Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley
Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers
who want to dig deep into what is going on in
NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host,
Sarah Pavin. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat
guy. Overseas Pro Leagues have started their
regular season. Stay tuned for some updates on
that. Just, we're fresh. Okay, we just had some
preseason stuff. So once things get moving, we
will give some updates with that. And we'll keep
you up to date on if there are going to be good
matches you should watch and things like that.
And we'll figure out how to mix in a little international
flavor for everyone. We were asked how to watch
the league. So just as a reminder. the italian
japanese and polish leagues are all on volleyball
tv which has a subscription and i read that the
turkish league you can watch on youtube if you
have a vpn that is how you can check some of
those out champions league won't start for a
little while but we'll keep you posted when it
does ncaa conference play continued so we had
a ton of engagement and questions this week we
love to see how passionate our listeners and
viewers are about their favorite players and
teams there were several interesting results
we're gonna dive into a couple in particular
that we found extra interesting shall we say
so let's get started so before we get into the
weekly highlights I want to acknowledge that
I may have had the take that went sour the fastest
last episode. I predicted Stanford was going
to win the conference as they were losing to
Louisville at home. Now I will say Pitt also
lost, which we'll talk about. Which he also threw
out Pitt will lose to a medium team. So I'm just
saying Stanford still has a chance to finish
top. The loss to Louisville doesn't help their
cause. No. And I appreciate all of the engagement
letting me know that my take didn't age well.
Fair. Acknowledged. But it was a good game. So
things stayed pretty steady this week from a
rankings perspective in the NCAA. We saw Minnesota
drop to 14 from 10. They're having a rough go.
They are dealing with a lot of injuries. And
we'll talk about this whole situation a bit later.
Miami rose to 18 from 22. USC dropped to 22 from
17. Missouri dropped to 25 from 21. And we saw
a couple new additions to the top 25 this week
with Indiana and Colorado joining at 20 and 24,
respectively. Well -deserved for those two teams.
We also had a few noteworthy or maybe more unexpected
results this week. We saw Texas and Tennessee
go five. Not to take anything away from Tennessee,
but Texas has been like rolling and like number
two in the country. So I'm not sure I expected
that to go five. No, I didn't either. We saw
UCLA beat both Minnesota and USC three straight.
I was a little surprised. I watched. the UCLA
-USC game. It was interesting. I don't think
we're going to cover that one this week, but
USC looked a little young. I was going to say,
didn't all look good. Yeah, they're super physical.
I thought they made mistakes. Down the road,
I thought they struggled to pass. I like their
middles, though. Yeah, exactly. Their left side
struggled a little bit. And in fairness, UCLA's
left side played very well. Which they really
need them to. Yes. And we saw PK on the right
side. She's back. Yeah, it didn't go well. Yeah,
I'm very curious about those decisions. That's
not a long -term solution there, in my opinion.
Yeah. Arizona took down Baylor in three. We also
watched that one. Yeah, I wasn't... expecting
that one either Baylor did not look at their
physical they have some very good players but
they are not taking care of the details around
the ball and Arizona just kept pushing so a good
win for Arizona that conference the left side
also played really well for Arizona that match
true true Florida beat Missouri in four Missouri
is going through it they're going to drop out
of the rankings they cannot put it together gone
steadily downward over the last few weeks Indiana
got beaten by Michigan State three straight welcome
to the top 25 but then you go lose to Michigan
State I mean Michigan State has been making a
push they've been playing better they are on
the rise I think teams need to take them seriously
There are two other big upsets that I'm sure
you're wondering why we haven't brought them
up yet. Those are the two matches we're going
to talk about this week. So obviously those were
Penn State versus Wisconsin and Pitt versus Miami.
Those were kind of the like what we'll call weekly
highlights. So that was like the weekly rundown
of what has been happening in the NCAA. Let's
take a look at Penn State versus Wisconsin. I
think, you know, after Izzy Stark's departure.
And kind of the trajectory that Penn State has
been on. The absolute shellacking they took from
Nebraska last week. I personally did not expect
much from this match. You mean Wisconsin 3 -0?
I was expecting Wisconsin to handle this one
in a pretty straightforward manner. Agreed. Agreed.
I thought they were well set up to defend Kennedy
Martin and make Penn State... the rest of Penn
State beat them. What about them made you think
that they were set up to defend Kennedy Martin?
I mean, they're big. They're a good blocking
team. They're not big like they have been. No,
they're not. And their blocking stats have gone
down the drain. compared to what we're used to
seeing. Fair, but they're still Mimi Collier
and Carter Booth, or... I mean, Mimi Collier
is a good blocker. Carter Booth's a good blocker.
They're not Anna Smrek -Retke big with Sarah
Franklin, but they're still big. And given that
Penn State offense has generally been one -dimensional
this last little while... I figured it would
be all about shutting her down. I think Furbringer's
a pretty good digger, so I figured... Who didn't
play. Right. In general, looking at that lineup,
they defend that angle ball pretty well. I thought
it was going to be a rough night for Penn State.
A lot of nights have been rough for Penn State.
Let's not kid ourselves. But Kennedy Martin's
been showing up time and time again. Just, she
hasn't been enough. And she's played really,
really well. And this is, I mean, this is going
to lead into something we talk about later, but
it was going to generally come down to Mimi Collier
plus plus against Kennedy Martin against Kennedy
Martin. Basically. So I know we're going to have
people be like, well, Charlie Furbringer didn't
play and Penn State has had time to get used
to their new setter. Well, I know Wisconsin fans
are going to chime in and be like, we didn't
have Charlie Furbringer and Penn State has had
time to get used to their new setter. Fair. But
it's not like Penn State hasn't gone through
their own set of injuries, and I would argue
that losing Izzy Stark is probably a little bit
bigger than losing Charlie Furbringer. They're
both very close, but your starting setter is
your starting setter. I understand that. But
did Charlie Furbringer being on the bench make
Wisconsin's passing fall apart? I don't think
so. Yeah. Because they made that poor girl, that
freshman setter, run around like a marathon runner,
okay? That was the biggest thing that I noticed
in that match. You would think that you bring
in a setter who hasn't played. who is your backup
setter, you are dialed into making that player's
life as easy as possible, so the only thing they
have to do is set. That needs to be the focus.
I actually thought this was Sheffield's biggest
mistake of the match, was not subbing in more
DSs or not finding a change to improve the passing.
I still think Wisconsin should have won this
match. I understand Charlie's hurt. I understand
you lose your centerpiece and everybody's a little
bit out of rhythm. But I just think they're a
better team than Penn State is. They have more
pieces. They should have been able to win this
match, in my opinion. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And they
did sub in some DSs. They saw Warren come in
as a DS. But the thing for me is Collier was
terrible. Not good. Again, part of that is she
was getting set from everywhere. and you're not
in rhythm. What do you think Kennedy Martin's
been doing all season? Penn State's not a good
passing team. They haven't been passing well.
She's had to hit out of system all season long,
and she's been scoring just fine. Mimi Collier,
you're the go -to hitter. You need to score out
of system. At one point, in the third set, I
think she was hitting zero. Well, she had two
kills in the first set to Kennedy Martin's 10.
Kennedy Martin had 10 points in the first set.
They just didn't look prepared. to shut her down
well okay kennedy martin was hitting over top
of the block i understand that kennedy martin
is very good she's going to score points but
i they didn't look prepared to stop her at all
it was pretty bad kennedy martin is very clearly
a thumb up hitter so if she's hitting on the
right side thumb up she's taking the ball cross
court towards zone one yes okay she hit some
balls over the block 100 if a player does that
wow she was doing it consistently though so i
did expect an adjustment but if somebody's doing
that Okay, fine. But here's the other thing that
I saw. She's got a little bit, I don't want to
call it a weird arm swing, but she's one of the
few players collegiately who really uses her
wrists and brings the ball across her body. So
you said thumb up, which is accurate, but she
also kind of opens her shoulders a little bit
and then comes back across her body. And the
number of times I saw defenders on the cross
-court side of the court stepping to their left
because they saw the shoulders open and then
the ball being beaten to their... right because
she's snapping across her body. To me, that's
a lack of preparation. You should have had somebody
hitting those balls. You need to understand what
that hitter is doing to you. You can't be caught
moving the wrong direction. That's a lack of
preparation. Well, even if you didn't prepare,
you have 78 people on your bench. Somebody needs
to identify what's happening and be like, it's
an illusion. Her shoulders are going to go, but
you need to trust your positioning and stay because
the act, A, she's bringing it back, but the act
of snapping the wrist across is dragging the
ball more to the right. So somebody needed to
say that because it was painful watching these
defenders just continually get beaten by the
same shot. You know where she's going to go.
You know she wants to go thumb up. Even if she's
hitting over the block, get your position six,
like hanging out a little bit shaded that way.
to try to counteract something. Make her beat
you down the line. Yeah, make her beat you down
the line. 100%. When you have a player like that,
you want to set up your defense, your block defense,
in a way that makes them want to do what they
don't want to do. And then if they're still going
to score, good for her. I truly believe she probably
still would have scored. But at least you're
making an adjustment. Yeah, you can't let a great
hitter beat you with what they're comfortable
with. You have to make them beat you with what
they're uncomfortable with. I don't think they
did that. I thought that was just poor from Wisconsin
from a preparation standpoint. I thought number
one should have been taken off the floor. She
was not very good. She didn't score and she didn't
pass. I didn't love their serving strategy. It
didn't work for me. No, it was incredibly disappointing
to watch. And I'm going to go back to it because,
you know, I have to. Mimi Collier was so bad.
Yeah. So bad. And I understand players have bad
games, whatever. But we talked about this. What
happens when your best players don't show up?
We brought this up about Mimi Collier, and I
think I said she's not it for me a few weeks
ago, maybe. I'm not going to let this one game
determine her season. Everybody has bad games.
But my question is, for Kelly Sheffield, what
are you doing? You're seeing your star hitter,
the player that you're literally depending on
most matches. struggling so much lined up against
Kennedy Martin who as a thumb up hitter isn't
really hitting in the direction of her block
anyway and I understand Mimi Collier is a good
blocker she's probably your best option as an
outside to block Kennedy Martin but she's not
hitting that angle She's hitting over top of
your middle. So why not reverse your rotation
or flip your rotation to get her hitting against
your setter and try to get some rhythm going?
Like he didn't make any changes. He didn't flip
the rotation, sub Vajicic out. She's doing nothing
for you. Make a change. Yeah, I didn't understand
that from a... coaching standpoint, from a strategy
standpoint. It just didn't make sense to me.
If players aren't playing well, take them off
the court. Make an adjustment. That was incredibly
disappointing. Now, on the flip side, we said
Penn State needs to have a response to what's
been going on. They can either wallow in self
-pity that they're set or left and this and that
and they can't pass, or they can decide as a
group that they're going to show up and they're
not going to let these things define them as
a team. And they did that. You have to give them
credit. They are still not very good at the things
they need to work on. They passed better. But
they were better, right? Mendelsohn got some
sets. They ran a little bit of metal. Kennedy
Martin was outstanding. She played a very, very
good game. She was unstoppable. But there were
other pieces around there that did a good job
as well. Jura Vicious scored some points. Emmy
Selman is still not it for me. Agreed. I'm not
really sure what she did. But Jura Vicious scored
some points. She brought energy, which I think
is important because she's the type of player
who wears her emotions on her face, and you can
tell when she's unhappy. Yeah, and they were
a little better defensively. Yes. You could see
Jillian Grimes kind of like running. the back
row, which she needs to be assertive and do that
because Juravich isn't. I mean, they're bringing
Ava in for Selman in the back row, but they need
her to kind of take control back there. And I
think their setter did a pretty good job. Better.
I don't think you could have asked for a better
response given the situation and where they were
coming from. While I didn't love Wisconsin's
game, I think you have to give credit to Penn
State for what they put on the floor in that
situation. And I did. I will say it again. Did
enjoy watching kind of the dynamic and the attitude
from Penn State. Even the way that Katie Schumacher
-Cauley was engaging with the girls on the court.
You know, how the girls were interacting together.
I thought that that was a huge positive for the
team. And they definitely looked... like they
were in it together. Kennedy Martin is the show.
She's the franchise. She'll need to continue
to be the franchise, but she was very engaged
as well. But as disappointed as I was in Wisconsin,
that match, I was equally happy for and with
Penn State. I will say I saw Furbringer raise
both hands while she was on the bench, so I think
that's a good sign. I don't know what the injury
report on her is. I said, what, has her dislocated
her shoulder or something? No, I watched the
play and thought it was a shoulder dislocation.
That was just kind of from watching. If she raises
both hands, that's... Yeah, because she was in
a sling after the match, so I don't think it's
a shoulder dislocation because her hand was above
her head, so hopefully that means she's coming
back because it's clear that they need her. They
need to pass. I don't care who you are. If you're
setting every ball from 25 feet off the net,
what are you going to do? I will say Furbringer
runs a better tempo off the net than this new
girl. And Collier likes hitting that set. The
Collier -Furbringer connection running tempo
from different places. suits her well and gets
her in rhythm okay so we'll see we have a ton
of listener questions so i want to incorporate
some into what we're discussing today so one
that i think is relevant to this discussion is
do you think it would be a good move for kennedy
martin to finish out the year at penn state and
jump straight into the pros instead of taking
a fourth year obviously education is a major
part of the process but if there was a world
for kennedy to graduate and go play pro would
that be a good move for her Given how much money
she's making from NIL, I would say stick it out.
There's no reason to rush going to pro. The only
consideration would be if the USA staff is telling
her, you have a potential to start in the 2028
Olympics, but you need to get some international
experience. Here is where you can play. We found
you a contract. The 2028 Olympics in the US,
in LA, with her as the right side, would be the
only reason. I would go play pro. Otherwise,
you make your hundreds of thousands of dollars
playing collegiate. You finish your education.
She has a bright future ahead of her if she chooses
to play pro. And there's no rush. Well, given
how much we've heard she's making at Penn State,
do you think the draw of potentially starting
in LA Olympics is even worth giving that up?
Because I don't think her earning potential as
a pro is... what she's making now, personally,
based on my experience? If it was me, I might
think, well, I can play one more year and make
that money and still have a shot at 2028. Like
those two things are not usually exclusive. Hypothetically,
if it's one or the other, what would you do?
That's a lot of money. She is not making that
money in her first five years as a pro. Absolutely
not. That's a tough question. If I was guaranteed
the starting spot, In the Olympics. I might take
the Olympics, but I don't think you can. It's
against the whole nature of sport. You can't
guarantee somebody a spot. Well, that money is
guaranteed. That match was the Kennedy Martin
show. It was a great show to watch, honestly.
I love to see it. Wisconsin. Yeah, we'll see
with the Furbringer injury. brings and how long
the backup set will be in. And Grace Egan, but
I will say Maddie Quest did a good job coming
in on the right side for Egan. I really like
her. She did a good job. I don't think that was
a huge step down. Like, that definitely wasn't
the reason they didn't win the match. No, no.
And a freshman, so that's good. Yeah. Bright
future for her. Yeah. All right. Another highly
anticipated match, which I got lots of messages
about this one, was Pitt versus Miami. Pitt dominated
or... handily won the first two sets only to
be reverse swept oh the reverse sweep yeah okay
wow pitches looked they went from looking like
solid to just completely out of it they could
not get anything to work after set two which
is interesting because originally when you think
about going to play at miami For those of you
who aren't familiar with the venue, it's a high
school gym with a low ceiling. It looks like
a high school gym to me. And so there's definitely
the way you pass, the way you play defense. You're
100 % cognizant of how low the ceiling is. So
normally when you see teams go in there, they
struggle in the first set, calibrate and figure
out. what adjustments they have to see. And I
will say visually it makes a difference when
there's not as much space and it feels a little
bit tighter, especially from a serving standpoint.
Okay, as an aside, as an athlete, I preferred
the tighter, more intimate gyms as a spin server.
Playing in a basketball arena as a spin server,
the depth and everything was such a trip. So
I personally prefer to play in those environments,
but we've seen a lot of matches over the last
couple years played at Miami, and we are seeing
balls ricochet off that roof like a pinball machine.
And serves going into the back wall. Wow, it's
insane. The highlight of the match has to be
Adedia Colon. She was outstanding. She put...
Miami on her back and won that match literally
carried the team I have to read you these stats
because they're they're outrageous yeah so she
set a program record she took 73 swings in that
match okay five sets 38 kills and hit 342 38
for 73 is unbelievable but this is that's not
the unbelievable part How many points did she
have total? She had to have over 40. 40 and a
half points. Dang. Okay. The next closest person
took 20 swings. The next closest attacker had
six kills. And only one other person from her
team had over 10 points. And that was Wilson
because she had a bunch of blocks at 11 .5. She
won the match single -handedly. It was outrageous
to watch. So this is another question. This is
similar to the Kennedy -Martin discussion. Pitt
could not stop this girl. No. It was wild. And
you knew she was getting the ball. It was wild.
It reminded me of watching a men's game. You
know how we talk about there are some times where
a guy just goes off and you can't touch them?
She was that player. She was so much fun to watch
in that match. And the setter was like, I don't
care where anyone else is. I'm just going to
set you the ball and we're going to see what
happens. We want to win this game. We're not
hiding anything. We're not trying to trick you.
So do you know where I think that came from?
So their assistant coach, he's a Brazilian opposite.
His name is Leandro Vissoto. He was on that team
that I worked with with Bruno, and he only ever
wanted to be set. He didn't want anybody else
to be set. I guarantee you he was standing on
the sidelines going, set that girl. Just set
her every single ball. Honestly, if a player
is playing like that, seriously, give them every
ball. But Pitt, what were you doing? Now, in
fairness, Babcock was also very good. We saw
some Babcock swagger in that game, and I kind
of loved it because it doesn't often come out.
The crowd was wild. Yes, it was. They were chippy.
There was a little bit of flair on the other
side. You got two players from the Dominican
national team swaggering about that court, and
that's just the Dominican style. Take it or leave
it. But you saw Olivia make some kills and be
like, don't even say a word. Well, she had 52
attempts, had 30 kills. She hit 519 on the match.
You can't ask anything else of her. She was very
good. You couldn't expect anything else. Brie
Kelly, 18 attempts, hit zero. Unacceptable. Well,
here's the – okay, we talked about this while
we were watching it. Pitt's passing was rough.
And Olivia was doing a really good job. The thing
is, is it became way too predictable when they
did pass a good ball. They went to the middle.
exclusively. The middle for Miami played blocked
very well. At which point the Miami middle just
committed and was getting blocked. I think that
was Wilson. Yeah, that was the issue is Pitt's
passing was pulling everything off the net and
it was just too predictable when things went
well. And I understand the setter's perspective.
It's like, okay, I'm exclusively feeding Babcock.
I need to try to get the middles involved or
something. I understand why she was doing what
she was doing, but the passers just completely
sewered everything. The stats for the match were
very close. Miami had eight aces, Pitt had six,
Miami had 9 .5 blocks, Pitt had 13, so they won
that. Miami outdug them 47 to 40, so it was close
over five sets, but Gallon was the difference
maker. Down the stretch in sets three, four,
and five, she was just unstoppable. Pitt could
not make adjustments to stop her. Dan Fisher
was getting really frustrated. on the other side
of the court. He was chipping at the refs. He
was back and forth. You don't see that from him
very often. So I don't know whether he was frustrated
with the calls, but I didn't think the reffing
was bad. I didn't think it was bad. The announcers
for the Miami games are hardcore Hurricane homers.
100%. They were accusing him so many times of
trying to kill the momentum, of doing this, and
kind of like making his... responses to certain
plays seem almost malicious. in how he was responding.
And I personally didn't get that vibe. Me either.
I just thought that he was frustrated. I don't
think he was necessarily trying to stall or hold
things up. I just think he was... Well, I'm wondering
if he was frustrated with his team's execution.
I couldn't tell where the frustration was coming
from, but I don't see him like that very often.
When I'm thinking about that match... I cannot
remember Pitt's left sides at all. I don't remember
anything that they did, except the Dutch girl
getting aced at 13 -0. Yeah, so the Dutch girl
didn't play very well. Bayless had 30 attempts.
She hit 200. Like, she was fine. But she wasn't
a factor. And so when your left sides aren't
a factor, and the passing is struggling, and
your middle's hitting zero, it was Babcock versus
Colon, and Colon won in the end. That's what
happened. They could not pull that match out.
in Miami on the road. And I mean, they lost 13
-15 in the fifth set. Like, it was close, but
man, what a show. What a show. Well, and I think
the environment made it more exciting. Oh, absolutely.
So one of the questions that was sent in is,
where's the best setting you've ever played?
And then this, just to expand, watching the Pitt
versus Miami game, a big thing that stood out
was the atmosphere. Granted, I hope it's a moment
for Miami to realize they shouldn't be putting
that kind of product in a middle school gym.
Yes, fair. But it got me thinking that those
type of environments could be more electric than
in a large arena. I'm curious on your thoughts
of the best location and what makes an overall
great gym atmosphere. Okay. When you're not playing
at home, my favorite place to play is with fans
who are close to the court. who are against you
but funny there's a line for fans that you can
cross very easily but when you go into somebody
else's barn and the fans are kind of up in your
grill and it's clever There's a little bit of
back and forth. Like you kind of look at them
and they know. It can be so much fun and it can
fuel the game. Those were my favorite matches
to play. So when I was thinking about my college
experience, what you just described are the two
locations outside of away games that came to
mind. Is it was exactly that? Well, one of them
was that and one of them the fans were kind of
mean. The Coliseum at Nebraska was great. It
was very intimate. But as an away player, Missouri.
was exactly what you described. It was in a basketball
arena, though, and those fans were funny. They're
heckling you, but it's funny. Yeah, you can't
help but kind of admire the stuff they come up
with. Fans that put the work in. Yeah, exactly.
Do your homework. But then Texas was another
one, but those fans were like legit mean because
at the time it was like Nebraska and Texas were
always going back and forth. But I will say as
a pro, my favorite place to play was in, or the
match that comes to mind was in Brazil, the final.
In Medellin? No, in Sao Paulo when we played
against Osasco, there were 10 ,000 people. We
were playing like technically, it was technically
a neutral location, but it wasn't. It was like
basically a home game for the other team. That
was insane. That was a good match. And when you
have the environment that Miami was able to create
in on a larger scale, it is just like goosebump
inducing. And then you make, of course, I could
never help myself. You make a play, and then
you can't help but turn to the crowd and, like,
say something. Oh, yeah. That's the kind of player
I was. I don't, you know, it's not for everybody.
That's the kind of person you are, and I'm going
to caveat it to player. And you're going to say,
like, what was that? Say it again. Yeah. That's
the best. I love antagonizing a hostile crowd.
It's always nice to win in those environments.
Oh, even better. But there's another question.
It's clear that Babcock has strong potential
to make the transition to international and the
national team well. What does she need to do
over her final two years to set herself up for
that transition? Oh, good question. I will give
her credit. Her defense has improved tremendously
since last season. So I think her stint with
the national team probably helped that and playing
at a higher level over the summer. So I will
say her defense has improved a lot. I think two
things come to mind. One is just her blocking.
She's going to face better, smarter hitters.
She's going to have to figure out hand positioning.
She's going to have more responsibilities in
terms of helping with middles and pipes and just
more complex blocking schemes. Being able to
kind of figure that piece out and then just processing.
the speed and the caliber of the athletes on
the other side in terms of when you're attacking
right those middle blockers are coming they're
either closing late or they're there the defenders
are a little bit better so moving the ball around
with her wrist and not just being more physical
that's what i was gonna than her opponents those
will be and i think she's capable of doing that
she's just gonna need somebody to go hey here's
how you're gonna have to score at this next level
yeah because right now she's like she jumps well
she's big she's physical She can just overpower
a lot of teams, but at the next level she's going
to have to use that and incorporate a little
more creativity as far as wrist movement. finding
the block, knowing when to incorporate a good
off speed, things like that. And I want to see
her spin serving internationally. It is, as we
talked about in the summer, it's much harder
to spin serve the international ball than the
NCAA ball. But I think if she can get a handle
on that, it'll just make her like that much more
versatile. Before we hop into more listener questions,
there was one other match, and we're not going
to talk about this, but I want to highlight something
because it's going to come up later when we discuss
it. So Kentucky beat Texas A &M 3 -1. Texas A
&M won the first set 25 -21, and then they lost
22 -15 and 25 -27. Now, I just want to highlight...
Texas A &M kind of moves with Lednicki right
so they won the first set Lednicki had seven
kills they lost the second set even though Lednicki
had nine kills and then she had three and two
just keep that in mind we're going to talk about
this later later on in the episode again highlighting
a star player on a team and what is required
to win and what happens when that production
isn't there. But Kentucky continues to look good
and beat strong opponents. So we kind of alluded
to this at the beginning of the episode. We have
gotten a lot of questions pertaining to the Minnesota
situation and the number of injuries that they
have succumbed to as the seasons progress. I
feel like... Across the board, there's been a
lot of injuries. Sage Damro just went down. We
saw Glover have to miss a few weeks with, I'm
assuming it was a concussion, but she also had
crutches, so I don't know. Furbringer. Furbringer,
Egan. We're just seeing this across the board.
A lot of people are wondering what's up, first
of all. So a question we received was... As a
player, how do you handle a situation like this
with the Minnesota situation like Julia Hansen?
She is having to carry a huge load and end her
career in a way that she didn't expect to with
a bunch of young freshmen playing. People who
weren't anticipating having to play. And then
as a coach, how do you approach the season moving
forward? You can't give up. But how do you mentally
prepare your team for what is going to end up
being a more developmental year than anyone anticipated?
Yikes. So if you're not familiar, Minnesota,
I think they've lost. at least four, if not more,
of their projected starters over the course of
the season to injury. So now we're seeing freshmen,
developmental players have to come in. We're
seeing players who are going to be bench players
starting. Injuries wiped out Minnesota, pretty
much. From a coaching standpoint, you can't write
off the season. You have to look at the team
and go, injuries happen. It's why we have 18
players on the roster, and everybody who is in
this program is here because they deserve to
be here. We are still going to expect to win,
and you have to make sure from a coaching standpoint
that the preparation, the environment, the level
of expectation is... still high I think yeah
for sure has to stay consistent because all of
a sudden if it changes you're giving the messaging
to the other players that you don't believe in
them 100 % for me when you have developmental
players in a position where it's going to be
really hard to be successful because you're playing
against other teams you start to talk about decision
making more than you talk about results right
so when you're watching video with the team you
go hey that was the right decision that was a
great shot you just missed so if you're seeing
the block and you're swinging for hands and you
miss great if you see that the angle swing is
open and you hit it a foot out of bounds hey
great swing that's what we're trying to do so
you start teaching your athletes like this decision
making is what you want and then as the touches
come the execution will come on top of that personally
I believe that you should always be talking about
these kind of things process -based versus result
-based but I think especially with young players
where you're not going to get the results you
want in a situation like this it's even more
important to highlight from a team perspective
and then as a player like that's tough you know
you're in your senior season it's already an
emotional time and there's so much floating around
that experience of being a senior and your future
being a little uncertain, perhaps. What choice
do you have other than to keep moving forward?
This is your chance to step up even more as a
leader. Your role gets magnified even more. Yeah,
it's disappointing, but like you were saying,
you can't just give up. You have to own it. And
like anything, you have to play the cards you're
dealt. I mean, you have to think. I'm going to
leave the program in a better place, right? You
have your freshmen who are there. If those freshmen
are going to be successful down the road, you
want them to think, this is what Julia taught
me. This is what you left for the program. That
way you can stay engaged. It helps you manage
your frustration, hopefully. Because again, like
you said, what else can you do? So when I see
teams just decimated by injuries, The first thing
that comes to mind for me is that there's an
issue with the strength and conditioning program.
That's what I jump to when I see multiple injuries
on the same team. Obviously, like concussions
and stuff like that, there are certain things
that just don't fall into that category. But
I do really think that with the load that these
athletes have to deal with, the strength and
conditioning component needs to be as... important
as the on -court stuff I 100 % agree with you
you look like you're thinking something well
I have a few caveats to that one is the sport
is becoming so dynamic you step on somebody's
toe and roll your ankle or take a bad move and
blow your knee out sometimes there's nothing
you can do about those things now sometimes but
I do think that there are circumstances when
even when things like that happen there's it
is avoidable sure load in terms of fatigue when
you're practicing, you know, how much stability
work you're doing. But also load and stuff like
that plays into your mental state. And so I think
strength and conditioning is a huge component,
but I also think your mental headspace contributes
to... injury or lack thereof as well. We don't
know what the injuries for Minnesota are. I'm
not speaking just about Minnesota. I'm speaking
about injuries across the board in general. I'm
highlighting Minnesota because they have been
decimated by them completely. One other thing
league -wide, because you mentioned having injuries
there, is I think a lot of younger players are
coming in and playing in the NCAA because we're
seeing a lot more seniors graduate. Like you
said, there's more load on these athletes who
maybe haven't had the years of strength conditioning
at the university level, so they're not quite
ready for that. Could also be a contributing
factor. The NCAA is definitely pushing and giving
a more professional feel. Back in the day, you
used to actually hear about what the athletes
were majoring in and what they were studying.
Nobody cares anymore. It's like, this is a professional
sport. Hello. Are they studying? Yeah, what?
If this is the vibe that's continuing, and I'm
an advocate for this even when the NIL wasn't
a thing, you need to prioritize your strength
and conditioning in the offseason. So for volleyball,
that's the winter and the summer. summer you
need to stay during the summer that is what a
professional athlete does you take care of your
body and prepare your body to the best of your
ability when you're in the off season so that
you can make it through a whole season without
getting injured you need to stay for the summer
so another thing that I saw about the injuries
it's being said online that playing on the teraflex
is a cause of injury I don't have anything to
say to that. You play on the floor. Teraflex?
What? Come on. Show me the data. I can't get
behind that. I don't think it makes a huge difference.
Personally, I've played on both. Seems like a
conspiracy theory to me. If anybody thinks that
that's a thing, can somebody explain to us why
that would be a thing? If they're putting the
Teraflex straight over concrete? Because I just
kind of think it's ludicrous. Like, yeah, if
you're doing it like a club volleyball tournament
where it's that plastic court over concrete,
absolutely, that sucks. But Teraflex is being
laid over a wooden floor. I don't think that's
a contributing factor. So, I mean, I think that
there are potentially lots of factors for injuries.
Strength and conditioning being one. Bad year
with freak accidents being another one. Young
athletes who can't handle the load. There's lots
of different reasons why that could be a thing.
Hopefully, we get through the rest of conference
play without too many more injuries. We're going
to play a game. And it's going to be a volleyball
version of Would You Rather. Okay. Okay. So here's
the premise of this game. We watched a lot of
the highest profile players lose this past week.
It got me to thinking, which of the teams around
these marquee players would you prefer to choose?
Which parts do you think are better? I'm going
to read you the players, and I have five of them.
And then we're going to go through and you're
going to pick, like, would you rather have this
team's left sides? And give me your top two.
Would you rather have this team's middles? Here
are the five players. I'm going to give you their
stats just to go through. The player who scores
the most points per set is Herrera Colón at 6
.25 % She's number one. Number two is Mimi Collier
at Wisconsin, scoring six points per set. Then
you have Kennedy Martin at number four, scoring
5 .77. Olivia Babcock at number eight, scoring
5 .39. And we have to include Logan Lednicki.
She's only scoring 4 .44, and she's number 65
on the list, but she fits this profile of player
that we're talking about. Out of those five teams,
which set of left sides? would you choose? Collier
is a left side. Let's go other outside hitters.
So most of them are right sides, so we're going
to go left sides. For Collier, we'll go left
side, other left side, and right side. Which
outside hitting core, outside of that player,
would you choose? I guess I'd probably pick Pitt.
It was between Pitt and Wisconsin for me. For
Pitt, we would have Moritz, who I believe is
the Netherlands girl, and Blair Bayless. And
at Wisconsin, we would have, because you're looking
at the outside, so it would be either Egan or
Quest and Vajicic. I think I would go Pitt. I
think I like their left sides better. There's
a little bit better ball control, and I think
they can score better than the other ones. So
that would be my pick. What about in the middle?
I'd probably pick Pitt again. I might go Wisconsin.
Oh, man. Again, it comes down to those two teams
again. Dahlia Wilson is very good at Miami, but
Logan Wiley is kind of, she's a decent blocker,
but not really a factor. They're fine, but I
think the other combos are better. Yeah, I agree.
I think I end up with Wisconsin. I lean Wisconsin
on this one. And then from a setter standpoint,
who would you? Setting? I would probably say
Wisconsin or Miami. I actually really like Rodriguez
as a setter. Oh, those were my choices too. I
really liked watching Rodriguez. I think she
tries to force the middle in unconventional situations,
which I liked. Obviously in the match, we watched
Miami play. She set Kalon a ton. I do like that
she does unconventional things, like a fake attack
to set. Sometimes she tries to do a little too
much, but I do like her. All right, it is time
for some listener questions. Question one is,
what are your thoughts on Ali Baton Horse Beach
debut? I'll have you guys know, I have not watched
beach volleyball since I stopped playing. This
made me dive back in. I didn't want to, but I'm
doing this for you guys. So we watched two matches.
I have a couple of initial thoughts and then
we can talk about Ali in general. I think very
few indoor players have... successfully made
the transition to the beach so I think this is
a huge endeavor for her and by successful we
mean like world class yeah like anybody can go
play an AVP yeah but chance at competing for
the Olympics because that's what Sarah Hughes
is trying to do she wants to be in the conversation
at the Olympics I think this is a huge undertaking.
And I know you'll talk Alex Kleinman, but she
grew up playing beach in California. So I don't
consider that the same thing. She wasn't starting
from ground zero, which I don't believe Baton
Horse has a ton of experience. So she's starting
from the ground up. Well, she played beach in
Nebraska. I don't think that counts. Watching
her play, she did all of the things a skilled
indoor volleyball player who is more physical
than the people she's playing should do well,
in my opinion. but I thought she did the beach
-specific things not very well. She was honestly
better than I thought she would be. I had very
low expectations, so she did much better than
I thought she would. Her hand, I was impressed
that she was hand -setting. Yep. That was nice.
I liked her decision making and how aggressive
she was at the net she was going on to. Sarah
Hughes was passing very well and basically teeing
her up to just unload on balls. So I think that's
more Sarah Hughes. Yeah, but you still have to
have the instinct to do it. Yeah, so she was
hitting on two great. When she was put in a good
position to score, she was doing a really good
job. Her bump setting, her transition setting,
they need a lot of work. They are almost unhittable.
And she was not moving her feet in the way that
she needs to in the sand. Correct. On serve -receive.
She was definitely approaching to the ball where
she wanted the set to be and often got caught
with the ball flying over her left shoulder.
So she needs to learn for sure. She has some
things to work on, but I would say overall she
was better than I thought she would be. The other
thing I will say is watching her pass. She is
not opening her hips. She's getting jammed by
the ball. She's not moving her feet. on the serve
receive. I listened to the announcers talk about
how good she was in her debut and the one thing
I want to point out is and I think this is very
applicable on the beach is it's really hard to
play against someone when you have zero video.
Oh my gosh I hated playing against people that
I didn't know. I fully expect them to take a
dip after a few tournaments where people can
watch Allie because you still have a lot of people
serving Sarah because they knew what they were
going to get. I expect them to take a dip before
they get better. Question two what are your thoughts
on Stanford freshman Logan Parks, Erica Sayre,
Spencer Etzler. I think Erica Sayre is really
good. I'm so upset we didn't get her for our
fantasy team. Yep, I would agree. She is going
to be outstanding, I think. I mean, I think Etzler's
fine. She does her job, but she doesn't like
stand out to me. And I think Logan Parks is good.
When they switched to her running a 5 -1, I think
things started looking... better for Stanford.
I like the offense she runs. I think she's got
really good hands. But if I was to rank the Stanford
freshman, it would be Sayre, Parks, Etzler. But
we are a little curious about how Stanford would
do this year with such a young team. And I think
that the future looks bright for them. Well,
I was going to say that's a really good core.
To build around. Yeah. You've got a libero, a
setter, and a middle all the same age. They've
come in together. Just need some outsides. Yeah.
I mean, if you're looking at starting a program,
those are three pieces that if they get to play
right away are going to be very good for four
years, I think. Question three. Maybe, maybe
not a hot take. Do you think there's a chance
that Nebraska can make it through the Big Ten
without dropping a set? No. No. They will drop
a set. Yeah. The competition is too good. You
have to be too clean all year long. Everybody
wants a piece of Nebraska. So you're generally
getting people's best. Like look at the set that
they just played against Purdue. I mean, Purdue
came in and had a really good first set. It was
close. And then, you know, nobody can kind of
keep up with the balance that they have. But
you get people's best at the beginning. So I
don't think so. I will be stunned if they don't
drop a set. Question four. Do you think that
higher ranked colleges and universities no longer
want to recruit undersized hitters with higher
level skill sets than their taller counterparts
because of the freedom of movement introduced
by the transfer portal? This obviously allows
top schools to recruit tall projects out of high
school and then pivot to those smaller, highly
skilled players via the transfer portal once
they've seen them prove themselves at smaller
or weaker schools. I mean, I think that's definitely
part of it. You take a flyer on a big player
because you can't teach height and you can't
teach how high somebody jumps for the most part.
You don't want anybody else to have that player,
and then she turns into a four -time first -team
All -American. And if not, you can always go
to the portal. You know, everybody wants to play
for your program. I mean, I think that that take
makes a ton of sense. I don't love that mentality,
but I think, I mean, if I was in a coach's shoes
and I saw a girl who was 6 '4 and touched 10
'8", I'd be like, yeah, let's see what you can
do. I believe that I can develop you. I think
another thing to think about too is that because
of the nature of how teams play, the undersized...
well -skilled attackers they're not going to
be as good at attacking as the 6 -5 girl who
touches 10 -8 and they're not going to be as
good at ball control like service even defense
as the 5 -2 libero ds So yes, they are very well
skilled, but because of how many substitutions
there are and how you can have your big girl
in the front row and sub her out for a really
skilled defensive player in the back row, I don't
agree with this, but I think a lot of coaches
see the six rotation well -skilled outside hitters
as disposable. you almost because the ncaa system
just allows that to happen have a really strong
big offensive girl in the front row who can put
up a huge block and jump out of the gym score
all those points and then put a really good defensive
player in in the back row and then you get the
best of both worlds you almost need to be a fantastic
marketer if you're a smaller skilled player who
still wants to hit you you need to bring an intangible
to the table that makes the coach go we need
you even though, and I think that that's hard
to do. But I think, like, internationally, you
are seeing those type of players are well -suited
to the international game because you can't hide
behind 15 substitutions. So those players could
have great international careers or professional
careers, but with the way the system is designed.
might not get a chance in the NCAA, which I,
again, will reiterate, I do not agree with it,
but it's how the system is created. Question
five. I found the assessment by position between
Texas and Nebraska very interesting. So if you
missed that, go back to listener questions from
the episode last week where we addressed this.
So here's a question. Can a team win a national
championship without a pin hitter who's almost
an automatic kill machine? danny busboom kelly
is preaching the sum of all our parts will prevail
and she may be right but nebraska hasn't won
since they last had a killer on the pin that
everyone knew would get the ball but couldn't
stop anyway i actually can't think of any team
who has won at all without someone like that
on the pin nebraska has come close several times
with the sum of all our parts will prevail mentality
but they haven't done it can this be the year
I think this is a great question. I mean, it
always helps to have a weapon on the pins that
can score you points. It's the hardest thing
to do in the game. And if you've got somebody
who's automatic, it just goes such a long way.
Is it possible to win where the sum is greater
than the parts? Absolutely. The thing is, you
need more of those parts to have good games at
the same time. I think that's where you're going
to see whether Nebraska can do that. And quite
frankly, Texas, because both of them. don't have
the quote -unquote superstar, but they're better
teams. But I don't think she's the same as Olivia
Babcock. She's not the same as Kennedy Martin.
Yes, it's possible, but you need more better
contributions from your parts when it matters.
You don't just have that outlet. And I think
it puts more pressure on the setter to make good
decisions because you don't just have an outlet.
This has been my criticism of Nebraska for the
last little while. is they have been so preoccupied
at not having a quote -unquote star that I think
it has hurt them. Who cares if you have a star?
Who cares if you have, like, a player that stands
out and shines, is picked out individually as
being a great player? I think they have gotten
so wrapped up in not having that that it has
hurt them, ultimately. Do you think that's a
John thing or a Danny thing, or both? I mean,
I think it definitely was a John thing. Nobody's
bigger than the program. Exactly. And I think
that it is possible for certain athletes to be
both. I think it's possible for athletes to be
ambitious and have a superstar mentality while
still prioritizing the team's success. It is
definitely possible. And I think Nebraska needs
a player like that that they haven't had for
quite a while. But we'll see. We'll see if they
can do it. All right. Baby has had enough. So
I am finishing this episode solo, everybody.
She's been a trooper, but enough's enough. You
know what I mean? She's the boss. Looking forward,
first of all, the questions that we've been getting
for NCAA and stuff have been outstanding. It
is so hard to pick like a handful every episode,
which is why I'm trying to incorporate them into
the discussion. sections that we're covering
so keep them coming i'm trying to get to them
all but you guys are very good so thank you so
much looking forward the acc has got some killer
matchups this week so definitely check out a
bunch of these matches thursday 7 p .m eastern
we've got purdue versus indiana the battle of
indiana okay indiana hasn't been in the top 25
for a while So we'll see what happens there.
Thursday at 8 p .m., we've got BYU versus Arizona
State. And then, as I just mentioned, the ACC
showdown happens. So Friday, 7 p .m. Eastern,
SMU versus Louisville. Louisville's got quite
the weekend because on Sunday at 1 p .m. Eastern,
they're facing Pitt. And Sunday at 4, we've got
Stanford versus Miami. And Miami has gained some
momentum. I think they're playing better. So
it'll be really interesting to see them play
against a young Stanford team. Watch all or a
combination of those matches. I didn't pick any
SEC ones this week because the ACC is too good
with what they've got going on. So hopefully
you'll be able to watch some of those because
we're going to be checking them out too. That
concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk.
There's always something shaking in the volleyball
world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix.
Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss
any updates and we'd be so grateful if you'd
leave us a five -star review. You can also find
us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore podcast.
If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss,
be sure to reach out on Instagram or at info
at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining
us and we'll be back next week. you