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. Things got a little messy this week. We

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had a Halloween week. Let me tell you. Trick

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or treat. Mostly tricks. Mostly tricks. For those

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of you who've been waiting for us to discuss

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the top teams, wait no longer. Here we go. We

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are diving in this week. I hope you guys are

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excited. They haven't really been challenged

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and the games have been kind of boring, which

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is why we haven't talked about them. But you're

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welcome. We are going to dive in to Nebraska

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and Texas later in the episode. And speaking

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of tricks, the Big 12, namely Iowa State, heard

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our episode last week and were like, you don't

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know anything. So the Big 12 just kind of clapped

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back at us. And is as messy as ever. That's fun.

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We are very excited to dive in to all this mess

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and not mess. Get ready for our unfiltered opinions.

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We know that's why you tune in. So let's get

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started. For some weekly highlights. And there

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were a few. Before we dive in, there were some

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follow -up questions from our offensive segment

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last week. Yes. Hit me with the questions. What

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does tight mean on a set? Intuitively, I assume

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that means it's too close to the net, but I would

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love a concrete definition. Same with a ball

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that trails off the net. So I think there's two

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things you can say about a tight set. One is

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if you can't swing through the ball and finish

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your swing without going onto the net, that's

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too tight. So your arm swing connects the ball

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and then generally comes down beside your body.

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If you have to stop at the top for fear of hitting

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the net, that's definitely too tight. That's

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not necessarily a practical definition because

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the ball can still be tight and that's not the

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case, but that's how you know for sure. What

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about as a hitter, what would you say? If you're

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extending forward to try to reach the ball, if

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you feel like the set is in the blocker's hands

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and you can't make a full swinging motion, those

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are tight. Trailing off the net, as a viewer,

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you can tell that this is happening. The attacker

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has to slow down their approach. If they're hitting

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near the attack line or not near the net, or

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if their body looks like it's in front of the

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ball, that often means that the set has trailed

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off the net. And a lot of volleyball is watched

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from the side. So you can actually see the path

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of the ball as it leaves the setter's hands.

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And sometimes you can see that it kind of veers

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backward or toward the net. Second question was,

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I would love you to explain a bit about the volleyball

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plays you were talking about last week, like

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a 31, a 51. I feel like it has to do with what

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slots the players are in, but a clarification

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if possible. So this is a good question. If you

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haven't seen a volleyball breakdown, you start

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on the left side of the court and you'll see

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a lot of people number the court. one through

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nine so nine different segments starting again

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at the left side pin and moving all the way to

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the right side pin nine equal quadrants and then

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people will also go height at the antenna so

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you know one would be you know very low very

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fast the two would be somewhere in the middle

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and the three would be kind of top of the antenna

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then you can build a whole setting paradigm on

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top of those numbers you don't normally see this

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for outside hitters you use it mostly with middles

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which is what the 31 and the 51 refer to so the

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31 is always in front of the setter generally

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kind of in between position three and four and

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it's a one tempo, so it's low and very fast.

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So that's the ball that you see the middle go

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far from the setter, and it shoots across the

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net in between the middle and right side blockers

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of the other team. And that's always the goal.

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You're trying to run that set in between those

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two blockers. The 51 is generally right in the

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middle of the court, a little bit closer to the

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two side, but it's always on top of the setter.

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So the middle is coming right to the setter.

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It's a quick set, and it's right in front. The

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other one you will hear is a 61, which is very

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close to the setter, but just behind them. And

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so those are all your first tempo middle attacks

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in relation to where they are on the net. You'll

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also hear some people use letters to describe

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the middle attacks, but for a 101 segment, the

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numbers are more scientific and systemic in how

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they're describing it. Those were a couple follow

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-up questions. We love them. Keep them coming.

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So if you want clarification on anything we've

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brought up in previous episodes, hit us up. We

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are more than happy to answer them. But as far

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as some highlights, Kelsey Cook and Justine Wong

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-Arantes are pregnant. Congratulations. Do you

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think this is the end of their either A, professional

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career, or B... national team career, or do you

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think they timed this out to come back and play

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in LA? I can't say. We don't expect you to know.

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I'm just asking what your gut is. The timing

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leaves the door open should they choose to want

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to play again. I think they'll continue to play

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in love because it's convenient. They can go

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home at night to their family. They can live

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in the US. I'm sure Love can arrange it so that

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they're on a team as close to support as possible.

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I bet they'll continue to play Love national

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team. Speaking from experience, things change

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real quick when you have a baby. And I know that

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I would not personally want to travel and be

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gone for weeks at a time. That is just me. I

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know everybody's different, but it is a huge

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responsibility. I think I could see Justine coming

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back before Kelsey. So congrats to them. That's

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very exciting. Okay, rankings. Things kind of

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settled down this week. We saw in a ranking perspective.

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Okay. And by this week, I mean the rankings last

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week. But there were only a couple decent size

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movers. We had TCU go down to 13 from 10. Fair.

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They had a rough week. Last week and Florida

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entered the top 25. Deserved. I think they're

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a good team. A little inconsistent, but they

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should be up there. Now for the results. Yikes.

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Wowie. Trick more than treat. The Big 12 definitely

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heard our segment and said, no, thank you. Iowa

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State and Colorado in particular. Let's start

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with the Big 12. BYU lost to Central Florida

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in four. That should not happen. I'm sorry. That's,

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yeah. I don't even know what to say about that.

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Yeah. Wow. Iowa State went out and beat Baylor

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in three, and then they beat Arizona State in

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five. Wow. They were like, you just ignored us

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in the rankings. You skipped over us. I mean,

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they're not wrong. So my question to you is,

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with those two wins, is Iowa State for real?

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I don't even think I can say anything anymore

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because I'm like, I don't know. They had a good

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week. Are you going to have a good week this

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week? Next week? The week after? I don't know.

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I mean, those are two big wins. I think you've

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got to give them some love. I know they have

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a tough schedule ahead of them, but congrats

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to Iowa State. I think my big 12 rankings would

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be totally different this week. Sorry, Iowa State.

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We are really sorry that we didn't take you seriously

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enough to talk about you last week. We're going

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to watch you. This is karma. Arizona beat TCU

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three straight. TCU is going through it. on the

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downswing they peaked three months too early

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yeah the tcu ship is sinking and filling with

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water faster than they can bail it out and that

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offense is just Too fast to be controlled at

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this point. Fast and furious. Wow. I'm off them.

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I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. They

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were my surprise team early in the season, and

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I'm off them too. You just can't get it together

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these days. No, their last several matches have

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just looked disjointed, and I can give you two,

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but now it's a pattern. Yeah, I'm not. I think

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they're going to finish fourth or fifth in the

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Big 12 now. I can't believe I had them as second

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last week. What was I thinking? What was I on

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last week that I said all this stuff? They started

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really well. And you would assume that getting

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that offense dialed in was going to be the hard

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part. But it has just fallen off the rails. Well,

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the last one is Colorado beat Baylor in 4 -2.

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So Baylor went through it last week. Congrats

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to Colorado. I mean, I didn't think, having watched

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them play, that they would compete with those

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top teams. They're big, but skill -wise, and

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they keep winning. At the very least, we gave

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everybody a reason to reach out and tell us how

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wrong we were, so you're welcome. Okay, SEC,

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Missouri beat Tennessee in four. And Florida

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lost to South Carolina in four. Welcome to the

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ranking. Goodbye again. We've talked about this

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lack of consistency. I had Missouri pegged as

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a dark horse at the beginning of the season.

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They did nothing. Now they're beating ranked

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teams. What is going on? Tennessee, you're in.

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You got to keep it together. Florida, you just

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got in and then you go lose to South Carolina.

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Like, come on now. Yeah. I don't understand what's

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happening there. ACC, North Carolina beat SMU

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in five. Again. SMU, you climb up to number five.

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You jump over Louisville last week and then you

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pull this. There's just, I don't know if it's

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a preparation. I don't know if it's heavy exam

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time. I don't know if athletes are super excited

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about Halloween and not prepared. But these losses

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with the athletes and the previous execution

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level that these teams have had, these shouldn't

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have been games. Finally, we got the Big Ten.

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Michigan. beat Penn State in five, and then Penn

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State got crushed by Indiana three straight.

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Honestly, I put that in because Penn State is

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still ranked somehow, so I include them in this.

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But, like, am I that surprised that Indiana beat

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them? Not really, but in Michigan, it probably

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should have been a good game, which it clearly

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was. It went five. I'm just talking about Penn

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State for interest's sake at this point. Well,

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they somewhat righted the ship for a second there.

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For a game. For one game. You look at a program

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like that, you look at the history like that,

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you would think, okay, I understand the crash

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and burn with what happened with Izzy Stark.

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It's going to take some time. The time has passed.

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Well, and they start going up and you're like,

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okay, here it comes. They're going to be competitive

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now. They're figuring out what their team looks

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like without Izzy Stark. You have people stepping

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up, finding new roles. I figured they would keep

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going and they would be competitive, but it just,

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it's done. It's over. Dead amount of the ranking.

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They're still like not even in the 20s. That's

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the crazy thing. Yeah, I don't understand. Like

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you guys. This is like what they did with the

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Penn State men's team in the spring. Let's roll

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that back. They kept Penn State men's team in

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the rankings for so long. And I think they were

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like 0 -8. That name value. I love that name

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value. Last one, USC beat Minnesota in five.

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I'm not that surprised about that one. I could

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have seen. I felt like that was an interesting

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result. It's an interesting. It's a lot of young

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players. going after it. Two programs on the

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rise, I think, given their young players and

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how they're coming about. Minnesota's been getting

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better. Yep, totally. So has USC, in my opinion.

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A lot of wild results this week. Makes for fun

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watching. Mostly from the Big 12, and I apologize

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to them again. I'm so sorry. At the time that

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this is going to be released, we will know what

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the new rankings are. I'm very curious to see

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what's going on. The two results we did not talk

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about involved Texas. Yes, you know what we mean.

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Don't worry, we're going to dive into that in

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a little bit. So stick with us. Okay, so we got

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a ton of positive feedback about the educational

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offensive system talk from last week. So along

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with that, we also got a request to do something

00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:18.820
similar for defense. Now, I don't think it's

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quite as straightforward to talk about defense

00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.299
as it is to talk about offense, but we're going

00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:26.159
to give it a shot. Okay. It's a little more nuanced.

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The system needs to work together. Exactly. Well,

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it needs to work together, but a good defense

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is dependent on the offense that you're facing.

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Your game plan. Exactly. I have two basic philosophies

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when it comes to defense and then you build from

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there. The first one is a successful defense

00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:50.639
ends with either a stuff block or a good transition

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attack. So if you can accomplish one of those

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two things, that's kind of the overarching goal.

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Same as putting the hitter in a hittable window.

00:13:59.289 --> 00:14:03.309
And then the other thing about defense is you

00:14:03.309 --> 00:14:07.570
want to take away or you want to limit the team

00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:09.750
you're playing against, their strengths. You

00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:12.960
want to force them. to beat you with things that

00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.360
are their secondary shots or things that they're

00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.500
not necessarily as good at. I think you're looking

00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:21.940
at those two things. A, stuff block or good transition

00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:25.019
opportunity, and B, you don't want to let a team

00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:27.159
beat you with their strength. Those are kind

00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:29.820
of the two premises that I build my defensive

00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:32.179
systems off of. In theory, that makes a ton of

00:14:32.179 --> 00:14:36.019
sense. In practice, how often do we see it executed

00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:40.549
well? Oh, not very often. Not very often. Let's

00:14:40.549 --> 00:14:44.490
get into how you do this. It starts with the

00:14:44.490 --> 00:14:48.509
block. That is your first opportunity to affect

00:14:48.509 --> 00:14:51.330
the attacker. First line of defense. But as we

00:14:51.330 --> 00:14:53.269
talked about block and defense working together,

00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.409
the thing that's really important is the blockers

00:14:55.409 --> 00:14:57.590
can't see the defenders. So the blockers are

00:14:57.590 --> 00:15:00.309
going to do their jobs and the defenders have

00:15:00.309 --> 00:15:03.350
to work around what the blockers are doing. So

00:15:03.350 --> 00:15:06.429
we had a question recently. about somebody saying,

00:15:06.549 --> 00:15:09.169
hey, I see the blockers even indoor going, you

00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:12.850
know, one or two behind their back. Yeah, I've

00:15:12.850 --> 00:15:15.450
had some people write in asking what the symbols

00:15:15.450 --> 00:15:18.049
are as well. Okay, so we can answer this right

00:15:18.049 --> 00:15:21.129
away. If you put a one behind your back, that

00:15:21.129 --> 00:15:25.470
means the blocker is taking away the line swing.

00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:28.559
If I put a two behind my back, that means the

00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.240
blocker is taking away the cross swing. And I

00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.860
mean the outside blocker, not the middle. The

00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:36.480
middle's only job, middle is a very complex position.

00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:41.379
The middle's main job is to close the block to

00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:45.000
the outside hitter so that there's no hole in

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.320
the block, no seam, because that leaves more

00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.279
opportunities and more options that the defense

00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:56.100
has to cover for. So the blocker in the middle

00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:58.340
wants to just close the block to the outside.

00:15:58.460 --> 00:16:02.120
The outside blocker is the one that is setting

00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.840
the block. They are the ones that ultimately

00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:08.399
determine where the block is set up. And when

00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.519
you see them put symbols behind their back, they

00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.740
are telling the defense behind them in the second

00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:18.980
line what they are taking so that the defense

00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:22.480
knows how to work around them to cover the court

00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.220
as well as possible. So this is some of that

00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:27.080
communication that we're talking about with the

00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.000
block and the defenders working together. Everybody

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.720
has to be on the same page. You might also see

00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.980
a middle go five or one, which means to the defenders

00:16:36.980 --> 00:16:40.080
that they are taking away that side of the court

00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.639
for the middle attack. There might also be symbols.

00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:44.539
Different teams might have different symbols

00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:48.009
if the middle has decided to commit block. on

00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:49.809
a good pass with the other team's middle this

00:16:49.809 --> 00:16:52.669
is all part of like your team's defensive identity

00:16:52.669 --> 00:16:56.769
your system as a team but there is always an

00:16:56.769 --> 00:16:58.970
understanding based on what the blockers are

00:16:58.970 --> 00:17:02.029
showing the defenders of as to what is going

00:17:02.029 --> 00:17:04.490
to happen i can't say every college team does

00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:06.589
this but they should be doing this you should

00:17:06.589 --> 00:17:10.289
have a game plan for every rotation that you're

00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:13.480
playing against generally what happens is For

00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:16.359
each rotation the setter is in, so if the setter's

00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:19.839
in position one or six or five, that setter has

00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.720
a pattern of distribution for that rotation.

00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.759
If your video guys are doing their job and look

00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:30.619
at enough video, pull enough data, you can extrapolate

00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:35.619
the trends to determine what their order of preference

00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:39.339
is on a good pass. on a medium pass, and on an

00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.000
out -of -system pass. It's impossible to be all

00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.240
over everything, so you're playing percentages

00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.380
and probabilities when you're playing defense.

00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:50.380
Some of the best defensive advice I've ever been

00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:53.940
given is if you try to defend everything, you

00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:56.539
defend nothing. Again, this comes back to what

00:17:56.539 --> 00:17:58.539
we talked about at the beginning. You have priorities.

00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:02.619
In rotation one, we are not going to let the

00:18:02.619 --> 00:18:05.539
left side score down the line. That's priority

00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:08.299
number one. Priority number two is we're not

00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:10.599
going to let the middle hit to five. And our

00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:12.900
last priority, you know, either might be the

00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:15.380
dump or the right side. Or it's just like we

00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:18.400
are not leaving X player with a single block.

00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:21.559
There are so many different ways to approach

00:18:21.559 --> 00:18:25.559
it and how to determine your priorities and what

00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.400
those look like. Everybody has a job in each

00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:31.380
rotation and you're trying to do your job as

00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:35.000
best as you can. Let's talk about. some of the

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.839
blocking adjustments you can make to cover some

00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.920
of these different scenarios. Setup one is called

00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.299
bunch blocking. You actually see this quite a

00:18:45.299 --> 00:18:48.380
lot in the college game where your three blockers

00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.619
start primarily in the middle of the court or

00:18:51.619 --> 00:18:54.160
very close to the middle of the court, and then

00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.680
they work their way outside to block the outside

00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:59.099
ball. I have several problems with how this is

00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:02.089
executed at the college level. But the goal of

00:19:02.089 --> 00:19:04.670
setting your block up like this is that you're

00:19:04.670 --> 00:19:06.690
defending the middle of the court first because

00:19:06.690 --> 00:19:09.450
it generally happens the fastest. So your outside

00:19:09.450 --> 00:19:13.170
hitters are helping with that middle set to make

00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:15.170
sure they don't score. Or their back row, generally

00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:17.690
the pipe ball in this case. And then if the ball

00:19:17.690 --> 00:19:19.890
goes outside, then we're swing blocking outside

00:19:19.890 --> 00:19:23.910
to do that. That is a great strategy in theory.

00:19:24.490 --> 00:19:27.089
However, it goes wrong, in my opinion, in a couple

00:19:27.089 --> 00:19:29.650
ways. Watch some of the outside blockers as the

00:19:29.650 --> 00:19:31.329
pass is coming in and they're bunch blocking.

00:19:31.529 --> 00:19:34.049
They turn their hips to face the outside of the

00:19:34.049 --> 00:19:36.349
court to start their swing block because the

00:19:36.349 --> 00:19:39.609
offenses are some of them are very fast. Once

00:19:39.609 --> 00:19:42.349
that outside blocker has rotated their hip, they

00:19:42.349 --> 00:19:44.569
can no longer help in the middle. So there's

00:19:44.569 --> 00:19:48.509
actually no reason for them to be standing so

00:19:48.509 --> 00:19:51.349
far inside. Exactly. You're putting yourself

00:19:51.349 --> 00:19:53.849
at a disadvantage because you're not. actually

00:19:53.849 --> 00:19:56.190
in a position to help this is not in a position

00:19:56.190 --> 00:19:58.490
to help and you're creating movement once you

00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:00.809
get to the outside so you're not doing anything

00:20:00.809 --> 00:20:03.990
particularly well it's a good strategy in theory

00:20:03.990 --> 00:20:07.009
that is executed poorly i think honestly that

00:20:07.009 --> 00:20:09.450
starts at the club level i think that's how swing

00:20:09.450 --> 00:20:12.750
blocking is taught now at the club level yeah

00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:14.680
it might be I haven't been in enough club practice.

00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:17.519
And you see in NCAA how many one -on -ones there

00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:19.700
are, particularly in the pipe and in the middle.

00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:22.480
Teams have started prioritizing the speed of

00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.119
the offenses and covering for that as opposed

00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:29.039
to legitimately putting up a solid wall with

00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.960
two -plus blockers every time, even against the

00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:36.279
middle. Bunch blocking is your first setup, which

00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:39.660
allows all three blockers to help with any of

00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:42.200
the middle attacks. Something else you can do

00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:44.529
and... you would see this or you would do this

00:20:44.529 --> 00:20:46.910
against really fast offenses is you would take

00:20:46.910 --> 00:20:49.849
your outside blockers and you would start them

00:20:49.849 --> 00:20:53.309
maybe halfway in between the middle blocker and

00:20:53.309 --> 00:20:56.670
the pin so that they're further outside and they

00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:59.769
have less distance to cover when they go to block

00:20:59.769 --> 00:21:02.730
that fast outside set. I think in the college

00:21:02.730 --> 00:21:06.210
game, this would be a far more effective blocking

00:21:06.210 --> 00:21:09.069
setup because you can still get one hand to help

00:21:09.069 --> 00:21:11.700
in the middle. You stay square to the net. You

00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.079
can step out and have really good hands when

00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.519
you go to block the outside. And I think you'd

00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:20.539
see a lot more effective blocking if teams did

00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:22.900
this, especially since a lot of the offenses

00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:25.880
are very fast and the sets are low. You don't

00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:28.140
have to get high. You have to remember the benefit

00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:31.119
of swing blocking is to try and get as high as

00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:32.960
possible when you block. Which you don't want

00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:35.000
to do when you're blocking anyway. You want to

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:36.779
go over the net really far. Unless you're blocking

00:21:36.779 --> 00:21:39.789
the Russians. That's where you start. Don't go

00:21:39.789 --> 00:21:42.049
high on the block, everybody. Get over the net.

00:21:42.230 --> 00:21:45.630
So you see a lot of tools because of this. Shoulders

00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:47.650
aren't square. Swing blocking requires really

00:21:47.650 --> 00:21:50.769
good timing and vision to close. And it's a very

00:21:50.769 --> 00:21:53.890
high level skill. So I think you should generally

00:21:53.890 --> 00:21:56.329
move your outside blockers a little further outside.

00:21:56.490 --> 00:21:59.190
Allow them to get stable. Work back into the

00:21:59.190 --> 00:22:01.750
court and have your middles there. You can still

00:22:01.750 --> 00:22:03.730
help with the pipe if you're disciplined and

00:22:03.730 --> 00:22:06.509
you get one hand on the middle. Very few teams

00:22:06.509 --> 00:22:09.579
beside maybe Louisville. are beating you with

00:22:09.579 --> 00:22:13.440
their middle attackers? Nebraska. Fair. Nebraska.

00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:16.059
Andy Jackson runs that slide like no other. In

00:22:16.059 --> 00:22:20.400
an ideal world, if possible, you want two to

00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.000
three blockers up on the pipe. You want your

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.420
right side blocker to help with the shoot set

00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:29.640
in the middle and then react to the outside ball

00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:32.519
over top. You want your left side blocker to

00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:35.319
help on the quick that in front and behind the

00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:39.440
setter. and react to the right side set in an

00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:42.680
ideal world are we seeing that in the ncaa not

00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:45.880
a ton anymore if you were bunching that is how

00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:48.160
the responsibilities would be distributed those

00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:51.279
are kind of your overview of how you would block

00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.160
and what you would want to do there's lots of

00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:55.299
technical stuff around executing a block but

00:22:55.299 --> 00:22:58.500
we can talk about that another day now let's

00:22:58.500 --> 00:23:02.400
talk about the defenders and what their jobs

00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:06.599
are and Some of the basic setups that you see

00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:08.980
with those defenders. There are several things

00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:11.799
that drive you nuts when you watch college volleyball.

00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:14.619
Specifically, let's talk about those defenders

00:23:14.619 --> 00:23:20.380
in one and five to start. What's your ideal setup

00:23:20.380 --> 00:23:23.420
and responsibilities given a line block and a

00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:26.220
cross block? So if the outside blocker is lining

00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:29.220
up, taking away the line swing, that means that

00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:31.609
the hitter. Should not be able to score down

00:23:31.609 --> 00:23:33.750
the line. Obviously, last week we talked about

00:23:33.750 --> 00:23:36.910
the hitter has all the control. Okay, but if

00:23:36.910 --> 00:23:39.490
we're talking volleyball theory here, that means

00:23:39.490 --> 00:23:43.089
the hard -driven ball is most likely going into

00:23:43.089 --> 00:23:45.589
the angle. So the person that's digging down

00:23:45.589 --> 00:23:49.630
the line needs to be ready to dig the tips. If

00:23:49.630 --> 00:23:52.190
you are capable of reading the tips and starting

00:23:52.190 --> 00:23:54.829
far back to get the touch off the block and then

00:23:54.829 --> 00:23:57.859
reading the tip and running under, perfect. If

00:23:57.859 --> 00:24:00.980
you're not particularly fleet of foot or you're

00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:05.480
not. Like most right signs. Yeah. Or you're not

00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:07.980
great at reading the hitter. That is when you

00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:10.759
should go up under the block so that you're closer

00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:15.299
to the tip. What I hate is when the blockers

00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:18.940
leave line and the line diggers come up for tips

00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:21.460
anyways. You're not taking anything. You're not

00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:24.079
taking anything away. Okay. You just got a target

00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.240
on your face. Pet peeve. I hear about that all

00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.240
the time. So that's that. Position six gets a

00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:32.720
little more nuanced with a little more reading

00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.200
involved. Talk to me about some of the strategies

00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:38.680
you can use against different hitters and then

00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:42.099
what your responsibility is as a six digger when

00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:45.039
the block is closed versus when it's not closed.

00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:50.059
So if you're in position six, obviously it depends

00:24:50.059 --> 00:24:52.319
on if you have a hitter who likes to find hands.

00:24:53.150 --> 00:24:55.789
you need to stay really deep so that you can

00:24:55.789 --> 00:24:58.109
react to the balls that are hitting the block

00:24:58.109 --> 00:25:02.089
and going deep. If you are running a system and

00:25:02.089 --> 00:25:06.609
you see that your wing digger, meaning the digger

00:25:06.609 --> 00:25:09.849
that's in one or five, goes up under the block

00:25:09.849 --> 00:25:12.309
for tips, that is leaving a lot of real estate

00:25:12.309 --> 00:25:15.849
down the line for the hitter to hit an off -speed

00:25:15.849 --> 00:25:18.630
shot, etc. So you need to shift a little bit

00:25:18.630 --> 00:25:22.609
in that direction to help cover the gap. The

00:25:22.609 --> 00:25:26.069
line diggers, the wing diggers are digging down

00:25:26.069 --> 00:25:28.349
the line. That's when you need to stay a little

00:25:28.349 --> 00:25:32.990
more neutral in zone six. And you want to play

00:25:32.990 --> 00:25:35.710
the seam of the block. Obviously, if the block

00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:38.390
is closed, this shouldn't be a huge seam. So

00:25:38.390 --> 00:25:40.190
you're going to stay a little more deep because

00:25:40.190 --> 00:25:43.490
everybody is back. But if the middle doesn't

00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:45.690
manage to get to the outside hitter and there's

00:25:45.690 --> 00:25:48.769
a hole in the block, that is position six's responsibility

00:25:48.769 --> 00:25:51.700
to dig in between those blockers. This comes

00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:54.099
down to team strategy and coach philosophy, but

00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:58.460
you'll see often if a middle doesn't close, the

00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:00.940
middle has two options. They can go straight

00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:03.039
up and take away their lane so the defenders

00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.299
can kind of fill in around them, or they can

00:26:06.299 --> 00:26:08.559
try and reach into the seam and close the block

00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:10.400
depending on how close they are. So those are

00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.880
your two options. Okay, so we've covered blocking.

00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.279
We've covered... defending this is i wouldn't

00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:20.579
say it's a 101 class this is a 201 class because

00:26:20.579 --> 00:26:24.000
block defensive systems are so complex like we

00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.220
could literally get in the weeds and just go

00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:29.579
crazy with this for our 301 class so we're keeping

00:26:29.579 --> 00:26:32.579
it sophomore level okay we've done outside blockers

00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:34.460
in the pin we've done the sixth blocker in their

00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:39.119
responsibility now let's talk about the off blocker

00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:42.400
okay by off blocker he means if the left side

00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:45.730
attacker on the other team is hitting It's the

00:26:45.730 --> 00:26:49.369
left side that's at the net on your side because

00:26:49.369 --> 00:26:51.470
they're not a part of the block. And if the right

00:26:51.470 --> 00:26:54.690
side is hitting, your team's right side attacker

00:26:54.690 --> 00:26:56.930
becomes the off blocker because they are not

00:26:56.930 --> 00:26:59.029
a part of the block. So basically this player

00:26:59.029 --> 00:27:02.710
has two options. You can either drop off the

00:27:02.710 --> 00:27:08.130
net and dig the hard driven angle swing, or you

00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:11.869
can follow your middle blocker in and dig tips.

00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.759
I guess you could also do a triple block if they're

00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:16.900
out of system. But you basically have those three

00:27:16.900 --> 00:27:22.799
options. Now, what I see a lot of is, let's say

00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.519
for argument's sake, the left side on the opposing

00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.859
team is hitting. You see the block go up. You

00:27:28.859 --> 00:27:31.460
see the defender and one go in for tips. And

00:27:31.460 --> 00:27:34.599
then you also see the off blocker come in for

00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:37.140
tips. This is unnecessary. You're wasting a defender.

00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:41.200
Exactly. You have two players covering the same

00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.670
ball. That off blocker should drop off the net,

00:27:44.829 --> 00:27:47.730
look for the hard driven. You know that any tip

00:27:47.730 --> 00:27:51.130
short over the block is position one's responsibility.

00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:53.710
So if the tip comes into the angle, you should

00:27:53.710 --> 00:27:55.809
be fast enough to react to it. You want to think

00:27:55.809 --> 00:27:59.349
of the defenders as like a pulley system, ideally.

00:27:59.470 --> 00:28:02.430
So we talked about if the block takes away the

00:28:02.430 --> 00:28:05.930
line, how zone one goes under for tips, position

00:28:05.930 --> 00:28:09.349
six slides a little over, and you pull the whole

00:28:09.349 --> 00:28:12.500
defense around with them. So the off blocker

00:28:12.500 --> 00:28:15.240
should come off the net. What we didn't talk

00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:16.980
about is if the block decides they're going to

00:28:16.980 --> 00:28:20.160
block the cross court or angle swing, they leave

00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.799
the line open. So the person who's digging down

00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.460
the line should be back to dig the hard ball.

00:28:25.950 --> 00:28:29.309
In that case, because that line digger is pulling

00:28:29.309 --> 00:28:32.670
back, we talked about position six can stay deeper.

00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:36.089
The libero or the angle digger can slide into

00:28:36.089 --> 00:28:38.970
the angle more. And in that scenario, the off

00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:41.849
blocker can go under for tips because the whole

00:28:41.849 --> 00:28:44.930
system is kind of working the perimeter of the

00:28:44.930 --> 00:28:48.670
court together like a pulley. Yeah, that's a

00:28:48.670 --> 00:28:50.430
great way to think about it. So you're always

00:28:50.430 --> 00:28:53.289
covering the correct position and as much court

00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:56.240
as possible as a group. I think from a system

00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.900
standpoint, that covers everything. I mean, that's

00:28:58.900 --> 00:29:01.400
basic. Obviously, if you're playing a certain

00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:05.700
hitter, things change. But as like a base theory

00:29:05.700 --> 00:29:09.180
for block defense, that, yeah, that's it. And

00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:12.059
I will say the one thing that I don't think is

00:29:12.059 --> 00:29:16.980
executed very well is the ability to be in a

00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:19.720
defensive position to dig a hard driven and read

00:29:19.720 --> 00:29:21.940
a tip. There are so many times. There's not many

00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:23.740
people who do that very well. You know, we've

00:29:23.740 --> 00:29:26.319
talked about eye work on the block. That also

00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:28.180
applies to defenders, and I don't think that

00:29:28.180 --> 00:29:31.140
is executed very well. Don't watch the ball.

00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.759
Watch the hitter. There's so many times you see

00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:37.359
the ball can't be hit or the hand comes up to

00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:40.400
tip and the defenders are just dug in for a hard

00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:43.099
driven. That's a skill that I think should be

00:29:43.099 --> 00:29:45.700
a huge part of defense that's not executed particularly

00:29:45.700 --> 00:29:48.799
well. Well, I will say tips have gotten a lot

00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:51.319
more aggressive now. True. So it is a little

00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:53.940
harder to be able to read and react because people

00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:55.880
have gotten so much more aggressive with it.

00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:58.279
Yes, if somebody's coming in like the Statue

00:29:58.279 --> 00:30:00.220
of Liberty and they're not pulling their arm

00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:03.940
back, they're tipping, okay? So that should give

00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:07.700
you a good idea of how defenses should operate

00:30:07.700 --> 00:30:09.960
and some of the things that you'll see teams

00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:13.089
doing. Now, we got a few more questions from

00:30:13.089 --> 00:30:14.950
our offensive session, which we'll cover maybe

00:30:14.950 --> 00:30:17.170
in listener questions. But if anything that we

00:30:17.170 --> 00:30:18.910
talked about kind of doesn't make sense or you

00:30:18.910 --> 00:30:20.710
have follow -up questions, please let us know.

00:30:20.910 --> 00:30:23.930
We will get to them. But we wanted to give you,

00:30:23.950 --> 00:30:26.210
again, an overview so you have something to look

00:30:26.210 --> 00:30:28.390
at as you're watching matches and understanding

00:30:28.390 --> 00:30:31.470
what those defensive teams are doing. All right.

00:30:31.529 --> 00:30:36.059
As the title of the episode. explains we are

00:30:36.059 --> 00:30:41.299
down to only one unbeaten team in the NCAA. Go

00:30:41.299 --> 00:30:45.180
Big Red. That is Nebraska. Nebraska has been

00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:49.940
steamrolling everybody. Very exciting for Cornhusker

00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:53.160
fans out there, but not so exciting to break

00:30:53.160 --> 00:30:58.220
down on a podcast. Nebraska was better. End of

00:30:58.220 --> 00:31:00.519
episode. Yeah, basically. And it might be the

00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.759
same story today. But we have gotten a ton of

00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:06.839
questions about Nebraska. We watched the Nebraska

00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:11.680
-Wisconsin game on Halloween night. So here we

00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.240
go. We are going to talk about that and the Cornhuskers

00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:17.460
in general. So before we get into all of the

00:31:17.460 --> 00:31:19.200
questions that everybody has, let's talk about

00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:22.400
the game probably briefly because it honestly

00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.819
wasn't much of a game. How would you summarize

00:31:25.819 --> 00:31:30.160
it? Nebraska is just better. That is exactly

00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:33.880
what I was going to say. Word for word, three

00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.119
words, actually. Nebraska is just better. They

00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:43.599
won 25 -22, 25 -19, 25 -13. And they just have

00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:48.099
the ability to apply pressure consistently from

00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:51.700
all positions. They don't give you any plays

00:31:51.700 --> 00:31:54.980
off and you have to earn wins. And Wisconsin...

00:31:55.259 --> 00:31:57.839
Isn't at that level. They're missing their starting

00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.000
setter, which I think really hurts them. Obviously,

00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:03.519
Wisconsin is still second in the Big Ten. Yeah,

00:32:03.579 --> 00:32:06.160
absolutely. We're talking about the top two teams

00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:08.380
in the Big Ten. Regardless, Charlie Furbringer,

00:32:08.460 --> 00:32:11.440
a huge difference maker for Wisconsin, undoubtedly.

00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:14.920
But Wisconsin has held on to that spot. So there

00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:17.720
are no slouches. No, they're still a good team,

00:32:17.779 --> 00:32:20.539
but they're just they can't hang consistently.

00:32:21.289 --> 00:32:24.849
with the firepower and consistency that Nebraska

00:32:24.849 --> 00:32:27.549
is playing with right now, offensively and defensively.

00:32:27.670 --> 00:32:31.789
Okay, so question. What do you think is the biggest

00:32:31.789 --> 00:32:35.670
plus for Nebraska, and what do you think is their

00:32:35.670 --> 00:32:38.349
biggest weakness? Oh, those are easy. Their biggest

00:32:38.349 --> 00:32:41.630
plus is their middles. They are unbelievable

00:32:41.630 --> 00:32:45.829
in the middle. You saw against Wisconsin. Alec

00:32:45.829 --> 00:32:49.890
hit 538 and Jackson hit 600 and they're getting

00:32:49.890 --> 00:32:53.069
set a ton. They can control the middle of the

00:32:53.069 --> 00:32:56.329
court so well with those two middles. It's almost

00:32:56.329 --> 00:32:59.609
unfair. Is there a better middle duo in the country?

00:32:59.750 --> 00:33:03.150
No, no, no. I asked that question as a courtesy.

00:33:03.329 --> 00:33:05.730
I'm not even sure. I'm not even sure it's close

00:33:05.730 --> 00:33:08.769
to be honest. Everybody talks about the Kentucky

00:33:08.769 --> 00:33:12.150
outside duo, not even being close to anybody

00:33:12.150 --> 00:33:15.269
else. The Nebraska middle duo. Blows everybody

00:33:15.269 --> 00:33:18.109
out of the water. And I think a big reason for

00:33:18.109 --> 00:33:21.170
that is Rebecca Alec has increased her attacking

00:33:21.170 --> 00:33:24.650
ability this season. You have to admire the work

00:33:24.650 --> 00:33:27.269
that she's put in to build that connection and

00:33:27.269 --> 00:33:31.819
to be offensive. Volleyball aside. She's just

00:33:31.819 --> 00:33:34.839
so much fun to watch. She's so easy to cheer

00:33:34.839 --> 00:33:37.920
for. I love watching her play. Give me that swagger

00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:41.180
all day, every day, everybody. Okay. I love a

00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:43.380
bit of personality. I love a bit of attitude.

00:33:43.579 --> 00:33:46.980
And she brings it. And I'm obsessed. The thing

00:33:46.980 --> 00:33:50.460
about it is she manages to do it in a way. Non

00:33:50.460 --> 00:33:54.640
-threatening. Yes. She walks around with this

00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.400
awesome swagger on the court. And you never think

00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.869
it's malicious. It's actually. Quite incredible

00:34:00.869 --> 00:34:04.430
to watch her. I'm really happy for her, and I

00:34:04.430 --> 00:34:06.809
think she's so much fun to watch. That was a

00:34:06.809 --> 00:34:09.150
softball question. Obviously, their middles are

00:34:09.150 --> 00:34:11.530
there. I didn't finish the question. No, I know.

00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:14.010
Part one was a softball. I think part two was

00:34:14.010 --> 00:34:17.210
a softball, too. They're liberos. And that is

00:34:17.210 --> 00:34:21.610
not something that we have said about Nebraska

00:34:21.610 --> 00:34:25.630
for a long time. Honestly, watching that match,

00:34:25.789 --> 00:34:28.050
that's where they're going to fall apart. That's

00:34:28.050 --> 00:34:32.260
where they're vulnerable. The seam between Choboy

00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:35.840
and Mouch. Which is confusing. The seam between

00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:38.860
the two liberos is their weak spot on their server

00:34:38.860 --> 00:34:42.340
seat. The dangerous thing about that is their

00:34:42.340 --> 00:34:45.320
middles are so offensive that if a team can put

00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:48.900
them in trouble from a passing standpoint, you

00:34:48.900 --> 00:34:51.659
can also take away their best offensive options.

00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:55.460
If I was Danny, that's what I would be nervous

00:34:55.460 --> 00:34:57.659
about. That is my concern. If you want to beat

00:34:57.659 --> 00:35:02.679
Nebraska. Break down their libero serve -receive.

00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:06.199
Namely, and I think Olivia Mouch is a better

00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:09.780
serve -receiver than Choboy. I think Choboy is

00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:12.800
a better defender than Mouch. Break down Leni

00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:16.119
Choboy's serve -receive to neutralize the middle.

00:35:16.730 --> 00:35:19.269
That is probably the only way you're going to

00:35:19.269 --> 00:35:21.150
beat Nebraska. Then you might have a chance.

00:35:21.309 --> 00:35:23.690
Then you can put a double block in Harper Murray's

00:35:23.690 --> 00:35:27.190
face, which I don't think she's great at swinging

00:35:27.190 --> 00:35:30.849
against a solid double block. She needs a seam.

00:35:30.949 --> 00:35:33.550
She needs a one -on -one, which the middles usually

00:35:33.550 --> 00:35:37.309
give her. Adriano, she has gotten better as the

00:35:37.309 --> 00:35:40.650
season's gone on. She's not impressing me at

00:35:40.650 --> 00:35:44.469
all, though. So if you're relying on... Murray

00:35:44.469 --> 00:35:48.849
slash Landfair and Adriano without the Middles

00:35:48.849 --> 00:35:51.349
being a threat, that's how you're going to beat

00:35:51.349 --> 00:35:54.150
them. I agree. We'll continue talking about Nebraska.

00:35:54.590 --> 00:35:56.730
I did want to highlight a couple things from

00:35:56.730 --> 00:35:59.130
Wisconsin's side that I thought went well for

00:35:59.130 --> 00:36:02.329
them. Grace Egan was a bright spot for them.

00:36:02.389 --> 00:36:08.110
She hit 471 on 17 balls. 17 kills or 17 swings?

00:36:08.190 --> 00:36:11.690
17 swings. She didn't get set a ton. She still

00:36:11.690 --> 00:36:14.510
performed when called upon. I like that move

00:36:14.510 --> 00:36:17.130
because it allows them some flexibility on the

00:36:17.130 --> 00:36:20.909
left side. They put Quest in for Viachick and

00:36:20.909 --> 00:36:24.469
Viachick struggled. She hit negative 125. She

00:36:24.469 --> 00:36:27.510
couldn't pass. I thought that she really hurt

00:36:27.510 --> 00:36:29.849
them. So having Grace Egan gives them a little

00:36:29.849 --> 00:36:32.389
bit of flexibility. Well, Egan is their right

00:36:32.389 --> 00:36:34.650
side. Yes. But she was injured and we saw Quest

00:36:34.650 --> 00:36:37.769
playing right side. So having Egan back and then

00:36:37.769 --> 00:36:41.119
using Quest as a sub. Thank you, Kelly Sheffield,

00:36:41.219 --> 00:36:43.800
for attempting a couple substitutions. Thanks

00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:45.619
for listening to the podcast. He clearly listened.

00:36:46.619 --> 00:36:49.840
Just kidding. I thought that was good, and I

00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:52.920
liked seeing Quest on the left. I think that's

00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:55.380
a good move for them. I think that's the right

00:36:55.380 --> 00:36:57.320
place for her, to be honest. And then I also

00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:00.019
really liked Alicia Andrews in the middle for

00:37:00.019 --> 00:37:03.179
them. I thought, you know, going up against the

00:37:03.179 --> 00:37:06.179
best middle duo in the country, I don't want

00:37:06.179 --> 00:37:08.780
to say she held her own. But I liked what she

00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:11.800
brought to the table. And I thought that, yeah,

00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:13.639
this is a player that I think you can continue

00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:16.219
to build around and has a future there. So those

00:37:16.219 --> 00:37:20.039
were the bright spots for me in terms of Wisconsin

00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:22.880
and what they were playing and probably why they're

00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:26.159
still second in the Big Ten. Mimi Collier didn't

00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:29.119
do bad. No, she was Mimi Collier. Not as dominant

00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:32.159
as usual, but that's to be expected. Clearly

00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:34.800
the focal point of the Nebraska game plan because

00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:37.559
she's been performing so well, but hitting 234

00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:40.380
with all the attention on you, that's respectable.

00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:42.539
Yeah, I don't think you can ask for anything

00:37:42.539 --> 00:37:45.280
more from her in that situation. I mean, I think

00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:49.159
for me, this sums up the game. Wisconsin had

00:37:49.159 --> 00:37:52.579
six block assists on the match. Nebraska had

00:37:52.579 --> 00:37:57.300
19. Wisconsin had 40 digs and Nebraska had 54.

00:37:57.559 --> 00:38:00.159
Not only were they very efficient offensively.

00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:02.940
They had more blocks. They had more digs, which

00:38:02.940 --> 00:38:04.420
means they had more transition opportunities.

00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:08.480
It's an entire system. It starts with the serve.

00:38:08.739 --> 00:38:12.699
The Nebraska serve created disruptions, which

00:38:12.699 --> 00:38:15.940
allowed their block defense to get set up. It's

00:38:15.940 --> 00:38:18.639
a whole system they've got going on. They were

00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:20.960
just better in every facet of the game, period.

00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:24.579
I think they only lost the lead twice maybe in

00:38:24.579 --> 00:38:25.920
the first set, and other than that, they were

00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.699
never behind. And the game never felt out of

00:38:28.699 --> 00:38:31.079
control for them. They were always in the driver's

00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:34.559
seat. So we've got a lot of questions about Nebraska

00:38:34.559 --> 00:38:37.780
over the last little while, and we have answered

00:38:37.780 --> 00:38:40.719
them here and there. But since we're talking

00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:43.800
about them, let's just hit them all up. The first

00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:46.179
one, speaking of Liberos getting targeted on

00:38:46.179 --> 00:38:48.760
server C, we need a midseason update on your

00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:51.380
opinion of the Nebraska -Libero battle and the

00:38:51.380 --> 00:38:54.250
constant switch -ups. So we did talk about this

00:38:54.250 --> 00:38:57.210
a few weeks ago. I think Dani's waiting for somebody

00:38:57.210 --> 00:38:59.969
to grab the spot and run with it. And I think

00:38:59.969 --> 00:39:03.210
she keeps giving both of them the opportunity

00:39:03.210 --> 00:39:06.829
to do that. And neither of them are taking it

00:39:06.829 --> 00:39:09.670
with their play. Or do you think that she is

00:39:09.670 --> 00:39:11.869
strategically picking who is going to have the

00:39:11.869 --> 00:39:13.670
jersey depending on who they play and what the

00:39:13.670 --> 00:39:16.750
team needs that night? Maybe, but that team needs

00:39:16.750 --> 00:39:20.260
passing all the time. If I'm Dani. I can sacrifice.

00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:22.679
Our block defense is good. We serve well enough.

00:39:22.739 --> 00:39:25.119
If we lose a couple digs, but we're in system

00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:28.119
all the time, I'm taking that 100 % of the time.

00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:31.599
Yeah, I think as a team, just any team, not just

00:39:31.599 --> 00:39:35.340
Nebraska, your priority needs to be consistent

00:39:35.340 --> 00:39:38.420
serve -receive. Yes. Because if you're siding

00:39:38.420 --> 00:39:41.539
out at a high level and you're Nebraska, you're

00:39:41.539 --> 00:39:43.239
going to steal points. 100%. You're going to

00:39:43.239 --> 00:39:44.579
steal points with your serve. You're going to

00:39:44.579 --> 00:39:47.039
steal points. They're great, not like an outstanding

00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:50.860
serve team based on like aces, but it's strategic

00:39:50.860 --> 00:39:54.079
to set up their block defense, which is their

00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:56.239
strength. You're going to steal points, but you

00:39:56.239 --> 00:39:59.199
need to be siding out at a very high level all

00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:01.179
the time. So I would prioritize serve receive.

00:40:01.320 --> 00:40:03.599
On top of the serve receive, you're waiting for

00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:06.480
one of the liberos to come out and be a leader,

00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:10.679
to run the serve receive, to be that player in

00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:13.679
the back row. And I just haven't seen that. And

00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:15.699
sometimes that's hard to do when you're not playing

00:40:15.699 --> 00:40:19.159
amazing competition. But that spot is up for

00:40:19.159 --> 00:40:22.159
grabs. And in my opinion, neither of the Liberos

00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:24.880
have done enough to earn it outright. So I think

00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:27.539
she's giving them a chance. I wouldn't be surprised

00:40:27.539 --> 00:40:30.000
if that conversation is, I'm going to keep rotating

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:33.079
you guys until one of you makes it so I can't

00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:34.980
take you off the floor. And I don't think that's

00:40:34.980 --> 00:40:37.119
happened. All right. When talking about what

00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:39.460
teams need to improve, most often you say more

00:40:39.460 --> 00:40:43.059
balance is needed if the team... has that go

00:40:43.059 --> 00:40:45.780
-to hitter. But when talking about balanced teams,

00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:50.019
you say they need a go -to hitter to win a championship.

00:40:50.460 --> 00:40:53.719
Which do you have as a preference? As a defender,

00:40:53.980 --> 00:40:56.119
which would you rather face? So this question

00:40:56.119 --> 00:40:58.760
wasn't originally about Nebraska, but I think

00:40:58.760 --> 00:41:01.579
it plays into what's going on in Nebraska. Because

00:41:01.579 --> 00:41:06.059
we have been partially critical of Nebraska's

00:41:06.059 --> 00:41:10.150
insistence at... being balanced and not letting

00:41:10.150 --> 00:41:13.789
not not letting but like not having a player

00:41:13.789 --> 00:41:17.349
just be dominant on their own i spent a lot of

00:41:17.349 --> 00:41:18.710
time thinking about this since i've read this

00:41:18.710 --> 00:41:20.590
question because i'm like okay we have said both

00:41:20.590 --> 00:41:22.550
of these things in different occasions yeah i

00:41:22.550 --> 00:41:25.650
need to clarify my definition of a go -to hitter

00:41:25.650 --> 00:41:28.170
i know it when i see it but i don't think i've

00:41:28.170 --> 00:41:31.010
articulated it particularly well to this point

00:41:31.010 --> 00:41:34.469
for me it's not about how many points you score

00:41:34.469 --> 00:41:39.559
it's about your approach to how you attack the

00:41:39.559 --> 00:41:43.440
ball and i would call that your risk profile

00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:47.179
or your hitting profile let's look at an olivia

00:41:47.179 --> 00:41:50.659
babcock when she's uncomfortable she swings for

00:41:50.659 --> 00:41:53.239
hand she swings for the court you know she is

00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:55.139
trying to score a point that doesn't mean she

00:41:55.139 --> 00:41:57.099
doesn't tip that doesn't mean she's not strategic

00:41:57.099 --> 00:42:02.159
but her default mentality is i'm going to swing

00:42:02.159 --> 00:42:06.090
to score now the game is on the line She's taken

00:42:06.090 --> 00:42:08.369
a rip at the ball. It doesn't necessarily matter.

00:42:08.469 --> 00:42:11.130
Game is on the line. That's just how she approaches

00:42:11.130 --> 00:42:13.690
attacking. Now let's flip this and talk about

00:42:13.690 --> 00:42:16.289
Nebraska. I know the conversation always comes

00:42:16.289 --> 00:42:19.889
to this. It's Harper Murray. She gets most of

00:42:19.889 --> 00:42:22.590
the sets on Nebraska. And in watching her play

00:42:22.590 --> 00:42:25.170
specifically against Wisconsin, if I was going

00:42:25.170 --> 00:42:28.929
to put a player profile on her, I would say she

00:42:28.929 --> 00:42:33.010
is an opportunistic, error -averse hitter. And

00:42:33.010 --> 00:42:35.769
what I mean by that is... Of course, she's capable

00:42:35.769 --> 00:42:39.050
of swinging high hands. She has the cross -court

00:42:39.050 --> 00:42:42.329
swing, but she makes those swings when she's

00:42:42.329 --> 00:42:44.489
very certain she's not going to get blocked and

00:42:44.489 --> 00:42:46.349
she can see it's open. It's comfortable, yes.

00:42:46.510 --> 00:42:49.730
As soon as she's uncomfortable, it's a tip, it's

00:42:49.730 --> 00:42:52.690
a roll shot, it's a recycle. She is not challenging

00:42:52.690 --> 00:42:55.989
her swings in uncomfortable positions. And there's

00:42:55.989 --> 00:42:58.110
nothing wrong with that. There are players who

00:42:58.110 --> 00:43:01.550
make a great living doing that, but she's not

00:43:01.550 --> 00:43:05.300
necessarily the person. You want to set out of

00:43:05.300 --> 00:43:07.960
system after 20 in big matches. Against a double,

00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:11.300
triple, well -formed block. So let me ask you

00:43:11.300 --> 00:43:13.219
this, knowing that we're talking about player

00:43:13.219 --> 00:43:17.480
profiles. Who do you think embodies that go -to

00:43:17.480 --> 00:43:21.420
hitter on Nebraska? Andy Jackson. I would agree

00:43:21.420 --> 00:43:23.880
with you. And unfortunately, I hate to say it,

00:43:23.940 --> 00:43:28.019
it can't be a middle because the middle attack

00:43:28.019 --> 00:43:33.809
is so dependent on being... close to in system

00:43:33.809 --> 00:43:38.190
there's more to being a middle attacker you can't

00:43:38.190 --> 00:43:41.389
just depend on yourself you know it depends on

00:43:41.389 --> 00:43:45.650
the quality of the pass predominantly because

00:43:45.650 --> 00:43:48.409
Bergen Riley can get her the ball but yeah I

00:43:48.409 --> 00:43:51.949
would say the mentality that we're talking about

00:43:51.949 --> 00:43:55.050
on Nebraska is Andy Jackson so going back to

00:43:55.050 --> 00:43:57.789
the original question the balanced offense is

00:43:57.789 --> 00:44:00.329
always what you want you want all of your players

00:44:00.329 --> 00:44:03.900
involved all the time. You want everybody to

00:44:03.900 --> 00:44:06.500
feel engaged and the more you separate your sets

00:44:06.500 --> 00:44:08.480
and the more balanced it is, the harder it is

00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:10.980
for the opposing team to play defense. I will

00:44:10.980 --> 00:44:13.980
always go for that outcome and Nebraska does

00:44:13.980 --> 00:44:17.460
that really well. However, you need somebody

00:44:17.460 --> 00:44:22.280
who has that risk plus mindset that I'm going

00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:25.710
to go for those swings. in small moments, in

00:44:25.710 --> 00:44:27.869
big moments. And that's where my question marks

00:44:27.869 --> 00:44:29.650
with Nebraska. It almost wants to be in those

00:44:29.650 --> 00:44:31.750
uncomfortable situations because they have the

00:44:31.750 --> 00:44:33.630
confidence to know that they're going to get

00:44:33.630 --> 00:44:36.849
the job done. I would say Mimi Collier has that

00:44:36.849 --> 00:44:39.250
mindset. Absolutely. Kennedy Martin has that

00:44:39.250 --> 00:44:41.969
mindset. Olivia Babcock has that mindset. Yeah.

00:44:42.030 --> 00:44:45.630
It's less about the points and more about the

00:44:45.630 --> 00:44:48.070
mindset or the approach to attacking. Something

00:44:48.070 --> 00:44:49.949
that we didn't touch on about Nebraska that I

00:44:49.949 --> 00:44:53.329
want to bring up. I am obsessed. With the fact

00:44:53.329 --> 00:44:57.130
that Danny is keeping Andy Jackson in to serve,

00:44:57.230 --> 00:45:01.010
which we didn't see in her first two years, and

00:45:01.010 --> 00:45:06.389
using her as a back row option when she's playing

00:45:06.389 --> 00:45:09.989
defense. Genius. I love that. Thank you so much

00:45:09.989 --> 00:45:15.070
for breaking the mold of what a middle needs

00:45:15.070 --> 00:45:19.429
to do. There is no textbook on how you need to

00:45:19.429 --> 00:45:22.769
play, but you see... coaches get so wrapped up

00:45:22.769 --> 00:45:25.090
and like, I am going to take one of my middles

00:45:25.090 --> 00:45:27.469
out and make sure the libero serves for them,

00:45:27.550 --> 00:45:30.449
blah, blah, blah. The fact that they are using

00:45:30.449 --> 00:45:33.969
her as a serving threat, not having a DS serve

00:45:33.969 --> 00:45:37.210
for her, letting her play defense and hit in

00:45:37.210 --> 00:45:40.369
the back row. Thank you for not being cookie

00:45:40.369 --> 00:45:43.429
cutter. Well, and this is a prime example of

00:45:43.429 --> 00:45:47.710
a coach leaning into an athlete's strengths and

00:45:47.710 --> 00:45:50.130
using them. And utilizing her. She's got a great

00:45:50.130 --> 00:45:54.030
serve. Like, not all middles are, you know, Bambi

00:45:54.030 --> 00:45:56.349
on ice trying to hit in the back row. She's athletic.

00:45:56.469 --> 00:45:58.170
She's strong. She's physical. She jumps really

00:45:58.170 --> 00:46:01.710
well. Yeah. No, I totally agree with you. I'm

00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:04.210
so happy that this is happening, for real. Yes.

00:46:04.789 --> 00:46:07.110
Okay, another question. Nebraska hasn't had any

00:46:07.110 --> 00:46:08.909
player with double -digit kills in the last few

00:46:08.909 --> 00:46:11.630
games. Is that a cause for concern or a feature

00:46:11.630 --> 00:46:13.869
for this team? I think when this question was

00:46:13.869 --> 00:46:17.269
submitted, they had played, like, none. super

00:46:17.269 --> 00:46:21.070
great competition and they're steamrolling everybody

00:46:21.070 --> 00:46:24.909
not even close in three sets to me this kind

00:46:24.909 --> 00:46:26.710
of comes back to the balance question it doesn't

00:46:26.710 --> 00:46:29.289
matter who gets double digits it doesn't matter

00:46:29.289 --> 00:46:31.909
who scores points as long as you're winning and

00:46:31.909 --> 00:46:33.949
I honestly I think a lot of really really good

00:46:33.949 --> 00:46:37.590
teams don't have that necessarily standout player

00:46:37.590 --> 00:46:40.650
from a statistical standpoint everybody's getting

00:46:40.650 --> 00:46:43.329
involved I don't think there's any issue with

00:46:43.329 --> 00:46:46.989
that do you think DBK switching liberos each

00:46:46.989 --> 00:46:49.190
game will eventually affect Nebraska negatively

00:46:49.190 --> 00:46:52.750
later on postseason. John Cook has spoken about

00:46:52.750 --> 00:46:55.469
DBK wanting to keep everyone happy, but will

00:46:55.469 --> 00:46:58.130
that disturb the player's consistency? Same with

00:46:58.130 --> 00:47:01.190
Taylor Lanphair and Sigler. Okay, I don't know

00:47:01.190 --> 00:47:04.309
if Danny and John have had conversations offline.

00:47:04.429 --> 00:47:07.409
I don't know what their interactions have been.

00:47:07.690 --> 00:47:10.510
Maybe she has said that to him. I don't know.

00:47:10.590 --> 00:47:14.170
But knowing Danny. She is not the kind of person

00:47:14.170 --> 00:47:17.190
that does things just to make people happy. Watching

00:47:17.190 --> 00:47:19.489
her coaching decisions, that's not my take on

00:47:19.489 --> 00:47:22.590
it either. I think she's waiting, like we said

00:47:22.590 --> 00:47:25.150
before, for somebody to take the spot. I think

00:47:25.150 --> 00:47:27.929
she's giving them opportunity, but I don't think

00:47:27.929 --> 00:47:29.630
it's to keep both of them happy. I think it's

00:47:29.630 --> 00:47:32.730
because nobody has stepped up and earned a spot.

00:47:33.789 --> 00:47:36.550
Will it affect them negatively postseason? I

00:47:36.550 --> 00:47:38.210
mean, they've played the whole season like this.

00:47:38.429 --> 00:47:42.449
I think it will. Really? We talked about how

00:47:42.449 --> 00:47:46.250
we would try to beat Nebraska, but I think it's

00:47:46.250 --> 00:47:49.309
the mindset part that neither one of the two

00:47:49.309 --> 00:47:52.269
is taking that position for themselves. Maybe

00:47:52.269 --> 00:47:54.489
that, but the way that the system is working,

00:47:54.789 --> 00:47:57.429
I don't think so. I think if they go in with

00:47:57.429 --> 00:48:00.530
uncertainty and nobody has taken the spot, that

00:48:00.530 --> 00:48:03.320
is going to potentially be an issue. in terms

00:48:03.320 --> 00:48:06.239
of executing for that player. They can win. I

00:48:06.239 --> 00:48:07.960
mean, both of them are good enough to allow the

00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:09.940
team to win for the most part, but I would want

00:48:09.940 --> 00:48:12.039
that position solidified as a coach going into

00:48:12.039 --> 00:48:15.320
the tournament. Well, I also love that they are

00:48:15.320 --> 00:48:18.519
bringing Sigler in for Landfair as opposed to

00:48:18.519 --> 00:48:23.559
the typical DS. You know, Sigler is a great player

00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:26.750
in her own right and attacker. What I would love

00:48:26.750 --> 00:48:30.030
to see is them using Sigler in a back row attack

00:48:30.030 --> 00:48:32.849
situation when she is in the back row for Lanfair.

00:48:32.889 --> 00:48:35.530
We know Lanfair is not a back row player. I don't

00:48:35.530 --> 00:48:37.710
think that that switch up is weird because Lanfair's

00:48:37.710 --> 00:48:40.309
been getting taken out her whole career at Nebraska

00:48:40.309 --> 00:48:42.869
in the back row. I think it's good that they're

00:48:42.869 --> 00:48:45.630
getting Sigler experience. Will she transition

00:48:45.630 --> 00:48:47.929
into that front court role next year? Maybe,

00:48:48.010 --> 00:48:50.679
probably. But I would love to see them use her

00:48:50.679 --> 00:48:52.820
in the back row as an attack option when she's

00:48:52.820 --> 00:48:54.719
there. I think that's why you have her on the

00:48:54.719 --> 00:48:57.579
court. So I agree with everything you said. Why

00:48:57.579 --> 00:48:59.739
is it that it seems this season Nebraska is getting

00:48:59.739 --> 00:49:03.159
a ton of overpass kills in their games? Well,

00:49:03.219 --> 00:49:04.920
one of the reasons is Andy Jackson is serving

00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:08.099
and she's got a great serve. I just remember

00:49:08.099 --> 00:49:11.460
when I played at Nebraska, I'm a dinosaur. So

00:49:11.460 --> 00:49:16.860
it was like eons ago, but it was very air averse

00:49:16.860 --> 00:49:21.000
serving strategy. because the block defense was

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:24.300
so good. Nebraska's identity is their defensive

00:49:24.300 --> 00:49:27.559
strength. My guess is that the narrative was

00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:31.340
always minimize service errors because our defense

00:49:31.340 --> 00:49:34.099
will win us games. And I feel like with Danny,

00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:36.440
it's like, yeah, our defense will win us games,

00:49:36.519 --> 00:49:39.179
but we can accelerate the process by being much

00:49:39.179 --> 00:49:41.199
more aggressive with our serve because our block

00:49:41.199 --> 00:49:45.480
is also really good. So I think it's a question

00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:49.679
of... being more aggressive and causing that

00:49:49.679 --> 00:49:52.059
kind of lack of control on the other side. I

00:49:52.059 --> 00:49:54.760
agree with your analysis of the mindset switch.

00:49:54.840 --> 00:49:56.760
I also think they have a couple players that

00:49:56.760 --> 00:49:59.800
hit the ball from a higher contact point and

00:49:59.800 --> 00:50:02.539
possibly a little harder than most passers are

00:50:02.539 --> 00:50:05.519
currently seeing. And I think those players are

00:50:05.519 --> 00:50:08.719
driving a lot of those overpasses. Just as a

00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:10.280
passer, when you don't see it, you're not sure

00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:12.739
how much to take off your angle. is a little

00:50:12.739 --> 00:50:14.639
off because the ball is getting on you a little

00:50:14.639 --> 00:50:16.599
bit faster. The trajectory is a little bit different.

00:50:16.679 --> 00:50:18.960
I think that aggressive mindset, again, with

00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:21.420
the player profiles they have, force a few more

00:50:21.420 --> 00:50:23.440
overpasses. Well, and the discussions from the

00:50:23.440 --> 00:50:25.360
other team, it might be like, we are not going

00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:28.139
to beat Nebraska if they've got a double block

00:50:28.139 --> 00:50:30.440
in our outside spaces the whole match. We need

00:50:30.440 --> 00:50:32.960
to push our passes to the net to make our middle

00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:35.739
an option. I don't know if that's the case for

00:50:35.739 --> 00:50:38.280
sure, but I would assume that discussions are

00:50:38.280 --> 00:50:40.780
we need to force our passes to the net to give

00:50:40.780 --> 00:50:43.139
ourselves a chance. Do you think Andy Jackson's

00:50:43.139 --> 00:50:45.000
level of success on the slide will translate

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:47.260
at the same level professionally and internationally?

00:50:47.900 --> 00:50:50.400
Yes. I was actually thinking about this while

00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:53.699
I was watching the Wisconsin game, and I agree.

00:50:54.219 --> 00:50:57.960
I think it will because she gets off the ground

00:50:57.960 --> 00:51:02.469
fast off of one leg. Her contact point is very

00:51:02.469 --> 00:51:05.769
high. She's able to hit really good angles. I

00:51:05.769 --> 00:51:08.349
think it will. I agree with everything that you

00:51:08.349 --> 00:51:11.510
said. Her slide attack is not going to be what

00:51:11.510 --> 00:51:13.949
limits her international career. She's going

00:51:13.949 --> 00:51:16.130
to need to become a little bit more of a disciplined

00:51:16.130 --> 00:51:19.110
blocker, I would say, and definitely needs to

00:51:19.110 --> 00:51:20.650
be able to hit in front of the setter, which

00:51:20.650 --> 00:51:23.110
I think she's totally capable of. Those would

00:51:23.110 --> 00:51:24.929
be the areas where I'm like, hey, that's where

00:51:24.929 --> 00:51:26.489
you need to see improvement, but I think her

00:51:26.489 --> 00:51:28.750
slide is money. It's been a little tough to talk

00:51:28.750 --> 00:51:31.989
about Nebraska because they've just been so dominant.

00:51:32.130 --> 00:51:34.650
It's fun to watch if you're a Nebraska fan, but

00:51:34.650 --> 00:51:36.989
from a quality of volleyball standpoint, it's

00:51:36.989 --> 00:51:39.150
been a little bit of a yawn fest. And to just

00:51:39.150 --> 00:51:41.190
have a discussion about it, it's like Nebraska

00:51:41.190 --> 00:51:45.070
crushed again. What do you say? But I think these

00:51:45.070 --> 00:51:46.869
questions were really good. It was fun to watch

00:51:46.869 --> 00:51:48.869
them play Wisconsin. Even though it wasn't close,

00:51:49.130 --> 00:51:51.880
there were... Good plays, Wisconsin pushed them

00:51:51.880 --> 00:51:54.440
at least a little bit, forced them into something.

00:51:54.659 --> 00:51:57.539
So, yeah, it was good. I enjoyed watching them

00:51:57.539 --> 00:51:59.579
play. I think the questions were great, and now

00:51:59.579 --> 00:52:02.960
we'll see who else comes up and if they're challenged

00:52:02.960 --> 00:52:06.639
anymore. And I know we addressed this, is Nebraska

00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:09.440
going to go all conference play without losing

00:52:09.440 --> 00:52:12.280
a set? And I was bullish on that not happening.

00:52:12.599 --> 00:52:15.780
I'm sliding into it might be possible. Like,

00:52:15.780 --> 00:52:20.079
they're playing that well. We'll find out. Let's

00:52:20.079 --> 00:52:22.659
see what happens. So the only other remaining

00:52:22.659 --> 00:52:26.159
unbeaten team heading into this week was Texas.

00:52:26.780 --> 00:52:29.980
Boy, did they blow that. They lost not just one,

00:52:30.059 --> 00:52:34.559
but two matches this weekend. It was not good

00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:40.400
for the Longhorns. They had two. I mean, both

00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:41.920
opponents they played are top ten opponents.

00:52:42.139 --> 00:52:45.639
It was a tough weekend, for sure. The Aggies

00:52:45.639 --> 00:52:50.840
game was better than the Kentucky game. So rough.

00:52:51.659 --> 00:52:56.800
Let's go. Let's go match by match. And then we

00:52:56.800 --> 00:52:59.739
can talk about some of the trends we saw over

00:52:59.739 --> 00:53:01.940
those two games and what they have to do to kind

00:53:01.940 --> 00:53:04.840
of right the ship. So let's start with the Aggies.

00:53:04.860 --> 00:53:08.519
What was your impression of the match? I've not

00:53:08.519 --> 00:53:11.719
been high on Texas A &M this season, but I thought

00:53:11.719 --> 00:53:17.719
Kendall Stowers was so good. 45 swings, 22 kills,

00:53:17.880 --> 00:53:21.019
hit 400. Yeah, that's pretty good. I thought

00:53:21.019 --> 00:53:25.480
Casa Paula was really good. 23 sets, 15 kills,

00:53:25.659 --> 00:53:29.079
hit 609. Holy moly. And then Lednicki is just

00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:33.360
their, like, solid, steady. Garbage eater. Go

00:53:33.360 --> 00:53:36.079
-to player. She didn't actually play amazingly

00:53:36.079 --> 00:53:38.579
well. No. She hit under 200. She didn't need

00:53:38.579 --> 00:53:40.440
to. And it was crazy because after 10 in the

00:53:40.440 --> 00:53:43.679
fifth set, they didn't set her. The ball exclusively

00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:47.920
went to. Stowers and Kosokpala. We've talked

00:53:47.920 --> 00:53:50.360
about teams that have go -to players and then

00:53:50.360 --> 00:53:53.420
balance. For me, this was Texas A &M kind of

00:53:53.420 --> 00:53:56.239
figuring out what that balance was. Texas obviously

00:53:56.239 --> 00:53:59.280
had a game plan to slow down Lednicki, and I

00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.199
guarantee you they thought, we stop Lednicki,

00:54:01.260 --> 00:54:04.340
we're going to win. And they had two other players

00:54:04.340 --> 00:54:07.619
step up, and their setter... recognized what

00:54:07.619 --> 00:54:10.239
was happening and gave them more balls and Texas

00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.539
could not adjust and slow those other two players

00:54:13.539 --> 00:54:16.579
down that to me was a master class in understanding

00:54:16.579 --> 00:54:19.639
the assignment for the game what the other team

00:54:19.639 --> 00:54:21.900
was doing and then making adjustments so I think

00:54:21.900 --> 00:54:25.119
kudos to Texas A &M for sure it was cool to see

00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:26.780
other players stuff I mean Star Wars has been

00:54:26.780 --> 00:54:28.980
having a pretty good season so far it's not like

00:54:28.980 --> 00:54:31.139
she's coming out of nowhere but she was the show

00:54:31.139 --> 00:54:36.800
she did outstanding Tori Stafford also was very

00:54:36.800 --> 00:54:40.260
good. Very good. The way that they were running

00:54:40.260 --> 00:54:43.340
her on that high inside set and she was just

00:54:43.340 --> 00:54:46.679
punishing the ball into the sharp angle. Unstoppable.

00:54:46.840 --> 00:54:51.139
That was one thing that I didn't like about Texas

00:54:51.139 --> 00:54:54.059
A &M. They did not pick up when they were running

00:54:54.059 --> 00:54:56.519
that set and it happened consistently. I kept

00:54:56.519 --> 00:54:58.579
waiting for them to make her hit line, but I

00:54:58.579 --> 00:55:01.239
was like, okay. But it was still impressive that

00:55:01.239 --> 00:55:03.500
she was hitting that angle every time. And the

00:55:03.500 --> 00:55:05.719
amount of distance she can cover in the air to

00:55:05.719 --> 00:55:08.300
close to that ball is super impressive. Yeah.

00:55:08.500 --> 00:55:12.860
Abby VanderWaal attacked well in system. Yes.

00:55:14.039 --> 00:55:16.880
Qualified a bunch of stuff. Yeah. Let's talk

00:55:16.880 --> 00:55:19.219
about Texas now that we've stopped gushing about

00:55:19.219 --> 00:55:21.840
Texas A &M. I mean, we gushed for like a minute.

00:55:22.260 --> 00:55:24.840
That's a lot for us. That's a lot for us, but

00:55:24.840 --> 00:55:26.719
I feel like the people are not going to be happy

00:55:26.719 --> 00:55:29.699
with how little time we spent on them. Well,

00:55:29.719 --> 00:55:32.440
we can go back if we need to. Okay. My problems

00:55:32.440 --> 00:55:34.519
with Texas. I mean, we're going to talk about

00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:36.460
both matches, but I think there were a couple

00:55:36.460 --> 00:55:39.840
common threads that ran between both. So we can

00:55:39.840 --> 00:55:41.539
highlight those and then talk about how they

00:55:41.539 --> 00:55:44.579
affected each match. So what did you see overall?

00:55:44.639 --> 00:55:47.119
And if there were any similarities between their

00:55:47.119 --> 00:55:49.460
loss to Kentucky and their loss to Texas A &M?

00:55:49.820 --> 00:55:53.360
I don't think Texas serves aggressively enough.

00:55:53.480 --> 00:55:55.900
I think both Texas A &M and Kentucky were in

00:55:55.900 --> 00:55:58.760
system. Always. Yes, I would agree with that.

00:55:58.860 --> 00:56:00.340
They were all options all the time. They were

00:56:00.340 --> 00:56:05.039
serving muffins, okay, over the net. I think

00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:08.699
that makes it very hard to set up any type of

00:56:08.699 --> 00:56:11.239
defense. Especially when the attackers coming

00:56:11.239 --> 00:56:13.820
at you were as good as Texas A &M and Kentucky.

00:56:14.179 --> 00:56:17.019
Exactly. Because they did what they did. It's

00:56:17.019 --> 00:56:19.139
not like, or what they normally do. It's not

00:56:19.139 --> 00:56:22.099
like Kentucky or A &M did anything outside of

00:56:22.099 --> 00:56:25.820
the box. Brooklyn delay and... Eva Hudson for

00:56:25.820 --> 00:56:29.179
Kentucky put up unbelievable numbers. Everybody

00:56:29.179 --> 00:56:31.940
else was not that good. They had 38 kills between

00:56:31.940 --> 00:56:33.860
the two of them and both of them hit over 400

00:56:33.860 --> 00:56:37.019
and nobody else really did anything. You need

00:56:37.019 --> 00:56:39.719
to serve a little more aggressively to not make

00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:42.199
it so easy. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes

00:56:42.199 --> 00:56:45.260
you'll see servers struggle with. Either the

00:56:45.260 --> 00:56:48.440
depth or moving players side to side. But Texas

00:56:48.440 --> 00:56:50.880
struggled with both. They served the middle third

00:56:50.880 --> 00:56:52.639
of the court so the passers didn't have to move

00:56:52.639 --> 00:56:55.300
forward or backwards. And then they served right

00:56:55.300 --> 00:56:58.519
at players. No seams, no nothing, and no pace

00:56:58.519 --> 00:57:00.420
on the ball. Well, and then in the Kentucky match,

00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:02.300
they served Brooklyn DeLay every single ball.

00:57:02.780 --> 00:57:05.579
She was nailing these passes. Like, how about

00:57:05.579 --> 00:57:08.639
we mix it up a little bit and see if we can break

00:57:08.639 --> 00:57:11.539
somebody down. Yeah, no adjustments. Zero adjustments.

00:57:11.719 --> 00:57:14.260
I kept waiting for something to change for a

00:57:14.260 --> 00:57:16.619
strategy, especially in a Kentucky match. Yeah.

00:57:16.980 --> 00:57:19.320
Because Texas served a little bit better in sets

00:57:19.320 --> 00:57:22.039
three and four against Texas A &M. They got them

00:57:22.039 --> 00:57:24.000
in a little bit of trouble after serving poorly

00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.260
for the first two sets, but we saw no adjustments

00:57:26.260 --> 00:57:29.619
versus Kentucky. No. So I have an issue with

00:57:29.619 --> 00:57:33.760
their serving. Their passing is not consistent.

00:57:34.679 --> 00:57:37.239
Who did you think struggled passing the most?

00:57:38.119 --> 00:57:41.050
Probably... Vanderwall when she's in the front

00:57:41.050 --> 00:57:44.590
row. And honestly, it kind of affected everybody

00:57:44.590 --> 00:57:47.070
at different points in the Kentucky match. I

00:57:47.070 --> 00:57:50.829
did not think their libero Emma Halter had a

00:57:50.829 --> 00:57:52.989
very good passing game. I thought she was pulling

00:57:52.989 --> 00:57:56.650
balls off the net. Kentucky specifically, but

00:57:56.650 --> 00:57:58.630
there were times where she struggled against

00:57:58.630 --> 00:58:01.230
A &M as well. Kentucky specifically was trying

00:58:01.230 --> 00:58:04.570
to serve to one to make Swindle set from behind

00:58:04.570 --> 00:58:07.599
her, which I think is a very good strategy. You

00:58:07.599 --> 00:58:09.199
know our opinion on Swindle. We don't like Swindle.

00:58:09.659 --> 00:58:12.059
That was going to be my third issue with them.

00:58:12.239 --> 00:58:14.179
There were some interesting serving strategies

00:58:14.179 --> 00:58:18.159
against Texas that I thought exposed a few potential

00:58:18.159 --> 00:58:21.639
weaknesses. My third issue is their setter. I

00:58:21.639 --> 00:58:23.760
feel like they're better when the libero has

00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:26.420
to set an in -tempo back set ball to Torrey Stafford

00:58:26.420 --> 00:58:33.300
than when Swindle has to set anything. That might

00:58:33.300 --> 00:58:37.900
be a little facetious. So for all you people

00:58:37.900 --> 00:58:40.659
who are about to get on your keyboards and tell

00:58:40.659 --> 00:58:43.420
me how mean I am, I'm exaggerating, okay? Thank

00:58:43.420 --> 00:58:46.719
you. But I will say, anytime Swindle had to bump

00:58:46.719 --> 00:58:49.320
set, the balls were almost unhittable. That,

00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:52.099
I will stand by. There were a couple times where

00:58:52.099 --> 00:58:54.019
she bumped set balls where her team didn't know

00:58:54.019 --> 00:58:56.119
who was supposed to be hitting. One ball hit

00:58:56.119 --> 00:58:58.360
the floor, the other one went over a hitter's

00:58:58.360 --> 00:59:01.440
head, there was one outside the antenna. Her

00:59:01.440 --> 00:59:05.480
bump setting was... not good and in fact the

00:59:05.480 --> 00:59:08.099
team bump setting in general is not good anytime

00:59:08.099 --> 00:59:10.019
they had to go to their platform to set one of

00:59:10.019 --> 00:59:12.360
their players it was almost exclusively a volley

00:59:12.360 --> 00:59:14.719
over that was a huge issue you guys know how

00:59:14.719 --> 00:59:17.260
i feel about out of system setting you know how

00:59:17.260 --> 00:59:19.860
i feel about running a middle in an out of system

00:59:19.860 --> 00:59:24.500
setting it is basics people it is requires focus

00:59:24.500 --> 00:59:29.579
engage those glutes lift the ball okay but i

00:59:29.579 --> 00:59:33.809
think it highlights how things break down right

00:59:33.809 --> 00:59:36.090
from the get -go you normally only see maybe

00:59:36.090 --> 00:59:39.130
two or three bump sets a match if you're passing

00:59:39.130 --> 00:59:41.949
relatively well they weren't there were many

00:59:41.949 --> 00:59:44.369
of them and those balls were unhittable there

00:59:44.369 --> 00:59:46.489
were compounding mistakes for me the pass wasn't

00:59:46.489 --> 00:59:48.369
good and the set wasn't good and hitters weren't

00:59:48.369 --> 00:59:51.150
making good decisions very rarely in watching

00:59:51.150 --> 00:59:54.949
texas this week did i think hey that player bettered

00:59:54.949 --> 00:59:58.590
the ball and to me that was kind of the underlying

00:59:58.590 --> 01:00:00.050
issue you're not going to pass great all the

01:00:00.050 --> 01:00:01.590
time you're not going to set great all the time

01:00:02.110 --> 01:00:05.150
But nobody kind of made that next contact better.

01:00:05.269 --> 01:00:07.849
That's what I saw most of. I'm going to go back

01:00:07.849 --> 01:00:12.730
to Kentucky. You know that their franchise players

01:00:12.730 --> 01:00:17.570
are Brooklyn DeLay and Eva Hudson. How are you

01:00:17.570 --> 01:00:21.329
letting them go off on you like that? Like, make

01:00:21.329 --> 01:00:23.889
the right side beat you. Make the middles beat

01:00:23.889 --> 01:00:27.929
you. Get a double block set up early with the

01:00:27.929 --> 01:00:30.769
defense in position every time against those

01:00:30.769 --> 01:00:33.340
two. I don't understand how they let that happen.

01:00:33.440 --> 01:00:36.920
The defensive game plan against Kentucky left

01:00:36.920 --> 01:00:39.840
me scratching my head. Yeah. You could literally

01:00:39.840 --> 01:00:42.199
go stand all three blockers on the left side,

01:00:42.260 --> 01:00:44.679
and you'd probably have been more successful.

01:00:44.980 --> 01:00:46.940
The other thing is, like, you're serving muffins

01:00:46.940 --> 01:00:48.619
to Brooklyn Delay. At least if you're going to

01:00:48.619 --> 01:00:52.519
serve a muffin, make her move. Short. Make her

01:00:52.519 --> 01:00:55.239
pass a short ball to at least make her life difficult

01:00:55.239 --> 01:00:58.199
getting outside for an approach if you're going

01:00:58.199 --> 01:01:00.920
to insist on serving her every single ball. I

01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:03.139
think Texas took Halloween off. That's my opinion.

01:01:03.559 --> 01:01:05.840
Trick or treat. There was not a lot of good things

01:01:05.840 --> 01:01:07.980
happening from a preparation standpoint, from

01:01:07.980 --> 01:01:12.239
a game plan standpoint. It was kind of head scratching.

01:01:12.519 --> 01:01:14.800
We watched a bunch of them early in the season,

01:01:14.860 --> 01:01:17.460
and I was like, yeah, they're legit. I was very

01:01:17.460 --> 01:01:19.780
disappointed watching them this weekend. Okay,

01:01:19.820 --> 01:01:21.840
so let's... I was happy. Okay, I was impressed

01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:24.480
with Tori Stafford. Tori Stafford was steady.

01:01:25.380 --> 01:01:28.880
She's doing her job. Yes, and even from a leadership

01:01:28.880 --> 01:01:32.900
standpoint, I saw her... In Pitt, you never really

01:01:32.900 --> 01:01:35.679
saw her get fired up. There were a lot of personalities

01:01:35.679 --> 01:01:38.780
on that team. And I don't want to say she didn't

01:01:38.780 --> 01:01:42.360
get fired up. She had emotion, I thought. She

01:01:42.360 --> 01:01:45.639
was maybe the third leader on that team from

01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:49.820
an emotional input standpoint. I really liked

01:01:49.820 --> 01:01:51.719
her stepping up. You could see her get mad a

01:01:51.719 --> 01:01:54.059
couple times in the Texas A &M match and then

01:01:54.059 --> 01:01:56.940
come back and make a big play. I thought for

01:01:56.940 --> 01:02:00.400
me, her leadership, even though they lost. was

01:02:00.400 --> 01:02:02.500
a highlight. I thought she did a really good

01:02:02.500 --> 01:02:04.320
job in that regard, both with her leadership

01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:07.239
and with her play. I think Kari Spears is doing

01:02:07.239 --> 01:02:11.199
a good job. I think offensively, Abby VanderWaal

01:02:11.199 --> 01:02:14.460
is doing a good job. I don't think their middles

01:02:14.460 --> 01:02:20.679
are effective enough offensively or used frequently

01:02:20.679 --> 01:02:25.500
enough to have a big impact. And obviously the

01:02:25.500 --> 01:02:28.159
issues that we outlined, but I think their outside

01:02:28.159 --> 01:02:32.019
core is very strong offensively. So there were

01:02:32.019 --> 01:02:35.139
a couple of things that I wanted to highlight.

01:02:35.260 --> 01:02:38.280
I thought Kari Spears struggled in the first

01:02:38.280 --> 01:02:41.440
two sets against Texas A &M and then found her

01:02:41.440 --> 01:02:45.019
rhythm in the third and fourth set. And for me,

01:02:45.039 --> 01:02:47.500
that's important because as a freshman, how you

01:02:47.500 --> 01:02:49.760
deal with adversity, I think says a lot about

01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:52.900
you. And the fact that she could maybe not start

01:02:52.900 --> 01:02:55.000
her best, they're on the road, it's a hostile

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:57.420
environment. There's a lot of emotion there.

01:02:58.099 --> 01:03:00.500
For her to be able to level out and continue

01:03:00.500 --> 01:03:02.920
to take good swings, I don't care what the result

01:03:02.920 --> 01:03:05.619
is, but her approach and attitude didn't change.

01:03:05.920 --> 01:03:09.420
I was really impressed with that. Abby VanderWaal

01:03:09.420 --> 01:03:12.159
was level, like you said. I thought she was really

01:03:12.159 --> 01:03:14.900
good in system. I think out of system, she was

01:03:14.900 --> 01:03:17.760
exposed a little bit. When she has to slow down

01:03:17.760 --> 01:03:20.280
her approach, when the timing's not quite right,

01:03:20.380 --> 01:03:23.679
I think she loses her vision. I didn't love her

01:03:23.679 --> 01:03:25.820
decisions in those moments, so something for

01:03:25.820 --> 01:03:28.219
her to work on. I actually think overall it's

01:03:28.219 --> 01:03:30.320
good for Texas to lose these matches with these

01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:32.400
young players in here, a little bit of a reset.

01:03:32.539 --> 01:03:35.599
I think it's tough when all you do is win as

01:03:35.599 --> 01:03:37.519
a freshman, and you don't really learn how to

01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:39.519
deal with those situations. So going into the

01:03:39.519 --> 01:03:41.619
tournament, I know we still have some conference

01:03:41.619 --> 01:03:44.840
playoff, but I think this is going to serve them

01:03:44.840 --> 01:03:48.840
well long term. So do you think Nebraska and

01:03:48.840 --> 01:03:50.860
Texas are still the top two teams in the country?

01:03:51.179 --> 01:03:57.039
No. I think Texas is better than they showed

01:03:57.039 --> 01:04:01.139
this weekend. Do you think Kentucky is better

01:04:01.139 --> 01:04:04.119
than them? I think if both teams are playing

01:04:04.119 --> 01:04:08.019
to their fullest potential, Texas is still better.

01:04:08.139 --> 01:04:12.559
But I think Texas' low end is also lower than

01:04:12.559 --> 01:04:16.340
Kentucky's. I mean, what we saw was... If Texas's

01:04:16.340 --> 01:04:20.039
passing breaks down, they have some holes that

01:04:20.039 --> 01:04:22.780
you can exploit. They don't run the middle very

01:04:22.780 --> 01:04:26.300
well off the net. Swindle, I don't love her footwork.

01:04:26.360 --> 01:04:27.920
I don't think she can see the middle when it's

01:04:27.920 --> 01:04:29.739
pulled off the net, so you know where the ball

01:04:29.739 --> 01:04:32.340
is going. Torrey Stafford's going to score. Kari

01:04:32.340 --> 01:04:35.139
Spears does a pretty good job at a system, but

01:04:35.139 --> 01:04:38.500
Vanderwall struggles in that regard. So I think

01:04:38.500 --> 01:04:41.460
that with a solid game plan and really good serving,

01:04:41.949 --> 01:04:44.889
there are some ways that you can take advantage

01:04:44.889 --> 01:04:47.969
of Texas, and they're not infallible. With a

01:04:47.969 --> 01:04:52.570
freshman left side, the libero for Texas, Emma

01:04:52.570 --> 01:04:56.610
Halter, needs to pass the seam, needs to be a

01:04:56.610 --> 01:04:59.309
little more in charge, and needs to be dialed

01:04:59.309 --> 01:05:00.969
in on serve -receive. I think that's going to

01:05:00.969 --> 01:05:03.610
be one of their keys moving forward in terms

01:05:03.610 --> 01:05:06.110
of avoiding this situation, because you know

01:05:06.110 --> 01:05:09.239
teams now are going to come at Vanderwall. They're

01:05:09.239 --> 01:05:11.000
going to serve her in the front row, try and

01:05:11.000 --> 01:05:13.260
take her out of rhythm. And Texas is going to

01:05:13.260 --> 01:05:15.300
need to find a way to shelter her a little bit,

01:05:15.320 --> 01:05:17.079
take a little bit of that pressure off so that

01:05:17.079 --> 01:05:19.739
she can stay in system. And they're going to

01:05:19.739 --> 01:05:21.519
have to be able to run their middle. They took

01:05:21.519 --> 01:05:25.219
Ames out. They put Harvey in. They seem to have

01:05:25.219 --> 01:05:28.260
a little bit of a rotating middle situation right

01:05:28.260 --> 01:05:30.800
now. That connection between Swindle and the

01:05:30.800 --> 01:05:32.679
middle or whoever, which other setters coming

01:05:32.679 --> 01:05:34.920
in and playing on that double sub, their middle

01:05:34.920 --> 01:05:37.510
needs to be a threat. Do we chalk this up to

01:05:37.510 --> 01:05:42.170
just a bad weekend or red flags? I think it's

01:05:42.170 --> 01:05:45.289
both. I think that teams will see what the game

01:05:45.289 --> 01:05:47.630
plan or the roadmap to putting Texas in trouble

01:05:47.630 --> 01:05:52.449
is. I'm curious to see what adjustments Texas

01:05:52.449 --> 01:05:54.429
makes. Like, do they chalk this up to, hey, we

01:05:54.429 --> 01:05:56.909
just didn't serve well enough? Or do they look

01:05:56.909 --> 01:05:58.809
at... But I feel like that's a mindset. I agree.

01:05:59.230 --> 01:06:01.070
I feel like they've been able to get away with

01:06:01.070 --> 01:06:03.989
it and playing good top 10 teams at this point

01:06:03.989 --> 01:06:06.010
in the season where people have dialed in their

01:06:06.010 --> 01:06:08.250
systems. They have played a lot of top 10 teams,

01:06:08.309 --> 01:06:13.429
a lot of top 25s, but they did the top, top teams

01:06:13.429 --> 01:06:16.389
early. Yeah. So people have dialed their stuff

01:06:16.389 --> 01:06:20.190
in. Well, they're super physical as a team. And

01:06:20.190 --> 01:06:23.250
when everything is messy on both sides of the

01:06:23.250 --> 01:06:25.960
net, that physicality really helps. When you

01:06:25.960 --> 01:06:28.619
get teams that are buttoned up, like Texas A

01:06:28.619 --> 01:06:31.519
&M played really good defense. They had a very

01:06:31.519 --> 01:06:33.119
good system in place. They out -blocked them

01:06:33.119 --> 01:06:36.619
14 -4. That doesn't happen by accident. And this

01:06:36.619 --> 01:06:38.239
is the second year in a row that A &M beat them.

01:06:38.460 --> 01:06:41.760
Well, there is that too. Now that the systems

01:06:41.760 --> 01:06:44.219
are in place, now that teams have game plans,

01:06:44.579 --> 01:06:47.000
what is the adjustment? You're not just more

01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:51.019
physical. So I think this is a crossroad for

01:06:51.019 --> 01:06:54.090
them. I'm curious whether the coaching staff

01:06:54.090 --> 01:06:56.210
will chalk it up to a bad weekend or whether

01:06:56.210 --> 01:06:57.630
they're going to go back to the drawing board

01:06:57.630 --> 01:06:59.510
and go, okay, here are the things that we really

01:06:59.510 --> 01:07:01.449
need to focus on for the rest of conference play.

01:07:01.570 --> 01:07:04.809
If you ask me right now, if Nebraska and Texas

01:07:04.809 --> 01:07:07.610
played each other, Nebraska would systematically

01:07:07.610 --> 01:07:13.469
tear Texas apart. Because they're just as physical.

01:07:14.090 --> 01:07:17.190
Neither team is prolific on the service end,

01:07:17.250 --> 01:07:20.670
but I think Nebraska serves better and more strategically.

01:07:21.789 --> 01:07:23.789
I think if they were to play right now, Nebraska

01:07:23.789 --> 01:07:28.150
would dismantle them. It's not a bad take. It's

01:07:28.150 --> 01:07:31.849
not a bad take. All right. There we go. Nebraska,

01:07:31.949 --> 01:07:35.250
as we said, the only unbeaten team left. Will

01:07:35.250 --> 01:07:38.829
they hold on to it? Will they drop a set in Big

01:07:38.829 --> 01:07:41.889
Ten play? We will find out. Texas needs to get

01:07:41.889 --> 01:07:44.650
it together here to right the ship. You think

01:07:44.650 --> 01:07:47.340
Kentucky's number two next week? Yes. All right,

01:07:47.440 --> 01:07:50.539
everyone. Time for our favorite part of the episode.

01:07:50.619 --> 01:07:54.300
You guessed it. It's lizard question time. Okay.

01:07:54.480 --> 01:07:58.579
So question one, who are your three nominees

01:07:58.579 --> 01:08:03.139
for coach of the year? Oh, a tough one right

01:08:03.139 --> 01:08:05.760
off the bat. Okay. So I think number one for

01:08:05.760 --> 01:08:10.119
me would be Dave Shundell. Purdue was decimated.

01:08:10.639 --> 01:08:12.820
Holy moly. By the transfer portal. They lost

01:08:12.820 --> 01:08:16.779
almost all of their top end players. He was considering

01:08:16.779 --> 01:08:19.520
quitting after that happened. And I can't say

01:08:19.520 --> 01:08:23.880
that I blame him. And he has got that team motivated,

01:08:24.260 --> 01:08:28.420
playing well, beating good teams with nobody.

01:08:28.619 --> 01:08:31.319
I say nobody. I understand everybody at this

01:08:31.319 --> 01:08:34.880
level is good. But they don't have take your

01:08:34.880 --> 01:08:38.989
pick. A blue chip player. And so to see. That

01:08:38.989 --> 01:08:43.369
level of execution and compete when the team

01:08:43.369 --> 01:08:45.350
and the coaching staff could have packed it in

01:08:45.350 --> 01:08:48.670
after losing those players, kudos to him. I think

01:08:48.670 --> 01:08:51.590
he's doing a fantastic job. I would say Steve

01:08:51.590 --> 01:08:54.789
Aird at Indiana has done a good job. I watch

01:08:54.789 --> 01:08:56.890
them play. You know, they're trying to run really

01:08:56.890 --> 01:08:58.609
fast. They're doing a bunch of different things.

01:08:58.649 --> 01:09:00.909
I think they're trying to find their own identity.

01:09:01.569 --> 01:09:05.029
They're competitive consistently. Are they there

01:09:05.029 --> 01:09:07.710
yet? I don't think so. I think it's hard to make

01:09:07.710 --> 01:09:09.430
a case. I understand what you're saying about

01:09:09.430 --> 01:09:11.590
him and he came to mind for me too, but I think

01:09:11.590 --> 01:09:13.770
it's hard to make a case for him because they're

01:09:13.770 --> 01:09:17.229
ranked like 24th currently. I feel like you need

01:09:17.229 --> 01:09:23.250
to at least be in the top, you know, 15. If we're

01:09:23.250 --> 01:09:26.890
doing a legitimate coach of the year award, I

01:09:26.890 --> 01:09:30.210
think that's fair. When I think of coach of the

01:09:30.210 --> 01:09:33.500
year, I think about... which coach is bringing

01:09:33.500 --> 01:09:35.560
the most value to their team, which coach is

01:09:35.560 --> 01:09:38.260
getting the most out of players that maybe is

01:09:38.260 --> 01:09:42.180
exceeding expectation. Obviously, Danny's doing

01:09:42.180 --> 01:09:44.199
a great job at Nebraska. I'm kind of thinking

01:09:44.199 --> 01:09:46.319
outside of the box and looking at when I watch

01:09:46.319 --> 01:09:48.819
teams, I'm going, that team is playing much better

01:09:48.819 --> 01:09:51.300
than I expected them to play. I could make a

01:09:51.300 --> 01:09:53.880
case for Kevin Hambly at Stanford. Totally. He

01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:57.050
was my four. Who's your three? I really like

01:09:57.050 --> 01:10:00.050
Trent Kirsten at Oregon. I love watching. Another

01:10:00.050 --> 01:10:02.489
program that was decimated. I believe almost

01:10:02.489 --> 01:10:05.050
everybody lost that program. He's a first -year

01:10:05.050 --> 01:10:09.109
coach. His ability to get all new players on

01:10:09.109 --> 01:10:11.930
board, playing the way he wants them to, I think

01:10:11.930 --> 01:10:14.510
they have a bunch of freshmen playing on that

01:10:14.510 --> 01:10:18.020
team. And they're competitive. They are pushing

01:10:18.020 --> 01:10:19.560
teams. They are winning matches. I'm obsessed

01:10:19.560 --> 01:10:21.720
with Clemente, you guys. I think she is in the

01:10:21.720 --> 01:10:23.239
running for freshman of the year for me. She's

01:10:23.239 --> 01:10:25.560
so good. I have to acknowledge what he's done

01:10:25.560 --> 01:10:29.760
at that program from scratch, first year. I think

01:10:29.760 --> 01:10:31.760
it's impressive. Is Oregon going to make noise?

01:10:32.250 --> 01:10:34.869
Probably not. But again, watching them play,

01:10:34.930 --> 01:10:36.890
if you had told me at the beginning of the season

01:10:36.890 --> 01:10:38.489
that they would perform like that after losing

01:10:38.489 --> 01:10:40.510
literally everybody, I'd have been like, you're

01:10:40.510 --> 01:10:42.710
crazy. Well, I mean, it's so, I'm going to go

01:10:42.710 --> 01:10:45.130
back to Hambly because he has a few freshmen

01:10:45.130 --> 01:10:48.229
that are really doing well and they lost a couple

01:10:48.229 --> 01:10:50.970
key pieces, which is why he's in the conversation

01:10:50.970 --> 01:10:54.890
for me. I think the coaches who've had to legit

01:10:54.890 --> 01:10:59.029
rebuild from ground zero and are able to put

01:10:59.029 --> 01:11:02.600
together a competent, competitive team, deserve

01:11:02.600 --> 01:11:04.979
way more recognition than they get because you

01:11:04.979 --> 01:11:07.359
always see the ones who tell a kid they're interested

01:11:07.359 --> 01:11:10.520
and the kid's like yes i'll sign on the dotted

01:11:10.520 --> 01:11:12.979
line great that's why texas isn't in the running

01:11:12.979 --> 01:11:15.159
for me that's why nebraska is not in the running

01:11:15.159 --> 01:11:18.760
texas louisville like pit you know what i mean

01:11:18.760 --> 01:11:23.819
those programs just like attract top talent whereas

01:11:23.819 --> 01:11:28.109
like the coaches who Aren't working with the

01:11:28.109 --> 01:11:30.550
blue chip athletes have had to completely rebuild

01:11:30.550 --> 01:11:34.430
and just do it on their own without the prestige

01:11:34.430 --> 01:11:38.090
or name of the school. A plus. Those would be

01:11:38.090 --> 01:11:40.750
the highlights from my list. Okay. Question two.

01:11:40.930 --> 01:11:43.930
Has Sarah ever low key cheered for an underdog

01:11:43.930 --> 01:11:48.529
even once? No. Has she ever been one or one as

01:11:48.529 --> 01:11:53.510
one? No. I feel like I have cheered for an underdog

01:11:53.510 --> 01:11:56.970
semi recently. The only reason you would cheer

01:11:56.970 --> 01:11:59.109
for an underdog was if you knew that person.

01:12:00.090 --> 01:12:02.890
Like on a personal level. Oh, when does that

01:12:02.890 --> 01:12:06.289
affect me? I don't discriminate people. If I

01:12:06.289 --> 01:12:08.729
like you too bad, I'm not cheering for you. I

01:12:08.729 --> 01:12:10.409
mean, I think she was cheering for the Jays in

01:12:10.409 --> 01:12:13.250
the World Series. I think I was. They were underdogs.

01:12:13.430 --> 01:12:16.810
I think I was. Hold on. I feel like recently

01:12:16.810 --> 01:12:18.810
watching volleyball, I was cheering for some

01:12:18.810 --> 01:12:21.729
kind of underdog, but clearly it's not standing

01:12:21.729 --> 01:12:24.630
out in my mind enough. I will say I was an underdog

01:12:24.630 --> 01:12:30.369
once. When? In the final in Brazil. My first

01:12:30.369 --> 01:12:32.149
season in Brazil. We've talked about this on

01:12:32.149 --> 01:12:34.710
the podcast. I played for Rio. We played Osasco,

01:12:34.810 --> 01:12:38.109
the entire Brazilian starting lineup. My team,

01:12:38.130 --> 01:12:41.109
I would say, were the underdogs. Okay. Yeah,

01:12:41.170 --> 01:12:43.270
that's a fair assessment. And we won. Do you

01:12:43.270 --> 01:12:47.050
think you were an underdog at the finals in Worlds

01:12:47.050 --> 01:12:50.659
for beach volleyball? No. Okay. Because we were

01:12:50.659 --> 01:12:53.300
the top two teams in the world. It wasn't like

01:12:53.300 --> 01:12:57.619
crazy. I was thinking more U .S. Canada, not

01:12:57.619 --> 01:13:02.479
necessarily. No, I wouldn't say that. I mean,

01:13:02.500 --> 01:13:04.939
you haven't been an underdog very often. I have

01:13:04.939 --> 01:13:07.159
been fortunate to play for some very, very good

01:13:07.159 --> 01:13:11.779
teams. So it's been rare if ever that I've been

01:13:11.779 --> 01:13:13.939
one. And I think that that's why I never cheer

01:13:13.939 --> 01:13:16.640
for an underdog. Because I know how it feels.

01:13:17.319 --> 01:13:21.420
To be the team or to be the athlete that everyone

01:13:21.420 --> 01:13:24.560
loves to hate and that everyone wants to take

01:13:24.560 --> 01:13:27.579
down. And I like can empathize with that. And

01:13:27.579 --> 01:13:33.060
I don't like that. In fairness, when I play CBBA,

01:13:33.159 --> 01:13:35.079
Sarah cheers for me and I'm always an underdog.

01:13:35.220 --> 01:13:37.920
So there's that. There's that one. Question three.

01:13:38.060 --> 01:13:41.420
What is the most prestigious path for a volleyball

01:13:41.420 --> 01:13:44.439
player and which path is the most lucrative?

01:13:44.539 --> 01:13:48.949
I would say. If you're a woman, the most prestigious

01:13:48.949 --> 01:13:54.229
path would be to play top A1 Italy or for one

01:13:54.229 --> 01:13:58.250
of the top clubs in Turkey. That's probably the

01:13:58.250 --> 01:14:01.850
most prestigious. If you're a man, I would say

01:14:01.850 --> 01:14:06.590
A1 Italy or a top team in Poland is probably.

01:14:06.710 --> 01:14:09.670
Would you agree? Yeah, I think so. There are

01:14:09.670 --> 01:14:12.789
some outliers who will make the final eight or

01:14:12.789 --> 01:14:15.359
the final four in Champions League. If you're

01:14:15.359 --> 01:14:17.859
competing in the quarterfinals or above in Champions

01:14:17.859 --> 01:14:19.859
League, that's pretty prestigious, I would say.

01:14:20.319 --> 01:14:24.239
Most lucrative, I would say for a woman playing

01:14:24.239 --> 01:14:31.079
for those same teams. For a man, Russia. Go to

01:14:31.079 --> 01:14:35.359
Russia. Or actually Asia. Yeah. Pays very well.

01:14:35.579 --> 01:14:40.529
So I would say, yeah, if you're not. a star on

01:14:40.529 --> 01:14:44.010
one of the top turkish or italian teams you will

01:14:44.010 --> 01:14:46.789
make a ton of money if you go to asia or russia

01:14:46.789 --> 01:14:49.670
yeah okay question four what are your thoughts

01:14:49.670 --> 01:14:52.069
on the indiana setter's ability to take her eyes

01:14:52.069 --> 01:14:54.310
off the ball look at her hitters the opposing

01:14:54.310 --> 01:14:57.189
team's blockers and then execute the fast tempo

01:14:57.189 --> 01:15:00.430
set i know it's messy sometimes but that's an

01:15:00.430 --> 01:15:02.850
advanced skill for a freshman setter and she'll

01:15:02.850 --> 01:15:07.069
only get better i have some thoughts okay you

01:15:07.069 --> 01:15:09.439
go and then i'll give you my thoughts When you're

01:15:09.439 --> 01:15:13.779
a top level setter, you look for the blockers.

01:15:13.800 --> 01:15:16.159
You look for blockers movement so that you can

01:15:16.159 --> 01:15:19.220
set away from where the middle is leaning or

01:15:19.220 --> 01:15:23.739
cheating. You see some setters do the full turn

01:15:23.739 --> 01:15:26.140
the head and look situation. And then you have

01:15:26.140 --> 01:15:28.180
other setters who can just see that out of their

01:15:28.180 --> 01:15:31.399
peripheral vision. Same as we've talked about

01:15:31.399 --> 01:15:33.939
hitters being able to see the blockers or the

01:15:33.939 --> 01:15:37.500
defenders behind. I think. Your number one priority

01:15:37.500 --> 01:15:40.840
as a setter needs to be, as we talked about last

01:15:40.840 --> 01:15:42.859
week, putting your hitter in the best position

01:15:42.859 --> 01:15:46.819
possible to score. And for me, that means good

01:15:46.819 --> 01:15:52.020
location, good tempo for your hitters. After

01:15:52.020 --> 01:15:55.260
that, it's the hitter's job to score. It is a

01:15:55.260 --> 01:15:58.420
bonus. It is a goal of a setter to be able to

01:15:58.420 --> 01:16:01.000
get the hitters a one -on -one, but it doesn't

01:16:01.000 --> 01:16:02.920
help the hitter at all if you're getting them

01:16:02.920 --> 01:16:06.430
a one -on -one on an unhittable ball. OK, I would

01:16:06.430 --> 01:16:11.029
much rather as a hitter have a nice, well -located

01:16:11.029 --> 01:16:15.050
set against a solid double block than be scrambling,

01:16:15.149 --> 01:16:17.909
having to tip a ball over one on one. That's

01:16:17.909 --> 01:16:21.229
what I think. Your point is 100 percent valid.

01:16:21.390 --> 01:16:23.590
I'm going to answer this question from a coaching

01:16:23.590 --> 01:16:26.210
standpoint. So like so you're wrong. No, no,

01:16:26.229 --> 01:16:28.430
no. You're 100 percent right. The answer is layered

01:16:28.430 --> 01:16:32.750
for me. Very often I see players trying to learn

01:16:32.750 --> 01:16:36.739
or execute the highest. level portion of a skill

01:16:36.739 --> 01:16:38.800
they're doing. So you see it all the time. Setters

01:16:38.800 --> 01:16:40.840
jump setting who can't set with both feet on

01:16:40.840 --> 01:16:43.539
the ground. Attackers trying to make crazy swings

01:16:43.539 --> 01:16:46.539
when their step close isn't right. There is a

01:16:46.539 --> 01:16:49.859
progression to learning these advanced skills,

01:16:49.979 --> 01:16:52.199
but you need your fundamentals to be in place.

01:16:52.340 --> 01:16:54.739
As the question mentioned, looking to the other

01:16:54.739 --> 01:16:56.520
side, taking your eye off the ball, that's a

01:16:56.520 --> 01:16:59.619
high level skill. I'm not opposed to you learning

01:16:59.619 --> 01:17:01.939
that. And as you learn that, it's going to be

01:17:01.939 --> 01:17:05.399
messy at the beginning, 100%. My question would

01:17:05.399 --> 01:17:11.300
be, is your jump set location consistent eight

01:17:11.300 --> 01:17:13.159
or nine times out of 10 without you looking?

01:17:13.260 --> 01:17:15.800
Do you have the fundamentals in place to put

01:17:15.800 --> 01:17:19.060
this next piece into your game? I don't have

01:17:19.060 --> 01:17:20.800
the answer to that because I haven't seen her

01:17:20.800 --> 01:17:23.439
train. I haven't seen her develop. If it's in

01:17:23.439 --> 01:17:26.399
place, go for it. Learn the skill, work on it.

01:17:26.520 --> 01:17:29.039
You're a freshman. By the time you become a senior,

01:17:29.279 --> 01:17:32.609
you're going to be amazing. If you don't have

01:17:32.609 --> 01:17:34.890
those fundamentals in place, though, you're trying

01:17:34.890 --> 01:17:37.670
to build on top of a wobbly... You're trying

01:17:37.670 --> 01:17:39.710
to run before you can walk. Exactly. And then

01:17:39.710 --> 01:17:42.270
that's not going to work. Are your fundamentals

01:17:42.270 --> 01:17:45.890
in place? That, to me, would be what needs to

01:17:45.890 --> 01:17:48.010
be answered before I could say, yes, go on and

01:17:48.010 --> 01:17:50.630
practice this and get better at this portion

01:17:50.630 --> 01:17:53.789
of the skill. Question five. Spill the tea, Sarah.

01:17:53.850 --> 01:17:55.470
Who is the setter you had the best connection

01:17:55.470 --> 01:17:59.090
with? I think we'd all like to know. Okay, I'm

01:17:59.090 --> 01:18:01.840
going to say two. I know, I can guess who your

01:18:01.840 --> 01:18:06.100
two are. Okay, guess. Number one is Fafal, who

01:18:06.100 --> 01:18:08.800
is unbelievable. And I think you're going to

01:18:08.800 --> 01:18:11.539
give a shout out to your number two, Rachel Holloway,

01:18:11.539 --> 01:18:14.859
from your Nebraska days. Am I right? Those are

01:18:14.859 --> 01:18:17.680
the two I was going to pick, yes. Okay, I played

01:18:17.680 --> 01:18:21.579
with Fafal for my two seasons in Brazil, arguably

01:18:21.579 --> 01:18:24.760
one of the best setters of all time. She was

01:18:24.760 --> 01:18:26.619
at the tail end of her career when I played with

01:18:26.619 --> 01:18:34.170
her. But her... her decision -making, the way

01:18:34.170 --> 01:18:37.689
that she was able to fix questionable passes.

01:18:37.869 --> 01:18:44.510
Oh, my gosh. It was outstanding. I feel so honored

01:18:44.510 --> 01:18:47.489
and privileged to be able to have played with

01:18:47.489 --> 01:18:50.489
her. Wow. Okay, I have to throw in a story here.

01:18:50.510 --> 01:18:52.270
I already know what story it's going to be because

01:18:52.270 --> 01:18:54.109
this is Faber -Fayal's story of all time. Okay.

01:18:54.149 --> 01:18:56.890
How old were we when we were in Brazil? What

01:18:56.890 --> 01:19:03.569
was I, 25? No. 26. I was 26. I was 26. He's older

01:19:03.569 --> 01:19:06.310
than me. So we're in Brazil. This was the first

01:19:06.310 --> 01:19:08.409
year we had ever been there. And at this point,

01:19:08.430 --> 01:19:11.550
Fafau is in her late 30s. I think she was 40.

01:19:11.770 --> 01:19:13.310
She might have been 40. I was trying to be nice.

01:19:13.970 --> 01:19:17.430
And I'm in the gym watching practice on one of

01:19:17.430 --> 01:19:19.550
the first days that we arrived in Brazil. I'm

01:19:19.550 --> 01:19:23.270
sweating. It's so hot. It's an open gym. Adam's

01:19:23.270 --> 01:19:27.229
just trying to set the scene. The ambiance. So

01:19:27.229 --> 01:19:30.850
practice starts, and Fafau, in fairness to her,

01:19:30.970 --> 01:19:33.109
was a little slow warming up. Like, she's not

01:19:33.109 --> 01:19:35.170
hopping right in. And I'm like, okay, how is

01:19:35.170 --> 01:19:37.310
this going to go? And I'm arrogant, and it's,

01:19:37.310 --> 01:19:41.170
yeah. I'm not understanding what's going on at

01:19:41.170 --> 01:19:43.430
this point. And I'm sitting there watching practice,

01:19:43.550 --> 01:19:47.189
and this ball is passed tight, pretty close to

01:19:47.189 --> 01:19:50.569
position four. And she runs after the ball, goes

01:19:50.569 --> 01:19:52.489
up with one hand like she's going to set the

01:19:52.489 --> 01:19:56.140
middle. And then flicks a one -handed set backwards

01:19:56.140 --> 01:20:00.899
to Sarah. Perfect location. Perfect tempo. And

01:20:00.899 --> 01:20:02.939
I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. And I

01:20:02.939 --> 01:20:06.239
was like, that just shouldn't be possible. It

01:20:06.239 --> 01:20:09.039
was maybe the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

01:20:09.859 --> 01:20:14.300
True. And obviously, Rachel Holloway is on my

01:20:14.300 --> 01:20:19.010
list. I played with her in college. I truly believe

01:20:19.010 --> 01:20:21.729
that she would have been the setter for the U

01:20:21.729 --> 01:20:23.850
.S. national team had she chosen to continue

01:20:23.850 --> 01:20:29.810
playing. Her competitiveness, her fire, her hands

01:20:29.810 --> 01:20:36.270
were golden. I honestly feel so lucky that I

01:20:36.270 --> 01:20:38.810
got to play with her as well, and I think she

01:20:38.810 --> 01:20:40.850
could have done some incredible things in the

01:20:40.850 --> 01:20:43.890
sport had she chosen to continue. And she knew

01:20:43.890 --> 01:20:47.430
when to set Sarah the ball. That's why I liked

01:20:47.430 --> 01:20:49.170
her. No, I'm just kidding. Okay, our last question

01:20:49.170 --> 01:20:53.770
of the day. Question six. When coaching at the

01:20:53.770 --> 01:20:57.130
club slash college level, are they always trying

01:20:57.130 --> 01:21:00.350
to make the attacker's window bigger? Why does

01:21:00.350 --> 01:21:02.729
hitting high hands seem to be such a difficult

01:21:02.729 --> 01:21:05.310
skill for hitters to do effectively in college?

01:21:05.909 --> 01:21:08.989
I don't know if they're necessarily intentionally

01:21:08.989 --> 01:21:10.930
trying to make the hitter's window bigger. I

01:21:10.930 --> 01:21:15.010
feel like sometimes you are limited by your own.

01:21:16.329 --> 01:21:19.630
The ways that they do try is working on the step

01:21:19.630 --> 01:21:22.350
close, working on the last two steps of the approach

01:21:22.350 --> 01:21:25.810
to really like get to the ball that way. I wouldn't

01:21:25.810 --> 01:21:28.810
say that a lot of coaches necessarily focus on

01:21:28.810 --> 01:21:31.770
that. I agree with you. Having a bigger hitting

01:21:31.770 --> 01:21:34.409
window is a byproduct of being good technically.

01:21:34.989 --> 01:21:37.649
A fast arm gives you a bigger window. A better

01:21:37.649 --> 01:21:39.670
step close gives you a bigger window. And that's

01:21:39.670 --> 01:21:42.729
regardless of how physical you are. So as you

01:21:42.729 --> 01:21:45.890
become a technically more competent hitter, your

01:21:45.890 --> 01:21:49.489
window gets bigger. It's a byproduct of becoming

01:21:49.489 --> 01:21:53.250
more technically sound. So it may not be, hey,

01:21:53.310 --> 01:21:55.210
this is what we're trying to do, but it happens

01:21:55.210 --> 01:21:58.869
as you improve. In terms of college hitters having

01:21:58.869 --> 01:22:01.409
a hard time finding hands. I honestly would argue

01:22:01.409 --> 01:22:03.189
that I think they're getting a lot better at

01:22:03.189 --> 01:22:06.659
it. definitely better than when you played yeah

01:22:06.659 --> 01:22:09.140
and i think you have to because the blocks are

01:22:09.140 --> 01:22:11.359
getting bigger there's a couple things that make

01:22:11.359 --> 01:22:14.420
it defenses are getting better yes you less clean

01:22:14.420 --> 01:22:17.079
kills means you have to go for hands but i think

01:22:17.079 --> 01:22:19.500
there's a couple things that hinder your ability

01:22:19.500 --> 01:22:22.560
to hit hands one is if the set's not in a spot

01:22:22.560 --> 01:22:25.079
where you can see in front of you it's impossible

01:22:25.079 --> 01:22:27.020
to hit hands you're guessing yeah i was thinking

01:22:27.020 --> 01:22:29.939
setter inconsistency so that's that's a huge

01:22:29.939 --> 01:22:33.789
one two is For really big hitters, if you're

01:22:33.789 --> 01:22:36.069
playing against a small to medium -sized block,

01:22:36.250 --> 01:22:38.149
the hands get up late. They're not there when

01:22:38.149 --> 01:22:40.689
you're swinging. You're over top of them. That

01:22:40.689 --> 01:22:44.329
also makes it hard to hit hands. And then blocking

01:22:44.329 --> 01:22:48.390
inconsistencies in terms of the timing and whether

01:22:48.390 --> 01:22:49.970
they're in the right place or they're not in

01:22:49.970 --> 01:22:52.510
the right place, that also makes it hard to hit

01:22:52.510 --> 01:22:56.109
hands. So there are inconsistencies kind of across

01:22:56.109 --> 01:22:58.050
the board and a couple different facets of the

01:22:58.050 --> 01:23:00.210
game that affect your ability to see and execute.

01:23:00.760 --> 01:23:03.220
the high hand swing. I mean, and as you get to

01:23:03.220 --> 01:23:06.779
a higher and higher and higher level, the skills

01:23:06.779 --> 01:23:11.359
are much more predictable. So it's easier to

01:23:11.359 --> 01:23:16.279
execute higher difficulty skills because you're

01:23:16.279 --> 01:23:18.100
better able to predict what's going to happen

01:23:18.100 --> 01:23:22.279
with the set, with where the block goes, et cetera.

01:23:22.380 --> 01:23:26.659
So that is definitely a factor. These questions

01:23:26.659 --> 01:23:32.000
you guys are getting. Killing it. Like, so technical

01:23:32.000 --> 01:23:34.659
sometimes. You're getting into the nitty gritty.

01:23:34.800 --> 01:23:38.640
We love it. Keep them coming. I think we knocked

01:23:38.640 --> 01:23:41.659
off a whole bunch today during the episode itself

01:23:41.659 --> 01:23:46.000
and otherwise. So our list is down to only 5

01:23:46.000 --> 01:23:49.659
million instead of 7. So keep them coming. All

01:23:49.659 --> 01:23:52.100
right. As always, we've got your matches that

01:23:52.100 --> 01:23:54.180
you need to watch this week. So here they are.

01:23:54.420 --> 01:23:57.939
On Wednesday at 8 p .m. Eastern, Minnesota versus

01:23:57.939 --> 01:24:00.619
Wisconsin. Minnesota has been playing better.

01:24:01.119 --> 01:24:03.539
Wisconsin just got kicked. They're missing their

01:24:03.539 --> 01:24:05.239
setter. I think this could be a good game. I

01:24:05.239 --> 01:24:07.640
think it could be. And it's like a border game.

01:24:07.819 --> 01:24:10.920
Yes. So I'm looking forward to that one. I think

01:24:10.920 --> 01:24:13.720
Wisconsin still has the edge. I don't think it's

01:24:13.720 --> 01:24:15.819
going to be in three, though. I don't think it'll

01:24:15.819 --> 01:24:19.260
be in three. Thursday at 7 p .m., we have Kansas

01:24:19.260 --> 01:24:22.260
versus Colorado. Colorado still making waves

01:24:22.260 --> 01:24:25.359
and still winning matches. So this will be a

01:24:25.359 --> 01:24:28.380
big one to see if they can hold on to their currently.

01:24:28.940 --> 01:24:32.260
seeded high position in the Big 12. Friday at

01:24:32.260 --> 01:24:36.800
9 p .m. Eastern, we have BYU versus ASU. A little

01:24:36.800 --> 01:24:38.760
shipwriting needs to happen. Well, based on my

01:24:38.760 --> 01:24:41.140
prediction last week, potential number one, two

01:24:41.140 --> 01:24:44.319
teams. No, I said TCU would be two. This is your

01:24:44.319 --> 01:24:47.600
potential one, two teams in the Big 12. So we'll

01:24:47.600 --> 01:24:49.340
see. But the Big 12 is an absolute mess at this

01:24:49.340 --> 01:24:52.770
point. Friday then at 10 p .m. Eastern, we have

01:24:52.770 --> 01:24:55.310
North Carolina versus Stanford. Got to give North

01:24:55.310 --> 01:24:56.829
Carolina some love because they've been winning

01:24:56.829 --> 01:24:58.689
matches. They've been upsetting some teams this

01:24:58.689 --> 01:25:02.170
season. And they've become ranked. So I'm looking

01:25:02.170 --> 01:25:03.409
forward to checking them out and seeing what

01:25:03.409 --> 01:25:05.829
they're all about. And then Sunday at 1 p .m.,

01:25:05.829 --> 01:25:08.970
Kentucky versus Tennessee. And those are the

01:25:08.970 --> 01:25:11.590
matches that you need to be watching next week.

01:25:12.029 --> 01:25:14.810
That concludes this week's episode of Volley

01:25:14.810 --> 01:25:16.989
Talk. There's always something shaky in the volleyball

01:25:16.989 --> 01:25:19.390
world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix.

01:25:19.569 --> 01:25:21.229
Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss

01:25:21.229 --> 01:25:23.590
any updates and we'd be so grateful if you leave

01:25:23.590 --> 01:25:26.670
us a five -star review. You can also find us

01:25:26.670 --> 01:25:29.590
on Instagram at volleytalk underscore podcast.

01:25:30.090 --> 01:25:32.310
If there's a topic you'd like us to discuss,

01:25:32.609 --> 01:25:35.529
let us know by reaching out on Instagram or at

01:25:35.529 --> 01:25:39.029
info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining

01:25:39.029 --> 01:25:41.439
us and we'll be back. Bye, guys.