Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley
Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers
who want to dig deep into what is going on in
NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host,
Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat
guy. What's going on again? Volleyball happening
everywhere. Yes. But then we have some other
stuff like all -star games and, you know, training
camps and this and that going on. So we're going
to jump around. We're going to jump around. We
watched some volleyball. We watched bits and
pieces of a lot of games, some entire matches.
Turn some off. Turn some off. It was a real mixed
bag this week. We are excited to dive into some
things that are a little different, mix it up
a little bit, and of course, talk volleyball
as always. So let's get started. Okay, before
we get into anything. We misspoke last week.
There's no excuse. We were just wrong. And we
had a lot of people reach out to us to tell us
just how wrong we were. Which is what I expect.
About Catherine Plummer's playing time in the
Olympics. You're right. We messed up. We said
the wrong thing. She played every match. Had
a couple good matches, a couple not so good matches.
But we just wanted to address that. We made an
error. So thank you to everybody who reached
out. Was your fantasy a highlight or a happening
this week? I was really excited about my fantasy
this week because I looked at the number of points
I scored and I thought it was a highlight. And
then I looked at it relative to everybody else
in our league. Wait, how do you do that? Well,
this is a great, I don't know if it's a new feature,
but I just found it, which makes me super competitive.
So if you go to the league, so if you click on
leagues and then you click the Volley Talk podcast
league, there are two scores. There's a yellow
score, which is your total accumulated points.
And then there's a red score, which is your weekly
points. And you can sort the list by either total
score or weekly score. Tallahassee turtles crushing
it. Well, I thought I was doing really well.
Wait, how do I do it by league by week score?
There's another sort button there. Oh my goodness.
How do I find myself? Wow. Yeah, you're going
to have to scroll down. Wow. Okay. It tells me
right there. I don't need to say that out loud.
Needless to say, I thought I had a good week,
but I was still in the 100th. Like I was around
100 in overall weekly score compared to everybody
else. That was a little humbling. So maybe a
happening. Mine's a happening. It's always a
happening. When is it going to be a highlight?
I was so confident in the roster I put together
and then guess what happened? Well, you were
unlucky. Both of my right sides didn't play.
You had a really good week. If your right side
had scored any points, you would have been up
there. My starting right side didn't sniff the
court. Azani Teeler thought it was a good pick.
And then my backup got in just at the end of
one match. So that really messed me up. I am
sitting in around the same place I was last week
overall. We don't need to talk about how I did
this week. Worse than Adam. We'll put it that
way. I jumped a few spots, but I'm still in the
hundreds because of my zero week. But with my
middle scored me really good points. I was feeling
confident. Just wasn't. And guess what? My backup
setter, Pukas, scored me 70 points. She killed
it for you. Yeah, everybody did except for my
right side. And Mimi Collier killed me. It was
a happening. I love how they keep updating it,
adding new features. I find that weekly tally
so you can see how you're doing against other
people in that specific week. It's addicting.
It makes me look after every match, see where
I'm going, see what I'm doing. It's so much fun.
I need to stick with how I'm doing overall because
weekly, not so much. But like I said, Tallahassee
Turtles is in the lead for both week seven and
overall. So they are the team to beat. It can
only go up from where I'm at. Let me tell you,
this is the game changer for MLV for me. I agree.
And I love seeing what my budget is looking like
every week. You know what I'm checking? I'm not
checking the comparison of how I'm doing compared
to everybody else. I'm checking how my contracts
are doing. Am I gaining money? Sarah the agent.
I lost money this week, but not as much as I
did the first week. So I still have enough to
buy players. So that's what I'm always focusing
on. You got to catch Tallahassee turtles. Let's
all group together. Let's agree that we're going
to take this person down. This is how Sarah plays
board games as well. Let's gang up. Everybody
gang up on Adam. Okay. So yeah, we'll check who
the leader is. Remember the grand prize at the
end of this is a volleyball, a signed volleyball.
But if you'd rather it not be signed, that's
okay too. Join us. and take down the people who
are ahead of me. No, I'm just kidding. Who are
ahead of most of us. Play volley .com slash volley
talk. Play volley .com slash volley talk to join
and get in on the action. In NCAA men's volleyball
this week, the noteworthy results, number 14,
UC Santa Barbara beat number six, Pepperdine,
three straight. That was actually kind of a fun
game. We watched half of it. More than half.
The right side for UCSB played really well. The
right side for Pepperdine did not. He was a black
hole defensively. I was like, is this Stishak
on the court? Him and Stishak should pair up.
They're both defensive black holes. They should
not pair up. Keep those two as far away from
each other as possible. That gravitational pull
is too much for everybody. Who do you think would
be worse? Stishak and Karakurt or Stishak and...
Hartke. Oh, Karakor's Stitchy X was for sure.
Anyway. Anyway, Hartke was a black hole defensively.
And he was getting blocked a lot. Yeah. They
played well. They were hyped. They were ready
to go. Defend the home court. It was a fun game.
They were definitely hyped. But Pepperdine, when
they ran the middle, they were having a lot of
success. They just weren't really running the
middle all that much. That is always their Achilles
heel. When they run the middle, they win. When
they don't, it depends. Wouldn't anybody run
the middle? Well, yes. Fair. But it's like pretty...
On point. We run the numbers on that. I'd be
curious. Let's see what I can do. Okay, so that
was a very interesting game. Number 13, Ohio
State beat number eight, Ball State, three straight.
And then we had the rematch, UCLA, Long Beach
State, and UCLA pulled off the sweep for the
season. They won in four. UCLA is message sending.
We have one goal. This is where we're heading.
Come and take it from us. Do you think they're
going to win it all? Or do you think they will
find a way to lose it? I think it's theirs to
lose. I think it's theirs to lose. They need
to lose a match before the playoffs. Well, they've
got BYU. They've got Pepperdine on the schedule.
They've got USC still on the schedule. I think
it's really hard to go undefeated. They've got
UC Irvine coming up. Yeah. They need a loss.
I think it just... It resets it. It changes the
narrative. I hope they just don't take a deep
breath after beating Long Beach State. Because
I know that that was like the team that they
were looking to be. Yeah. All things equal. Everybody
playing to their potential. I think they're the
best team. From what I've seen so far of the
season, I would agree. Yeah. On the MLB side
of things, Indy's still on top. They're looking
good. They are. There was the 1 -2 matchup this
week, them against Dallas. It was a close game
for two of the sets, sets two and three. They
beat Dallas three straight. It was a very close
game aside from set one, which was like 16 or
something. Yeah. Mimi Collier did not play well
that game. No. And I also think, I've seen this
a couple times from Dallas, where they don't
start well and then they're finding their rhythm.
And I think if they would have won that third
set, we would have gone to five. I'm not saying
that they would have beat them. But they need
to find a way to get going early and then to
close matches out. Because, again, they're successful
when they run the middle, but they need their
outside pins to score latent sets. And, you know,
Mimi struggled. And, yeah. I feel like they can
usually rely on one left side to produce. Yeah.
Whether it's Maldonado Diaz or Collier, one of
them is usually doing fine. I feel like it's
just like the combo of the right side and the
other left side. That's like a little inconsistent
in the point scoring department. If they could
like get consistency in one of those two positions,
they'd be really, really good. Maldonado Diaz
has trouble scoring as it gets later in the sets.
She was automatic at the end of set three though.
Again, people have good matches. I'm saying in
general, she hits similar angles. You see teams
make digs on her. I think in general, that's
what I'm seeing. But you're right. One of those
two players needs to have a good game for them
to win close ones. Normally, if they're ahead
and their middles are playing well, they're fine.
But in those tight matches, the pins need to
score. I just think Indy looks really good. Azani
Teeler wasn't even playing as I was lamenting
earlier. Cameron Hanna came in, did incredible.
Lecateur, member Mena, really good. Their middles
are running well. Tuoniga, the bane of your existence
fantasy -wise, is playing a lot better. Elena
Scott, your favorite libero in the whole world,
also playing better. Better. She's playing well.
I just think that they look really good. I love
Dallas, but Indy is sailing. Here's the thing
with Indy. I think the thing that sets them apart
is their mentality. They never give up no matter
what the score is, no matter if they're down.
They dig balls. They grind. They're aggressive
when they swing, even when they make mistakes.
I think it's the mentality or the identity of
the team that's allowing them. I don't necessarily
think they're the best volleyball team, but I
think they're the grittiest team with the best
mentality. We have a new last place team. In
Grand Rapids. Columbus got a four -set win over
Orlando this week. San Diego got a five -set
win over Omaha. So Grand Rapids is getting left
behind. That is what happened in the MLV this
week. Rumor has it Morgan Hintz requested the
trade. Yeah, I don't think it's a rumor. I think
it was mentioned on the broadcast. That's what
I heard. By Sunderland. Yeah. Yeah, how would
he have known that? I mean, somebody must have
put it out there or said something because he
wouldn't. He's got too much integrity to make
something like that up. Why do you think she
would have wanted the trait? I've actually read
a couple theories online. One theory, I'm not
sure how much I believe this, is that none of
Ellers is a bullhawk. Oh my gosh. But that's
purely conjecture and hearsay. So I'm going to
leave the team because... My teammate's overenthusiastic.
My guess is she didn't see eye to eye with the
coaching staff. I'm sorry, this is professional
volleyball. I mean, you see this happen all the
time. Not overseas where you play, but in a league
like this. The number of hockey players who request
trades, basketball players who request trades.
I mean, again, you have a limited career window.
She's trying to make the Olympics if she doesn't
think she's getting better. or you know whatever
you're making a move finally morgan perkins the
middle that played for texas a &m was waived
by the san diego mojo and rumor has it according
to her tiktok she's heading to love next season
i'm not sure why she hasn't been given a chance
but i don't know either anyway That's what's
up in MLV. On the love side, Salt Lake and Houston
are still 1 -2. Houston finally beat Salt Lake
this week in four, so that was big. And then
we had the bottom two teams play each other,
and Madison came out on top, beating Nebraska
in five. What a thriller for the basement. But
Madison's still in last. There were a couple
decent sets in that game, actually. I mean, they're
a similar level. Yeah. The differentiation between
the teams is becoming very clear. I'm loving
Serena Gray for Salt Lake. I think she's playing
so well. I think she looks really good. Motivated.
Motivated is the word I would use to describe
her. Heidi Casanova also has made huge improvements
for me since last year. We've had questions like...
Why isn't Skylar Fields being given a chance?
Why don't we hear more about her? Because Heidi
Casanova is doing really well. There's no reason
for her to play. Yeah, I think it's mostly the
connection with Poulter. I think they've ironed
it out. When Bug was playing the last match that
we saw. So yeah, Skylar Fields stepped in when
Casanova was not playing. Well, last season she
did a really good job. But this year Casanova
has got it together. So there's been no reason
to... To use fields, really. We were, there was
a correction when we were explaining Coppa Italia
last week. Apparently A1 has changed things around
in Italy and now the winner of the Coppa Italia
just goes to Chev Cup. So now word is that the
Champions League berths go to the winner of the
regular season and then the winner of the playoffs.
And then they're distributed from there if like
the same team and like all of that. So winner
of Coppa Italia gets a birth to Chev Cup. And
if you're like a Champions League type team,
then it's for bragging rights. I actually think
that makes more sense because I think like Coppa
Italia is prestigious, but it's still only a
couple matches per team. Like to me, winning
the regular season and winning the playoffs is
harder. So those benefits should be higher. I
like the change from what it used to be, personally.
Zarenspor rears its head again. Sarah Franklin
is heading there next season. They'll be making
that bank, maybe, if they pay. They're a big
company, so they for sure have the money. Just
maybe budgeting is an issue. So she is off to
Turkey next year. And our last bit of news, Matt
Furbringer, head coach of Love Madison. Charlie
Furbringer's father, was just named the head
coach of the men's USA beach volleyball national
team. I don't know how long it's been since he's
been involved in beach. Like since 2012 or 2013.
I mean, it makes sense for him. He's back on
the West Coast. He played beach for USA for a
while and won some AVPs. Is he going to do both?
I'm not sure. And again, you know, with the owners
starting to take over, I'm not sure when the
league will relinquish control. I don't know
if these guys will all have coaches. I mean,
his teams haven't done well. No. You know, they
might not be renewing his contract. That's, again,
speculation. But, I mean, working for Team USA,
the Olympics are here in 2028. I'm sure the budget
is good for those things. The men's program is
kind of in disarray at this point. TBD to see
what the outcome is, but good for him. So that's
the news, the happenings. A wannabe highlight
if you're Adam's fantasy team this week. But
yeah, a bunch of stuff going on, a little bit
of movement in the various leagues, but not much.
And some extra little juice on the side. All
right, so. The 2026 training camp for the women's
national team collegiate training group was announced.
I believe the training camp is like happening
now, which is why Eric Sullivan hasn't been at
the Love Austin matches. 62 collegiate athletes
were invited to this training camp, plus a 15
-year -old named... Carrie Knotts. First time
I'm hearing that name. Which is very exciting.
Good for her. Yes, love that for her. Has she
committed anywhere? She's 15, so I'm guessing
not. I have no idea. This is the first I've heard
of this girl, too. We got asked a question if
we could pick our personal starting seven from
the 62 athletes that were sent. If you want to
check out the list, it's on usavolleyball .org.
So you can check it out there. This is about
to get controversial. Oh, I'm sure people are
going to be up in arms about something. You don't
need to agree. Looking at the list, this is who
I would pick. Did I spend an hour thinking about
it? No. But looking at the list, these are the
seven names that jumped out at me. I'm sure ours
are going to be very different as well. Could
be. I found the middles the hardest to choose.
Honestly, I think I was pretty decisive, but
left sides were the ones I am. Should I read
all the names off? No, there's 62 people. If
you follow collegiate volleyball, you probably
know most of them. Just go to usavolleyball .org.
The list is there. Who did you pick for setter?
I had Furbringer. Me too. Okay, we agree. Yours
is in a nice list. Mine was just random when
I looked at it. That's very handy. Who did you
have for libero? I picked Etzler. I'm going with
Rachel Van Gorp. That was my second choice, but
I didn't get a chance to see her play enough.
I didn't either, but... She was hyped this year.
If she was that dominant... Honestly, the Liberos
on this list, I'm very meh about top to bottom.
I think this was the weakest position. I didn't
pick her simply because I hadn't really watched
her play. Who would have been your second? My
second? I was thinking Etzler, actually. But
we're not doing second. I love a second choice.
Who did you pick for opposite? Kennedy Martin.
Yeah, me too. Okay. We're pretty much on the
same page so far. Yeah. Who were your two left
sides? Kendall Storrs and Tori Stafford. Those
were mine. Really? Yes. Okay. Who was your third?
We're not doing seconds or thirds, but no. I
had Elia Rubin. Me too. So we're pretty on the
same page. Okay, who are your middles? No, you
tell me your middles first. Jayla Auguste and
Andy Jackson. That's who I had. Oh my gosh. I
didn't think that we would be so on the same
page. I had Lizzie Andrew and Erica Sayer also
on my middle list. Oh, really? Interesting. Lizzie
Andrew, I had a question mark. Favor and Yanwu,
also question mark. Wow. I'm shocked that we
were so close. I thought that we were going to
disagree 100%. Who did you think I was going
to choose instead? Where did you think we were
going to differ? I thought we would differ in
outsides and middles. Who did you think I was
going to pick? Well, you made this sound like
it was going to be the most controversial thing
ever. Well, we didn't pick anybody from Nebraska.
We did. We picked Andy Jackson. Oh, true. Okay,
for my setters, I was debating between Riley
and Furbringer. Yes. But Furbringer really elevated
herself in my books at the end of the season.
There are two things I like about Furbringer.
I think that she runs the best offense in the
NCAA in terms of her decision -making, and she's
got a little intangible juice. I think people
are going to take exception to that. I don't
care. I mean, we had Bergen Riley as a frontrunner
for National Play of the Year. And that's, I'm
not taking anything away from her. I would be
fine with either of those two being picked. Totally.
I was like waffling. Totally. I just, I think
Charlie just makes better decisions from what
I can see in terms of isolating hitters. That's
a pretty bold statement. Liberos, I wasn't excited
about any. Opposites, I mean, how do you not
pick Kennedy Martin out of that group? Alana
Clemente, I feel like, was second place. Yeah,
but I don't think it's close. At this point,
it's not close. Outsides were tough. Yeah, I
don't know. I didn't think we would agree on
the outsides. Because we kind of picked two P2s.
Yeah, but which P1 is really standing out? I
mean, I was just looking at them thinking international.
That's how I was looking at it as well. And I
was like, undersized. like not going to score
blah blah and I just kept going down and then
yeah yeah but those are those the players that
I was choosing was like okay I can see with you
know some work and some improvement and things
like you have a potential on the national team
these would be the players if I'm Eric Sullivan
looking in the room like I have them circled
as coming to the gym in the summer okay so our
picks Bergen Riley Charlie Furbringer Spencer
Etzler Rachel Van Gorp, Kennedy Martin, Corey
Stafford, Kendall Stowers, with Elia Rubin as
backup, Jayla Auguste, Andy Jackson. There it
is. There's the list. Just building off of our
starting seven, are there any people that were
selected that were surprising to you? I mean,
the list is so long that I feel like you can
include whoever you wanted. I don't know how
they made the selection, but... So I have a few.
Okay. Alice Volpe, the libero from TCU. I'm not
a fan. Also, and this might rub people the wrong
way, Lainey Choboy and Olivia Mouch. One of them's
decent at defense. One of them's decent at passing.
But to bring both of them in had me racing. But
mind you, literally everybody on the Nebraska
roster got sent. Yeah. So that's a nod to the
program. I also think it speaks to, I just don't
think there were very many good liberos in college
this year. Okay, so I have a libero that I think
was snubbed. Camden Shrand? The Louisville libero?
I had one too. Who? Molly Tuzzo. Is she a senior
though? Did she graduate? No, she was a junior
last year. She's a senior this year. Are you
sure? Really? Okay, so yeah. I believe I looked
it up, and I believe she is a senior in 2026.
Okay, so if that's the case, then there's two
liberos right there that I think were snubbed,
given the list. Like, looking at the list of
who was included, yes, I agree that there aren't
a ton of good liberos out there, but, like, if
you're including the ones you did, why are those
two not on the list? I think that's fair. I was
also surprised by that Grace Egan and Peyton
Peterson were sent. Neither one of those is an
international left side. Yeah, but again, you've
invited 60 people. Like compared to their peers,
those two are in the... No. I think compared
to the list, they are not it. Chloe Chacoin even,
I'd be like, hmm. Maybe they're looking at Chacoin
as like a... Libero? Libero. Yeah. Maybe. But
yeah, I was surprised about those two. I was
also, from a middle perspective, surprised about
Abby Emscht, Taylor Harvey, and Natalie Wardlow.
Taylor Harvey was the third middle for Texas.
She got some playing time in the tournament.
And then Emscht was the freshman middle who replaced
Ryla Jones for Pitt. And then Wardlow was the
one who came in as a serving sub for Wisconsin,
the one who missed the ball. Do you know which
middle I think got snubbed? Who wasn't invited?
Who? Because I think I had some too. Lizzie Carr.
Oh. I think Kentucky got snubbed across the board.
Kentucky got snubbed across the board. The only
person from Kentucky who got an invite was the
setter. Yeah. Delay was a huge snub. My first
three snubs were Carr, Delay, and Tuzzo. I was
like, how did you not? Makes me wonder if there's,
as Taylor Swift would say, some bad blood. Great
song. Yeah, Delay, I had her on my list. Given
the setters that were invited, I was wondering
why Logan Parks and Cabello weren't included.
The Cabello one is a head scratcher for me. Yes.
Because she brings, she's not the most consistent
setter, but she's got a little jam. She's offensive.
Like if you're bringing those other setters,
like how are you not looking at her? And did
you notice that Izzy Stark wasn't invited? I
did notice Izzy Stark wasn't invited. I'm not
sure. I think she's probably not invited out
of respect to Penn State. Like, you can't get
invited. This is a national team, people. No,
no, no. But, I mean, either that or not condoning
behavior. Like, she hasn't played. Fine. Fine.
Not condoning, like, leaving her team high and
dry, like, four matches into the season. Fine.
So, I would consider that a snub with those two
setters. Do I think Logan Parks is there right
now? No. But, like. If you're going to include
some of the people that were there, include her.
The other two that I had, Kalissa Blackshear.
I'm not a huge fan of Blackshear, but again,
looking at the list, I'm like, she could have
been included. And Jaden Living. I had Jaden
Jagger on my list. Oh, from Indiana. Nobody from
Indiana went in that program. like kind of came
out of nowhere. They play a fast offense. They
need people who know how to hit a fast ball.
Yeah. So I was, I was surprised she wasn't on
the list. I mean, we probably missed a whole
bunch, but those were the ones that like jumped
out at me that I thought were snubbed. And the
ones that I was like kind of scratching my head,
like, why are you on the list? Yeah. I'm sure
people are going to tell us their list and it
will look very different, but I'm curious. If
you post your list. I always want to know why.
Yeah, don't just post your list and be like,
you guys are stupid. You don't know anything.
Here's my list. At least explain it. Then we
can have a dialogue. Yeah, thank you. Let us
know. Yeah, let us know your thoughts. All right,
so today, instead of a game, I believe the MLV
All -Star voting opened up to the public this
week. We are going to go through and pick our
starting seven. Or what our votes for MVPs would
be. I know people are going to be up in arms
again. Instead of getting mad at our picks, how
about you just share your picks? With a justification.
With a justification. All right. Where do you
want to start? Setter. It's easiest to start
at Setter. I'm very curious if we're going to
agree on any of this. Well, okay. We'll see.
I had Valentina Anderson. Me too. Okay. Okay,
perfect. One for one. Opposite. I don't love
the opposites in this league. I would put Teeler.
I had Abercrombie. She's not doing so hot this
year. It's close. It was between those two, but
Abercrombie for me. Edge is Teeler. Okay. Who
did you have for your left sides? I had Raina
Terry and Lecter Membermena. I had Brooke Nunneviller
and Mimi Collier. I figured you were going to
pick Nunneviller. I think that she's taken a
dip this year. And I think Raina Terry is doing
really well. Raina Terry is doing really well.
And I think she's leading the point scores currently,
if I'm not mistaken. I think Brooke is second.
Okay. And I'm like, she took a dip. I don't know
what I'm talking about. You just, I think you
have to be on like a plus 500 team to get like
to be part of that. I don't know. There's just
part of an all -star like your team needs to
be winning. And I know that's not. Totally fair.
No, Raina Terry is playing really well. It's
not her fault she's on a bad team. I looked at
her and I picked these two. Adam just picked
them. No, I think Mimi Collier has come in and
done an incredible job for Dallas. I think she's
done a great job for Dallas. I don't think she's
playing at the level of Raina Terry or putting
up the numbers of Raina Terry or Elector Member
Mena. She got me really poor points this week.
Your fantasy voting. Can't be based off your
volley stats. Adam, there's so many. More than
two are going to be selected for the All -Star
map. I'm not saying your choices are wrong. I'm
just saying these are the two that I would have
voted for. Okay, let us know who you guys are
voting for. Okay, so perfect. We have enough
for two teams. Our teams can play each other,
and I'll take the setter. What did you think
of Leah Edmond? I don't think that Atlanta's
been doing well this year. I think they're having
trouble scoring. See, here's the thing. I feel
like the Leah Edmond, Brooke Nunneville are...
They are, it might be slightly unfair, but I
feel like the expectations on them or that I
have of them in the MLV are really high. So Raina
Terry has exceeded your personal expectations.
She has exceeded my expectations. Okay. I mean.
And Member Manna has like met my expectations.
Edmund and Nunavilla are not performing the way
I would expect given their past couple years.
Okay. Which position do you want to do next?
Middle. I'll pick a middle, then you pick a middle.
Well, you just looked at mine, so you already
know. I still don't know what you said. Okay.
I have Pittman Nelson as my first choice. Did
you just go on the Volley Fantasy app and see
who was worth the most money? No. Okay, I picked
Lydia Martin. That was my second choice. My second
was Kaz Brown. Those are good options. I actually
thought middle was the hardest because statistically,
Rahmat Alhassan has played very well. So I thought
there were some legitimate choices. At middle.
I think the middle is one of the stronger positions
in MLV. I would agree with that. I'm going to
say, here's maybe my hot take, opposite for MLV,
worst position by far. Second worst position,
setter. Yeah, those two, I would agree. I think
left sides and middles are the two strongest
ones. I would say the left sides are a little
undersized. They're undersized for sure. Yes,
I would agree with you. But as far as skill,
yeah. number of like competent individuals. I
think that's fair. Okay. Who'd you have for libero?
Let me guess. Theodora Pusik. Whoa. I had Elena
Scott. So my team overall, Natalia, Valentina
Anderson, Raina Terry, and Lector Member Mena,
Lydia Martin and Kaz Brown, Azani Teeler, and
Elena Scott. My team is Brooke Noville, Mimi
Collier, Valentina Anderson, Pittman Nelson,
Lydia Martin. Abercrombie, and Theodore Pusik.
Okay. Tell us whose team you think will win.
If I was voting and maybe I will vote, I'm going
to pick those players. Everybody go vote for
MLB All -Star, okay? And then tell us who you
would pick on your team, and I'm sure that they're
very different from who we picked. It is time
for listener questions, everybody. Everyone's
favorite segment. Question one. Okay, this is
one question that we received, but we get so
many about this person. So we're just kind of
looping them all in here. I don't hear a lot
about Kendall Kipp. I know she's playing in Italy.
Is there a reason we don't hear her name throw
out there more for the Olympic team? Okay, so
I'm going to start with how the national team
process generally works. This is not the direction
I thought he was going to take. I did a little
digging on her. She hasn't really been invited
to many national team functions since like a
Norseca and I believe some age -related stuff.
She was on a roster last summer. I don't know
if it was the wide roster for VNL or if it was
Worlds, but she was on a roster. I can't remember
what. But she hasn't competed. for them if memory
serves me correctly if she's not in the pipeline
like they are looking at all of the players that
they are considering for 2028 so outside of is
she good enough or is she not she's not on the
radar according to the program not spoken but
in terms of how these things work they're not
seriously considering her for that position so
that's how i wanted to start in terms of how
we look at things and who we decide to talk about,
if they're not even on the USA radar, very rarely
do those players get pulled into the Olympic
cycle three years out. And I'll be completely
honest, I have not seen her play enough to have
an opinion about her. But the other thing you
have to think about is, so she's not on the roster.
She is playing in Italy, to her credit. She's
at Bergamo this year, but she played at Stanford.
For a long time, had a great college career.
Played right out of college for the Columbus
Fury. Then went to Il Bisonte Firenze in Italy,
which is a mid team. Then last year was on the
bench in back of bank. And now is playing at
Bergamo. If you're going to jump positions or
pass the people ahead of you who are... Play
in love. Jordan Thompson. Well, yeah. No, that's
a fair point, but it's Jordan Thompson. It's
Olivia Babcock. It's Skinner. Take your pick.
She very well could be better than them. I personally
cannot speak to her level because I just haven't
seen her play enough. And she's not playing for
clubs good enough to garner that attention. I
mean, back of bank. But that's the thing, Adam.
We talk about how... girls should go over there
and even be on the bench of a vac of bank, et
cetera. So she did that. That's not like, I am,
I am curious why she is not in the conversation
more. Maybe I should go back and watch some of
her games. That's on me. She's doing the right
thing. Totally. She's just, I don't think in
the conversation for 2020, if she keeps going
and she keeps getting better, she might find
her way onto the 2032 roster. Like again, she's
taking all the right steps, but she hasn't. made
enough waves professionally to bump current talent
out so to answer the question we don't know why
she's not on the radar we do not know maybe she
should be question two i live in atlanta and
we have both mlv and love teams i prefer watching
mlv love seems like exhibition matches While
watching Love, I'm struck that several players
that used to play MLB are now playing in Love,
like Kat Bell, Tori Dixon, Temi Thomas -Ailara,
Magdalena Hilarova, Claire Chaussee. Do you think
that because Love has a lock on several of the
U .S. national team, that makes the players want
to switch from PVF to Love? Should girls rather
be on the bench and get little court time in
a more competitive league? or be a starter six
rotation player in a league that was not as high
level. They use Mimi Collier as an example. She's
a star in PVF, but would probably be on the bench
in love. It depends what your goals are, right?
So we talk about this. We just talked about it
with Kendall Kipp, right? Go to Vacath Bank and
be on the bench, right? And not be on the radar.
Well, I feel like she, okay. Love is a better
league than MLV from a performance standpoint.
Pure, the athletes are better. The volleyball
is better. They're more physical. If you want
to get better, that's a better environment from
an athlete perspective. I can't talk to the training
or the coaches or anything like that, but you're
playing against better competition. That's how
you get better. So from that standpoint, I would
say yes. If you just are planning on playing
three years and you want to have fun and you
want to be a pro athlete and be part of a team.
MLB is the way to go for these players. But again,
it totally depends what your goals are. But being
in a more competitive situation is definitely
makes it easier to improve. But you have to also
think like the players that were named played
PVF before love existed and then like moved over
as soon as love existed. Do I like, but the question
is like, do you want to be on the bench in love?
Like I can be like, yeah, be on the bench in
back of bank, be on the bench at Corneliano.
Do you want to be on the bench in love? I understand
what you're saying, but these players, it's about...
It depends what your goals are, I guess. Right,
but it also depends on perspective of how good
you are, right? Sarah Franklin on the bench at
a top team might be a similar experience to Claire
Chassé on the bench at Love in terms of the level
of competition you're playing against every day,
right? If your level of competition... I think
Sarah Franklin is getting much better competition.
But I'm talking relative to your ability. Chasse
is not going to be invited to be on the bench
at a top Italian league team. You have to take
the opportunities that are in front of you and
then make the best of them. Okay, so if you had
an athlete be like, should I go be a star in
PVF or MLV or sit on the bench and love, what
would you say? Again, I would ask them what their
goals are. If your goal is to get better, I would
say probably their love. I think if it's between
love and MLV, go be a star in MLV. If it's a
question between like... MLV and the bench in
Milano. No brainer. But see, that's the thing.
You're making it impossible to answer this question
because you're like, it's apples and oranges.
So then we can't answer the question. I mean,
if your goal is to get better and you couldn't
get a role in Italy, moving up and playing love
is playing against better competition. You can
try it for years. Is it that much better then?
I agree that love is a better level. than mlv
okay but let me to miss the reps and the kind
of training that you will get as a starter in
mlv versus being a b -side player in love where
i wouldn't say the jump is like atmospheric okay
name me an average left side in love just pick
we're gonna we're gonna take an opposite let's
say like anna hawk okay how big is anna hawk
i don't know 5 10 is she only 5 10 i think Okay.
Well, that ruins my example. Perfect. I was going
to say, like, you're competing once or twice
a week, so you're getting good game reps in MLV.
I don't mean any disrespect here, but take a
Lector member meta. She's 5 '8", right? If you
practice against her four or five times a week,
that's much different than hitting against a
6 '3 blocker every day in practice. We went over
this last week. It doesn't matter. Maybe Lector
Member Men is a better blocker than the 6 -3
girl because she can get over the net further.
Maybe. Maybe the 6 -3 girl just throws those
sticks in the air and is like, tool me. But we
also just said that the best team in MLV will
not beat the worst team in love. So you can't
argue that the level of play is higher. Okay,
would the bench players on the worst team in
love beat the best team in MLV? I don't know.
I don't know. It's a tough question. It's an
interesting question. I think you would get better
in the love environment, but it depends on what
you want. Okay, question three. What do you think
about Tessa Grubbs' chance of making starting
for the national team? Last season, I saw something
in her that really got me excited for the prospects
of our national team finally having a true Terminator.
Her mechanics are simple and clean and efficient.
No wasted or unnecessary motions. She reaches
high, contacts the ball high. This season, the
announcers seem to agree with me and have heaped
exceptional praise on her. Do you see what I
see in her? First of all, I would put zero stock
in what the love announcers say about players
because they're all the best in the world. So
use your eye test, not the announcer. I agree
she had a good season, but she kind of came out
of nowhere. I did not know who this person was
until last season. And granted, I was off doing
my own career. I was doing my own thing. So there
is that as the explanation of why. But I don't
know. When I look at her and I look at opposites
that I use as the standard, she's not it. Are
your standards international or American? International
because the U .S. wants a medal. Right. Compare
her to Skinner, to Babcock. But now she's been
injured. Ever since she got that ankle injury,
she keeps injuring her ankle. True. I think she
has played herself into the mix. Yeah, but are
they going to give her a chance? I don't know.
Because national team stuff is so weird. If a
coach just doesn't have a good feeling about
you, you could actually be great, but it doesn't
matter because they're like, no. I agree with
you. She might not be on the radar. She might
not be one that they're looking at. I personally
think she's played her way into getting at least
one. Okay. Do you think she's better? Okay. I
will say last season I was confused why granted
she was injured, but like I was confused why
Danielle Coutinho was on these rosters. Granted
grubs couldn't be because she was hurt, but like
I was raising my eyebrow at that. I thought she
should have been for sure over her if she was
healthy, but like. I think you're okay. I think
that's a fair point. Like when I think of the
people they're traveling, like a Steph Samity,
Taylor Mims, uh, Lednicki. Sure. I think she
for sure should be in the conversation with those
people. I maybe even a Skinner Babcock, I think
brings more to the table from a whole, like whole
skill perspective. I think that's fair. I also
think that grubs needs to. find a few more angles
like it's not going to be as easy to score well
this person says she can hit over the block and
very sharp angles with a lot of power she's not
not hitting over any international blocks so
she's gonna have to find different ways to score
i think she's earned the chance to show what
she has at the next level fair question four
Assuming that your daughter is likely to play
and perhaps be 6 '6 and left -handed, would you
encourage her to be an opposite or a setter?
I know she'll be coached to pass. You're right.
She probably will be 6 '6. And if what she's
currently doing is any indication, she is left
-handed. Given my experience, I was coached to
be both for... A long time. So, like, I know
I played a 6 -2, like a true 6 -2, where I sat
in the back row, hit in the front row until I
was, what, 16? And then I strictly became a hitter.
I don't know. What do you think? I think she
should learn everything. I think she should,
for sure, be coached to do both. She will learn
to pass. She will learn to play defense. A little
Mikuleto action. Ooh, a left -handed left side.
Yeah, totally. And this goes back, I think all
kids should learn how to do the majority of skills
up until like 14 even. You're learning to do
different things. So yeah, I would totally teach
her to sit. I'd run her on a six too, unless
she develops one better than the other, like
in high school. Yeah, you would definitely start
that way. And if she's right -handed, left side,
passing left side. Can you imagine? And little
Markova coming out. Six, six, little. Passing
left side? Yes, please. Okay, question five.
I remember watching the 2012 Olympics and seeing
Destiny Hooker dominate. How is it that it hasn't
been until Olivia Babcock that we've seen another
dominant opposite? I know substitutions played
a role, but why didn't colleges or Team USA make
that investment? Well, Destiny, I played against
her in college. She played left side in college.
Trust me, I know because... I was playing defense
behind Rachel Holloway, our setter, when Destiny
was in the front row sometimes. Strap it on,
baby. No offense to Rachel. That was wild. So
she actually played left side in college. I mean.
Yeah, I just don't think that the. I think substitutions
play a huge role because there are very few opposites
that are being used effectively in the back row.
Colleges loved their starting to. Love running
the pipe, but it's not many programs that are
keeping a six rotation opposite on the court.
And that is what is required internationally.
Like I can't think of many out there who have
been given the opportunity to play six rotations.
Well, and not only that, but Destiny was a freak
athlete. Like she was, wasn't she not a high
jump champion? She was the NCAA champion high
jumper. I believe she cleared six five to win.
She physically outmatched. The majority of athletes
out there granted her interpersonal things and
dynamics with coaches, et cetera, kind of led
to her being phased out. Yeah. I feel like that,
that is a big reason why we haven't seen the
U S develop a dominant right side. And so long
because none of them are allowed to hit back
row where they're, where they're supposed to.
And you need to find. those athletes that can
compete. So if you were to look at the current
USA opposites, do you think Babcock plays at
the height that the top international opposites
play at? Like that's your baseline starting point.
And then we're not even talking about skill.
I think she potentially could, but I think that
she just physically outmatches so much of the
college competition because believe me, college
volleyball is not close to international volleyball.
I just think that she's been able to be so dominant
because she just is physically outmatching everybody
she's playing against. So she hasn't been forced
to develop the angles and the shots that a lot
of her counterparts internationally started learning
at a really young age. She can get away with
what she's doing because she's just better. But
you think she has the physical potential to be
there. It's difficult, A, to find athletes of
that caliber, but B, to then have them... you
know, skilled and ready to go and developed in
that way. It just doesn't happen very often.
And I think without getting into a bigger conversation,
this is the one flaw in the American system.
I think I love the fact that the youth game is
so big. I love that everybody gets to play, you
know, the substitutions definitely have their
merit. But when you have those uniquely physical
players, they don't have a chance to play against
the best of the best growing up, and they're
not forced to adapt their game until they're
in their mid -20s, if they're just that much
better than their competition. Again, I go back
to thinking about Gabi playing against you when
she was 18. You know, you're forced to find different
ways to score when you're young. And you were
fortunate. Your dad made you work on shots you
didn't need to score growing up. And you need
somebody like that when you are that much better
than your peers. And you just don't see that
a lot. All right. Question six. Could you guys
talk about Merritt Beeson? I feel like she was
so highly regarded, but seems like she chokes
year after year. Oscars final games both years
at Atlanta and now with the Supernovas. Do you
think it's stress slash pressure getting to her
or is she overhyped? It's a great question. What's
your instinct? My instinct is she's just not
that player. So overhyped. Yes. Mine too. But
I also think, I probably shouldn't say this.
It's probably going to be like such a nice comment.
He's like, well, no, I think how good. Nebraska
is and how well they win like they roll teams
consistently for the most part you know how many
great matches do they get in a season and so
there's limited opportunities for the athletes
in Nebraska to work through being down stressful
situations and not to say like they're not rolling
everybody but if you look at you know some of
the matches that other top teams play it just
seems like they're closer they're in more battles
where it's 22 22 and i believe winning is a skill
and you need to practice it and not just in the
biggest moments you learn how to win in the smaller
moments and I agree with the general concept
of what you're saying, but as it pertains to
Nebraska, I don't agree. You don't agree? Sure,
they rolled everybody they played this year,
but in recent years, they've been going back
and forth with Wisconsin, back and forth with
Penn State. They haven't been rolling through
conference the way they did this past year. So
I think that that's an unfair statement. Okay.
Like they didn't... beat Wisconsin in back -to
-back matches in quite a while in a season and
last year they split the Big Ten title with Penn
State like I think that that's a that's just
not correct okay so then personally like she
she's fine but she doesn't hit like great angles
she's not like doing any particular skill amazingly
like I just I personally don't think she's that
good and I was shocked when she was the first
pick in the MLV draft and I honestly think that
Kayla Bainworth picked her because of her ties
to Nebraska and I think she's biased and I think
like she should have been hitting back row in
her senior year at Nebraska so do you think that's
part of like her mental makeup or she just hasn't
had an opportunity to work on it or she just
hasn't adapted her game at all to the different
level and situations she's been put in yeah and
i i did like her press conference earlier this
year talking about trying to swing high and swing
for hands but then again you haven't seen much
of that taking shape or any meaningful change
from it at least that i can tell yeah seven when
a middle serves can they play defense from six
rather than five and play defense wherever they
want they just don't generally The person playing
defense in six generally needs to be a little
more mobile, read the game, be able to make kind
of adjustments as the play develops, and that's
not usually a skill middle develop. But then
you also see most teams just tip down the line
from the right side when a middle serves. So
I think there's a valid argument for having the
middle play in six, but it's like you said, they
do need to be mobile because... the deep balls
that are thrown to the corners the touches off
the block you know reading the situation do i
step into the seam and like take a step up or
do i play back by the baseline because i'm i'm
reading a touch here like do they have that type
of like defensive knowledge i would say more
often than not probably not there's probably
there are exceptions obviously but okay question
eight I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are
on the Love Classic hot mess. Like, honestly,
last year it was a tournament. This year they
just had three random matches and all of them
were three straight sweeps. Like, what's the
point? Like, I get the point. Yes. You want to
expose the young club athletes to the pro side.
Totally get that. And the point is social media.
You're seeing all of the clips from that weekend.
You're seeing the athletes interacting with the
kids. And it's a marketing piece. That's all
it is. It's great for the kids. For what it is,
it serves its purpose. But is it, though? Like,
nobody wants to go and watch, like, half -assed
volleyball where people are like, well, this
is for nothing. No, but the kids want to meet
the girls. Then have them meet the girls, but,
like, take the games out. Because, like, honestly,
there's so many injuries in love as it is. And
then to play a completely meaningless match for
literally nothing, it's like for show, is just
increasing a risk of injury. It's clear based
on the dominant sweeps that nobody really cares.
Honestly, they should let the bench players play.
The starters should rest. And I didn't watch
it, so maybe that happened. But you should give
the players who don't get a chance to play. on
the court i'm curious what the turnout was to
watch those matches i think i read somewhere
that it wasn't amazing i think somebody posted
on the youtube channel that they had so it wasn't
even well attended i don't think so but yeah
i think girls went to watch matches like they
were out there meeting kids and doing those kind
of things i think that is more meaningful totally
because also like the kids it would be so exciting
for the kids if like The players were watching
them play. And that's what happened. So exciting
for the kids if they can go up and talk to them
and take pictures with them. Are they that interested
in watching them play, especially when they have
their own games going on? Probably not. I wouldn't
be surprised if it was benches next year, if
it wasn't already this year. It would be so nice,
too, for the athletes to just have a weekend
off. Just do PR stuff and not play. Okay. Last
question of the week. Why don't you consider
Jordan Thompson more of a front runner for the
next Olympic roster? She's made the past two
and is the love point leader. We've had numerous
questions about Jordan Thompson generally in
this like sentiment. And I'm pretty sure we did
have her as a front runner for the next roster.
When we're naming our like top three in each
position, we named her. Agreed. But I think our
talk has also been. she needs to show up to the
national team and prove she still has it well
I just kind of feel she doesn't seem and I don't
know her mindset or anything but just like love
in general I feel like nobody looks that motivated
so my feeling watching her like does she look
like she's gunning for a spot and like it's so
motivated not really you know who does look motivated
to me Serena Gray She's been playing really well.
Like, she looks like she's not messing around
and she's like, I deserve to be in the conversation.
Like, I don't get that feeling from a Jordan
Thompson, which is probably why I'm not so high
on her right now is just because I feel like
it's just like coast mode. Again, year one of
the cycle just passed. She didn't play. She's
still leading the league and making money. There
is. A definite scenario where she shows up and
decides she's going to go and she's by far the
best right side that the U .S. has. But that
being said, she hasn't competed in the top leagues.
She didn't do national team last year. Well,
in the last couple of years. Right. Since the
last Olympics. So you, again, everybody just
assumes that you don't lose it. Like she hasn't
trained and been in the same environment as the
other right sides have across the world. She
still might be better than Babcock and the other
options the U .S. has, but you can't tell me
she's as game ready as the other international
right side. So she's got to come out and show
that she can do it. Thanks, everyone, for submitting
your questions. This is always our favorite part
of the podcast where we just kind of get to chat
volleyball and answer some questions. So, again,
we appreciate everybody who submitted. All right,
looking forward to this week. Here's what you
guys should watch. Wednesday at 8 p .m. Eastern,
Love Salt Lake is playing versus Austin, and
that's on the USA Network. Thursday at 8 p .m.
Eastern, NCAA men's Ohio State versus Lewis.
Friday at 10 p .m. Eastern, another NCAA men's
match, UCLA versus UC Irvine. And then Friday
at 8 p .m. Eastern, MLV Orlando versus Dallas.
That's on CBS Sports. And Sunday at 2 p .m. Eastern,
MLV Omaha versus Indy, also on CBS Sports. That
will be a really good game. So I would check
those out. That concludes this week's episode
of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking
in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed
this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so
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