WEBVTT

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Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley

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Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers

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who want to dig deep into what is going on in

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NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host,

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Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball

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world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and

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longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And

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I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international

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volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat

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guy. Men's World Championships are officially

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over and Italy has won their second consecutive

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title. More apologies, more broken brackets,

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more excellent volleyball. That's the most important

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thing. I mean, I wasn't going to say it. Yes,

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I was. Adam's predictions couldn't have gotten

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worse from last week, but we're still struggling.

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So a lot of matches happened this week, but we're

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going to break down the semis, medal matches,

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and share our thoughts because wowee, it was

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excellent stuff. Excellent stuff. So here we

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go. Let's get started. All right. ton on the

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weekly highlight front we didn't see a much movement

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in the NCAA rankings everybody was kind of hovering

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around where they were the previous week but

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Miami entered the chat they entered the top 25

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after being unranked as I said generally speaking

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people were hovering around their ranking from

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the week before not a ton as conference play

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started to talk about you know we have wrapped

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up international season this week with world

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championships it was a really big summer for

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the international side of things so we're going

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to touch on some of the noteworthy results just

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give a quick rundown for this week and then we're

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going to transition into more ncaa focus with

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some of the pro volleyball mixed in once they

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start their regular seasons that is coming next

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week but here's a bit of the rundown of the noteworthy

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results Also by popular demand, we're going to

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try and have Paul Pavan back on the episode next

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week. A dial -in from Ontario. Get ready, we're

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getting serious here at Volley Talk. Okay, so

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buckle up. But Pitt beat SMU in both of their

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matchups. First of them in five, then they beat

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them in four. Unranked Colorado had a great week.

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They beat BYU and Utah. That's... We didn't watch

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those games. But now, all of a sudden, I'm curious.

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I want to see Colorado play. I want to know what's

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going on with them. I want to know how they beat

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them. I wonder if they played at home, because

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let me tell you, back in the day, I was in the

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Big 12 with Colorado, and I hated playing there.

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Wasn't that one of your four regular season losses

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over your career? I don't want to talk about

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it. I will talk about it. The year we won the

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championship, that is the only match we lost

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all season to Colorado. Okay, playing with A,

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they played with a Nike ball back then, which

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those balls were wild to try to play with, let

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me tell you. Plus at altitude, recipe for disaster

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for the corn girls. Anyway, they had a great

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week. So I'm wondering if they played in Colorado

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because that can mess some people up. Utah had

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a really bad week. They lost to Colorado, as

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I said, and to Iowa State. So not the best. Going

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back to Pitt, we did watch a bit of the first

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Pitt -SMU match. They're finding their form again.

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They are finding their form. That's right. Their

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Dutch freshman left side is coming into her own.

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She is settling in. The setter. The setter has

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a very consistent serve, too. Yeah, they're going

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to be just fine. And Bayless. she came in off

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the bench a bunch last year she is stepping into

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that starting role really well so we are seeing

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Pitt kind of gain their footing as we said last

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week they're climbing the ranks after a tough

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week one but that was a decent match to watch

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Mississippi State beat Florida in five didn't

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see that coming not great the wheels are They're

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not falling off, but they're a little loose in

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Florida. They need some tightening. Yeah, I haven't

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liked how messy their play has been. I liked

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them for a while. I did too. It just, it seems

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as if they are, you know, balls dropping, small

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execution errors. It's not as tight as it seemed

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in the beginning of the season, and I don't have

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an explanation for that. They're giving up points

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in the matches that I've watched that they shouldn't

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be from just mistakes. We didn't see this match,

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by the way. No, but in general, the last couple

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matches that I've watched them, it hasn't looked

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clean. Not a great start to SEC play, regardless.

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Our girls at TCU, they had a tough start to Big

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12 play. They lost to Baylor in five. Not sure

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what that's going to do to their ranking. Yeah,

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well, it's not going to help. It's not going

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to help them, no. I feel like we can't talk about

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mid -major ranked teams because every time we

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do, they lose the next match. But they're top

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10. Would you consider that mid -major? I mean,

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TCU is a mid -major. I wouldn't consider it.

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Yeah, I guess when I say mid -major, I don't

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mean it in the school sense. I mean it in the

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ranking. They're top 10. They're ranked ninth.

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That's fine. They're ranked ninth, but they're

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still, they're not a legitimate contender. They're

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not in the top teams. Like when I say mid -major,

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I mean the group in the middle, the messy middle

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of teams who can win on any given night. Who

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are very good, but for all intents and purposes,

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aren't going to win the title. Correct. TCU is

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probably not. So who do you have not as a mid

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-major? Like who do you have as a legit contender?

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Texas, Nebraska, Kentucky. Stanford. I would

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put Stanford on that list. They are tightening

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up. Considering how young of a team they are,

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they have tightened those screws fast. I have

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won A teams and then won B teams and then mid

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-majors is how I would break it up. I would go

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Nebraska, Texas, Kentucky. Pitt? Would you have

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Pitt on that list? Would you have Stanford on

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that list? I would put Pitt on that list. So

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I would say those four. What about Louisville?

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So I would say Louisville, Stanford. um wisconsin

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and then maybe give a shout out to arizona state

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smu and texas a &m those teams are kind of in

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the mix now they're not all necessarily clean

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but they all have big players who can score so

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you could step up basically have you think one

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of four teams is gonna win i do i do So it's

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four teams, it's four teams, and then everybody

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else could have a great night. They're all skilled,

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but maybe don't have that marquee player. If

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they're playing well, they could make the final

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eight. That's kind of how I see it. Adam is just

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throwing darts at the wall here, everybody. He's

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like, you know what? I completely messed up these

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predictions for men's world championships. I'm

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going to keep throwing predictions out. Something

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is going to stick. I will say, in fairness, my

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women's world record was very good. It was very

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good. It was very good. Anyway, that's how I

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see it. Okay. We had Illinois beat Purdue in

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four. Yikes. I thought Purdue was going to be

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in real rough shape after literally everybody

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left. And then they had a solid ranking only

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to start Big Ten play by losing to Illinois.

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Yeah, not the best. Not the best. You know what

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else isn't the best? Penn State lost to UCLA

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in four. Penn State, it's not good there. Not

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great. I have no feeling on that team because

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you just don't know how bad the tire fire is

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going to be. What does losing your best player

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do to morale? Not to mention you're in the most

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important role. Right. That's what I'm saying.

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Best player in the key role. You don't recover

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from that. You run your offense a specific way.

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She's the marquee player. How does the team respond?

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That's a gut punch right at the beginning. I

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don't know enough about the mentality of the

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program to say, are they going to bounce back?

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Are they going to be okay? If it had happened

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to anybody else, you'd be like, they're going

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to be fine. But that's the one player that just

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torches the program when they leave. So in the

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top 10, everybody took care of business except

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TCU and Purdue. Arizona State, they were eight.

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They beat Kansas. So top 10. Pretty straightforward.

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It is the mid -major and lower, as Adam would

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refer, ranked teams that kind of struggled a

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bit or had the surprises happen. Yeah, we will

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pick up with NCAA more in depth next week, as

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I said, because international season is over.

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And, you know, people are going to be settling

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in to their... conference play. So stay tuned

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if you're an NCAA fan for more coverage of that

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next week. That is all I had for the highlights.

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Did you have anything? No, that was it. Let's

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get into world champs. Let's do it. Here we go.

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So we're going to focus on the semis and finals,

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but I wanted to recap the quarters and just give

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some thoughts and talk about those matches. So,

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you know, first we had Italy and Belgium. Italy

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rolled in this match. Belgium, I mean, good for

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them. They've had a really good summer. But Belgium

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pushed them in pool play, did they not? Yeah,

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they did. So Italy was like, time to wreck the

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ship. Italy came to play in the playoffs. They

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beat them 25 -13, 25 -18, 25 -18. We're not going

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to strain ourselves. We're going to come out.

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We're going to play really clean. They out -blocked

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them 6 -1. They out -aced them 8 -1. 26 opponent

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errors for Italy versus 10 for Belgium. And,

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I mean... The key to Belgium's success was Regers

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playing really well, and they held him to hitting

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200 on the night. They walked through that match.

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Like I said, Belgium qualified for VNL. They

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had a really good showing. They beat some good

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teams. They made it to the quarterfinals. They're

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just outclassed. We would have been absolutely

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floored if Italy had lost that match. Exactly.

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You probably wanted to see Belgium play a little

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bit better in that match, make it a little bit

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closer, but Italy was on a mission. And Belgium

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has to be happy with their summer. Poland -Turkey.

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Poland also rolled Turkey similar to the Italy

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-Belgium match. So Poland won 25 -15, 25 -22,

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25 -19. A little bit closer, a little more respectable.

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than the other one but Poland out blocked them

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seven to two out served them six to one the brothers

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played decent but Poland's just too strong of

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a team overall they have too many pieces and

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you know Turkey like I said I think they did

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well somebody told me they got a new coach after

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VNL I appreciate that piece of information I

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personally think their transformation from VNL

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to Worlds was out of this world it was insane

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I mean they were a different team yes which With

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the same roster. 100%. The coach makes a difference,

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whether that's in belief, whether that's in systems,

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whether that's just in style of play. Maybe the

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whole team just needed a deep breath of fresh

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air. I mean, kudos to Turkey. You're not going

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to beat Poland. You're not there yet. But they

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had a really good tournament. Impressive tournament.

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For Turkey, I thought they had some really good

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matches. The two brothers, I thought, were so

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much fun to watch on the pins and played really,

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really well. So I was happy and I enjoyed watching

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them play. They're a fiery team. And then to

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roll through the last two quarterfinals, Czechia

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beat Iran, which... And before you jump down

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my throat, I understand I picked Serbia to beat

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Iran. That didn't happen. I figured the winner

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of the Iran -Serbia match would win. Man, Cech

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looked good. So that match went four. Cech lost

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the first set 22 -25, and then they squeaked

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out a win 27 -25, 25 -20, 25 -21. It was a really

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fun match to watch. they were hitting the snot

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out of that ball in that match. Iran is also

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a fiery team. Them and Turkey are fun to watch.

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Their players play with so much emotion, you

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can't help but get into the game. The stats are

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really close. You had seven blocks for Czechs,

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five for Iran, five service aces for Czechs,

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seven for Iran. Opponent errors were 31 for Czech,

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25 for Iran. So the match was really close, but

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the difference was Czech had a few players who

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went off in this tournament. Indra, the opposite.

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hit 586 in that match and he played well all

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the way through the tournament he was spectacular

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visma the outside hitter hit 548 so they had

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two hitters hitting over 500 and their middle

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climbs the 19 year old i loved watching him play

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i think it's kleemish kleemish okay again my

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pronunciation something in between both of those

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yeah Anyway, he was spectacular. There were a

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couple players for Iran who played well. Perea

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hit .358 on the match, which is pretty good,

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but it's not .500. It's not .600 or whatever

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Indra hit. I think the biggest factor was I didn't

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think Morteza had his best match, and they need

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him to play well. He's the linchpin of that team,

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in my opinion, when you watch them play. I like

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their right side. Yeah, I mean, again, he played

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well, but... Not as well as Indra. And he gets

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fired up. If he scores a point, run away if you're

00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:35.500
his teammate because your hand is about to get

00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:39.240
a blood blister. I think everybody when he scores

00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:41.399
kind of looks away. Or broken blood vessel. I

00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:43.759
was shocked by that because I thought Iran was

00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.759
going to win that one. And our last quarterfinal

00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.899
was Bulgaria -USA, which I also got wrong. Add

00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.200
it to the list. I will have it known that I picked

00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.820
Bulgaria, but can we rewind to last week? I did

00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:59.759
pick them. That's true. But that match was spectacular.

00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:04.299
They battled back and forth, reverse sweep. You

00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:06.779
know we love a reverse sweep every now and then.

00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.399
And, you know, I watched those first two sets

00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.320
and I thought, man, U .S. is going to do this.

00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:15.320
And they're inexperienced at best and they just

00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:19.299
couldn't close it out. Nikolov struggled in the

00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:21.940
first two sets. Alex struggled in the first two

00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:25.649
sets. And then he was... unconscious and continue

00:14:25.649 --> 00:14:29.570
for the rest of the tournament it was wild but

00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:32.509
this game was on a knife's edge if we look at

00:14:32.509 --> 00:14:35.450
the stats six blocks for USA seven for Bulgaria

00:14:35.450 --> 00:14:40.049
five service aces to seven 34 errors opponent

00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:43.549
errors for USA compared to 30 you know it was

00:14:43.549 --> 00:14:47.210
wildly close and the US could have pulled that

00:14:47.210 --> 00:14:49.889
out and they're going to gain a ton of experience

00:14:50.649 --> 00:14:52.809
from this for their players and I think Karch

00:14:52.809 --> 00:14:55.210
listening to him was was pretty happy I mean

00:14:55.210 --> 00:14:56.870
obviously you want to win and that match was

00:14:56.870 --> 00:14:59.090
there but they showed up and they competed in

00:14:59.090 --> 00:15:01.629
this tournament I think we may have mentioned

00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:05.470
it last week the U .S. added a couple pieces

00:15:05.470 --> 00:15:09.330
you know in their attacking positions that were

00:15:09.330 --> 00:15:12.269
different than VNL but like by and large their

00:15:12.269 --> 00:15:15.929
VNL guys were the ones who played worlds except

00:15:15.929 --> 00:15:19.059
for Micah Christensen and I will say If I didn't

00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:21.059
say it last week, I'm saying it now. And if I

00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:22.980
said it last week, I'm going to shout it out

00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:26.919
again. Micah Christensen is amazing. Wow. He

00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:31.059
is a difference maker. The U .S. got so much

00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:34.720
better with him on the court. He is so good.

00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.580
And I asked Adam because we had this question

00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:40.840
come up several weeks ago during B &L. And who

00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:43.820
is the best setter for men? And at the time,

00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:45.960
we were debating between Janelli and Brizard.

00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.960
So I asked Adam, do you think Christensen, A,

00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:52.620
enters the conversation with those two? And B,

00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:55.279
do you think is better than Janelli, who we had

00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.919
decided was the best setter? Yes, for sure, enters

00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:02.080
the conversation. But what do you think? It's

00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:06.360
so hard because Janelli has pieces to use that

00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:10.549
Micah doesn't. And he's a better... athlete,

00:16:10.809 --> 00:16:14.629
overall volleyball player than Micah in terms

00:16:14.629 --> 00:16:17.950
of his physical stature, his serve, his block,

00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:22.490
those kind of things. From a purely setting and

00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:25.970
decision -making standpoint, it would be very,

00:16:26.049 --> 00:16:29.330
very close. Micah's decision -making I think

00:16:29.330 --> 00:16:33.169
is incredible. His ability to see and run the

00:16:33.169 --> 00:16:36.950
middle or the pipe based on who bites and isolate

00:16:36.950 --> 00:16:40.470
hitters. I mean, he made his hitters look godly

00:16:40.470 --> 00:16:43.330
out there and that was and they weren't in vietnam

00:16:43.330 --> 00:16:46.730
no he's incredibly good and i think on any given

00:16:46.730 --> 00:16:50.009
night he could out duel anybody else so there's

00:16:50.009 --> 00:16:53.870
that but anyway i wasn't bulgaria is also very

00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:56.509
young i think they're more physical than the

00:16:56.509 --> 00:17:00.110
u .s specifically on the on the outside the u

00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:01.730
.s is pretty physical in the middle there also

00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:04.410
have a good opposite but on the on the pin outside

00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.559
The U .S.'s outside hitters just aren't nearly

00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.839
as physical, and I think that played a role in

00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:13.160
the loss there. I like where they're going. You

00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:17.240
can see the shape, what they want to do, Karch's

00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:19.559
vision for this team given the personnel. I think

00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:22.180
Cooper Robinson is going to add some size onto

00:17:22.180 --> 00:17:24.079
their pin once he gets going, gets comfortable

00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.819
with this level of play. I think they're further

00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:29.039
along than the women in their goal for a medal

00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.299
at the Olympics. They were fun to watch. Let's

00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:35.400
move on to the semifinals. Okay, semifinal one

00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.339
saw Bulgaria versus the Czech Republic. Do you

00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:40.799
want to go initial thoughts first and then go

00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:42.480
from there? Or how do you want to do it? Let's

00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.019
just say what we're feeling. Okay. I'll start.

00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:51.740
I think Czech played really well. I think they

00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:54.119
should be very, very proud of the match that

00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:57.920
they put on the floor. They played very good

00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:03.750
volleyball. pinpoint something as like this is

00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:06.529
a huge red flag like they are this is costing

00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:09.390
them so many points I really think that it was

00:18:09.390 --> 00:18:13.809
a solid team effort they played really well unfortunately

00:18:13.809 --> 00:18:17.750
for them Bulgaria was in the same position and

00:18:17.750 --> 00:18:20.470
did the same thing with just like more physical

00:18:20.470 --> 00:18:24.089
athletes and so that was the difference for me

00:18:24.089 --> 00:18:29.809
and Alex Nikolov was literally unstoppable otherworldly

00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:33.990
It's insane. I had a very similar instinct watching

00:18:33.990 --> 00:18:37.410
that match. I thought Czechia was the more technical

00:18:37.410 --> 00:18:40.650
team. They looked like they were in more control

00:18:40.650 --> 00:18:42.930
on the other side of the net in terms of how

00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:45.630
they were forming their blocks, how they were

00:18:45.630 --> 00:18:48.230
playing defense, what they were doing. It was

00:18:48.230 --> 00:18:52.849
like pure volleyball. Yes. And they... 100%.

00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:57.730
Which I love. Czech plays a style where they

00:18:57.730 --> 00:19:00.960
don't... give you anything they force you to

00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.539
earn your points if you look at the stats they

00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.079
only made 22 errors in that whole match and that

00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.700
includes serving errors so they're not making

00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:10.779
hitting errors they're not giving you any points

00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:15.460
Bulgaria was just better but it's not but they

00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:18.279
weren't better volleyball players it was like

00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.519
bang bang better yeah you know like when the

00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.779
plays get weird and when things go kind of sideways

00:19:23.779 --> 00:19:28.160
they did the like bang bang find a way stuff

00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.339
better whereas czech was just as i said good

00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:35.779
volleyball it was pretty volleyball you know

00:19:35.779 --> 00:19:40.220
totally agree if you watch that match it looks

00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:42.500
i don't want to say skilled versus unskilled

00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.460
because that's not fair to bulgaria but you watch

00:19:45.460 --> 00:19:47.779
bulgaria play defense and they are clearly in

00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:51.099
the right position but they get hit with a lot

00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:53.559
of balls they don't control a lot of their days

00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:56.339
but i also respect that it's a gritty mentality

00:19:56.339 --> 00:19:59.779
yes they stand it is like blue collar it is blue

00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:02.920
collar volleyball but how many times did we watch

00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:06.740
the opposite get hit in the shoulder with a ball

00:20:06.740 --> 00:20:10.099
that's going down to the floor the libero thumb

00:20:10.099 --> 00:20:13.180
digs harry sides it up barely above the height

00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:15.500
of the net and somebody punches nikolov comes

00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:18.180
over and just spatches it to the back corner

00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:21.759
the number of balls that nikolov hit that i don't

00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.220
think they just like yost them up there and everybody

00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:26.880
knows like if it's kind of wacky just vacate

00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.339
the premises and like alex will just hit it no

00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:31.559
matter where he is and there were a lot of those

00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:34.680
they all go in his favor all of them it's incredible

00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:38.500
to watch you think he's in the doghouse On this

00:20:38.500 --> 00:20:41.460
shot. And it rattles between four elbows and

00:20:41.460 --> 00:20:44.079
dribbles down the net. And I'm not saying, listen,

00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:46.880
he's super skilled. He's got incredible vision.

00:20:47.059 --> 00:20:49.980
And he's fearless. He is. He earns his luck.

00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:53.160
But sometimes you watch the wild things that

00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.140
he tries to pull off. And kudos to him for having

00:20:56.140 --> 00:20:58.319
the cojones to do it. But it works out. He had

00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.920
no business scoring that ball. And one of the

00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:05.119
differences in this match was just that fearlessness.

00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:10.250
I thought Bulgaria was on the attack all night,

00:21:10.349 --> 00:21:14.349
and Czech was always playing defense. Very rarely

00:21:14.349 --> 00:21:16.710
did I feel like Czech was the aggressor in that

00:21:16.710 --> 00:21:19.849
match. And over a course of a game, that wears

00:21:19.849 --> 00:21:23.549
on you. I also think Bulgaria's serving came

00:21:23.549 --> 00:21:26.529
through clutch in moments where they put them

00:21:26.529 --> 00:21:30.009
in trouble and then loaded up on a block. They

00:21:30.009 --> 00:21:32.789
out -blocked them 12 -7, and they got a couple

00:21:32.789 --> 00:21:36.769
massive blocks in key times. I also think Mone,

00:21:36.869 --> 00:21:41.049
Bulgaria passed well enough to make Mone a huge

00:21:41.049 --> 00:21:44.029
threat at the net because he took down a couple

00:21:44.029 --> 00:21:47.609
balls early. Like being 6 '10", his like armpits

00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:50.250
are at the net, top of the net, and he threw

00:21:50.250 --> 00:21:52.509
down a couple dumps. He straight up swung on

00:21:52.509 --> 00:21:55.970
a couple balls, which completely messed up the

00:21:55.970 --> 00:21:57.970
Czech defense because now all of a sudden the

00:21:57.970 --> 00:21:59.789
blockers didn't know who to pay attention to.

00:22:00.410 --> 00:22:02.490
You're seeing hitters get one -on -ones. You're

00:22:02.490 --> 00:22:04.809
seeing people jump with Mone. You're seeing the

00:22:04.809 --> 00:22:08.569
confusion and everything that he caused just

00:22:08.569 --> 00:22:11.410
by taking down a couple balls early. It carried

00:22:11.410 --> 00:22:13.910
over for the rest of the match. And so I think

00:22:13.910 --> 00:22:15.829
that was a huge factor. And it was because Bulgaria

00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.549
passed well early. I agree. And the other thing

00:22:18.549 --> 00:22:21.849
I think that Nikolov does well is even when the...

00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:24.430
So he's a threat when they pass tight to the

00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:27.710
net. And when they pass around the three meter

00:22:27.710 --> 00:22:30.390
line, he runs that middle incredibly well. It's

00:22:30.390 --> 00:22:32.930
connect point to point and he can just kind of

00:22:32.930 --> 00:22:35.210
flick it flat to the middle and they run. And

00:22:35.210 --> 00:22:38.150
so even on passes around the attack line, he

00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:40.490
can still isolate hitters outside because he

00:22:40.490 --> 00:22:42.150
can run the middle from there. And he did that

00:22:42.150 --> 00:22:45.930
really well too. I will give him props. He evolved

00:22:45.930 --> 00:22:48.869
a lot this summer. Yeah. We saw him come off

00:22:48.869 --> 00:22:52.049
his NCAA season and... I said it a few times

00:22:52.049 --> 00:22:55.849
during V &L, like he's looking to make the most

00:22:55.849 --> 00:22:59.450
difficult set, the most spectacular set when

00:22:59.450 --> 00:23:02.029
it wasn't always the smartest. Some of his balls

00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:04.250
were a little inconsistent. And I think that

00:23:04.250 --> 00:23:08.349
he really dialed into a clean international style

00:23:08.349 --> 00:23:13.920
of play as a setter where A, feed the hot hand.

00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:16.940
He has no problem going to his brother until

00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:19.460
he doesn't score a ball, you know? He became

00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:22.940
much more smooth with his release, his decision

00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:26.700
making, more simplistic, but the execution was

00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:31.039
better. So I think he evolved a lot over the

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.000
course of the summer. Well, let's just say the

00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.569
brother and brother connection is... A real thing

00:23:36.569 --> 00:23:41.069
because he set Alex 47 times in that match against

00:23:41.069 --> 00:23:44.009
Czechia. The next closest person was Asparuhov

00:23:44.009 --> 00:23:49.250
who got 19 sets. Now in fairness, Alex hit 468.

00:23:49.390 --> 00:23:51.269
So I probably would have set him that many balls

00:23:51.269 --> 00:23:54.869
too. He was unstoppable. But that was, it's just

00:23:54.869 --> 00:23:57.769
fun to watch them connect in that way. And Alex

00:23:57.769 --> 00:24:02.509
was unconscious. 27 for 47 with only five errors.

00:24:02.569 --> 00:24:07.180
That's wild. Wild. If we look at the Czech side,

00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:11.380
Indra, who had played really well for them up

00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:14.019
until that point, they controlled him. He wasn't

00:24:14.019 --> 00:24:16.799
able to score at the same rate against the big

00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:19.619
outside hitters for Bulgaria as he was in the

00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:22.720
rest of the tournament. He had 22 swings and

00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:27.799
only hit 181. Now, I will say... again and this

00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.740
goes to how good czech was technically they run

00:24:30.740 --> 00:24:33.819
an incredibly balanced offense everybody's attacking

00:24:33.819 --> 00:24:35.660
they're running the middle they're running the

00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:37.759
pipe over top they spread the offense because

00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.980
they don't have i mean indra's good they've got

00:24:39.980 --> 00:24:42.380
some really good players but they don't have

00:24:42.380 --> 00:24:46.329
a quote -unquote stud but they played I think

00:24:46.329 --> 00:24:49.269
their young middle, Klimish, did so well. His

00:24:49.269 --> 00:24:51.309
serve is unbelievable. His serve is so good,

00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:55.730
and he was scoring very efficiently. He hit .778

00:24:55.730 --> 00:24:58.490
in that match. He's got a bright future ahead

00:24:58.490 --> 00:25:00.230
of him. He's only 19. Yeah, I really liked him

00:25:00.230 --> 00:25:03.289
as well. I think him and Nikolov are the same

00:25:03.289 --> 00:25:09.170
age. I think Mone is not even 18 yet, or he's

00:25:09.170 --> 00:25:11.670
turning 19 in November or something crazy. They're

00:25:11.670 --> 00:25:14.589
probably pretty close. Anyway. That was a really...

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.220
tight match with teams really playing to their

00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:23.700
identity and I thoroughly enjoyed that one because

00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:28.559
it wasn't two titans it's good teams two different

00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:32.180
styles super passionate teams going after it

00:25:32.180 --> 00:25:33.779
and a lot of young players so there was a lot

00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:37.480
of fire and we talk about bulgaria having that

00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:39.440
kind of strap it in defense but they're also

00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.460
ready and willing to just go after any ball that

00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:46.220
that goes but at the end of the day i think they

00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:48.079
were just a little bit too physical and they

00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.559
just couldn't check couldn't stop alex check

00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.539
needs to be proud of their performance so i mean

00:25:52.539 --> 00:25:54.799
i don't think they could have anticipated making

00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.339
the semifinals when this competition started

00:25:57.339 --> 00:26:00.240
and seeing them play that match they should be

00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:02.819
proud of of the performance they put out there

00:26:02.819 --> 00:26:06.539
absolutely Okay, our second semifinal was Poland

00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:10.539
versus Italy. I wonder what the odds were for

00:26:10.539 --> 00:26:14.200
Italy to win this 3 -0. Holy moly, they were

00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:19.619
good. Oh, man. Wow. First of all, it's unfortunate

00:26:19.619 --> 00:26:24.059
that Kurek got hurt going before this match.

00:26:24.140 --> 00:26:25.660
I think he could have made a difference. And

00:26:25.660 --> 00:26:29.710
let me tell you, Rich Lamborn was ruthless. In

00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:33.470
his analysis of Sasek. So Rich is an American,

00:26:33.650 --> 00:26:36.609
former American libero who was commentating on

00:26:36.609 --> 00:26:38.490
the matches. And in fairness, it was deserved

00:26:38.490 --> 00:26:41.849
because Sasek wasn't any good. He was relentless

00:26:41.849 --> 00:26:45.549
on this guy. Also, I do like Rich's commentary.

00:26:45.690 --> 00:26:49.109
So shout out to him. Gotta love a libero ripping

00:26:49.109 --> 00:26:51.849
an opposite though. It's just, it's fantastic.

00:26:52.269 --> 00:26:54.990
So, I mean, it is unfortunate that Kurek wasn't

00:26:54.990 --> 00:26:57.730
playing. Fornal was not playing, but I love.

00:26:58.740 --> 00:27:01.539
I don't know if I should say his praises enough

00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:03.519
during VNL, and I watched him a bit during club

00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.420
season last year. I love this guy. Okay, he is

00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:11.200
so good. Absolutely. He is a pure volleyball

00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.940
player. I know that's why you like him. His technical

00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:17.460
skill, his physicality, his decision making.

00:27:17.619 --> 00:27:21.759
It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. So there's that.

00:27:21.940 --> 00:27:27.400
But Italy, wow. I just need to say Italy's serping.

00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:32.579
was fantastic and I'm going to shout out Sonny

00:27:32.579 --> 00:27:38.079
in sets one and three he came in at the end of

00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:42.759
those sets and clutch and scored aces got them

00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:45.420
out of system his serving made the difference

00:27:45.420 --> 00:27:48.259
in sets one and three and if you are a volleyball

00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:50.579
player or if you're a club coach or you coach

00:27:50.579 --> 00:27:55.079
period Let that, I want that to be a highlight

00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:58.279
of just how important a role player is. So many

00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:00.859
people get hung up on who is starting, who's

00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:02.900
getting the credit, blah, blah, blah. Like this

00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:06.579
kid came in as a role player to serve at the

00:28:06.579 --> 00:28:08.799
end of match and honestly at the end of sets.

00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:12.500
And I give him credit for those wins because

00:28:12.500 --> 00:28:15.940
the games were very back and forth, very close.

00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:19.079
And he pushed Italy over the edge when it mattered

00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:24.789
most. Your role is important regardless of if

00:28:24.789 --> 00:28:28.390
you're a starter or coming in. Amazing. This

00:28:28.390 --> 00:28:33.789
was maybe one of the most even matches I've seen.

00:28:33.950 --> 00:28:38.869
We were back and forth all match. You know, somebody

00:28:38.869 --> 00:28:41.589
would get hot, score a few points, then somebody

00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:44.470
would rip off a great serve, get a block. The

00:28:44.470 --> 00:28:49.049
game was how volleyball should be. Both teams

00:28:49.049 --> 00:28:52.230
have opportunities to win after 20. You've put

00:28:52.230 --> 00:28:54.690
yourself in a position. You're making adjustments.

00:28:55.029 --> 00:28:58.490
You're making calls in terms of who you're going

00:28:58.490 --> 00:29:00.309
to go after, what you're going to try and do.

00:29:00.529 --> 00:29:04.089
It was a masterpiece of a game. Even though Italy

00:29:04.089 --> 00:29:07.910
won in three, just for reference sake, match

00:29:07.910 --> 00:29:10.609
stats were 34 attack points for Italy, 30 for

00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:13.529
Poland. Poland had 10 blocks to Italy's nine.

00:29:13.849 --> 00:29:18.390
Now, we talked about this. seven aces for Italy

00:29:18.390 --> 00:29:22.569
to Poland's three and most of those came at critical

00:29:22.569 --> 00:29:25.190
junctures at the end of matches and I think Sonny

00:29:25.190 --> 00:29:27.410
had three or four yeah and that's frankly the

00:29:27.410 --> 00:29:29.930
difference in my opinion he won them that game

00:29:29.930 --> 00:29:32.950
because we're looking at opponent errors Italy

00:29:32.950 --> 00:29:35.549
had 25 errors from Poland but they only made

00:29:35.549 --> 00:29:38.710
23 and that includes serving mistakes so it was

00:29:38.710 --> 00:29:43.700
just such a close game that came down to spectacular

00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:47.180
athletes making plays in big moments down the

00:29:47.180 --> 00:29:50.099
stretch. And that's, as a coach, all you can

00:29:50.099 --> 00:29:52.420
ever ask for is to have a chance to win at the

00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:54.960
end of a match. And both teams did, and Italy

00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:58.019
took the opportunity. Well, and I think Gerbich

00:29:58.019 --> 00:30:02.140
put it best. Like in his post -Set 2 interview,

00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:06.099
when he was asked about the match, he said, Italy

00:30:06.099 --> 00:30:10.140
is playing so well, and if they continue at this

00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:13.089
pace, Good for them. You know, they're going

00:30:13.089 --> 00:30:16.589
to win. When a team is playing like this, there's

00:30:16.589 --> 00:30:19.710
not much you can do to stop them. And that was

00:30:19.710 --> 00:30:22.990
the case. They were so good. And I personally

00:30:22.990 --> 00:30:25.849
thought Romanov played very well. I thought he

00:30:25.849 --> 00:30:29.529
played super well. I didn't think there was a

00:30:29.529 --> 00:30:33.569
massive standout for Poland. Like, they played

00:30:33.569 --> 00:30:37.630
well, but nobody took over the match. I thought

00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:42.049
Sasek struggled. well Semenyuk didn't score particularly

00:30:42.049 --> 00:30:44.970
well yeah so Semenyuk didn't score well Sasek

00:30:44.970 --> 00:30:46.809
didn't score well I thought Leon played pretty

00:30:46.809 --> 00:30:49.089
well but he made a bunch of errors he was a huge

00:30:49.089 --> 00:30:53.349
liability on serve receive yeah like we have

00:30:53.349 --> 00:30:55.549
talked about why don't teams just serve him every

00:30:55.549 --> 00:30:58.670
ball like Italy found him yeah consistently and

00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:00.730
the tough part was I thought the Polish middles

00:31:00.730 --> 00:31:02.410
played really well when they had an opportunity

00:31:02.410 --> 00:31:06.619
to be set and I thought that worked for Poland

00:31:06.619 --> 00:31:09.559
but when the passing broke down and the middles

00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:13.079
were no longer an option Italy was able to take

00:31:13.079 --> 00:31:15.319
advantage of those in key moments I honestly

00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:17.819
feel like they just tell Leon to just get the

00:31:17.819 --> 00:31:21.059
ball in the air when he's passing I mean he's

00:31:21.059 --> 00:31:24.500
such an offensive weapon for them because Fornal

00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:27.140
can score Semenyuk can score but they're not

00:31:27.140 --> 00:31:30.039
bangers like they need Leon on the floor to score

00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:32.920
points so you take the good and the bad and you

00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:35.910
go this is what you're not great at Here's the

00:31:35.910 --> 00:31:39.089
minimum requirement. But it's like, there's no

00:31:39.089 --> 00:31:41.390
trajectory to those passes. They are not moving

00:31:41.390 --> 00:31:43.470
towards the net. They are going high, straight

00:31:43.470 --> 00:31:47.650
in the air. And we've asked during V &L, like,

00:31:47.650 --> 00:31:49.589
why don't more teams just serve him every ball?

00:31:49.730 --> 00:31:53.710
Italy found him. Effectively. Yeah. Leon is a

00:31:53.710 --> 00:31:56.569
survivor passer. Like, I'm trying not to get

00:31:56.569 --> 00:31:58.049
aced. Just don't get aced. We're shooting for

00:31:58.049 --> 00:32:03.200
a 1 .8 to a 2 .2 passing average. We'll take

00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:05.900
it. Win. And normally they're good enough outside

00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:09.799
of that to win. But, I mean, Italy scored straight

00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:12.619
points on him in a couple situations down the

00:32:12.619 --> 00:32:16.319
stretch. They executed. Do you think this was

00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:20.059
the gold medal game? I think it's doing a disservice

00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:23.339
to Bulgaria in how well they played this tournament.

00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:27.059
I think Bulgaria was playing well enough to definitely

00:32:27.059 --> 00:32:31.019
be there on paper. Yes, I would say it was. All

00:32:31.019 --> 00:32:33.660
right, the bronze medal match we saw Poland play

00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:38.839
Czech. Poland won that one in four. I was curious

00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:42.099
after Poland lost which Poland we were going

00:32:42.099 --> 00:32:45.480
to see. Were we going to see, well, it's not

00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:48.839
a gold medal. So who cares? It is what it is.

00:32:48.900 --> 00:32:51.339
And I know that that's not the right mentality,

00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:54.940
but sometimes the letdown of knowing you're good

00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:57.480
enough to win and that being the goal, it's just

00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:59.690
hard to get going. for that match but that was

00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:03.410
not the case they came out to prove a point i

00:33:03.410 --> 00:33:05.690
thought well in set one i would say they kind

00:33:05.690 --> 00:33:08.049
of cooled off a bit for the other and then check

00:33:08.049 --> 00:33:10.890
kind of found their footing but in set one it

00:33:10.890 --> 00:33:14.450
was very decisive and i think that that set the

00:33:14.450 --> 00:33:17.890
tone for the rest of the match like check check

00:33:17.890 --> 00:33:21.750
found their footing but poland i thought made

00:33:21.750 --> 00:33:24.769
it clear out of the gate that we're going to

00:33:24.769 --> 00:33:26.609
win this match and there's probably nothing you

00:33:26.609 --> 00:33:30.789
can do and Leon was unbelievable in that first

00:33:30.789 --> 00:33:33.210
set I think he scored 11 points on his own 100

00:33:33.210 --> 00:33:36.349
he was on a mission to make sure that they won

00:33:36.349 --> 00:33:40.990
a medal even with Leon coming out and being unbelievable

00:33:40.990 --> 00:33:43.130
in the first set he continued that trend throughout

00:33:43.130 --> 00:33:46.309
the match like he was a single man wrecking crew

00:33:46.309 --> 00:33:50.410
I thought he hit 583 on the match, scoring 23

00:33:50.410 --> 00:33:53.329
points on 36 swings. They just kept feeding him

00:33:53.329 --> 00:33:56.150
the ball, and he was very, very effective. I

00:33:56.150 --> 00:33:58.750
think Sasek played better. Sasek definitely played

00:33:58.750 --> 00:34:01.089
better. I know we love Semenyuk, but he struggled

00:34:01.089 --> 00:34:03.970
to score in both of these matches. And I found

00:34:03.970 --> 00:34:07.490
him, and their offense is very quick when they

00:34:07.490 --> 00:34:10.480
set him, so I had a hard time. seeing whether

00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:13.780
he was struggling to find his swings or whether

00:34:13.780 --> 00:34:16.239
he was in tough positions but he threw a couple

00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:18.980
balls into the block that he was expecting to

00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:21.980
be recycled that just fell on their side and

00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:24.480
so that that kind of affected his numbers but

00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:27.199
he he wasn't an effective scoring threat I didn't

00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:31.280
think no he wasn't as good as we have seen in

00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:34.579
the past I just think Poland just kept coming

00:34:34.579 --> 00:34:37.039
their blocking was good Poland did a good job

00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:41.699
of taking Czechia out of their state that they

00:34:41.699 --> 00:34:45.099
like to play in. They're a complete team where

00:34:45.099 --> 00:34:47.420
they like to distribute their offense. They like

00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:50.219
everybody to be involved. And I thought they

00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:52.920
were just a little out of sync in terms of getting

00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:56.199
everybody involved in the offense in equal measures.

00:34:56.380 --> 00:34:59.909
If we look at their point distribution. Specifically

00:34:59.909 --> 00:35:03.570
in the semifinal, it was very consistent across

00:35:03.570 --> 00:35:06.210
the board. And then in this match, it seemed

00:35:06.210 --> 00:35:09.150
to rely a little more heavier on the outside

00:35:09.150 --> 00:35:13.909
pins. So Vashina had 18 points and then Indra

00:35:13.909 --> 00:35:17.570
only had 11. And then it was Lajic and Klimic

00:35:17.570 --> 00:35:21.670
who both had six. And I think for Czech to be

00:35:21.670 --> 00:35:26.809
successful, they need everybody close to double

00:35:26.809 --> 00:35:30.190
digits or a little closer to... all of the other

00:35:30.190 --> 00:35:31.909
players, because that's their strength. They're

00:35:31.909 --> 00:35:34.230
very good technically, distribute the ball, but

00:35:34.230 --> 00:35:36.230
they don't have anybody overpowering. And it

00:35:36.230 --> 00:35:39.530
looked like Poland had a pretty good read on

00:35:39.530 --> 00:35:41.730
who was going to get the ball, and they were

00:35:41.730 --> 00:35:45.329
able to make life a little miserable for the

00:35:45.329 --> 00:35:48.050
Czechia hitters. And even in the middle when

00:35:48.050 --> 00:35:50.230
they saw, you could tell it was coming there,

00:35:50.349 --> 00:35:53.750
it wasn't, the offense wasn't distributed the

00:35:53.750 --> 00:35:56.289
same way it was in the semi. Other than Lyon

00:35:56.289 --> 00:35:58.130
scoring a ton of points, that was the biggest

00:35:58.130 --> 00:36:01.650
difference I saw from Czechia. Again, I said

00:36:01.650 --> 00:36:04.989
it before. The Czech Republic, for all intents

00:36:04.989 --> 00:36:07.469
and purposes, they don't belong there. You know

00:36:07.469 --> 00:36:10.409
what I mean? Yes. They had a dream draw, and

00:36:10.409 --> 00:36:12.269
they took advantage of it. They beat some teams

00:36:12.269 --> 00:36:15.110
they needed to. They're a good team, but are

00:36:15.110 --> 00:36:19.909
they going to beat Poland? No. And I think that's

00:36:19.909 --> 00:36:23.929
just what we saw. It was Poland just steamrolled

00:36:23.929 --> 00:36:27.230
them. Yeah. Poland knew how to handle that moment,

00:36:27.309 --> 00:36:30.530
and their athletes are better across the board.

00:36:30.630 --> 00:36:32.710
They're better in every position. But good on

00:36:32.710 --> 00:36:35.289
Poland and Czech for taking a set. Absolutely.

00:36:35.849 --> 00:36:38.210
I mean, they made a game for it. It's one of

00:36:38.210 --> 00:36:41.929
those matches where you have a 1 in 100 chance

00:36:41.929 --> 00:36:45.650
of winning. And, again, I'm going to look at

00:36:45.650 --> 00:36:47.489
this from a coaching perspective. You want to

00:36:47.489 --> 00:36:50.090
play well. You want to be able to walk off the

00:36:50.090 --> 00:36:52.929
court at the end of that match and go, you know

00:36:52.929 --> 00:36:54.789
what, we did the things we wanted to do and Poland

00:36:54.789 --> 00:36:59.789
just beat us. And that's what happened. And finally,

00:36:59.929 --> 00:37:02.789
our gold medal match saw Italy beat Bulgaria

00:37:02.789 --> 00:37:10.949
in four as well. This match to me had an older

00:37:10.949 --> 00:37:16.880
brother, younger brother vibe to it. In a couple

00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:21.079
different places. Okay. Yeah. So just as a team,

00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.800
Bulgaria are the upstarts. They're young. They're

00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:27.539
young. I mean, Italy's not old by any means.

00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:29.659
But they're older. They're in their prime. They're

00:37:29.659 --> 00:37:33.239
in their mid -20s instead of early 20s. Yeah.

00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:37.639
But they're established. They've won. They have

00:37:37.639 --> 00:37:41.800
been to the top and they are standing on the

00:37:41.800 --> 00:37:45.079
mountain defending their turf. The other place

00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:49.619
where I see this is between Janeli and Moni Nikolov.

00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:55.579
Moni is the second Janeli. The second coming.

00:37:55.739 --> 00:37:58.940
Right. So Janeli arrived on the scene bigger

00:37:58.940 --> 00:38:01.019
than all the other setters, offensive threat.

00:38:01.139 --> 00:38:04.599
He's very young. Yeah, could have been, probably

00:38:04.599 --> 00:38:07.099
could have been a very successful hitter if he

00:38:07.099 --> 00:38:10.260
wasn't a setter. And Moni is coming in and doing

00:38:10.260 --> 00:38:14.300
the same thing. So don't kid yourself. Gianelli

00:38:14.300 --> 00:38:18.139
knows this. Oh, absolutely. Just speak to that

00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:21.860
mindset because I know you've been in this same

00:38:21.860 --> 00:38:24.679
situation before in your career. And I want to

00:38:24.679 --> 00:38:27.360
say specifically on the beach, like you were

00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:31.139
one of the first, let's call it true bigs out

00:38:31.139 --> 00:38:34.079
there who was, you know, you're 6 '5", you're

00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:37.900
left -handed. When you started, there was nobody

00:38:37.900 --> 00:38:42.400
like you playing the sport. Fair. And... all

00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:45.780
of a sudden you started to see other athletes

00:38:45.780 --> 00:38:48.980
with your profile show up. What's going through

00:38:48.980 --> 00:38:52.000
his mind? What is he thinking in this situation?

00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:57.699
Does he care or is he out there to make a point

00:38:57.699 --> 00:39:00.920
and be like, yeah, you might be good, but you're

00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:05.079
not there yet? I don't know his personality.

00:39:05.960 --> 00:39:13.380
If it was me, it's number two. It's like, okay,

00:39:13.460 --> 00:39:17.760
yeah, people might compare us. People might say

00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:20.119
that, like, you might be the next me or the next

00:39:20.119 --> 00:39:23.400
big thing, whatever. But, like, I'll just show

00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:26.199
you that you're not quite there yet and that,

00:39:26.260 --> 00:39:30.559
like, I am still in control. He didn't do anything

00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:33.900
overt. He wasn't, you know, looking through the

00:39:33.900 --> 00:39:36.739
net. Like, he did actually a couple times, but

00:39:36.739 --> 00:39:41.599
not at Moni. he wasn't he just let his performance

00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:45.719
speak for himself in how his hitters were playing

00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:49.239
and I think Rich Lamborn the commentator put

00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:52.000
it perfectly at one point he set this ball and

00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.699
his hitter just unloaded and Rich was like yeah

00:39:55.699 --> 00:39:57.840
sometimes as a setter you just have to look at

00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:00.400
your hitter and be like you're welcome That ball

00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:03.840
basically hit itself. Like, and that's the story.

00:40:04.099 --> 00:40:06.480
Just his hitters were in such a good rhythm.

00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:09.739
And yes, they are good hitters, but they become

00:40:09.739 --> 00:40:13.139
even better with a setter like him. So not that

00:40:13.139 --> 00:40:15.960
Mone played poorly, but I can definitely, I was

00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:18.380
like, Janelle knows that this comparison is coming

00:40:18.380 --> 00:40:20.699
and he's here to put all the whispers to bed.

00:40:21.530 --> 00:40:24.730
But you also saw the other side of that with

00:40:24.730 --> 00:40:27.030
Alex Nikolov, who played against a lot of these

00:40:27.030 --> 00:40:29.969
guys in the pro season. He is young. He knew

00:40:29.969 --> 00:40:32.809
he was playing incredibly well. He was feeling

00:40:32.809 --> 00:40:37.170
himself and was definitely provoking the other

00:40:37.170 --> 00:40:40.690
side. And who took the bait? Botolo. Yeah, I

00:40:40.690 --> 00:40:43.730
think that was a mistake for him. I think it

00:40:43.730 --> 00:40:46.050
was a mistake because, like, yes, you're playing

00:40:46.050 --> 00:40:51.320
out of your mind. yes you are like outstanding

00:40:51.320 --> 00:40:55.039
but like your team's getting beat and also have

00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:58.139
some respect and I'm all for like some attitude

00:40:58.139 --> 00:41:00.579
some showmanship give me the personality I love

00:41:00.579 --> 00:41:02.920
that but he was poking the bear and you could

00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:06.239
tell Italy was like dude it happened in the third

00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:10.139
set so you're down 2 -0 and your team is playing

00:41:10.139 --> 00:41:12.059
well you're on the verge of winning the third

00:41:12.059 --> 00:41:15.820
set and you're starting To stare down and to

00:41:15.820 --> 00:41:18.699
do. To turn to the crowd and do all this stuff.

00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:24.059
And I'm okay with that. But then don't go lose

00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:27.760
the fourth set 25 -10. Because I think that was

00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:31.980
like Italy being like, okay, here we go. I definitely,

00:41:32.199 --> 00:41:36.260
you could definitely feel the energy on Italy.

00:41:36.360 --> 00:41:38.460
And again, like you said. Well, you could see

00:41:38.460 --> 00:41:42.590
the slow -mo. You even saw Anzani. when he would

00:41:42.590 --> 00:41:46.750
score, get a block, turn, and do the finger wag

00:41:46.750 --> 00:41:50.230
to his team. You could see Botolo making these

00:41:50.230 --> 00:41:53.869
gestures. They didn't do it across the net. Gianelli

00:41:53.869 --> 00:41:57.989
did once when something happened, but they knew

00:41:57.989 --> 00:42:00.250
it was happening because they were turning back

00:42:00.250 --> 00:42:03.150
to the... their team to celebrate and making

00:42:03.150 --> 00:42:05.090
these gestures. And by turning, you mean the

00:42:05.090 --> 00:42:07.289
quarter turn. So the ref can't say you're celebrating

00:42:07.289 --> 00:42:09.570
through the net, but everybody else can see it.

00:42:09.590 --> 00:42:12.949
The little work around. Yeah. And I thought that

00:42:12.949 --> 00:42:15.789
that was, and I get that he's in the heat of

00:42:15.789 --> 00:42:18.369
the moment and he's playing well, but just from

00:42:18.369 --> 00:42:20.690
a strategic standpoint. You're one guy that's

00:42:20.690 --> 00:42:22.829
like playing really well on a team that's getting

00:42:22.829 --> 00:42:27.230
beat handily. Yeah. You can't, you got to keep

00:42:27.230 --> 00:42:30.300
that for your team. I wonder if he'll learn that

00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:33.699
lesson. He's probably, what is he, like 21 or

00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:35.860
something? Yeah. I don't know. Probably not.

00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.039
Italy came out and slapped them. Slapped them.

00:42:40.300 --> 00:42:43.000
After that. So hard. And I'm pretty sure Bulgaria

00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:45.360
jumped out to a decent -sized lead in set four.

00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:49.059
And then it was like, bye -bye. And Bartolo alone

00:42:49.059 --> 00:42:53.800
scored. I think he had five aces in a row. No,

00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:56.559
Romanov had five aces in a row in set three or

00:42:56.559 --> 00:42:58.699
something, and then in set four, Botolo went

00:42:58.699 --> 00:43:01.760
off. I mean, Italy put on a serving clinic again

00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:06.420
this match in addition to operating like a well

00:43:06.420 --> 00:43:09.159
-willed machine offensively. Quite frankly, their

00:43:09.159 --> 00:43:12.340
serving won the Memorial Championship. The serving

00:43:12.340 --> 00:43:15.000
was the difference in the Poland match, and they

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:18.349
just... beat the snot out of the ball from the

00:43:18.349 --> 00:43:21.570
baseline against Bulgaria. And we talked about

00:43:21.570 --> 00:43:25.230
passes to the net, Mone's a threat. Passes to

00:43:25.230 --> 00:43:27.789
the attack line, Mone can still run the middle,

00:43:27.889 --> 00:43:31.809
that's a threat. They had Bulgaria passing about

00:43:31.809 --> 00:43:34.469
a meter behind the attack line, and I know that

00:43:34.469 --> 00:43:37.489
doesn't sound like a lot. Their block was munching

00:43:37.489 --> 00:43:42.030
them. Italy was then prepared to put blocks up,

00:43:42.170 --> 00:43:45.630
and they'll block them 10 -4. Not even close.

00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:48.500
if Bulgaria would have been able to pass that

00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:51.860
ball even on the attack line I think it's a much

00:43:51.860 --> 00:43:53.679
different result because then they can get their

00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:56.969
middles in Bulgaria only had one person scoring

00:43:56.969 --> 00:43:59.469
points. Everybody else was getting blocked. Well,

00:43:59.550 --> 00:44:02.670
you know, Alex Nikolov scored 21 points and he

00:44:02.670 --> 00:44:05.849
hit 472. No, he was playing well. I'm not denying

00:44:05.849 --> 00:44:07.949
that. I'm just saying you don't poke the bear

00:44:07.949 --> 00:44:11.230
when you're fighting the bear one on six. But

00:44:11.230 --> 00:44:13.690
their next highest scorer, Atanasov, only had

00:44:13.690 --> 00:44:16.110
eight points. And again, he hit 385. It's not

00:44:16.110 --> 00:44:19.170
a bad performance, but they didn't have another

00:44:19.170 --> 00:44:22.329
person who was able to score. And part of that

00:44:22.329 --> 00:44:26.880
was on the passing. And I think... You saw Mone's

00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:30.400
inexperience show up a little bit in the decision

00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:32.599
making. I mean, you've got to feed your brother

00:44:32.599 --> 00:44:36.420
who's the hot hand. I understand that. But you

00:44:36.420 --> 00:44:39.320
also have to keep your other players engaged.

00:44:39.699 --> 00:44:42.920
He wasn't going to beat Italy by himself. He

00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:45.960
beat everybody else. Yeah, well, but they didn't

00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:48.679
play France. They didn't play Poland. Like against

00:44:48.679 --> 00:44:52.579
those teams. And Bulgaria has other really good

00:44:52.579 --> 00:44:56.449
players. We'll see that evolve. They're incredibly

00:44:56.449 --> 00:45:00.369
young. This was an amazing performance for them,

00:45:00.429 --> 00:45:03.269
an incredible result. They're going to be a force

00:45:03.269 --> 00:45:07.510
on the world tour for a decade with the players

00:45:07.510 --> 00:45:12.210
that they have. But Italy made sure to say, your

00:45:12.210 --> 00:45:15.809
time is not yet. And there's no doubt that we

00:45:15.809 --> 00:45:17.909
are the best. Their outside hitting core for

00:45:17.909 --> 00:45:22.329
Italy was outstanding. Romano had a great tournament.

00:45:23.449 --> 00:45:26.090
Micheleto had a great tournament. When Botolo

00:45:26.090 --> 00:45:28.510
wasn't playing well, Porto came in, did a really

00:45:28.510 --> 00:45:31.690
good job. They found their middles. Their blocking

00:45:31.690 --> 00:45:35.329
was solid. They passed well. They served well.

00:45:36.230 --> 00:45:40.670
It was fun to watch, really, and to see the celebration

00:45:40.670 --> 00:45:43.150
at the end. I got goosebumps. I think I teared

00:45:43.150 --> 00:45:45.989
up. As a kid, you're preached at about serving

00:45:45.989 --> 00:45:48.409
and passing. Win you the game. Serving and passing.

00:45:48.469 --> 00:45:51.289
Win you the game. It's true in every single level.

00:45:51.869 --> 00:45:55.449
serving and passing decide who wins championships

00:45:55.449 --> 00:45:58.010
and italy put on a clinic in the serving department

00:45:58.010 --> 00:46:02.010
yeah we talk about the mentality and approach

00:46:02.010 --> 00:46:06.530
to serving in terms of it's the one skill that

00:46:06.530 --> 00:46:09.389
you control that no one else can affect you with

00:46:09.389 --> 00:46:12.889
and italy put themselves in a mindset with their

00:46:12.889 --> 00:46:15.809
toss consistency with their aggressiveness with

00:46:15.809 --> 00:46:18.449
how they were trying to execute that skill was

00:46:18.449 --> 00:46:22.880
in their control and they delivered and it's

00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:25.039
funny we talk about france and i had france beating

00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:27.579
them at some point in the tournament france lost

00:46:27.579 --> 00:46:29.460
because of their serving italy won because of

00:46:29.460 --> 00:46:32.099
their serving and it just goes to show you where

00:46:32.099 --> 00:46:34.800
your head has to be at in that skill and what

00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:39.409
it can do for you italy cleaning up left right

00:46:39.409 --> 00:46:41.849
and center men's women's every age level you

00:46:41.849 --> 00:46:46.010
name it the 2025 was the year for them the president

00:46:46.010 --> 00:46:48.730
of that federation is having a great year somebody's

00:46:48.730 --> 00:46:51.789
getting a race i don't know who the coaches the

00:46:51.789 --> 00:46:55.829
scouts somebody is but huge congrats to italy

00:46:55.829 --> 00:47:01.670
repeating as world champions like wow we So yeah,

00:47:01.730 --> 00:47:04.030
it was a really fun weekend of volleyball. If

00:47:04.030 --> 00:47:06.409
you haven't watched them, highly recommend you

00:47:06.409 --> 00:47:09.210
check it out. Check out the USA -Bulgaria quarterfinal.

00:47:09.269 --> 00:47:15.030
That one was fire. Any of the semifinal medal

00:47:15.030 --> 00:47:17.789
matches were solid. So again, congrats, Italy.

00:47:17.929 --> 00:47:20.590
That was a lot of fun. And international season

00:47:20.590 --> 00:47:23.909
has concluded, but not until we talk about the

00:47:23.909 --> 00:47:27.809
Dream Team real quick. Dream Team setter, Janelli.

00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:33.800
Yeah. Opposite Romanov. Yeah. Who would you have

00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:38.900
put instead? That was like a deep breath. Romanov

00:47:38.900 --> 00:47:42.360
earned that position for sure. I would have been

00:47:42.360 --> 00:47:44.880
curious. I thought Kurek had played very well

00:47:44.880 --> 00:47:46.940
up until that point. It would have been interesting

00:47:46.940 --> 00:47:49.159
to see him finish the tournament, but Romanov

00:47:49.159 --> 00:47:52.219
deserved it. Two outsides, Michielaro, who was

00:47:52.219 --> 00:47:54.980
also MVP of the tournament, and Nikolov, Alex.

00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:57.000
I don't think you can disagree with that. You

00:47:57.000 --> 00:47:59.539
couldn't not put Alex Nikolov on the list. Okay,

00:47:59.679 --> 00:48:02.699
he cleaned up all tournament. And Micheletto,

00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:07.980
solid. His team won. I personally think Nikolov

00:48:07.980 --> 00:48:11.139
should have been the MVP. In terms of what he

00:48:11.139 --> 00:48:13.199
meant to his team and how he played. No, 100%.

00:48:13.199 --> 00:48:16.840
His statistical numbers were off the charts.

00:48:16.860 --> 00:48:18.119
But you're not going to get it if you're not

00:48:18.119 --> 00:48:21.219
winning. I understand that, but I think he was

00:48:21.219 --> 00:48:24.000
that good. Okay. I've seen it happen before.

00:48:25.279 --> 00:48:28.159
Middle blockers, Grosdanov and Koschanovsky.

00:48:28.400 --> 00:48:30.300
I thought there were a lot of middles who played

00:48:30.300 --> 00:48:32.920
really well. I'm not sure how I would make that

00:48:32.920 --> 00:48:35.239
pick. You had to include some middles from other

00:48:35.239 --> 00:48:39.340
teams because I think that those other four positions

00:48:39.340 --> 00:48:42.480
were pretty locked in. Well, it's like Italy's

00:48:42.480 --> 00:48:44.639
taking everything and then they're like, well,

00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:46.699
Nikolov, you can't deny. And then they're like,

00:48:46.739 --> 00:48:49.440
okay, now what? For the most part, I thought

00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:52.719
we saw the middles from almost all three of those,

00:48:52.820 --> 00:48:55.840
all four of those teams actually. play really

00:48:55.840 --> 00:48:58.619
well i didn't think that they were a hinge i

00:48:58.619 --> 00:49:00.300
thought the blocking was incredible i thought

00:49:00.300 --> 00:49:02.059
the decision making when they had opportunities

00:49:02.059 --> 00:49:05.400
to kill balls across the board the middles were

00:49:05.400 --> 00:49:08.920
incredibly like if you're picking the position

00:49:08.920 --> 00:49:11.539
that italy was least dominant in it's probably

00:49:11.539 --> 00:49:13.619
middle yeah that's fair and they're still really

00:49:13.619 --> 00:49:16.639
good yeah i mean again there i thought the middles

00:49:16.639 --> 00:49:19.659
could have been pickums across all four teams

00:49:19.659 --> 00:49:24.349
and finally libero balasso from italy I like

00:49:24.349 --> 00:49:27.329
the Polish libero. Yeah. I love him. I think

00:49:27.329 --> 00:49:29.650
that's where I would have landed as well. I thought

00:49:29.650 --> 00:49:32.389
the Italian libero played really well. You don't

00:49:32.389 --> 00:49:34.550
notice him. Exactly. But that's a good thing.

00:49:34.829 --> 00:49:36.730
We always talk about you don't want to notice

00:49:36.730 --> 00:49:38.369
the libero, but I thought the Polish middle made

00:49:38.369 --> 00:49:43.110
some spectacular defensive plays across the tournament.

00:49:43.570 --> 00:49:47.909
The Italian libero did as well, but I probably

00:49:47.909 --> 00:49:49.929
would have edged. There's perks to winning. Yeah.

00:49:49.929 --> 00:49:52.639
Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. But, I mean, it's hard

00:49:52.639 --> 00:49:54.440
to argue against any of the players on those

00:49:54.440 --> 00:49:57.940
lists. They all played spectacularly. There we

00:49:57.940 --> 00:50:01.400
go. International season 2025 in the books. It

00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:06.340
was so good. Italy, winners. There you go. Okay,

00:50:06.519 --> 00:50:09.940
listener question time. Here we go. Question

00:50:09.940 --> 00:50:13.039
one. Why are there more spin servers in the men's

00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:15.360
game relative to the women's game? They also

00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:18.880
seem to utilize the hybrid more. Is there a difference

00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:23.420
in serving strategy? We get lots of serving questions.

00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:26.360
We do. Here's a few things to think about. One,

00:50:26.500 --> 00:50:28.699
quite frankly, spin serves are easier to pass

00:50:28.699 --> 00:50:31.440
than float serves in general. If you want a spin

00:50:31.440 --> 00:50:34.239
serve to be effective, you need it to do two

00:50:34.239 --> 00:50:37.860
things. One, you need it to be incredibly hard

00:50:37.860 --> 00:50:41.960
so that it's more difficult to control. And you

00:50:41.960 --> 00:50:44.219
need it to move one way or the other, left to

00:50:44.219 --> 00:50:45.699
right, right to left, depending on... Put that

00:50:45.699 --> 00:50:48.900
wrist behind it, you know. And if you can't do

00:50:48.900 --> 00:50:52.710
that, give me a spin serve to pass. Oh, I'll

00:50:52.710 --> 00:50:54.809
pass a spin serve over a float serve all day.

00:50:54.949 --> 00:50:57.889
Yeah, I agree. And women don't put enough on

00:50:57.889 --> 00:50:59.469
their spin serves. And that's the thing. Women

00:50:59.469 --> 00:51:01.670
are fantastic passers in general. Unless you're

00:51:01.670 --> 00:51:05.150
Kira Van Ryk or Melissa Vargas. Exactly. So you

00:51:05.150 --> 00:51:07.530
have a couple women who can put the pace on the

00:51:07.530 --> 00:51:11.190
ball required to be effective. And otherwise,

00:51:11.329 --> 00:51:14.489
unless you're hitting the ball that hard, because

00:51:14.489 --> 00:51:16.510
the net's lower on the women's side and the women

00:51:16.510 --> 00:51:18.750
are still very tall who play the sport at a high

00:51:18.750 --> 00:51:21.409
level that trajectory that you can get on the

00:51:21.409 --> 00:51:23.210
float serve you don't need to hit it as hard

00:51:23.210 --> 00:51:26.690
the range of effectiveness is less and so that's

00:51:26.690 --> 00:51:30.070
why you see more float serves on the women's

00:51:30.070 --> 00:51:32.230
side than on the men's side and on the men's

00:51:32.230 --> 00:51:36.559
side you have to get teams in trouble from a

00:51:36.559 --> 00:51:38.440
passing standpoint if they're in system and the

00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:39.880
good women's teams are like this as well but

00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:41.760
I feel more so in the men's game because it's

00:51:41.760 --> 00:51:44.179
a little more physical and you the men can hit

00:51:44.179 --> 00:51:46.780
the ball harder and put that pace on it so that's

00:51:46.780 --> 00:51:49.820
the high level breakdown of why you see more

00:51:49.820 --> 00:51:54.000
spin serves in the men's game question two if

00:51:54.000 --> 00:51:56.000
you were starting a team from scratch and you

00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:59.300
could choose one world -class player in just

00:51:59.300 --> 00:52:02.559
one position which position would you choose

00:52:02.559 --> 00:52:06.800
okay let's count to three and say the position

00:52:06.800 --> 00:52:10.000
we would choose at the same time. Okay, I have

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:15.159
a caveat. Are we talking, are the other players

00:52:15.159 --> 00:52:18.880
rec level players or are we baseline competent?

00:52:20.519 --> 00:52:24.860
I would say, we're not going to say like they've

00:52:24.860 --> 00:52:26.780
never played volleyball before. It's going to

00:52:26.780 --> 00:52:31.179
be like a decent level. But you have one player

00:52:31.179 --> 00:52:38.199
that is like, elite world class okay ready one

00:52:38.199 --> 00:52:45.239
two three setter 100 you saw the difference we

00:52:45.239 --> 00:52:47.920
talked about usa you saw the difference that

00:52:47.920 --> 00:52:51.360
micah christiansen made for almost the same lineup

00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:54.239
from vnl to worlds i think they were way better

00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:57.900
personally totally i've said this so many times

00:52:58.489 --> 00:53:02.510
a great setter can take a mediocre team and make

00:53:02.510 --> 00:53:05.670
them incredible a bad setter can take an incredible

00:53:05.670 --> 00:53:10.230
team and make them rough like setters are difference

00:53:10.230 --> 00:53:12.989
makers well and they touch the ball more than

00:53:12.989 --> 00:53:15.090
any other player on the court yes so you want

00:53:15.090 --> 00:53:17.829
your skilled players touching the ball the most

00:53:17.829 --> 00:53:20.289
that's why decisions yeah whenever we're doing

00:53:20.289 --> 00:53:23.489
like fantasy or like drafts or stuff for fun

00:53:23.489 --> 00:53:27.730
we always pick setters first absolutely Like

00:53:27.730 --> 00:53:30.769
unless you have just this complete, unless the

00:53:30.769 --> 00:53:33.590
setters are all generally the same skill level,

00:53:33.750 --> 00:53:38.369
then sure, it's fine. But no, always prioritize

00:53:38.369 --> 00:53:40.449
the setter. I think the more interesting question

00:53:40.449 --> 00:53:44.349
is what position would you prioritize as your

00:53:44.349 --> 00:53:47.269
second pick? Left side, you have every skill.

00:53:47.329 --> 00:53:49.670
If you have a world -class left side, you have

00:53:49.670 --> 00:53:51.650
every skill set covered. I would have picked

00:53:51.650 --> 00:53:54.210
the same thing. Look at that. I like that question

00:53:54.210 --> 00:53:57.369
a lot. Question three, when do you know it's

00:53:57.369 --> 00:53:59.909
finally time to hang it up? When do you know

00:53:59.909 --> 00:54:02.190
you've suffered one last injury and say to yourself,

00:54:02.369 --> 00:54:04.650
I'm going to recovery. I'll be able to work out

00:54:04.650 --> 00:54:06.690
and be fully normal again. However, I don't want

00:54:06.690 --> 00:54:08.510
to work toward playing the highest level of volleyball

00:54:08.510 --> 00:54:12.409
possible. I can't answer that question because

00:54:12.409 --> 00:54:14.610
I've never been there. Mine was, you're not good

00:54:14.610 --> 00:54:16.489
enough to play at the next level. That was the

00:54:16.489 --> 00:54:21.110
decision. I wouldn't say the injury forced my

00:54:21.110 --> 00:54:23.750
retirement. I was going to retire when I did

00:54:23.750 --> 00:54:28.389
anyway. But yeah, when is it time to hang it

00:54:28.389 --> 00:54:29.949
up? You know, there are some people who just

00:54:29.949 --> 00:54:32.289
never, they don't get it and they just never

00:54:32.289 --> 00:54:35.409
reach it. And like you see them continue to try

00:54:35.409 --> 00:54:37.250
to push and you almost feel bad for them. You

00:54:37.250 --> 00:54:39.809
know what I mean? And then there's some people

00:54:39.809 --> 00:54:42.730
who just like know when it's time to go. Well,

00:54:42.769 --> 00:54:45.409
I think you have two different types of athletes.

00:54:45.869 --> 00:54:50.530
You have athletes who play sport to be the best.

00:54:51.309 --> 00:54:54.900
And when they are no longer capable. being the

00:54:54.900 --> 00:54:57.820
best they're not interested anymore and they

00:54:57.820 --> 00:55:02.239
retire and then you have those athletes who just

00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:05.840
they love the lifestyle they love to play they

00:55:05.840 --> 00:55:09.500
love everything around the sport including competing

00:55:09.500 --> 00:55:13.719
but competing is not necessarily the end -all

00:55:13.719 --> 00:55:15.760
and be -all if you know what I mean and I think

00:55:15.760 --> 00:55:19.570
you see those athletes hang around. Hey, I'm

00:55:19.570 --> 00:55:21.030
going to show up and I'm going to mentor the

00:55:21.030 --> 00:55:23.789
next generation. I think you see those two extremes

00:55:23.789 --> 00:55:25.949
in general in athletes, or at least that's been

00:55:25.949 --> 00:55:28.849
my experience in coaching different athletes.

00:55:29.449 --> 00:55:33.369
Speaking on a personal level, I will say I probably

00:55:33.369 --> 00:55:36.030
fall into the pursuit of excellence side of that.

00:55:36.289 --> 00:55:40.150
Not probably. I did. So for me, the pool of athletes

00:55:40.150 --> 00:55:43.190
in my country that I had to choose from became

00:55:43.190 --> 00:55:46.110
smaller and smaller. For beach. For beach. For

00:55:46.110 --> 00:55:49.730
beach. It's just like when you're not capable

00:55:49.730 --> 00:55:53.329
of getting there. I felt good about my own performance,

00:55:53.389 --> 00:55:55.889
like knee surgery and all that aside. Like I

00:55:55.889 --> 00:55:57.789
was still playing at a high level prior to that.

00:55:57.949 --> 00:56:00.590
And it's just like, what do you do? What am I

00:56:00.590 --> 00:56:04.110
doing here? Like if I'm not pushing to like legit

00:56:04.110 --> 00:56:06.329
be the best in the world, like what am I even

00:56:06.329 --> 00:56:10.130
doing here? Like why am I traveling for weeks

00:56:10.130 --> 00:56:13.619
and months? Why would I? spend my time and energy

00:56:13.619 --> 00:56:16.579
doing this and getting older that's the other

00:56:16.579 --> 00:56:18.380
thing is you're getting older and athletes are

00:56:18.380 --> 00:56:22.219
getting younger and it's just yeah it was a reality

00:56:22.219 --> 00:56:24.300
check and then it was just kind of like looking

00:56:24.300 --> 00:56:25.780
at myself and being like I don't have anything

00:56:25.780 --> 00:56:28.659
to prove to myself or anybody else anymore I've

00:56:28.659 --> 00:56:33.090
done everything I feel good But it's hard. It's

00:56:33.090 --> 00:56:35.250
hard to walk away from something that has been

00:56:35.250 --> 00:56:38.570
so a part of your life for so long and it's scary.

00:56:38.750 --> 00:56:42.030
And yeah, this is a very hard question, but I

00:56:42.030 --> 00:56:45.929
think it's like knowing yourself, knowing who

00:56:45.929 --> 00:56:48.989
you are and what your life priorities are really.

00:56:50.190 --> 00:56:52.250
Question four, do you think the trade -offs in

00:56:52.250 --> 00:56:54.849
the college games evolution going from developing

00:56:54.849 --> 00:56:57.650
six rotation players during the golden era of

00:56:57.650 --> 00:57:01.150
2005 to 10 to building better and more balanced

00:57:01.150 --> 00:57:03.550
teams in the current era, do you think those

00:57:03.550 --> 00:57:06.250
trade -offs are worth it for the overall trajectory

00:57:06.250 --> 00:57:09.530
of the game in the U .S.? So fewer six rotation

00:57:09.530 --> 00:57:13.090
players definitely hurts the national team, but...

00:57:13.630 --> 00:57:15.989
More balanced teams increases the participation

00:57:15.989 --> 00:57:18.909
of girls in the sport and could lead to discovering

00:57:18.909 --> 00:57:23.730
untapped talent. There are trade -offs for sure.

00:57:25.349 --> 00:57:28.650
This is a very interesting question. I think

00:57:28.650 --> 00:57:32.630
the more kids who are playing sport, the better.

00:57:32.710 --> 00:57:36.389
I think sport is great for everyone to participate.

00:57:36.690 --> 00:57:44.519
And I love that. young kids can come in and play

00:57:44.519 --> 00:57:47.059
a sport if they're short, contribute to their

00:57:47.059 --> 00:57:49.219
team like we talked about, either defensively

00:57:49.219 --> 00:57:52.559
or from the service line. And I love that these

00:57:52.559 --> 00:57:56.719
rules allow the sport to be more inclusive and

00:57:56.719 --> 00:58:00.159
accessible for both kids of young ages, but both

00:58:00.159 --> 00:58:03.300
at the collegiate level. You don't have a ton

00:58:03.300 --> 00:58:05.739
of athletes from the overall participating pool

00:58:05.739 --> 00:58:08.500
who go play pro or who play on the national team.

00:58:08.840 --> 00:58:13.030
However, I think as a coach especially at the

00:58:13.030 --> 00:58:15.829
collegiate level but also at the club level if

00:58:15.829 --> 00:58:18.449
you have a kid who has aspirations and the skill

00:58:18.449 --> 00:58:23.230
set to be that good it should be your responsibility

00:58:23.230 --> 00:58:27.889
to give that kid the opportunity to make those

00:58:27.889 --> 00:58:29.949
dreams come true and you have to be realistic

00:58:29.949 --> 00:58:32.670
about it you know you can be 5 '8 and say I want

00:58:32.670 --> 00:58:35.210
to play on the national team as a left side it's

00:58:35.210 --> 00:58:36.989
probably not going to happen like I understand

00:58:36.989 --> 00:58:38.829
that there's trade -offs between winning in your

00:58:38.829 --> 00:58:41.630
program but that you can't tell me you can't

00:58:41.630 --> 00:58:43.949
give those kids passing reps in practice or you

00:58:43.949 --> 00:58:47.650
can't help them get there so I love the rule

00:58:47.650 --> 00:58:51.130
from a participation standpoint I don't think

00:58:51.130 --> 00:58:53.670
it has to be as debilitating for six rotation

00:58:53.670 --> 00:58:58.389
players as it currently is if coaches And I don't

00:58:58.389 --> 00:59:00.789
want to say they don't do this because I understand

00:59:00.789 --> 00:59:03.010
you have to win, but I think it could be done

00:59:03.010 --> 00:59:06.170
better. That's pretty much exactly the answer

00:59:06.170 --> 00:59:08.469
I was going to give. I was like, the percentage

00:59:08.469 --> 00:59:11.269
of athletes who are going to go on to play national

00:59:11.269 --> 00:59:16.550
team or pro is very, very small. So you want...

00:59:16.780 --> 00:59:19.579
kids to have a place to play you want to keep

00:59:19.579 --> 00:59:22.099
kids in sport particularly girls you want to

00:59:22.099 --> 00:59:24.019
keep girls involved in sport as long as possible

00:59:24.019 --> 00:59:27.239
a lot of girls find a social aspect to sport

00:59:27.239 --> 00:59:31.639
so I think the way the game is now at the club

00:59:31.639 --> 00:59:36.219
level is so good for the average volleyball player

00:59:36.219 --> 00:59:38.280
who doesn't like you said have aspirations to

00:59:38.280 --> 00:59:41.909
be on the national team But you cannot just have

00:59:41.909 --> 00:59:44.409
a cookie cutter. You need to look at kids on

00:59:44.409 --> 00:59:46.929
an individual basis. I think kids need to be

00:59:46.929 --> 00:59:49.530
coached based on the individuals they are from

00:59:49.530 --> 00:59:52.929
like a feedback perspective. But I think if a

00:59:52.929 --> 00:59:55.429
kid has a goal to make it, you need to try to

00:59:55.429 --> 00:59:58.010
like give them every opportunity to do that.

00:59:58.269 --> 01:00:00.809
So I think it's kind of, yeah, a nuanced question

01:00:00.809 --> 01:00:03.550
or answer. Because let's be honest, if you...

01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:06.719
realistically have professional or national team

01:00:06.719 --> 01:00:09.219
aspirations you're playing for a very good program

01:00:09.219 --> 01:00:13.039
collegially yeah you can't tell me yeah you can't

01:00:13.039 --> 01:00:15.760
tell me that you're not going to have games against

01:00:15.760 --> 01:00:18.139
throwaway schools where your coach could go okay

01:00:18.139 --> 01:00:21.000
you'll play six rotations in this match but you

01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:23.380
could find those opportunities for those players

01:00:23.380 --> 01:00:25.539
if there's a player that has that potential they

01:00:25.539 --> 01:00:27.559
should be given the opportunity to train all

01:00:27.559 --> 01:00:30.400
those skills and use them anyway that's that's

01:00:30.400 --> 01:00:32.960
it okay last one when do you think is a good

01:00:32.960 --> 01:00:34.960
moment to switch out your star players if they

01:00:34.960 --> 01:00:37.679
aren't performing well so the examples they gave

01:00:37.679 --> 01:00:40.440
were ishikawa in the japan canada match at worlds

01:00:40.440 --> 01:00:44.440
he was kept in way longer than he should have

01:00:44.440 --> 01:00:50.280
been angapeth keeping them in so basically what

01:00:50.280 --> 01:00:53.699
is asking is is it normal to wait it out longer

01:00:53.699 --> 01:00:56.380
when it's a star player because you trust them

01:00:56.380 --> 01:00:59.610
to figure it out This is a coach question, so

01:00:59.610 --> 01:01:02.769
I'll pass the floor to Adam. There's a couple

01:01:02.769 --> 01:01:06.489
considerations here. One is, who do you have

01:01:06.489 --> 01:01:09.989
replacing him and coming in off the bench? So

01:01:09.989 --> 01:01:12.269
you need to know what the skill level of that

01:01:12.269 --> 01:01:15.550
person is. Ideally, you've seen this athlete

01:01:15.550 --> 01:01:18.550
in these situations before, so you have an idea

01:01:18.550 --> 01:01:20.449
of how long it's going to take them to come out.

01:01:20.570 --> 01:01:25.429
It's individual based on those athletes. And

01:01:25.429 --> 01:01:29.550
then it's a gut feeling. in terms of, you know,

01:01:29.550 --> 01:01:32.369
Ingepeth was coming back from injury. Ishikawa

01:01:32.369 --> 01:01:36.809
was not. He just wasn't very good. So, and quite

01:01:36.809 --> 01:01:39.730
frankly, so in my opinion, that one was too late

01:01:39.730 --> 01:01:41.429
because the replacement for Ishikawa came in

01:01:41.429 --> 01:01:45.309
and played really well. It's a feel thing for

01:01:45.309 --> 01:01:48.170
coaches in terms of how you do that. Now, what

01:01:48.170 --> 01:01:51.530
I haven't addressed here is, is there political

01:01:51.530 --> 01:01:56.380
blowback? And what I mean by that is, Inge Peth

01:01:56.380 --> 01:02:01.219
is your program's guy, right? Do you have the

01:02:01.219 --> 01:02:04.820
blessing of the federation to pull him and bench

01:02:04.820 --> 01:02:09.000
him? Those players can go over your head. I'm

01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:10.699
not saying Inge Peth would do this, but I'm saying

01:02:10.699 --> 01:02:13.500
that's a reality that affects decisions. It's

01:02:13.500 --> 01:02:15.780
much easier to get rid of a coach than it is

01:02:15.780 --> 01:02:19.619
to lose your star players. There's a whole bunch

01:02:19.619 --> 01:02:23.460
of factors that go into this, and they're never

01:02:23.460 --> 01:02:27.750
easy. decisions to make oh i liked these ones

01:02:27.750 --> 01:02:29.610
this week these were good ones they were very

01:02:29.610 --> 01:02:33.809
good questions keep them coming i mean i'm the

01:02:33.809 --> 01:02:36.570
one who picks them so like pat on the back to

01:02:36.570 --> 01:02:39.969
me for making them but honestly these questions

01:02:39.969 --> 01:02:41.570
thank you for sending these in they were really

01:02:41.570 --> 01:02:44.730
really fun to answer and think about all right

01:02:44.730 --> 01:02:49.429
world is over the italians are the champs and

01:02:49.429 --> 01:02:53.469
our focus is now going to switch to ncaa and

01:02:53.469 --> 01:02:56.920
i hope For any of you guys who are mostly international

01:02:56.920 --> 01:02:59.019
volleyball fans, you should watch some of the

01:02:59.019 --> 01:03:00.659
college volleyball. It's very entertaining. I

01:03:00.659 --> 01:03:02.360
know pro seasons are starting soon, but if you

01:03:02.360 --> 01:03:04.639
need a fix, there are very good matches out there

01:03:04.639 --> 01:03:07.440
to watch. And the collegiate scene in the U .S.

01:03:07.460 --> 01:03:12.400
is very entertaining. So this week, here are

01:03:12.400 --> 01:03:14.199
the matches that we'll be watching. Wednesday,

01:03:14.440 --> 01:03:18.820
7 .30 p .m. Eastern, Kansas versus TCU. Looking

01:03:18.820 --> 01:03:22.690
to right the ship in that match. Friday at 8

01:03:22.690 --> 01:03:26.250
p .m. Eastern, Nebraska, Penn State. Probably

01:03:26.250 --> 01:03:29.409
won't be great, but I put it down. Well, it technically

01:03:29.409 --> 01:03:31.250
should be good, and Penn State needs to right

01:03:31.250 --> 01:03:33.710
the ship as well. So we'll see what product they

01:03:33.710 --> 01:03:37.030
put on the floor. Saturday, 4 p .m. Eastern,

01:03:37.250 --> 01:03:40.429
Utah versus Arizona State. Utah needs to show

01:03:40.429 --> 01:03:44.309
up in this match. Saturday, 9 .30 p .m. Eastern,

01:03:44.550 --> 01:03:48.309
Purdue versus USC. This I'm interested. USC,

01:03:48.530 --> 01:03:50.690
I don't think they've played a ton of good teams.

01:03:51.280 --> 01:03:53.219
so far they're doing pretty well but they're

01:03:53.219 --> 01:03:55.820
doing well so i i'm very curious to see them

01:03:55.820 --> 01:03:58.739
in big 10 play now against better opponents i'm

01:03:58.739 --> 01:04:02.480
curious to get a real good feel of how they look

01:04:02.480 --> 01:04:05.880
as a team and then finally sunday at 4 p .m eastern

01:04:05.880 --> 01:04:10.300
louisville stanford the battle of the one b's

01:04:10.300 --> 01:04:13.980
i'm curious i think stanford is a 1a but whatever

01:04:13.980 --> 01:04:17.900
agree to disagree well they're young they they

01:04:17.900 --> 01:04:19.780
i think they have the potential to be there but

01:04:19.780 --> 01:04:23.570
i need to see little bit more from them in terms

01:04:23.570 --> 01:04:25.630
of can they do it consistently and can they compete

01:04:25.630 --> 01:04:28.130
with those top teams so this will be this is

01:04:28.130 --> 01:04:32.050
a measuring stick match for me for stanford that

01:04:32.050 --> 01:04:34.250
concludes this week's episode of volley talk

01:04:34.250 --> 01:04:36.170
there's always something shaking in the volleyball

01:04:36.170 --> 01:04:38.389
world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix

01:04:38.389 --> 01:04:40.289
be sure to follow the show so you don't miss

01:04:40.289 --> 01:04:42.309
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01:04:42.309 --> 01:04:44.809
leave us a five -star review You can also find

01:04:44.809 --> 01:04:47.530
us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore podcast.

01:04:48.110 --> 01:04:49.989
If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss,

01:04:50.070 --> 01:04:52.449
be sure to reach out to us on Instagram or at

01:04:52.449 --> 01:04:56.170
info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining

01:04:56.170 --> 01:04:57.929
us and we'll be back next week.