good.
But I think for me, the concern, maybe it's disappointment's
the wrong word. The concern I have is that I
didn't see much change from a college level style
of volleyball. So what I mean by that was. Their
offense was pretty slow. Granted, they didn't
pass amazing for most of the tournament. And,
you know, you're running high balls outside.
We're not running a lot of speed. Defensively,
I didn't see many adjustments. You're packed
into the court, you know, defending the middle
of the court similar to a college -style game
where, you know, in my opinion, you need to be
back a little bit more. The defensive systems
and setups didn't seem to be adjusting. with
the style of play or the opponents that you were
playing. It just, I understand that they're there
to learn, but they didn't seem to get better
or change at all over the course of the tournament.
And I think that was maybe the most disappointing
thing for me. I hear what you're saying. I agree
with what you're saying. I don't think, like,
this is a different situation for me than the
Canada discussion we just had. Because Canada...
A lot of those players who were on the court
have V &L experience, were making a run at Olympics
like they have been here before. In this situation,
I think my disappointment isn't necessarily with
the athletes, but with the coaching staff. I
think they were playing a very college style
of volleyball. Internationally, they swing perimeter.
You don't see people take rips straight down
unless there's a huge seam, unless an opportunity
presents itself. But how as a coaching staff
are you allowing that type of defensive setup
to happen? These girls are sucked into the court
and it's just like internationally that is not
going to fly. I'm sorry. You need to play perimeter.
You need to be told that. And you don't have
the experience to necessarily figure it out yourself
or know that yourself. But as a coaching staff,
you need to guide these athletes and get them
to make those changes. I saw no defensive adjustments,
block defense. I was watching so many games being
like, you are getting beaten by ABC. Well, then
you listen to timeouts and it's just like, all
right, next point. It was the positive North
American coaching that we talk about. There was
no, again, we don't know what goes on behind
closed doors, but the difference in listening
to the timeouts of other teams versus the U .S.
timeouts, there was no technical feedback. There
was no tactical feedback. It was like, hey, keep
going. Like we're here. Next one, next one, get
the next one. And it's like, no, these players
need to be. guided you need to like help them
learn by teaching them what they should be doing
this is what take this away on the block we discussed
doing this in video it's not working let's pull
the position one digger back position six let's
back it up move a little bit to your left adjust
from there there was zero guidance no adjustment
discussion nothing and I lay that at the feet
of the coaching staff because you don't know
what you don't know as an athlete. I think the
one thing that they did figure out, which was
very obvious, is being successful in college
does not translate internationally. No one cares,
okay? You can be a great college player. It does
not translate. I think they learned that. At
least I hope they learned that because it was
obvious. But the coaching staff, completely dropped
the ball for me yeah i i would agree with you
i was i was disappointed to see the stuff like
you didn't see them trying different things in
an attempt to get better to see what they were
trying to do like we saw sarah franklin hit the
same shots we've seen her hit in college right
like well and then finally against czech republic
they were forcing her to hit line she missed
the line four or five times in a row and it's
like These are the adjustments. You are successful.
You scored in the first two sets against Czech
Republic, hitting your sharp angle that you really
like. They changed their defense and made you
uncomfortable, creating some errors. That is
what volleyball is. Well, and I think the reverse
sweep was coaching and tactical changes. 100%.
And so, you know, we'll see what... comes of
this week well i'm curious to see what roster
they bring like they need to start winning some
games they they have to make the final eight
because you need that experience for those players
to play in that environment and i'm curious to
see what happens what changes they make if they
come out who adjusts their attacking style because
here's the other thing for me is the u .s doesn't
have the players to run a slow offense and beat
the best teams in the world It's just, it's not
going to happen. They need to add some speed
into their game. They need to create some seams
and some holes for their outside hitters. Like
Franklin and Skinner, Eggleston are used to being
physical enough to score points by being more
physical and hitting hard. That is not going
to, you're going to need more tools than that.
And so I'm curious to see how they put them in
positions to learn that. Does Franklin add that
line shot? How Skinner made some great tips against
a smaller block, but that's not going to work
against a bigger block. To be fair, she didn't
really get a chance. They sat her a lot until
Korea in the matchup. Maddie Skinner against
Korean block. Good night. To me, it's how are
you going to change? How are they going to help
these young players develop more skills, more
shots, more ability to get out of trouble? Who's
going to pass? I'm sorry, but with this particular
roster, you could not have Eggleston and Skinner
on the court at the same time. You couldn't.
They were both really struggling passing. Yeah,
so while everybody's probably up in arms that
Maddie Skinner didn't play, she started against
Italy, did not do well. Eggleston came in and
did a little bit better, which made sense why
they stuck with her. have them both on the court
at the same time as left sides yeah yeah and
i think a couple players it was very obvious
they were out of their depth uh the most experienced
player in morgan hence like honestly if i had
to pick a player that i wanted more from it was
her just from a leadership perspective yeah i
think leadership was also lacking not only on
the bench from the coaches but on the court from
the athletes as well She was deferring and looking
to her teammates to get a tip to go set a ball.
And it's like, no, as the libero internationally,
at any level, you need to take charge of what's
going on. But the number of balls she was deferring
to for passing, et cetera, her out -of -system
setting was unhittable. Unhittable. I wanted
more from her. I thought she passed fine. well
when she decided to take it exactly she just
kept looking at other people like you can't do
that so i think from an execution standpoint
it's there from a decision making and leadership
and telling people she needs to run the defense
so i she performed when when she performed she
performed better than i was expecting but it
needs to be was not okay passing passing and
digging and And she just needs to get comfortable
in that role and realize, like, I have the most
experience here. I need to be directing traffic.
I need to be taking more seams. She needed to
insert herself into the fabric of the team a
little bit more. I thought Lednicki was fine.
I thought Lednicki and Babcock were fine. Lednicki's
not the answer long term, I don't think. I was
the most kind of impressed with how Babcock handled
herself. I think on the right side of the court.
They were trying. They were scoring points. I
think the blocking lineup, particularly for Logan,
was not good. And I think Amber IG'd against
the top teams. They didn't serve well enough
against the top teams. They had five options
all the time. They weren't going to do anything.
But I think against the Czech Republic and Korea,
I think IG'd. solidified herself she was she
was solid yeah I just my disappointment for the
Americans was to see them a play a college style
of volleyball and be the coaching staff so Adam
kind of started touching on this earlier but
as we mentioned there were a lot of young rosters
young athletes that were playing in week one
so That being said, which young players made
the biggest impression on you? Okay, so I'm going
to miss somebody for sure. But what I did was
I went through and I looked at a lot of the athletes
who were born 2004, 2005. Those were kind of
elsewhere in the world because the North American
athletes are in general kind of a little bit...
because they go to college from an experience
standpoint. But I was curious because we talk
a lot about, hey, the U .S. is sending an inexperienced
roster. And I wanted to look at, you know, how
do the young players coming up in some of these
other countries kind of line up with the talent
coming out of the U .S.? Because let's not make
any mistake. The U .S. athletes are not young.
They're inexperienced. Correct. Like there are
some legitimate young athletes playing. So like,
for example. The opposite from Bulgaria, and
I'm way worse with names than Sarah is, but Stoyanova,
she is a 2005 opposite, and I thought she was
fantastic. She carried the load for her team.
She was fearless. She hit angles. She was attacking
front row, back row, blocked well, served well.
I was really impressed by her. There was, I would
say, a trio of young Dutch players who, some
of these were a little bit older, that I thought
were good in a combination of D 'Ambri, Vos,
and Kok. Again, 2002, 2003, 2004. I thought that
was a really good trio who played well for the
Netherlands. And then, specifically from Serbia,
Kurticic in the middle was, I thought she played.
Who we've talked about plays for... Played for
Milano last season. Yeah, and that's the thing
where it gets a little interesting because she's
a 2004 who's playing on one of the best teams
in the world already. You just can't compare
her to, let's say, a Lednicki or somebody just
coming out of college. It's just they're playing
almost two different sports at this point. Well,
let's make no mistake. Ana Cristina from Brazil
is 21. Yeah. You look at the Chinese setter,
and then you compare her to the options that
you're bringing in college -wise from the U .S.
So in looking at that, I was kind of shocked
to find out how young some of these star players
are on some of these teams. And it kind of put
into perspective for me. Like when we're talking
about a Maddie Skinner, when we're talking about
a Sarah Franklin, when we're talking about, you
know, a Babcock. Like Babcock's physical, she
does well, but how does she compare to some of
those other players? Like if these players, if
these young international players came and played
NCAA. No, it would be. The landscape would be
completely different. Like it's not even close.
So, you know, we talk about these. young American
athletes needing to develop and getting a chance.
Those are the athletes they're chasing from a
performance standpoint. So it's going to be really
interesting to kind of see, A, how the next couple
weeks go, who stays on the roster, and then B,
if any of these young players make world rosters
and how they perform. The U .S. is banking on
these young players to develop faster than everybody
else's internationally. And it will be very curious
to see how they go about doing that. After watching
this, my thought was anybody who you need or
who you think might have a chance for 2028, you
need to find them contracts in Europe on the
best teams. They need to be playing against these
other athletes. Okay, so other than those ones
you mentioned, who are your other favorite youngies?
I mean, Anna Christina. Anna Christina's okay.
And then Karatsu from Turkey. I thought she played
well. She's a 2003. What? Yeah. That's, that's
what I'm saying. Like some of these players are,
are very good. Like starting big point getters.
It's, it's impressive to see. So Canada had a
couple of really young ones. Yeah. So, uh, Gerson.
Okay. Goosen. Goosen. 2005. Got some playing
time. I thought she was okay. She didn't look.
She was green. Yeah. But there was potential
there. I thought Thockboom did pretty well. DeLibero
for Canada Watson. I thought she passed well.
Defensively, she got blown up. The speed of the
ball was a little faster than she was used to.
Like I said, I thought Babcock kind of showed
the most potential on the U .S. She is the youngest
one, right? And she is the youngest one. What
is she, 20? She's a 2005. Okay. So I would put
her, like if I was looking at kind of the top
prospects coming out there, I liked how she attacked
the ball. I thought physically she was kind of
in her element with some of those other opposites.
Decision -making on a couple plays was maybe
not as clean as some of the other ones who have
played internationally, but that's to be expected.
I was, out of everybody I watched on the U .S.,
I was most impressed when she got a chance to
play. Well, and the Czech right side was young
too. Correct. Yeah, the Czech girl was very good.
So, yeah, there were a lot of 19-, 20 -year -olds
that made a huge impact on their teams. I will
be curious to see if they bring those players
along to be subs for their staple stars. just
to continue to get them experience. Or if they're
like, this is your chance, let's see what you
can do, and then we're going to send you back
to U23 or whatever, or U21 for the summer. Well,
and it's interesting because a lot of the young
players coming in who were scoring lots of points
were opposites. So it's a really good comparison
of what the U .S. is looking for and what some
of her peers are doing. Okay, so as we mentioned,
we were kind of all over the place. We saw some
teams bring their best athletes. We saw some
bring more developmental rosters. So we just
kind of wanted to give a little bit of a breakdown
of the roster experience we saw throughout the
week and maybe some predictions of what will
happen moving forward. Okay, so I looked at the
rosters from an average age perspective. perspective
for people who are actually on the week one roster
not including alternates okay so who were the
old rosters or who were the rosters who brought
their legit lineup so like thailand technically
was the oldest team but italy had the second
oldest roster. They brought all of their guns.
They were ready to go. Dominican had a legitimate
team there. They were the third oldest team there.
Poland brought a legitimate roster at four. The
Czech Republic actually had a pretty old roster.
Now they've never competed in VNL. So that was
probably a scenario where it's like these players
have been playing in the national team system
forever, finally break into VNL and they're like,
okay, we'll stick it out. We want to try. Yeah.
And then Brazil had a legitimate. older roster
there they were they were sixth overall um there
were a whole bunch of teams kind of in the middle
so those those rosters had an average age of
like 25 26 there were a whole bunch of teams
u .s included who were kind of in the 24 year
old roster so you would have some young players
some experience there the youngest roster by
far was china they had an average age of 21 and
a half at this roster which was wild netherlands
had an average age of 22 so they were also very
young france but i think some of those players
made the run last like i recognize some of the
dutch players from the last vno so even the young
players who were like 2004s, 2003s. This is their
third VNL. Whether they played or not, but they
kind of have been around, seen how it works.
As far as an experience perspective, do we know?
China, I think they brought their like baby babies.
Yeah, they brought. China, not a ton of experience.
The U .S., not a ton of experience. Italy, Brazil.
Dominican. Dominican. Poland was relatively experienced.
Canada was pretty experienced. Canada was experienced.
Of kind of the better teams who you would expect
to do well. What about Japan? I feel like they
were... Japan was right in the middle, like 24
and a half. I was actually, I thought Wada was
an individual athlete who stuck out to me watching
Japan play. You know, when they play such a defensive
and serve aggressive game, she scored a lot of
points for them. She had a fast arm. So fast.
So she was fun to watch. I enjoyed watching them
play. So they were kind of in the middle. USA
was in the middle. You know, Serbia was pretty
young. Turkey was young but had some experience.
Not their big, big guns, but they had people
who had played before. Serbia brought baby babies.
Yeah. Bulgaria was kind of in the middle as well.
So China, U .S., Turkey, Serbia brought their
more inexperienced athletes, whereas Italy, Poland,
Brazil, Dominican, Canada brought. A solid roster.
In round two, we are moving to Istanbul, Belgrade,
and Hong Kong. My prediction is that you'll see
Turkey and Serbia bring their big guns because
they're playing at home. You better believe it.
I think Dominican has to keep bringing their
big guns because they're not deep as a country.
Canada, same thing. Poland, I want to say same
thing. I think we're going to start to see...
The veteran athletes start to trickle in, but
those are the ones that I think are going to
be there for sure in week two. Which teams do
you think have the depth to make significant
upgrades? I think Turkey can upgrade big time.
I'm not sure how much of an upgrade Serbia can
make because they had such turnover, but Boskovic
is an X factor. Adding her to the mix just...
completely changes the landscape. How much better
do you think Brazil is with Gabi? Well, Gabi
and Rosa Maria. You know, I think Julia Bergman
did a good job. I think she was solid. I think
Gabi, her ball control, her consistency, I think
she adds an extra dynamic that, yeah, it's like
an intangible, you know? But it is tangible because
she produces. What do you think, do you think
China is committed to this roster for LA? Do
you think we'll see any of the older athletes
or are they, this is just how they operate. These
are the athletes, they're young, we're going.
No, but they had like eight on the long list
who came back. For this year. I think China's
roster will evolve. They always kind of do weird
stuff. Like. And they'll keep their top athletes
at home. Until the final. And if like the young
ones get them there. Fabulous. And if not. Darn.
You know. Yeah. I'm not sure we'll see. I mean.
Daldrop for Netherlands. There's a couple pieces
that could be added for Netherlands. But. The
two. that I think are going to get a big boost
in week two are Turkey and Serbia. What do you
think the U .S. does? Okay, I have some players
that I think are going to be left home after
week one. My predictions for the switches, I
think Zoe Jarvis will be left behind. I think
Serena Gray and Anna Dodson will be left. And
I think Ella Mae Powell will be left. I'm expecting
to see Avery Skinner and Dana Retke. I'm expecting
Lanier to show up at some point, too. So, honestly,
if those two are going, I would leave Eggleston
home, too. Yeah, I think that's probably right.
I mean, the next round for the U .S. is interesting
because they don't have any top, top teams. Now,
I believe they have Serbia in their pool. be
interesting to see what Serbia comes, but they
don't play any of the best teams. They already
did that. They already did that, but there's
no gimme matches in their pool either. So, you
know, with a record of one in three so far, if
you want to make that top eight, this next round
is going to be important. Like this is going
to be kind of a show me round for the U S in
my opinion, they're going to need to win some
matches. So I'm curious to see. how they approach
this. I mean, the checkmatch was a lost opportunity,
in my opinion. But, yeah, those are the ones
that stick out for me as I think being left off.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. Again, week one,
V &L, everybody's feeling things out. Some stars
who had really long pro seasons are kind of allowed
to take a break. kind of work their way back
into the national team system so obviously things
are going to change but it's fun to talk about
anyway yeah and see what the priorities are who's
bringing which players you know which countries
are it's important for them to win i think for
me now the management game kind of starts. Who
do you bring? Like, I know the U .S. didn't have
a ton of choices in terms of people coming back
from contracts, injuries, those kind of things.
Now that you've had a couple weeks to settle
in and make some choices, what does that look
like? Okay, let's get into some listener questions.
Question one, what can Minas fans, that is a
team in Brazil, expect from Hillary Johnson next
season? Do you think she's capable of stepping
up for Canada during the summer now that Gray
is absent? Did you want my answer before or after
this round? After this round. I was not impressed.
I expected more from her. I thought she would
step up more with Alexa Gray gone. And, you know,
I don't know what pressures these athletes feel
playing at home. It's your first time back competing,
first round of the VNL. She was a good P2 to
Alexa Gray's P1. I don't think she has the P1
DNA. Yeah, but I don't think she passed that
well. Also. So forget that. No, she didn't pass
well. And again, you have a new coach, you have
a new system, you have expectations. There are
a lot of changes happening in that program, even
though a lot of the athletes are the same. And
so I would say jury's out. Its expectations aren't
super high after week one, but I'll give her
another round to see if she can kind of settle
in. I know Brie O 'Reilly got hurt at the end
of that match in Serbia. We'll see if she can
play or not and what happens at the setting position.
Yeah, she's going to need to be better than she
was this week. As far as playing in Brazil...
She's going to get served a lot. I think she'll
get served a lot. I don't know. I think the Brazilian
training system of just very high volume, high
rep, I think is good. The Brazilian environment...
is very vocal, it's very loud to play in. The
fans are very passionate about their team. I
don't know her personally to be able to know
how that will affect her. But the Brazilian League,
even though a lot of the top national team players
now play overseas, the league is still strong.
I don't know how it's going to go. She's going
to learn a lot. She will learn a lot. She will
learn a lot. She will get a ton of touches. Will
they translate? We'll find out. Question two.
If the U .S. women fail to show up and perform
well this summer and potentially next year, do
you see a lot of the players going back overseas
to help develop their game, specifically passing
defense out of system hitting? Will that hurt
the future of the domestic leagues if they can't
raise their level of play to mirror the Italian
-Turkish leagues? Because this person was saying,
I don't think it's any coincidence that a lot
of USA's top talent are still choosing to play
overseas. If I was coaching the US national team,
I would send all of them overseas without question.
You can see it in the players we talked about
today. You have 19 -year -olds, 20 -year -olds
that are putting together just outstanding performances.
Winning Champions League, competing for championships.
I'm sorry. I'm a fan of building a league in
North America. I'm 100 % behind that goal. But
building a league and winning LA, those are two
different things. And eventually, can America,
can the Love League or one of the leagues get
to a point where it's a top league in the world?
Yes, absolutely. I fundamentally believe that.
But as of right now, you're not playing against
the best athletes in the world. I would send
my top four players from each position overseas
if I can, without question. I think the athletes
just have to figure out what their priorities
are. Unfortunately, in the landscape of professional
volleyball, as a North American, you can't have
everything. You can't make a lot of money and
play against the best competition and be comfortable
and close to family all at the same time. It's
unrealistic as a North American with how professional
volleyball is right now. One of the three variables
have to give. And you just have to decide which
one is the one you're willing to sacrifice. And
I think like coming out of their first year and
first year of a cycle and wanting to be a part
of the league as it starts, like Maddie Skinner
and Sarah Franklin, like I get wanting to be
a part of that movement, but you already see
it. Sarah Franklin is going overseas, right?
Dana Reckie, Avery Skinner, already, you know,
all already overseas, right? For now, that's
what they have to do if they want to win in LA.
And I think you're going to see Sarah Franklin
be a different player next year after a year
in Italy. It's going to change her game completely.
If they want to win, they need to do that. Question
three, is passing a mental skill just as much
as a technical one? Absolutely. Didn't even hesitate.
I mean, if you're sitting there and you're getting
bombs, blasted at you consistently and you're
thinking please don't serve me the ball you're
toast that ball comes so fast the angles are
absurd with the float serves that some of these
girls are hitting you know van rijk bombing jump
serves at you the ball's moving around like you
need an aggressive serve me attitude oh and if
you change your mind your facial expression at
all or if your eyes get big or look at the ground
everybody notices and they are going to destroy
you. Now, don't get me wrong. You need to be
technically able to pass the ball as well. It
is both. It is 100 % both. You're right. Yeah.
You can want to pass all you want, but if you
can't do it, then it's not going to work either.
Okay, last question of the day. When players
are deciding where to play professionally, it
seems like salary and the competitiveness of
the league are major factors. How much do things
like the coach... or even which other players
are signed to the team play into that decision?
For example, does the coach's reputation or the
presence of certain teammates influence a player's
choice? I mean, I think that you are probably,
I never had the luxury of making those decisions,
so it's probably a question for you. You are
right. Salary, I think, you know, salary, strength
of league, life conditions. do play a factor
I will say when I would make decisions I would
look at who they have on their roster how they
did the year before what the potential outlook
of the team looks like like if a team performed
badly the year before but they brought in a lot
of good players like and the other conditions
were right like yeah I would consider it for
sure I would say coaches when you get to the
top top teams the coaches resumes are all legit
So I wouldn't say that it necessarily is an impact
if you're going, if you're considering like a
really good team. If you're a more inexperienced
player and your national team coach tells you,
do you want to come with me to this team? You
should probably say yes. But I would say the
coaching and the teammates decision is probably
less of a factor than how good is this league?
What are our chances of winning? Are we going
to be in Champions League? What kind of money
am I going to make? What is my quality of life?
Yeah, and I think probably the other thing with
that is, I mean, you and I were married when
you were playing most of your career overseas.
So we were always together. So I think that for
a lot of people, like knowing at least one or
having a native speaker on your team. Well, so
for example, I played a season in Brazil. And
then when it came to re -signing, for me that
year in particular, it came down to going to
Moscow or going back to Rio. And Moscow offered
me a lot more money than Rio did. But I knew
what I was getting into in Rio. had a good experience
there. I knew the coaching staff. I knew the
players. I knew I was going to get better. The
league was good. The money was nothing to slouch
at. But when I thought about like my life there,
I was willing to sacrifice the difference in
the salary for quality of life and things like
that. So yeah. Lots of factors. There are lots
of factors to consider for sure. As always, we
love these questions. I always love seeing what
people write in. It's always an exciting day.
All right. So week one of Women's VNL in the
books. Really interesting. Some great volleyball.
If you didn't get a chance to watch them on Volleyball
TV, you can go back and watch any of the matches.
Well, the Americans decided that it's going to
be on CBS Sports and stuff too. So like literally
the day before VNL started, they're like, oh,
PS, you can watch it here. Thanks so much for
your membership. So lots of good volleyball to
watch. So the women have the week off. We're
heading into week one of the men's VNL this week.
We're in the same countries, China, Canada, and
Brazil for the men's VNL. We're in Xi 'an, China,
Quebec City, and back in Rio. We've got Wednesday
at 8 p .m. Eastern, Canada versus Germany. We've
got Thursday at 8 .30 Eastern, Poland versus
Japan. Very different styles. Very different
styles. Very good teams. That will be exciting.
Friday at 8 p .m. Eastern, France and Italy.
Now, that's must -watch TV. Yeah. So I would
circle that. Get your popcorn out. That's going
to be a ton of fun. I hand -selected all these
matches, you guys, okay? These are Sarah's recommendations.
Again, which ones were watchable based on the
time? And which ones I thought would be entertaining.
And then on Saturday, 1230 p .m. Eastern, USA
versus Slovenia. So USA men and women are in
a similar boat. We got a young USA roster, a
Slovenian team that we've been told to not sleep
on. Don't sleep on Slovenia. They're good. So
it'll be interesting. One other thing I wanted
to put out there I'm curious to see is I'm curious
to see the difference in coaching style because
you had two different. Two inexperienced rosters
on the women's side and on the men's side to
see what Karch does with the young men he's bringing
to this pool play. I want to listen into the
timeouts. Yeah, that's something I'm very curious
to kind of see if the approach is the same, if
it's a little bit different, you know, what they
look like. We followed the NCAA men, you know,
pretty closely to see, I'm curious to see if
their style is the same. So I think that will
be, it'll be interesting to watch them this week.
So I'm looking forward to another great week
of... Probably way too much volleyball and not
enough productivity. That concludes this week's
episode of Volley Talk. There's always something
shaking in the volleyball world, and we hope
you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow
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