WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.200 Hi volleyball fans and welcome back to Volley 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:04.280 Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:06.639 who want to dig deep into what is going on in 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:10.039 NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:11.960 Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.839 world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:17.839 longtime pro both indoor and on the beach. And 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.879 I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:22.879 volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.140 guy. I just wanted to remind everybody that you're 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:30.690 here for us and this is only about us, and it's 00:00:30.690 --> 00:00:35.229 just on our side. Am I in a USA Volleyball timeout? 00:00:36.670 --> 00:00:41.409 Sorry, I had to do it. I was pulling my hair 00:00:41.409 --> 00:00:44.869 listening to those timeouts. It will be too soon 00:00:44.869 --> 00:00:46.750 if I ever have to listen to another one again, 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:51.369 but look at Adam getting sassy. That's my job. 00:00:52.049 --> 00:00:54.950 We'll talk about it later, but that one in particular 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.369 was just... I was sitting on the couch. My favorite 00:00:57.369 --> 00:01:00.649 was, hey, guys, let's just have fun. What are 00:01:00.649 --> 00:01:05.150 we, 12U club? Even playing time. We're on one 00:01:05.150 --> 00:01:07.170 today. We'll get into it. We'll get into it. 00:01:07.209 --> 00:01:09.209 We are feeling some type of way today, and we 00:01:09.209 --> 00:01:11.950 are on one. So if you're not ready for this sass 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:14.230 and spice. Come back tomorrow. Come back tomorrow. 00:01:16.069 --> 00:01:19.390 Anyway, that being said, we just finished up 00:01:19.390 --> 00:01:22.250 week three of the women's VNL competition, and 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:26.079 the final eight are set. We saw some really good 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.379 volleyball. We saw some really bad, messy, ugly 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:33.980 volleyball. But regardless, we watched all of 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:36.439 it and it was a ton of fun. So we've got the 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:38.859 rundown for the week. We're excited to dive into 00:01:38.859 --> 00:01:41.560 our predictions for how the final eight is going 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:58.200 to go. So let's get started. We actually have 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:02.040 a few highlights and happenings to talk about 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:05.920 this week. Give them to me. First up, it was 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.419 the U19 Girls World Championship this past week. 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:15.199 Bulgaria beat USA in four to win their first 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:18.879 ever gold medal. Congrats to Bulgaria. That's 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:23.860 huge. And Poland beat Turkey 8 -3 -0 to win bronze. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.969 We won't talk about how our Canadians did. I 00:02:26.969 --> 00:02:30.569 think 18th. How many teams were there, 20? 24. 00:02:30.729 --> 00:02:35.189 Oh, dear. But, yeah, Bulgaria, USA, Poland were 00:02:35.189 --> 00:02:38.110 on the podium for that. A listener wrote in to 00:02:38.110 --> 00:02:42.449 tell us that they saw a post by Matt Anderson's 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:45.830 wife letting everybody know that Matt Anderson 00:02:45.830 --> 00:02:49.849 is going to be competing or working towards LA 00:02:49.849 --> 00:02:53.509 2028. Now, I think Matt Anderson is very good, 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:56.879 but I have a serious question of, Do you think 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:01.099 that spot is just going to be given to him? Or 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:03.979 do you think there is serious competition on 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:06.419 the men's side for that spot? I mean, he's going 00:03:06.419 --> 00:03:10.379 to be, what, 41 at that time? 42, maybe? I'm 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:12.379 not entirely sure how old he is right now, currently. 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:14.520 I don't want to put limits on anybody. Age is 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:16.800 just a number, you know? Based on what I've seen 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.500 from the USA men's right sides, he's definitely 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:28.449 still it. But... time is not friendly so well 00:03:28.449 --> 00:03:32.009 I see listen I think he I think he's an asset 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:34.810 to the team whether he ends up playing or not 00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:37.830 just being there they're a young roster he's 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:41.030 done everything he knows how to win he's played 00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:44.189 everywhere he'll be a great mentor for those 00:03:44.189 --> 00:03:48.009 guys that's just it's still a long ways away 00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:52.349 and he has put on some miles in his life but 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.719 how often does the opportunity to be in the Olympics 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.199 in your home country present itself? I feel like 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:03.120 if you are curious about it and you still got 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:07.560 some gas left, you do it. I think it's a great 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:09.659 decision for him. I think the team will be lucky 00:04:09.659 --> 00:04:13.500 to have him. My question was solely around what 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:18.300 do you think his performance level in 2028 would 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:22.139 be? I cannot predict. He's still playing at a 00:04:22.139 --> 00:04:26.189 high level. That's true. So there's that. I love 00:04:26.189 --> 00:04:30.290 my secret informants, you guys. Okay, I absolutely 00:04:30.290 --> 00:04:33.250 love it because here's another one. This news 00:04:33.250 --> 00:04:35.689 is also from a secret informant of mine. Kerry 00:04:35.689 --> 00:04:40.589 Walsh started a club, like a club volleyball 00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:46.050 team in San Francisco. Like an MLV team? That's 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:48.569 what you would think based on how spicy she was 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:52.899 about major volleyball in... When was it? January? 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.240 No. So that makes me like, what happened to MLV? 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.879 You were like all on board literally yesterday. 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.360 And now you're just starting a youth club? Like, 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.899 hello. Maybe she's doing two things at once. 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:09.620 Here's Adam trying to be a nice guy again. He's 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:13.439 like, I reached my quota for Spice. I'm back 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:19.629 to nice guy. So also tied into that. Another 00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:22.310 informant of mine. It's been a couple weeks, 00:05:22.410 --> 00:05:25.490 you know, so. Aggregating. The gossip mill is 00:05:25.490 --> 00:05:31.149 churning everybody. So one of our listeners is 00:05:31.149 --> 00:05:37.589 a season ticket holder for PVF for Omaha. Hasn't 00:05:37.589 --> 00:05:41.290 heard anything about season's tickets or purchasing 00:05:41.290 --> 00:05:43.829 tickets or anything. It's tough when you don't 00:05:43.829 --> 00:05:46.600 know what you're putting. So they wrote. the 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:49.600 person or the like ticket agency and stuff and 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.439 was like hey at this time last year I had purchased 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:55.740 my tickets just wondering like when I can expect 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:58.379 to do that or get the opportunity to do that 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:03.199 again and the response was we're waiting on the 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.839 new league before we do that and so I'm like 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:11.360 the new league as in MLV the new league as in 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:16.100 is PBF changing but like nothing The time is 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:19.720 ticking away. We went from all of that time. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.319 You have a year from January. You're at six months. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:27.600 People want to buy tickets. You have to. I would 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:29.639 say there has to be some sort of announcement 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:33.040 or movement by the end of August at the absolute 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.680 latest. Otherwise, what are you doing? Well, 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:37.839 the other thing is like a bunch of PVF teams 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:42.509 haven't even announced. their rosters or anything 00:06:42.509 --> 00:06:45.290 and apparently this time last year they had so 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:48.810 i'm like what is going on something nobody knows 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:52.050 here nobody knows anyway if you know anything 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:55.889 you know i want to know so hit me up this one 00:06:55.889 --> 00:06:57.910 actually pertains to what happened this past 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:02.160 week unfortunately anna christina the outside 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.579 for Brazil in their match against France. She 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:07.800 went down with an injury and it was later reported 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:12.639 that she tore her medial meniscus. Let me tell 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:17.139 you, I did that right before Olympic qualification 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:23.699 last year. It was not fun. It's not fun, but 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:27.120 in terms of knee injuries, it might be the shortest 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.250 recovery time as opposed to... An MCL or an ACL 00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:34.550 or something of that nature. I wonder if she 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:36.470 just tore it because she looked like she could 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:39.110 straighten her leg. So I wonder if she'll need 00:07:39.110 --> 00:07:43.050 to have surgery. Your girl here could not straighten 00:07:43.050 --> 00:07:46.149 her leg. Needed surgery. Bucket handle tear. 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:49.189 Needed knee surgery. That timing was unfortunate, 00:07:49.410 --> 00:07:53.230 let me tell you. Not great. Not great. So, yeah, 00:07:53.290 --> 00:07:57.610 that's unfortunate. So hopefully she'll... BOK, 00:07:57.850 --> 00:08:00.569 the recovery is straightforward. Luckily for 00:08:00.569 --> 00:08:05.089 Brazil, they're deep. Yep. They just picked right 00:08:05.089 --> 00:08:08.189 up, you know, and Bergman and Gabby took over. 00:08:08.350 --> 00:08:10.990 Bergman was playing opposite, came back to the 00:08:10.990 --> 00:08:13.970 left side. Rosa Maria, they've got everybody. 00:08:14.389 --> 00:08:17.589 Yeah, it's really impressive, and I'll talk about 00:08:17.589 --> 00:08:20.209 this with Italy later in the episode, but when 00:08:20.209 --> 00:08:23.370 you can just, when your bench players are so 00:08:23.370 --> 00:08:25.980 good that... you can move them in and out and 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.639 not miss a beat and still keep chugging away. 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.259 It's incredible, actually. Obviously, a huge 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:37.299 loss. She's an outstanding player. But if it 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:42.059 were to happen to any team, Brazil's got that 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:47.000 depth. So those are the happenings this week. 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:49.120 A little bit of gossip, a little bit of juice, 00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:53.220 and a little bit of relevant information. But 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:56.389 we wanted to share it all. Okay, let's get into 00:08:56.389 --> 00:09:02.870 our VNL Week 3 recap. So Italy ended the preliminary 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:07.350 round with a perfect 12 -0 record. Undefeated. 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:10.669 Okay. And they were followed closely by Brazil, 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:15.230 who had 11 wins. Losing only to Italy. Correct. 00:09:15.610 --> 00:09:19.549 I thought that Italy's record was going to be 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:23.149 in jeopardy at one point during the Turkey -A 00:09:23.149 --> 00:09:25.120 match. And I think we'll talk about this one 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.759 later because it was my favorite match of the 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.860 week. Well, we don't even have to do that segment 00:09:29.860 --> 00:09:32.440 now. Adam already gave it away. I'm just kidding. 00:09:32.620 --> 00:09:36.700 I know you had another one. But that was a good 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:41.139 game. I like when teams have streaks like this. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:44.120 It's fun to watch them play. They're not necessarily 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.159 playing for anything, but you see them still 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.299 compete. They want to hold their undefeated record. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:50.700 Well, they're at 26 wins in a row now as a team. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.950 Yeah. You've got to keep it going now as long 00:09:53.950 --> 00:09:56.070 as you can. Watching what they're doing is impressive. 00:09:56.429 --> 00:10:00.830 Yeah. We were a little harsh on Serbia, and I 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:03.649 think rightly so over the last two weeks. 100 00:10:03.649 --> 00:10:05.830 % it was rightly so. They were baggled up until 00:10:05.830 --> 00:10:09.429 this point. They managed to win 3 of 4 this week. 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:14.330 They had to pull Boscovich out of whatever vacation 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:18.070 or retirement she was in. Or injury. Or she injured. 00:10:19.179 --> 00:10:21.100 Because they could not figure it out without 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:23.519 her. But she showed up. And Uzalak showed up, 00:10:23.580 --> 00:10:26.700 too. Yeah. So she showed up. Uzalak showed up. 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:31.139 They went three for four. They will not be relegated. 00:10:32.019 --> 00:10:35.220 They actually looked pretty good. I mean, I wouldn't 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:38.980 go that far. But, like, they beat Turkey in their 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:42.580 final match 3 -0. So that was a nice cap to VNL. 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:47.360 So I'm curious to see what they look like. Because 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.220 I think that will be... I mean, this was not 00:10:49.220 --> 00:10:51.980 the Serbia we expected. They should have been 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:55.200 better without her. But it seemed as soon as 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.740 she came back, everybody elevated their game 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:01.779 around her. And they were a completely different 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:04.840 team. Got those three wins. Saved themselves. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.240 Easy peasy. But speaking of Turkey, they had 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.860 a very rough week. Not the best. They went 1 00:11:11.860 --> 00:11:15.539 -3. So they beat Netherlands 3 -0, and then they 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:20.779 lost to Czech, Italy, and Serbia. But they did 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:23.860 set a VNL record for the worst beatdown in a 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:28.080 set ever. That game was hard to watch. 25 -4, 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.460 they beat Czech Republic in a set. They still 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:34.000 lost in four, but that one set, they're like, 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:39.360 don't forget. And this is my issue with Turkey, 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:43.059 is the inconsistency. How do you... How do you 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:49.679 play so well that you can win 25 -4 and then 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.879 you can't figure it out after that? It's kind 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.759 of bewildering, quite frankly. I will say the 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.659 young right side that they interviewed after 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:00.919 that match for the Czech Republic was like hyperventilating. 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:02.559 She was so excited. I thought she was going to 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.620 pass out during the interview. I'm like, whoa. 00:12:05.179 --> 00:12:07.159 That's the win of the century for the Czechs. 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.000 Yeah, 100%. And rightly so. They should celebrate. 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:12.860 That's a huge win for them. We talked about relegation, 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.299 and I actually made an error last week. I thought 00:12:15.299 --> 00:12:17.919 two teams were relegated. Two weeks ago. Two 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:20.519 weeks ago. But it was only one. I didn't know 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:22.899 that he thought that. I thought he was just running 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.659 through options, and I was like, okay. And then 00:12:25.659 --> 00:12:27.580 he told me after, and I was like, wow. It made 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:29.659 sense to me that two teams out of the number 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:31.820 of teams playing would be relegated, but it's 00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:35.000 only one. So that being said, Korea was relegated. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.440 They did not pull out a win, although they were 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.450 close to beating. Bulgaria, I believe. And that 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:47.090 would have thrown a wrench into Canada's plans, 00:12:47.250 --> 00:12:49.090 who ended up winning, so it didn't really matter. 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:51.490 But they would have been in and out of sight 00:12:51.490 --> 00:12:55.409 of Thailand. So there was a lot of movement and 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:58.830 a lot of tenseness around a couple of the matches 00:12:58.830 --> 00:13:01.789 in terms of relegation, but Korea is going down, 00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:03.909 and we'll wait and see who's coming out for next 00:13:03.909 --> 00:13:07.690 year. But even though the final eight was set, 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.440 Pretty much, like, going into the last day of 00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:12.879 competition, like, everybody kind of knew who 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:16.340 the top eight were. The battle for relegation 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:20.220 came down to one of the last matches on Sunday. 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:25.460 Like, Thailand was at the very bottom going into 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:29.000 their match against Canada on Sunday. Korea was 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.039 obviously one spot ahead of them. They both had 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:37.500 one win. And they both had five points. So going 00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:40.460 into that match, Thailand literally just needed 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:45.600 to win two sets. Okay? They won the first set 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:48.120 against Canada. Then Canada comes back and wins 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:52.240 the next two. So you're just like, is Thailand 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.200 going to pull this off or not? Like, they just 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.179 have to win one set. Set four went the distance. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.620 And as soon as they won set four, it was like. 00:14:03.740 --> 00:14:07.740 Party on a card. Oh, my gosh. But that was tense 00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:10.279 because you're watching and you're like, oh my 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:12.600 gosh, I don't want this team to get relegated. 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.899 That's so sad. But then it's like, Canada, geez, 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:19.419 you haven't won a match since week one. Are you 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:21.100 going to do this? Are you going to give it to 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:24.279 them? What is happening here? That relegation 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:27.340 battle was exciting. Volleyball World and VNL 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:29.059 have to be happy Thailand is still in it because 00:14:29.059 --> 00:14:32.519 they bring a massive viewership. Oh, 100%. You 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.740 know when you log in. to vbtv and like the thai 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:39.580 matches they have thai language and then english 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:42.360 you know they are getting those thai subscribers 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:46.419 so they're like thank you so much we will maintain 00:14:46.419 --> 00:14:53.000 a vbtv core membership yeah totally a couple 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:58.000 things a couple matches teams to kind of touch 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.580 on here but When all is said and done, the final 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:07.700 eight is R. However you want to do it. Italy, 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:12.679 Brazil, Japan, Poland, China, Turkey, Germany, 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.679 USA. We will dive in a little later into how 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:18.259 we think the final eight is going to play out, 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:21.960 but that was our little summary key takeaways 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:26.799 of the week. What was your favorite match of 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.279 the week? I alluded to this earlier, but I really 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:36.639 enjoyed watching the Italy -Turkey A match. Why? 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:40.299 I mean, I enjoyed it too, but you know. So there's 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:42.759 a couple things. I find Turkey a fascinating 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:50.039 team. They are incredibly physical. When everybody 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:53.039 is playing well on Turkey, they're literally 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.700 unstoppable, and they're so much fun to watch. 00:15:56.539 --> 00:16:01.200 But they just... can't figure it out yet in terms 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:06.899 of being consistent and specifically they seem 00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:10.980 to come and go as Kara Kurt some motions come 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:13.000 and go whether she's frustrated whether she's 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.659 playing well whether she's bringing energy and 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:19.340 so it's it's fascinating to watch how that pendulum 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:24.159 swings Like, even within matches or even within 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.419 stretches of points. And then you have them playing 00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:30.700 Italy, who is, they're just so talented. But 00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:34.720 the thing that impresses me the most is how much 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.320 of a team they are, right? Their team defense 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:41.440 is unbelievable. They're so disciplined. And 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:45.120 the depth that they have, you know, when Iganu 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.950 is a little... disconnected from the match or 00:16:48.950 --> 00:16:52.590 not playing super well they have Antropova who 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:56.570 can come in and arguably might be one of the 00:16:56.570 --> 00:16:59.210 top five opposites in the world on the bench 00:16:59.210 --> 00:17:03.230 for them right and then on the left side they 00:17:03.230 --> 00:17:06.009 have like two legitimate options that can come 00:17:06.009 --> 00:17:09.490 in if they need to move pieces around and quite 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:12.529 frankly they did against Turkiye they needed 00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:15.430 to bring in those other players and they just 00:17:15.430 --> 00:17:19.140 they sub in seamlessly. They fit within the system. 00:17:19.259 --> 00:17:23.319 They're just, that is incredible volleyball that 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:25.940 Italy plays. So to watch them play a super emotional 00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:29.500 Turkey A team that comes as super high and then 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:32.599 super low, it was a five setter. There were emotions 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:36.259 back and forth. I just found the whole dynamic 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:38.759 of that match incredible to watch. I couldn't 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:42.160 stop. No, Italy's definitely plug and play for 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.269 sure. And the level of consistency that they're 00:17:45.269 --> 00:17:48.910 able to maintain while doing so is what makes 00:17:48.910 --> 00:17:53.130 them so dangerous, I think. But, yeah, Turkiye 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:56.170 had moments of absolute brilliance in that match 00:17:56.170 --> 00:17:59.509 and then moments where I was scratching my head. 00:18:00.170 --> 00:18:02.650 Well, and you look at the difference between, 00:18:02.910 --> 00:18:07.210 let's say, Turkiye and Italy. Turkiye's top players 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:09.690 have to play well because they don't... really 00:18:09.690 --> 00:18:12.529 have other options like who is coming in from 00:18:12.529 --> 00:18:16.309 Vargas for Vargas the drop -off is significant 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:20.269 when they have some other very good left sides 00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:24.630 who can pass well who are solid volleyball players 00:18:24.630 --> 00:18:27.490 but they don't have another offensive threat 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:31.210 if Carriker is not on the floor and so when she 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:34.109 has to come off you lose some of that offensive 00:18:34.109 --> 00:18:38.250 ability and then teams key on Vargas and make 00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:41.170 her life more difficult. So they have to find 00:18:41.170 --> 00:18:45.789 a way or Karakurt has to find a way to keep her 00:18:45.789 --> 00:18:50.210 highs if she can, but manage her lows and stay 00:18:50.210 --> 00:18:52.670 on the court and be a threat, not make three 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:55.589 errors in a row, but they're fun to watch. Do 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.509 you want to know my favorite match? Hit me. I 00:18:58.509 --> 00:19:02.460 enjoyed the Canada -Thailand match simply. For 00:19:02.460 --> 00:19:05.319 the relegation intrigue factor. For the drama. 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:07.980 Sarah loves the drama. I loved the drama. I wanted 00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:12.180 to be like, can Thailand find a way, you know, 00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:15.920 to win two sets? Was it the greatest match of 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:20.559 all time? No, but from an excitement, like anticipation 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.720 factor, I like that one. But the other one that 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:28.920 like legit I enjoyed just for itself was Germany 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.700 versus China. Oh, that was a very good game. 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:37.140 Reverse sweep. China was the team of the reverse 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:42.180 sweep this week. They just don't disappear. And 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:48.619 don't forget, that's a hybrid U21 team, junior 00:19:48.619 --> 00:19:50.900 national team. Yeah, a lot of these girls are 00:19:50.900 --> 00:19:56.380 playing for U20 club teams. And you would not 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:59.220 be able to tell from their level of volleyball. 00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:04.339 absurdly impressive. Now, did China play their 00:20:04.339 --> 00:20:07.779 best in the first two sets? No. But I find it 00:20:07.779 --> 00:20:10.880 so impressive the way that they are able to keep 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.279 going, especially at such a young age. They just 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:18.180 keep grinding. They keep fighting. They just 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:23.880 don't give up. And the adjustments they're able 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:26.440 to make, particularly with how young they are, 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:32.009 they're... Their middle, their left side. I am 00:20:32.009 --> 00:20:34.789 so impressed with these players. It was a really 00:20:34.789 --> 00:20:38.490 fun match to watch. And I understand that Germany's 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:40.410 not a top -top team, but they're in the final 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:43.730 eight, so they're no slouch at all. I've actually 00:20:43.730 --> 00:20:45.809 been really impressed with Germany as a whole 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:49.650 over this V &L. Yeah, I mean, when you look at 00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:52.170 Germany, I wouldn't say that... Like, when you 00:20:52.170 --> 00:20:58.809 think of a star player... You aren't naming any 00:20:58.809 --> 00:21:02.269 Germans. No. Do you know what I mean? But they're 00:21:02.269 --> 00:21:06.029 consistent. They're steady for the most part. 00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:09.750 They know how to play. They're able to take the 00:21:09.750 --> 00:21:12.829 talent they have, make it cohesive, and make 00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:17.269 it work. And, yeah, I just found that match to 00:21:17.269 --> 00:21:21.730 be so interesting and engaging. That was my pick. 00:21:22.569 --> 00:21:24.869 I also enjoyed watching that match. I thought 00:21:24.869 --> 00:21:28.150 number nine, Holzmeier, for Germany, had a fantastic 00:21:28.150 --> 00:21:32.490 week. Germany had to win matches this week to 00:21:32.490 --> 00:21:35.150 make the final eight, and I thought she was very 00:21:35.150 --> 00:21:37.430 consistent. I thought she scored well for them. 00:21:37.569 --> 00:21:40.230 I was impressed by her play, specifically on 00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:43.150 that team. They're a good team. They're disciplined. 00:21:43.309 --> 00:21:47.170 They're well -oiled. They're German. But she 00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:50.660 specifically elevated, in my opinion. What are 00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:54.400 the teams that you thought played very well and 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:57.799 sort of elevated for the end, you know, in week 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:02.180 three? And which teams did not look so hot? This 00:22:02.180 --> 00:22:03.920 is a really interesting question. I'm going to 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.759 leave out the obvious ones. Like the teams that 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:08.539 are at the top of the... Oh, I thought you meant 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:10.319 for the ones who didn't look so hot. I was like, 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:14.460 no, tell me. I mean, I thought Serbia elevated 00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:20.000 when they needed to. I thought that... France 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.880 actually played pretty well. I was impressed 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.380 with them. They have a couple pieces. They need 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:29.019 a little bit more on their team to compete with 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:31.099 the really good teams, but I thought that they 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:35.819 played well again. I thought Czech battled. They 00:22:35.819 --> 00:22:37.680 lost a match they shouldn't have, which took 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:39.400 them out of the running. That match they lost 00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:42.059 to Netherlands was real bad for them. That was 00:22:42.059 --> 00:22:46.799 a key one. You know, they came out and they played 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.500 Turkey. You have to factor in that this was their 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:53.940 first VNL. They stayed. They arrived. They have 00:22:53.940 --> 00:22:56.339 some good young pieces. That right side is very 00:22:56.339 --> 00:23:00.720 good. They were great. I was disappointed. I 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.980 would add, before we, I would, I don't think 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:06.980 we can avoid adding the USA to that list. Like, 00:23:06.980 --> 00:23:09.779 they were on the bubble. I know we have very 00:23:09.779 --> 00:23:12.950 specific feelings about them. But they were on 00:23:12.950 --> 00:23:15.069 the bubble and they managed to win three out 00:23:15.069 --> 00:23:19.549 of four, albeit against not the strongest competition, 00:23:19.690 --> 00:23:23.630 but they did what they needed to do to make it 00:23:23.630 --> 00:23:25.650 into the final eight. They won three of four. 00:23:25.849 --> 00:23:28.410 Yeah, fair enough. We'll talk about them specifically 00:23:28.410 --> 00:23:30.730 later, but they did what they needed to do to 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:33.569 get in. You have to give the players credit for 00:23:33.569 --> 00:23:38.150 that for sure. Yeah, so Serbia, France, USA. 00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:42.420 I think those are solid picks for... For teams 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:46.220 that elevated. I thought from a disappointing 00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:49.960 standpoint, I didn't think Turkey had a good 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:52.579 week. I didn't think Canada had a good week. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.880 You don't really have any expectations for Korea, 00:23:56.980 --> 00:23:59.039 I would say. I don't think they were disappointing, 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.980 though. They fought. They pushed Bulgaria to 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:06.440 five. When VNL started, we thought that they 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:09.099 wouldn't win a match. They beat Canada. They 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:14.380 beat Canada. They weren't on a disappointing 00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:17.420 list to me. For me, the disappointing teams were 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:20.599 Canada and Turkey. I thought Netherlands was 00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:23.539 going to put on a better showing at home. They 00:24:23.539 --> 00:24:26.579 had a tough group. I mean, two of their matches 00:24:26.579 --> 00:24:30.059 were Czech and Serbia, which... I figured they 00:24:30.059 --> 00:24:33.400 would win those matches at home. Yeah, Turkey 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.640 going 1 -3. They had no business losing to Czech. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:40.539 They had no business losing to Serbia. I'm sorry. 00:24:40.740 --> 00:24:46.319 No. Even with Boscovich, like, no. For me, Boscovich 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:48.720 was not playing at the level that we've known 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.299 her to play at. She, I know, is coming off of 00:24:52.299 --> 00:24:59.099 an injury, but she's in Serbia's successful years, 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.240 or most successful years, she has had pieces 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.039 around her that have been able to take some of 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:08.480 the load. And now that you're seeing that diminish 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:12.819 quite a bit, she hasn't elevated the way that 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:15.440 I expected her to. And again, we don't know if 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.960 they rushed her back. Well, no, I'm just saying, 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:20.680 based on what I saw this week. Yeah, fair, fair. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.980 I will say I thought a couple of the players 00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:26.940 around her stepped up. I mean, they were not 00:25:26.940 --> 00:25:28.180 good for two weeks. I mean, she took attention. 00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:31.220 I thought Ivanovic played way better this week 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:34.259 than she did in the first two because Boscovich 00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:37.099 was there to take some of the load. Stuff like 00:25:37.099 --> 00:25:40.369 that, you know what I mean? So the question that 00:25:40.369 --> 00:25:43.009 I have for you, and I know that we have a lot 00:25:43.009 --> 00:25:44.609 of Canadian listeners and we got a couple of 00:25:44.609 --> 00:25:47.349 questions about this is, you know, Canada is 00:25:47.349 --> 00:25:50.250 missing arguably three of their best pieces. 00:25:50.690 --> 00:25:54.289 And, you know, so was Serbia. They needed their 00:25:54.289 --> 00:25:57.009 pieces to come back to win. I mean, you see it. 00:25:57.029 --> 00:25:59.890 It's definitely a thing. But what are your thoughts 00:25:59.890 --> 00:26:04.329 about their performance and about them as a team, 00:26:04.490 --> 00:26:07.630 given that fact? Okay, I'll preface this by saying 00:26:07.630 --> 00:26:11.869 I am aware that I am probably hardest on Canada 00:26:11.869 --> 00:26:14.410 and USA. I know that. It's probably not going 00:26:14.410 --> 00:26:16.789 to change, so I'm just telling you I'm aware. 00:26:17.430 --> 00:26:20.150 The thing for me and the thing that drives me 00:26:20.150 --> 00:26:22.890 nuts watching this Canadian team is how they, 00:26:23.089 --> 00:26:27.049 A, don't know how to finish sets. Like, you're 00:26:27.049 --> 00:26:29.690 rolling, you're playing really well, and then 00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:32.950 all of a sudden it matters and you make a ton 00:26:32.950 --> 00:26:36.099 of errors, you do stupid... things and then you 00:26:36.099 --> 00:26:39.000 swing neutral you miss a serve 20 meters out 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:45.660 about like for me that's not okay so it's just 00:26:45.660 --> 00:26:48.779 like the way that they're losing they're giving 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:52.160 team teams matches they're not being aggressive 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:55.619 when it matters their most aggressive most fearless 00:26:55.619 --> 00:26:58.299 player is a 19 year old who has no experience 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:01.019 which okay that comes with being 19 I get it 00:27:01.019 --> 00:27:04.309 but like that that can't be the case You know 00:27:04.309 --> 00:27:08.349 what I mean? And I just feel like they don't 00:27:08.349 --> 00:27:12.210 have any leadership on the court, especially 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:14.730 from the players who you would expect it from, 00:27:14.769 --> 00:27:17.170 the ones who have been there. Yeah, I think there's 00:27:17.170 --> 00:27:21.589 a lot of panic, poor decision -making. I think 00:27:21.589 --> 00:27:25.450 a lot of it's mental, but I was very frustrated 00:27:25.450 --> 00:27:28.890 watching them this week. There's no way that 00:27:28.890 --> 00:27:32.430 losing that many five -setters is a coincidence. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.579 There's no way that all of the teams that you 00:27:35.579 --> 00:27:38.059 played and went to five over the course of three 00:27:38.059 --> 00:27:41.680 weeks, it's coincidental that you didn't win 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.400 any of them. So I agree with you. Well, you're 00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:45.680 giving up huge leads at the end of sets. You're 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:51.299 giving up five match points to the U .S., seven 00:27:51.299 --> 00:27:57.339 set points to Thailand. What's changing from 00:27:57.339 --> 00:28:00.019 one point to the next? What's the difference? 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:04.079 And the other thing that I noticed is that their 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:09.480 pieces don't have good games together. Like Johnson 00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:13.240 had two very good games in this round, but there 00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:15.359 was nothing else happening around her. They set 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.960 her every ball. Yeah, there's no offensive flow. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:24.599 You just give the hot hand the ball. You're missing 00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:26.920 pieces on the right side who can score. Like, 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:28.839 Gusen was playing on the right side because Smrek 00:28:28.839 --> 00:28:33.079 couldn't score. And she needs to be on the left 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:35.700 side. Yeah, they just couldn't get an offense 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:40.059 going. And sometimes Maglio is very good in the 00:28:40.059 --> 00:28:42.160 middle, and then she'll just disappear for stretches 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:44.819 of time or miss every serve. Like, there was 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:50.660 never a cohesive. team performance and the crazy 00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:54.099 thing is they had 24 blocks against the U .S. 00:28:54.099 --> 00:28:57.839 like they were prepared to play them and defensively 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.759 where they were good but they could not score 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:03.039 and like you said it's it's a tentative mindset 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.319 when there are chances to win and that doesn't 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:09.480 bode well somebody somebody needs to want to 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:11.720 score and you can't just say oh Alexa will do 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:14.380 it or Van Rijk will do it when they get hit that's 00:29:14.380 --> 00:29:17.000 not how you build a winning program that mentality 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:19.900 was very telling missing those players, in my 00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:22.579 opinion. And it needs to change. And quite frankly, 00:29:22.700 --> 00:29:26.220 Gusen, in my opinion, was the only one who embodied 00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:28.920 what needed to happen. And I thought she was 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:32.880 good. And I thought Fockboom was good until she 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:35.960 got... Unfortunately, got injured. And I'm assuming 00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:39.079 she got concussed because, dang, she took that 00:29:39.079 --> 00:29:42.420 in the face hard. But you need, with those two 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:45.869 young players, you need to build... that mentality 00:29:45.869 --> 00:29:49.809 around the program not wear it out of them the 00:29:49.809 --> 00:29:52.250 thing for me is like you guys score points and 00:29:52.250 --> 00:29:56.470 you're just kind of like let's go like these 00:29:56.470 --> 00:30:00.630 other teams are like bleeding volleyball you 00:30:00.630 --> 00:30:03.130 know what i mean they're like let's do this we're 00:30:03.130 --> 00:30:06.250 gonna like the emotion you can tell how bad they 00:30:06.250 --> 00:30:08.690 want it and canada is just a bunch of flatliners 00:30:08.690 --> 00:30:13.789 that are like oh nice play The most emotion that 00:30:13.789 --> 00:30:15.630 you get on your team should not be your coach. 00:30:15.809 --> 00:30:20.349 And he toned his emotion down like 20 notches 00:30:20.349 --> 00:30:22.950 this week. Not when the play is going on, because 00:30:22.950 --> 00:30:25.029 you can still see his face. But after the play 00:30:25.029 --> 00:30:27.170 ends, he's smiling. But he still is more emotional 00:30:27.170 --> 00:30:29.650 than everybody else on the team. He can't be 00:30:29.650 --> 00:30:33.609 the one that cares the most. Yeah. And I've noticed 00:30:33.609 --> 00:30:36.490 emotion individually for players who are playing 00:30:36.490 --> 00:30:40.940 well. Which is also not okay. It'll be interesting 00:30:40.940 --> 00:30:44.859 to see what Canada brings to Worlds, who shows 00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:49.819 up. And they definitely got better defensively, 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:52.200 I thought, as the tournament went on. You could 00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:56.420 see Guidetti's game plans and hand -molding the 00:30:56.420 --> 00:31:00.259 team that way. It'll be interesting to see how 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:02.940 far they come, what they can accomplish, what 00:31:02.940 --> 00:31:05.779 looks different come Worlds for them. And again, 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:08.759 it's a mindset. At this level, you can't expect 00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.619 teams to give you matches. You need to take them, 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:15.599 and Canada doesn't take matches. They wait and 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.039 hope that other teams give it to them. And it 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.640 didn't work out for them. No. As we said earlier, 00:31:21.900 --> 00:31:24.819 the final eight is set. So we are going to go 00:31:24.819 --> 00:31:27.259 through our predictions of how this is going 00:31:27.259 --> 00:31:31.579 to play out. Okay? So the quarterfinal matchups 00:31:31.579 --> 00:31:36.039 are going to be Italy versus USA. Brazil versus 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:40.440 Germany, Japan versus Turkey, and Poland versus 00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:46.880 China. So Italy versus USA. I think Italy's going 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.400 to win. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:53.799 question. The odds are like 100 % to zero, I 00:31:53.799 --> 00:31:55.839 think. Adam says that, and then the office is 00:31:55.839 --> 00:31:57.720 going to happen. It really stresses me out when 00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:02.099 he's so sure, but... I mean, come on. They're 00:32:02.099 --> 00:32:04.759 Italy's... They're a well -oiled machine. They're 00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:07.319 super physical. Their middles are outstanding. 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.819 There's no comparison. Well, it's clear that 00:32:11.819 --> 00:32:15.680 the USA was just happy to be there. Yeah. I'm 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:18.940 sorry. If you beat China, you have the opportunity 00:32:18.940 --> 00:32:23.079 to jump into seventh, avoid Italy. Granted, Brazil 00:32:23.079 --> 00:32:26.420 is also a very difficult match, but avoid Italy. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:30.819 And you play an entire roster who hasn't sniffed 00:32:30.819 --> 00:32:35.509 the court. in week three or maybe at all yeah 00:32:35.509 --> 00:32:37.809 i don't think fairbanks set taylor mims came 00:32:37.809 --> 00:32:41.210 in i'm like hello what yeah it's you're clearly 00:32:41.210 --> 00:32:44.049 just happy to be there i don't think that they're 00:32:44.049 --> 00:32:46.990 i don't think that they're prepared to win i 00:32:46.990 --> 00:32:48.829 don't think they'll be ready to make adjustments 00:32:48.829 --> 00:32:55.250 i don't it's just in watching the u .s this week 00:32:55.250 --> 00:33:00.549 they their physicality won over teams that were 00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:04.019 bottom to middle of the road teams well they 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:07.119 didn't beat china but they played two out of 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:10.240 the three bottom vnl teams this week correct 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:16.059 and went five with canada and yeah so you know 00:33:16.059 --> 00:33:20.420 watching them the only thing in my opinion that 00:33:20.420 --> 00:33:22.680 they're doing right now that is world class is 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:25.019 their pipe over top of the middle they do run 00:33:25.019 --> 00:33:28.859 that it's fantastic excellent and you know i 00:33:28.859 --> 00:33:32.440 will give them credit Their game plans to start 00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:36.160 matches were better than they had been in week 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:39.259 one and week two. However, you were playing teams 00:33:39.259 --> 00:33:41.779 with obvious weaknesses, so the game plans were 00:33:41.779 --> 00:33:45.079 easier to put together, and there were no in 00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:49.140 -game adjustments. That was a huge issue in the 00:33:49.140 --> 00:33:51.079 China match, in my opinion. You start well, but 00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:53.140 then when a team makes an adjustment, you don't 00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:57.759 change back. And to me, that's on the coaching 00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:00.369 staff, and we kind of make fun of... you know, 00:34:00.369 --> 00:34:04.089 their timeouts and whatever. And maybe they went 00:34:04.089 --> 00:34:06.170 in to VNL saying, hey, we're going to let you 00:34:06.170 --> 00:34:07.710 guys play. We're going to figure it out. We want 00:34:07.710 --> 00:34:10.590 to see what's going on. That may be the case. 00:34:10.809 --> 00:34:13.989 What happens at Worlds for them, we'll be telling. 00:34:14.150 --> 00:34:16.849 So if you've decided as a coaching staff you're 00:34:16.849 --> 00:34:18.690 going to sit back and evaluate your players and 00:34:18.690 --> 00:34:22.570 kind of let them run the show and do all of that 00:34:22.570 --> 00:34:25.650 because you want to see the character, I don't 00:34:25.650 --> 00:34:28.400 necessarily agree with that decision. but I can 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.460 understand where you're coming from. But when 00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:34.400 we get to Worlds, Worlds is about winning. So 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.840 are you able to flip that switch? Are you able 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:42.920 to now execute high -level game plans, make adjustments 00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.559 in match, see what's happening and go from there? 00:34:46.500 --> 00:34:49.780 My instinct is no, but I'm willing to give them 00:34:49.780 --> 00:34:53.320 to Worlds to find out. The way that they construct 00:34:53.320 --> 00:34:57.840 rosters just makes no sense to me. Well, it was 00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:01.860 fair play VNO week three at home. No. No. There 00:35:01.860 --> 00:35:06.260 is no world where you should bring more than 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:11.260 two opposites on your roster. They brought four. 00:35:13.019 --> 00:35:16.739 All right. Yeah. You're a team whose passing 00:35:16.739 --> 00:35:19.679 is very up and down, questionable at best, and 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:22.260 you're telling me you're going to bring three 00:35:22.260 --> 00:35:25.719 left sides, three people who can pass and attack. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:28.760 You're going to bring Madison Skinner, who I'm 00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:31.079 sorry at this point is an opposite, and three 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:35.079 more opposites. If anything, you bring two opposites. 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:37.559 You bring four left sides because guess what? 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:40.280 A left side could step in and play opposite, 00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:42.960 and opposite's not going to go start passing 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:46.559 and playing six rotation serve receive. The way 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:48.139 that they're constructing these rosters makes 00:35:48.139 --> 00:35:51.480 absolutely no sense, and I've got a very hot 00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:54.900 take for you. Are you ready? I'm ready. It's 00:35:54.900 --> 00:36:04.059 steaming. I think that Eric Sullivan has been 00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:07.619 messing around with fair play in all of these 00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:11.920 matches to save face. I think it is so easy to 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:17.820 hide behind the excuse of, oh, well, we're just 00:36:17.820 --> 00:36:20.679 testing players out or just giving people experience, 00:36:20.860 --> 00:36:24.539 blah, blah, blah. I think he is saving face. 00:36:25.179 --> 00:36:27.119 And that's why he's doing it. Because there is 00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:29.619 absolutely no reason they shouldn't have pushed 00:36:29.619 --> 00:36:32.340 and started the team that had won every match 00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:35.679 to beat China to get a more favorable draw. I 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:39.099 thought that as well when I saw the roster against 00:36:39.099 --> 00:36:40.840 China because they're going to play Italy now. 00:36:40.940 --> 00:36:42.519 And it's like, well, Italy's the best team in 00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:47.239 the world. That's why my comment about Worlds, 00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:49.079 you have no excuse. Worlds is a tournament about 00:36:49.079 --> 00:36:51.780 winning. And that's where... I think every tournament 00:36:51.780 --> 00:36:54.309 is a tournament about winning, but I'm... Call 00:36:54.309 --> 00:36:56.550 me crazy. No, I understand what you're saying, 00:36:56.670 --> 00:37:00.789 but the U .S. is in a unique situation. You can 00:37:00.789 --> 00:37:06.369 make a cohesive argument for looking at your 00:37:06.369 --> 00:37:09.130 players, letting them play, figuring out who 00:37:09.130 --> 00:37:10.750 you want your roster to be. This isn't club volleyball. 00:37:10.769 --> 00:37:14.429 I don't care. This isn't the let's everybody 00:37:14.429 --> 00:37:16.510 play a game. Are we all happy? Are we feeling 00:37:16.510 --> 00:37:19.789 good? Are we having fun? No. I understand what 00:37:19.789 --> 00:37:22.130 you're saying, but there is. There is a long 00:37:22.130 --> 00:37:24.389 -term planning aspect to what they are doing. 00:37:25.010 --> 00:37:28.570 But you have to realize that four years is not 00:37:28.570 --> 00:37:31.469 as long as you think they are. And you need to 00:37:31.469 --> 00:37:34.010 start moving. You don't have the best athletes. 00:37:34.070 --> 00:37:36.230 You don't have the best volleyball players as 00:37:36.230 --> 00:37:38.610 of right now. There is a lot of work to do. You 00:37:38.610 --> 00:37:41.670 are an inexperienced coaching staff. A lot of 00:37:41.670 --> 00:37:44.130 things have to go right for them to find a roster 00:37:44.130 --> 00:37:47.929 that can compete. And so this was your mulligan. 00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:55.800 Show me at Worlds. Okay, so that matchup, we 00:37:55.800 --> 00:37:58.599 think Italy's going to win. Okay, perfect. Brazil 00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:00.900 versus Germany. I mean, I think Brazil's going 00:38:00.900 --> 00:38:03.260 to win. I'm taking Brazil. Brazil and Italy are 00:38:03.260 --> 00:38:06.539 the two deepest teams in the world. Yeah. I think 00:38:06.539 --> 00:38:12.219 if Germany can win one set and get to 20 in the 00:38:12.219 --> 00:38:14.920 other sets, that is a spectacular outing for 00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:17.440 them. Even if they lose 3 -0 and they can get 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:22.190 to 20, You're happy with that? Brazil's another 00:38:22.190 --> 00:38:24.389 plug -and -play team. Like I said, before Ana 00:38:24.389 --> 00:38:26.389 Cristina got injured, it was Ana Cristina, Gabi 00:38:26.389 --> 00:38:30.289 on the left side. Bergman was on the right side, 00:38:30.469 --> 00:38:35.409 which, amazing. I kind of loved that. But then 00:38:35.409 --> 00:38:37.349 Ana Cristina gets injured. Oh, Bergman, come 00:38:37.349 --> 00:38:39.409 back to the left side. Rosa Maria, go in. Tainara, 00:38:39.530 --> 00:38:44.369 go in. Right side. Like, it's crazy. Italy and 00:38:44.369 --> 00:38:46.789 Brazil, plug -and -play, they are totally fine. 00:38:47.990 --> 00:38:51.250 So even though I think Germany has been steady, 00:38:51.389 --> 00:38:53.429 I don't think they're going to match up with 00:38:53.429 --> 00:38:55.949 Brazil. No, I don't think they have the consistent 00:38:55.949 --> 00:39:00.730 firepower that Brazil has. Japan versus Turkey. 00:39:01.429 --> 00:39:07.489 Oh, this is the one that I think has the most 00:39:07.489 --> 00:39:11.929 variability in it. Turkey is up and down. Japan 00:39:11.929 --> 00:39:16.780 makes you hit over and over. And over again, 00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:19.340 that's where you think Turkey gets frustrated 00:39:19.340 --> 00:39:21.639 and makes mistakes. I think Japan is going to 00:39:21.639 --> 00:39:26.019 serve Karakurt off the court. That's honestly, 00:39:26.179 --> 00:39:30.800 she has improved in her passing. Bowen, they 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:36.250 are coming at you with those serves. Okay. And 00:39:36.250 --> 00:39:38.989 if she gets frustrated, it's going to be downhill. 00:39:39.030 --> 00:39:41.929 I think they're going to massacre her on server 00:39:41.929 --> 00:39:44.530 C. Now the only thing is that the other left 00:39:44.530 --> 00:39:48.170 sides for Turkey A can still score against Japan 00:39:48.170 --> 00:39:52.110 because they're not quite as physical. So I can 00:39:52.110 --> 00:39:55.210 see a world where Karakur gets subbed out and 00:39:55.210 --> 00:39:59.630 they seem to have rotating options of who comes 00:39:59.630 --> 00:40:02.929 in on the left side. That doesn't necessarily 00:40:02.929 --> 00:40:05.650 mean to me that Turkey is going to lose in this 00:40:05.650 --> 00:40:10.530 case, given Japan. My pick is Japan. Turkey, 00:40:10.590 --> 00:40:15.710 Japan is so consistent. They bring incredible 00:40:15.710 --> 00:40:18.789 service pressure. Their defensive game is on 00:40:18.789 --> 00:40:23.530 point. Will, obviously they need to receive well 00:40:23.530 --> 00:40:26.050 so they can run their speed of offense against 00:40:26.050 --> 00:40:29.730 the... mismatch height block for sure, but they've 00:40:29.730 --> 00:40:31.969 been playing against mismatch height blocks this 00:40:31.969 --> 00:40:36.650 whole time. I think Japan's strengths overcome 00:40:36.650 --> 00:40:41.929 Turkey's weaknesses. My instinct in this was 00:40:41.929 --> 00:40:46.809 that Turkey was going to win. Okay. The last 00:40:46.809 --> 00:40:50.510 one, Poland versus China. This is another toss. 00:40:50.550 --> 00:40:52.510 I think this is going to be a fantastic game. 00:40:52.570 --> 00:40:55.090 I think this is going to be the best game. It 00:40:55.090 --> 00:41:00.119 is in Poland too. It is in Poland. China is very 00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:05.219 good, but they are young. Poland at home. I think 00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:07.360 this is a five -setter. I think this is overtime, 00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:10.380 but I give the edge to Poland. Both of these 00:41:10.380 --> 00:41:12.639 teams are really good. This is going to be the 00:41:12.639 --> 00:41:15.780 match that I watch with my popcorn, no distraction. 00:41:16.860 --> 00:41:20.280 I think it's going to be awesome. This one's 00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:26.000 a tough one for me to come up with. I've been 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:31.119 liking China so much. I really have. Oh, they're 00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:34.159 outside. They're one middle with the longer hair 00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:40.420 are cold in the best way possible. Okay. Oh my 00:41:40.420 --> 00:41:44.340 gosh. You're right. And playing in Poland. Poland 00:41:44.340 --> 00:41:47.440 loves playing in Poland. I'll play devil's advocate. 00:41:47.500 --> 00:41:51.659 I'll say China. Okay. Okay. So based on that. 00:41:52.710 --> 00:41:54.949 I mean, to be completely honest, I think it's 00:41:54.949 --> 00:41:57.210 going to be an Italy -Brazil final. I do as well, 00:41:57.289 --> 00:42:00.070 and I think Italy's going to take it. I think 00:42:00.070 --> 00:42:02.829 Italy's going to win. My prediction going into 00:42:02.829 --> 00:42:04.329 this whole thing was that Italy's going to win. 00:42:04.849 --> 00:42:08.550 Yeah, my prediction, Italy -Brazil final, because 00:42:08.550 --> 00:42:10.550 we were disagreeing on the quarterfinals, like 00:42:10.550 --> 00:42:14.269 this could go forever. And then, yeah, I think 00:42:14.269 --> 00:42:15.929 Italy's going to win it all. I think they're 00:42:15.929 --> 00:42:18.469 just too good right now. They're playing too 00:42:18.469 --> 00:42:20.940 well. Sarah Farr, I'm obsessed with her. Well, 00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:23.519 and Deneze is no slouch. Deneze is no slouch 00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:26.400 either. And, like, your one -two punch with Igonu 00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:30.559 and Antropova. Again, like, either one, like. 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:34.500 They have so many good left sides. Dagenaro runs 00:42:34.500 --> 00:42:37.079 the show in the backcourt. She's unbelievable. 00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:40.059 Her setting gave me a break. Yeah. There's just 00:42:40.059 --> 00:42:43.380 no holes in that roster. And I love Brazil, too. 00:42:43.460 --> 00:42:46.800 Don't get me wrong. But I think Italy. My pick 00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:50.480 is Italy. I think Italy's playing. just a little 00:42:50.480 --> 00:42:53.500 bit more clean and consistent than Brazil is 00:42:53.500 --> 00:42:55.840 right now. You heard it here first. That's what 00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:58.780 we think is going to happen. VNL, we're clearly 00:42:58.780 --> 00:43:00.679 very passionate about a couple of these matchups, 00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:06.039 but we do agree on our semifinal and final. So 00:43:06.039 --> 00:43:08.340 let us know what you're thinking. Let us know 00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:10.440 your thoughts for these matchups. We would love 00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:14.699 to hear it. And I'm curious if any of our predictions 00:43:14.699 --> 00:43:17.420 line up with yours. It is time for listener questions. 00:43:19.580 --> 00:43:22.239 So and I'm going to pronounce these names wrong. 00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:27.579 I'm so sorry but I'll try my best. What are your 00:43:27.579 --> 00:43:32.599 thoughts on Gizem versus Simge for Turkiye? So 00:43:32.599 --> 00:43:37.900 for context these are the liberos. The two libero 00:43:37.900 --> 00:43:40.119 options we have seen kind of switching out for 00:43:40.119 --> 00:43:43.659 Turkiye. Gizem is the blonde haired one. She 00:43:43.659 --> 00:43:48.219 plays for Vakifbank and Simge is the Brunette, 00:43:48.260 --> 00:43:51.860 she plays club for Izazibashi. There's one thing 00:43:51.860 --> 00:43:54.800 that makes this a difficult question to answer, 00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:58.440 is that neither of them ever get served because 00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:00.940 their left sides aren't great passers. They're 00:44:00.940 --> 00:44:06.579 both very good. So if I look at this defensively, 00:44:06.579 --> 00:44:12.039 I think Gizem has the edge. Again, we're splitting 00:44:12.039 --> 00:44:15.659 hairs here. They're both good. But to me, Gizem 00:44:15.659 --> 00:44:18.929 is just... a little bit ahead of the play in 00:44:18.929 --> 00:44:23.190 terms of her positioning and her control on what 00:44:23.190 --> 00:44:25.710 she's doing defensively. She takes a little bit 00:44:25.710 --> 00:44:29.250 more court and a little bit more initiative, 00:44:29.429 --> 00:44:33.630 I think. I watched her in the Italy match and 00:44:33.630 --> 00:44:37.369 some of the digs she made, you know, she controls 00:44:37.369 --> 00:44:40.190 the ones that are at her very well and her positioning 00:44:40.190 --> 00:44:43.510 is very good, but then her one -touch stabs and 00:44:43.510 --> 00:44:47.050 her ability to cover. To me, defensively, and 00:44:47.050 --> 00:44:49.530 that's kind of what I'm looking at for the Turkey 00:44:49.530 --> 00:44:52.710 A libero, I give her a slight edge. She was my 00:44:52.710 --> 00:44:55.030 pick, too. But don't get me wrong, they're both 00:44:55.030 --> 00:44:57.670 very good. Yeah, I mean, we're splitting hairs 00:44:57.670 --> 00:45:01.150 here. Question two. I like this question a lot, 00:45:01.210 --> 00:45:04.110 actually. If Japan is known for being good at 00:45:04.110 --> 00:45:07.449 serving and defense slash passing and running 00:45:07.449 --> 00:45:11.570 a faster offense, those are things that you have 00:45:11.570 --> 00:45:14.610 to spend more time practicing. you would think, 00:45:14.610 --> 00:45:18.409 to compensate for being small. What are things 00:45:18.409 --> 00:45:21.329 that a more physical team would have to spend 00:45:21.329 --> 00:45:24.829 more time practicing? Or are they just lucky 00:45:24.829 --> 00:45:27.809 because they're bigger? Oh, this is a great question. 00:45:28.889 --> 00:45:32.269 And I actually think the prime examples of this 00:45:32.269 --> 00:45:37.030 are Turkey A and the USA. So when you're a little 00:45:37.030 --> 00:45:41.630 bit bigger, you're further off the ground, which 00:45:41.630 --> 00:45:45.019 means you have a little bit less time, and you're 00:45:45.019 --> 00:45:47.659 playing the ball a little bit higher in general. 00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:53.360 And so for me, that means that your positioning 00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:56.920 has to be that much better, both on passing and 00:45:56.920 --> 00:46:01.579 on defense. So if you watch smaller liberos, 00:46:01.739 --> 00:46:04.380 they can kind of make up for being in the wrong 00:46:04.380 --> 00:46:06.519 defensive positioning by being a little quicker, 00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:08.679 by sprawling out. They're closer to the ground. 00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:13.539 They're closer to the floor. You watch bigger 00:46:13.539 --> 00:46:16.579 athletes, and I think Kara Kurt is a good example 00:46:16.579 --> 00:46:20.460 of this. You know, when the ball is close to 00:46:20.460 --> 00:46:22.519 her, she can dig it, but she's very often out 00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:26.800 of position, in my opinion. You look at Sarah 00:46:26.800 --> 00:46:30.519 Franklin, reads the game pretty well. She's in 00:46:30.519 --> 00:46:33.159 decent position, so she can dig balls, but she's 00:46:33.159 --> 00:46:35.719 not mobile if she's out of position. So you need 00:46:35.719 --> 00:46:39.360 to work on... that defensive lineup around the 00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.000 block or your responsibility of being so tight 00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:44.619 and disciplined on there? Because there's no 00:46:44.619 --> 00:46:47.539 margin for error when you're bigger than the 00:46:47.539 --> 00:46:50.539 normal defensive players. I have two answers 00:46:50.539 --> 00:46:53.139 now after hearing Adam's answer. My answer one, 00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:55.559 which will kind of be in line with his, is like, 00:46:55.639 --> 00:46:59.139 I think if you're bigger, you need to work on 00:46:59.139 --> 00:47:01.340 your serving and blocking because you want to 00:47:01.340 --> 00:47:06.159 hammer your serves to bring your block into play. 00:47:06.969 --> 00:47:09.269 If you're not a good defensive team, you want 00:47:09.269 --> 00:47:11.989 your block to take most of the load defensively, 00:47:11.989 --> 00:47:16.710 and that starts with serving really well to allow 00:47:16.710 --> 00:47:23.030 your block to get set up early. My other answer 00:47:23.030 --> 00:47:27.210 before I heard Adam's answer was more physical 00:47:27.210 --> 00:47:30.289 teams need to work on these things too. I think 00:47:30.289 --> 00:47:34.190 if they work on them, it complements their physicality 00:47:34.190 --> 00:47:37.159 very well. Because like you're not always going 00:47:37.159 --> 00:47:41.000 to be able to go and hit a great angle around 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:43.039 the block. You're not always going to be able 00:47:43.039 --> 00:47:47.199 to go and swing out of a system all match like 00:47:47.199 --> 00:47:51.099 deep corners. So I think big teams or physical 00:47:51.099 --> 00:47:53.239 teams need to work on these same things too. 00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:57.780 But more as a compliment and to add to their 00:47:57.780 --> 00:48:01.039 toolkit as opposed to like relying on it so much. 00:48:01.900 --> 00:48:04.630 Question three. What are your thoughts on the 00:48:04.630 --> 00:48:06.789 rotation rule with players being able to move 00:48:06.789 --> 00:48:09.769 before the serve? I mean, I think it just makes 00:48:09.769 --> 00:48:11.769 sense. Like, what difference does it make if 00:48:11.769 --> 00:48:13.849 you start on the left and have to walk over? 00:48:14.010 --> 00:48:17.130 I'm a purist. I love knowing exactly where everybody 00:48:17.130 --> 00:48:21.269 is, you know? There are a few matches you're 00:48:21.269 --> 00:48:23.269 like, oh, who was subbed out? And I looked at 00:48:23.269 --> 00:48:26.710 the front row to see who, where they were, and 00:48:26.710 --> 00:48:28.010 they were all lined up already. And I was like, 00:48:28.050 --> 00:48:29.469 I can't even tell you what rotation they're in 00:48:29.469 --> 00:48:32.739 right now. Yeah, and that is the only downside 00:48:32.739 --> 00:48:35.860 is for the viewer, not knowing kind of where 00:48:35.860 --> 00:48:38.340 you are, having looking at the court when the 00:48:38.340 --> 00:48:41.900 serve comes. But from a play standpoint, from 00:48:41.900 --> 00:48:45.099 a being on the court standpoint, I'm indifferent. 00:48:45.480 --> 00:48:49.500 What about like running on the toss now instead 00:48:49.500 --> 00:48:51.800 of the contact when you're in serve receive, 00:48:51.880 --> 00:48:55.920 you know? Yeah, I kind of, I think running on 00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:59.929 the contact makes. the serve able to be a little 00:48:59.929 --> 00:49:03.070 more effective because you can ruin attack lines. 00:49:03.269 --> 00:49:06.230 You can take middles out. So I think it takes 00:49:06.230 --> 00:49:09.250 away some of the efficacy of some of the really 00:49:09.250 --> 00:49:11.769 good like float servers or short servers. Yeah, 00:49:11.789 --> 00:49:14.150 I don't like it so much because it allows people 00:49:14.150 --> 00:49:16.170 to hide their weaknesses so much easier. Like 00:49:16.170 --> 00:49:18.849 you barely see right sides having to hit on the 00:49:18.849 --> 00:49:20.969 left anymore. Yeah. Because they can just take 00:49:20.969 --> 00:49:23.090 off like on the toss. Like when you used to have 00:49:23.090 --> 00:49:27.659 to take off on the contact. It was so rushed 00:49:27.659 --> 00:49:30.780 that you just had to stay on the left. So that 00:49:30.780 --> 00:49:36.239 one I disagree with. But the changing on your 00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:37.880 own side, I'm like, I don't think there's any 00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:41.440 advantage gained or lost there. So it doesn't 00:49:41.440 --> 00:49:44.739 matter to me. Question four. I'm confused as 00:49:44.739 --> 00:49:47.159 to why Olivia Babcock is referred to as more 00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:51.289 physical than Logan Lednicki. both by you on 00:49:51.289 --> 00:49:54.349 past episodes and by commentators during the 00:49:54.349 --> 00:49:58.210 matches. In watching both of them, they honestly 00:49:58.210 --> 00:50:02.190 seem pretty even to me. So in general, what makes 00:50:02.190 --> 00:50:04.269 a player more physical than another, and why 00:50:04.269 --> 00:50:07.130 is Olivia Babcock considered more physical than 00:50:07.130 --> 00:50:11.050 Lednicki? That's a good question. So I think 00:50:11.050 --> 00:50:17.250 there's two things. One is, for me, your... decision 00:50:17.250 --> 00:50:20.130 making which I know is not a physical thing but 00:50:20.130 --> 00:50:24.030 how you use your either height or your jump ability 00:50:24.030 --> 00:50:29.030 or your size to your advantage to me Olivia Babcock 00:50:29.030 --> 00:50:32.489 is more aggressive when she attacks the ball 00:50:32.489 --> 00:50:37.869 she will default to being more terminal like 00:50:37.869 --> 00:50:40.809 going for the kill and when I watch let Nikki 00:50:40.809 --> 00:50:44.579 play Sometimes she's unsure to me what she wants 00:50:44.579 --> 00:50:47.179 to do or she'll play it a little bit more safe. 00:50:47.340 --> 00:50:51.380 And again, I know that's not necessarily a physical 00:50:51.380 --> 00:50:54.860 trait, but on the right side specifically where 00:50:54.860 --> 00:50:58.539 your job is to score points, how you hit the 00:50:58.539 --> 00:51:03.880 ball is part of how you're perceived. And the 00:51:03.880 --> 00:51:06.639 other one I would say is the pace of how you 00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:09.920 hit. If you listen to Babcock hit versus Lednicki, 00:51:11.079 --> 00:51:16.119 there's more pace on her swing, Babcock's. It's 00:51:16.119 --> 00:51:20.380 heavier. So those would be my opinions on that. 00:51:20.679 --> 00:51:23.119 I think my definition is slightly different. 00:51:23.519 --> 00:51:27.760 That doesn't surprise me. Okay. When I think 00:51:27.760 --> 00:51:31.880 of physical athletes or physicality, I think 00:51:31.880 --> 00:51:36.480 of how high you contact the ball. I think of 00:51:36.480 --> 00:51:40.059 the angles. that you're able to hit if you're 00:51:40.059 --> 00:51:43.559 a blocker. I think of how much in the opponent's 00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:48.340 face you get, how high you jump. Like, I think 00:51:48.340 --> 00:51:53.480 Olivia Babcock, she gets off the ground better 00:51:53.480 --> 00:51:55.719 than Lydnicki. She contacts the ball at a much 00:51:55.719 --> 00:51:59.320 higher point than Lydnicki. She goes for steeper 00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:03.760 angles than Lydnicki does, all of which I consider 00:52:03.760 --> 00:52:10.000 or I think make a player quote -unquote physical. 00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:13.000 Blockers that you see completely penetrate the 00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.840 net into the hitter's face, that is a mark of 00:52:16.840 --> 00:52:21.179 physicality for me. So those are kind of what 00:52:21.179 --> 00:52:24.019 I think of. All right, let me ask you the last 00:52:24.019 --> 00:52:26.420 question because I can't answer this one. Yes, 00:52:26.420 --> 00:52:29.960 you can. Are you playing in the Nebraska alumni 00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:35.199 match? That is a hard no for a couple reasons. 00:52:35.340 --> 00:52:38.159 First of all, it's been a minute. since I've 00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:43.840 played indoor. But I think more critical is that 00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:45.800 at that time, I'll just be about giving birth 00:52:45.800 --> 00:52:50.840 because I am very pregnant. So nobody needs to 00:52:50.840 --> 00:52:53.000 see that, and there's no way I'm fitting into 00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:56.059 a volleyball jersey or moving or jumping anywhere. 00:52:56.239 --> 00:52:58.619 So no, I will not play. You'll be the libero. 00:52:59.420 --> 00:53:03.639 I'm shaped like the ball, okay? I will be the 00:53:03.639 --> 00:53:09.050 ball. So no. I'm not as fun as I would be. It's 00:53:09.050 --> 00:53:12.230 just not in the cards. We are heading into week 00:53:12.230 --> 00:53:15.750 three for the men's V &L competition. Matches 00:53:15.750 --> 00:53:18.989 are being played in Gdansk, Poland, Ljubljana, 00:53:19.190 --> 00:53:23.730 Slovenia, and Chiba, Japan. He's looking at me. 00:53:24.369 --> 00:53:27.090 If it sounds like a question, it's because it 00:53:27.090 --> 00:53:30.230 is. Sarah loves to do this to me. I'm not the 00:53:30.230 --> 00:53:32.289 best with pronunciations, so she just teased 00:53:32.289 --> 00:53:34.630 these up for me to make a fool of myself. So 00:53:34.630 --> 00:53:37.829 we're going to Poland, Slovenia, and Japan next 00:53:37.829 --> 00:53:41.269 week, everybody. Now, I know normally we've done 00:53:41.269 --> 00:53:43.349 breakdowns about who's going to be where and 00:53:43.349 --> 00:53:45.750 the top eight and all of that. The reality of 00:53:45.750 --> 00:53:49.989 it is the men's is still a free -for -all. There 00:53:49.989 --> 00:53:54.130 are so many teams who could make it. There's 00:53:54.130 --> 00:53:56.610 so many permutations depending on what happens. 00:53:57.260 --> 00:54:02.519 It's still wide open. And so instead of running 00:54:02.519 --> 00:54:04.840 down all the possibilities and laying it all 00:54:04.840 --> 00:54:08.599 out there... No, you did, though. We did. Although 00:54:08.599 --> 00:54:11.440 we did forget that China was hosting. Yeah, so 00:54:11.440 --> 00:54:16.119 there's... So forget it. If we look at the rundown 00:54:16.119 --> 00:54:19.320 for men's, the top team, which is Brazil, has 00:54:19.320 --> 00:54:25.840 seven wins. The 13th team in the USA has four 00:54:25.840 --> 00:54:32.150 wins. along with five other teams. So, I mean. 00:54:32.289 --> 00:54:35.110 Try to get seven out of that number. Yeah. We're 00:54:35.110 --> 00:54:38.429 getting seven out of the top, what, 14, 13? Top 00:54:38.429 --> 00:54:42.869 13. Yeah, it's crazy. It's, I mean, it's do or 00:54:42.869 --> 00:54:46.690 die. You have to win your matches. Every game 00:54:46.690 --> 00:54:49.409 is going to count. Pretty much the only safe 00:54:49.409 --> 00:54:54.150 teams, Brazil is in, Poland is in, Italy is in, 00:54:54.190 --> 00:54:57.369 you know, assuming they each win. two matches. 00:54:57.550 --> 00:55:02.289 But after that, you have to believe that France 00:55:02.289 --> 00:55:05.750 is going to have a good showing. But nothing 00:55:05.750 --> 00:55:09.329 is guaranteed. It's going to be win and you're 00:55:09.329 --> 00:55:11.530 in. Week three, win and you're in on the men's 00:55:11.530 --> 00:55:14.219 side. Should be good volleyball. That being said, 00:55:14.260 --> 00:55:15.659 there are some matches that I think are going 00:55:15.659 --> 00:55:18.300 to be worthwhile watching. So Wednesday at 10 00:55:18.300 --> 00:55:22.380 .30 a .m. Eastern is Cuba versus Bulgaria. Cuba's 00:55:22.380 --> 00:55:25.139 always a ton of fun to watch. Both of those teams 00:55:25.139 --> 00:55:28.460 are in the four -win bubble, I think. Correct. 00:55:29.199 --> 00:55:32.719 Now, we don't know who we're going to see setting 00:55:32.719 --> 00:55:37.239 for Bulgaria, which I think plays a big factor 00:55:37.239 --> 00:55:39.840 in whether they make it or not. So we'll see. 00:55:39.900 --> 00:55:44.429 Hopefully he's all right. Looking forward after 00:55:44.429 --> 00:55:47.610 Wednesday, Friday at 6 .20 a .m. Eastern. That's 00:55:47.610 --> 00:55:50.469 an early one. But Brazil versus Japan is going 00:55:50.469 --> 00:55:53.389 to be a fantastic match. And finally, Sunday 00:55:53.389 --> 00:55:56.349 at 2 .30 p .m. Eastern, we have France versus 00:55:56.349 --> 00:56:00.409 Poland. So lots of good matches. You could have 00:56:00.409 --> 00:56:02.889 it on all day and just watch, and you'll be thoroughly 00:56:02.889 --> 00:56:07.050 entertained. But we will see you next week, and 00:56:07.050 --> 00:56:10.849 we'll break down who qualified. who played well, 00:56:10.989 --> 00:56:12.769 who threw away their chances, but it's going 00:56:12.769 --> 00:56:15.590 to be a great episode. That concludes this week's 00:56:15.590 --> 00:56:17.590 episode of Volley Talk. There's always something 00:56:17.590 --> 00:56:19.329 shaking in the volleyball world, and we hope 00:56:19.329 --> 00:56:21.789 you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow 00:56:21.789 --> 00:56:23.750 the show so you don't miss any updates, and we'd 00:56:23.750 --> 00:56:25.929 be so grateful if you'd leave us a five -star 00:56:25.929 --> 00:56:28.949 review. You can also find us on Instagram at 00:56:28.949 --> 00:56:32.010 volleytalk underscore podcast. If you have a 00:56:32.010 --> 00:56:33.909 topic that you'd like us to discuss, be sure 00:56:33.909 --> 00:56:36.070 to let us know by reaching out to us on Instagram 00:56:36.070 --> 00:56:40.239 or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much 00:56:40.239 --> 00:56:42.440 for joining us and we'll be back next week.