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. Three more seasons that we've been following

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have come to an end. Italian men, NCAA men, and

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MLB. These leagues, they're all dropping like

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flies over here because the volleyball world

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is getting ready for international season. We've

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only got one league left to wrap up that we've

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been following before we make that transition

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ourselves. So we actually have a lot to discuss

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this week. We do. Some big stuff, some championships

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to go over. We are very excited. We hope you

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are too. So let's get started. Even though we're

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obviously going to dive into the NCAA men's final

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four and the MLB championship, we had some, you

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know, highlights and happenings going on in those

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leagues that we wanted to discuss a little bit.

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Maybe a little controversy. Maybe. A bunch of

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people got back to us after our question last

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week about what the heck happened in the UC Irvine

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-Penn State game. The consensus was that in the

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fifth set, UC Irvine -Penn State, the setter

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from UC Irvine got a bloody nose, ricochet into

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his face or something. Bloody nose. Okay, protocol

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typically is a medical timeout, which... is usually

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like maximum five minutes. The setter goes to

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get it checked out. Five minutes passes, six

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minutes passes. Apparently, the Penn State coach,

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who this is his final season, so this potentially

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could have been his last match, offered a timeout

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to David Niffen. He's like, I will call one of

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my timeouts so that you don't overuse your medical.

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Niffen thankfully said no because that would

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have been absolutely outrageous if he's like,

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you know what, thank you so much. But like classy

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move by the Penn State coach didn't have to do

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that. No need, however, because this medical

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timeout lasted eight minutes. But guess who the

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NCAA rep at the site was? None other than the

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setter's dad. John Costi, the head coach of Stanford.

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This is where this should never have been a situation.

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I'm fine with him taking eight minutes. I'm fine

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if, you know, the Penn State coach is like, hey.

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Get your player together. Like, it's three more

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minutes, and I guess I understand it ruins the

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momentum. If both coaches agree and the refs

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agree, I'm fine with the overall premise of what

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happens here. But you can't have the setter's

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dad making the call. That is the definition of

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conflict of interest. I want to know. What was

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the NCAA thinking sending him to that match?

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It's outrageous. How did the NCAA ever be like,

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you know what? John, why don't you head down

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to LA? Because this isn't a conflict of interest

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at all that your son is going for the final four.

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I don't know. It's ridiculous. It's unbelievably

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short -sighted. It makes zero sense to the integrity

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of the match, of the sport. This wouldn't be

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a thing if he wasn't there. Like if they had

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both agreed for him to have a bloody nose, the

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coaches were obviously both cool with it because

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the Penn State coach offered to call a time.

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Like there was no controversy around what happened

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other than it's his dad. And as his dad, he should

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have had the stopwatch off and been like, sub,

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you got to go. Like, where's your integrity?

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No, I'm sorry. This is the most fired up you'll

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ever see, Adam. Everybody take note. No, but

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things like this really bother me. No, it really

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bothers me, too. And you're being gracious, being

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like, eight minutes, if everybody agrees, it's

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fine. I'm like, no, five minutes, hard stop.

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Like, get out of here. The stopwatch, go. Because

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my experience with situations like this, like,

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it happens all the time in beach volleyball.

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And as soon as the five minutes is up, it's like

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you either need to get it together or you're

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done. Sorry. And P .S., there's no subs in beach.

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You have a whole roster sitting on the bench

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and indoor. And those medical, those medical

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timeouts in beach is usually because somebody's

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sucking wind. You're not wrong, but sucking wind

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or just sucking period. They're like, man, we

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use our time out. What else can we do? So wine,

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whatever. But anyway, that was outrageous. Completely

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killed Penn state's momentum. So UC Irvine squeaked

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by that one. And then we come to that infamous

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UCLA touch call, which UCLA has apparently appealed

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that call. to the NCAA being like there was not

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sufficient evidence to make a definitive call

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that there was a touch. And we talked about this

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in the Ball State match against Pepperdine, how

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that ref in that match had so many slash calls,

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which was kind of annoying. But if you don't

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see it, you don't see it. So and I just keep

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going back because I called so many Long Beach

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State women's games this past season. That ref

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and I'm like creating a conspiracy theory here,

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but that ref who made the call that there was

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a touch is a big West ref because he was at literally

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every game that I called for Long Beach State.

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So I'm just like, how is this happening? The

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NCAA needs to publish the video and the look

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of what overturned the call. Yes. It's a bad

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look. Show us the video that overturned it. Because

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every single, and I understand they do have some

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different angles and stuff. When it's a broadcast,

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even if the announcers and stuff don't have the

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angles, they end up showing the replay to the

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general audience anyway. We never saw that. It

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stinks. I'm not saying there was or wasn't a

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touch. From what I saw, it didn't look like it.

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UCI played well enough. to get to that point.

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I'm not trying to take anything away, but they're

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just with video replay. It shouldn't be a controversy.

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Like this should not be a thing. You either saw

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it and you can show everybody and it's fine.

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Or you didn't see it and you can't call it. And

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it just, it shouldn't have been a thing. I'm

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just like, this is smelling fishy to me also.

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Cause he is a big West ref. I don't know. Anyway,

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I understand this stuff is said and done, but

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I just wanted to revisit it because we did have

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a bunch of people like write in and tell us some

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details and whatnot. That is the juice from the

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NCAA men's side. In MLV, as one listener wrote

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to me, MLV gave out participation trophies this

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year. I laughed when I read that message. Okay,

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here are the awards. Let me know your thoughts.

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The MVP. Of the league was Mia Tuoniga. And she

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also got setter of the year. Do you want me to

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just tell you everything first? Okay, I don't

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know any of this. So this is happening. We are

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seeing Adam's blind reaction. You want me to

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tell you all of them before you say anything?

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Okay. Outside hitter of the year, Mimi Collier.

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Middle blocker of the year, Lydia Martin. Libero,

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Elena Scott. Opposite, Azani Teeler. Rising star

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award, Kiera Reinhart from Omaha. inspirational

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athlete of the year, Iko Jones, the opposite

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for Atlanta, and coach of the year was Indy Lauren

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Bertolacci. Basically, let's just give it to

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the Indy starting lineup, who choked and didn't

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even make the final. I mean, I'm not sure in

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my books Mia Tueninga is the MVP. You can argue

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Setter, fine. I can get behind Mimi Collier being

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the outside hitter. She had a good season. Lydia

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Martin. Fine. That would have been a close one.

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I think the middles to me positionally were probably

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they had the most skill and they were the closest

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athletes. Elena Scott, I would give Libero. I

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don't love Azani Teeler as an opposite. We've

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talked about this. I didn't love many of the

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opposites in the league. So would you have picked

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anyone else over top of her? Yeah. Maybe I would

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have picked Cox at Dallas. You could have given

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it to Cox. You could have given it to Raina Terry.

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I don't think Azani Taylor had a good season

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at all. Yeah, I wouldn't have picked her either.

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Libero, I think Kylie Murr had a good season.

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I think Elena Ogilvie had a decent season. Yeah,

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but she didn't play really. She played the whole

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time, but not with the same team. Okay, yeah.

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I don't know. I just... I don't love the rising

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star award. Let's delete that award period. Like

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what? You can have a rookie of the year. Is this

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like a rookie of the year? Like why does it have

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to be rising star? Yeah, but just rising star

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makes it sound. If it's rookie of the year, Mimi

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Collier. Hello. Yeah. I don't love that one.

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And what makes somebody an inspirational? What

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were the criteria for Echo Jones getting inspirational

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athlete? Did we miss something? A lot of leagues

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do that. I don't know who I would have picked

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for that. And I probably would have given coach

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of the year to. But they gave these awards. Okay.

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So MVP and coach of the year were announced in

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between the semis and finals. That's fine. So

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Berta Lodge, she coached like they had the best

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record all season. Heading into the semis, I

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think it probably should have been her. Do you

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think that should have changed after they lost

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the semis? It's a year long award. So I'm fine

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not changing it, but I think Shannon Windsor

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should have won it. Indy was already an established

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team. They finished second last year. Yes, she

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had a good record. Yes, they were consistent.

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But you had Shannon Windsor come in post second

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place finish overall. You had a mishmash of players

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coming in from an expansion team. Usually the

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expectations for that are not very high. Did

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the Vegas Knights coach get coach of the year

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when they came in? I don't remember. That means

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no. You're talking NHL. I don't really pay attention

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to those awards, to be honest. The expectations

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from Dallas to Indy, I think were very different.

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I just liked Shannon Windsor. If I was picking,

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I would have given Shannon Windsor the award.

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Okay. I can get behind most of like the other

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ones. Yeah, that's fair. But man, that's a lot

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of awards. Yeah. Let's just give MVP of the league

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and call it a campaign. Okay. So rumor has it

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that certain players, I have not verified this

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with multiple sources, but I have been told.

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that players like Mimi Collier, Brooke Nunneville,

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and Elena Ogilvie have been bought out by Love

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to not play for MLV next year and to come over

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to Love. Because Love has like three teams coming

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in next year, or is it just two? They have a

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lot of roster spots to fill. Rumor has it they're

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paying these athletes something like a quarter

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of a million dollars to just not play for MLV,

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and then they're playing for Love, which apparently...

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is causing dissent in love because certain athletes

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have signed multi -year contracts there and they're

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not getting that same opportunity to get that

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money, blah, blah, blah. It's a mess. I honestly

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don't have any issues with any of this. You are

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trying to attract players to the best leagues.

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This happens everywhere. If the MLV wants to

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keep their players, match the offer. The players

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are free to try and play in the best league.

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There's a salary cap in MLV. Then you need to

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look at that as a league and understand what

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your limitations are and that you're going to

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lose. Maybe Collier had a great season. If you

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look at her and she has aspirations to be better,

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this is what you do. You use where you are as

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a stepping stone, you perform better, and then

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you play somewhere that has a higher ceiling.

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You do it in love to the Italian league. It just

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makes sense. What would you say to the players

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who signed multi -year love contracts who are

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potentially miffed? These MLB players are getting

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paid way more than that. Too bad. You negotiated

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a contract that you agreed to. Don't sign a multi

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-year contract. But this is what happens. You

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sign a contract. You were clearly happy with

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it at the time when you either bet on yourself

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and sign single -year contracts and then get

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more and more money as you play well, or you

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take the safe route and you sign a multi -year

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contract. That's your decision. You don't deserve

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anything. I mean, yeah, I agree with you. As

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somebody who regularly signed single year contracts,

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I complete that is exactly right. But I can't

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understand how that would be annoying. So again,

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these are not substantiated. This is things that

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we've been hearing. Let's assume that those three

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athletes are accurate. What do you think their

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future? looks like in love now we don't know

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what team they're going to we don't know who's

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going to be there but just looking at the caliber

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and the seasons they've had and the general level

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of love what are your thoughts i think collier

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belongs in love the other two bench well it depends

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if they can fill out their league too like who

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are they bringing to fill the league are they

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gonna filter players from the established teams

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They're kind of like make the talent pool equal

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again. Are they going to pull athletes to fill

00:13:49.379 --> 00:13:52.559
those teams? Like they're just depending on how

00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:54.519
they decide to do it. I don't know. But like,

00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:56.759
yeah, based on performance alone, without knowing

00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:59.559
anything else, Collier, I think belongs there.

00:13:59.620 --> 00:14:03.399
The other two, I don't. That's fair. I think

00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.419
I would be, I would agree with that again. Like

00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:07.700
you said, if you looked at love as a league this

00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:09.779
year, I think that's an accurate assessment.

00:14:10.429 --> 00:14:14.409
And then finally, it was announced that MLV Minnesota's

00:14:14.409 --> 00:14:18.370
first signing was Steph Samity. Question for

00:14:18.370 --> 00:14:22.350
you. Was this a good decision or is this where

00:14:22.350 --> 00:14:25.090
her career goes to die? A good decision for her.

00:14:25.509 --> 00:14:28.330
I don't think it's a good decision for her. I

00:14:28.330 --> 00:14:30.389
think she probably could have gone somewhere

00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:32.529
else. You don't know. Maybe she doesn't know

00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:33.490
what the roster is going to look like. She's

00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:35.409
been playing in Japan for the last couple seasons

00:14:35.409 --> 00:14:37.850
and has been doing pretty well. Playing in Asia

00:14:37.850 --> 00:14:42.200
can be... difficult. I understand the maybe desire

00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:45.139
to be in the U S and to play at the home league.

00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:49.539
I think she's probably good enough to play elsewhere

00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:51.440
if she wanted to. She was on the national team

00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:53.500
roster last year. Like why didn't love pick her

00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:55.519
up? That's what I'm saying. Like with the salary

00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.679
cap, like how many dollars do you have left to

00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.820
for anybody else on your roster? Yeah. Minnesota.

00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:04.580
I think it's a great pickup for Minnesota. Absolutely.

00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:09.799
I just, I'm not. I would be curious to know what

00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:11.840
went into her decision because I was a little

00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:14.620
surprised to see that announced. Yeah, she's

00:15:14.620 --> 00:15:17.240
a love -type athlete for me. So I'm just like,

00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:21.080
is your career done? You know what I mean? Yeah,

00:15:21.100 --> 00:15:23.220
what are you looking to accomplish from here

00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.159
on out? Okay, we're obviously going to get into

00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:28.440
the matches for both NCAA and MLB here shortly,

00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:32.320
but those were some news items that we had coming

00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.190
out of those leagues. And then to finish up the

00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:37.990
highlights for the week, the Italian men's league

00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:41.789
is done. Perugia won the Scudetto three matches

00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:45.750
to zero against Chivita Nova. We have the Caribbean

00:15:45.750 --> 00:15:48.990
tournament happening for NCAA women. We've got

00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:52.570
the Vegas. Thing going on with Nebraska, Texas,

00:15:52.830 --> 00:15:56.769
TCU, UNLV. And we have another one that was announced

00:15:56.769 --> 00:16:00.090
this week at AT &T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:04.169
We've got Nebraska, SMU, Penn State, and Florida.

00:16:04.509 --> 00:16:09.029
They're competing for $1 million. One night only.

00:16:09.549 --> 00:16:12.549
There's going to be semifinals and finals the

00:16:12.549 --> 00:16:15.169
same night. All matches are two out of three.

00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:19.940
And the winner takes $1 million. What are your

00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:23.580
thoughts? Honestly, I don't have an issue with

00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:27.200
it. I think that if you can get people to come

00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.500
watch these events, you're getting more eyeballs

00:16:29.500 --> 00:16:34.000
on the sport. You're building the profile. If

00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.960
people want to put these events on, I don't see

00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.980
any reason not to do it. Now, with that being

00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:44.320
said, I don't think they mean anything. So one

00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.320
question I have is, does this count against your

00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:50.509
RPI? 100%, it has to. That is one thing. If it

00:16:50.509 --> 00:16:53.070
doesn't. Well, it's two out of three. So I'm

00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:55.730
curious if the format makes a difference. So

00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:58.889
if this doesn't count against your RPI, the volleyball

00:16:58.889 --> 00:17:03.250
means nothing in terms of like who wins or whatever

00:17:03.250 --> 00:17:06.390
else. It's not the same format. It's a publicity

00:17:06.390 --> 00:17:09.250
stunt. It's a way, again, like I said, to grow

00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:13.130
the sport. So I'm fine with it as long as the

00:17:13.130 --> 00:17:15.990
coaches are able to work it into the plan of.

00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:18.829
We can still perform. We're still getting our

00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:21.130
training and it works with all of that. I'm fine

00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:24.109
having these events. I think as more and more

00:17:24.109 --> 00:17:25.890
come up and there's prize money on the line and

00:17:25.890 --> 00:17:27.829
sponsorship on the line, coaches are going to

00:17:27.829 --> 00:17:31.269
have to kind of have a walk the rope of what

00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:33.410
do we need to do to train to be prepared and

00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:36.109
what do we need to do to kind of get that prestige

00:17:36.109 --> 00:17:38.369
and get the athletes exposure and grow the sport,

00:17:38.549 --> 00:17:40.890
et cetera, et cetera. It just seems really gimmicky

00:17:40.890 --> 00:17:43.589
to me. Nebraska doesn't need a million dollars.

00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:46.839
Penn State doesn't need a million dollars. I

00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:48.799
bet you Nebraska is being paid to go so that

00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.539
they Nebraska is being paid a million to go.

00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:54.140
And then like, I don't know. It's just, yeah.

00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.740
Nebraska shows up with a Vegas thing in this

00:17:56.740 --> 00:17:58.759
one because they know that that's, who's going

00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.140
to get bodies in the seeds to pay for this prize

00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:03.539
money. The schools that are going don't need

00:18:03.539 --> 00:18:06.759
the money. I don't like, I just feel like what

00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:09.559
is college sports anymore? Like this is just,

00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:11.599
I mean, that's a different, that's a different

00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.339
question, but Again, look at what the stadium

00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:16.980
series in Nebraska did. It was on ESPN. People

00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:19.059
are talking about it. These kind of things grow

00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.900
the sport. Which is fine for a one -off. We don't

00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:23.940
have to have a stadium in the freaking baseball

00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:26.299
field. Now we don't have to have one at AT &T.

00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.500
Why do we have to do these things outside? It

00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:33.019
just cheapens the sport to me a little bit. We're

00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:35.680
not playing grass. We're not playing beach. Let's

00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.900
keep indoor volleyball indoor. The stadium match

00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:41.119
was cool as a one -off. We don't need to keep

00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.380
trying to replicate it. Well, that's that. That's

00:18:43.380 --> 00:18:47.519
how Sarah sees it. That's how Adam sees it for

00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.400
the week. A lot of stuff going on, but it is

00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:53.619
time to dive into our championships that happened

00:18:53.619 --> 00:18:58.319
this weekend. All right. Let's dive into MLV

00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:02.799
championship weekend. Let's start with the Indy.

00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:07.160
Actually, do you have any thoughts about the

00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:09.890
weekend as a whole? Anything that you want to

00:19:09.890 --> 00:19:11.869
talk about before we get started or do you want

00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:14.650
to hop right into matches? If Omaha would have

00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:17.470
won, I don't know what I would have done. Thankfully,

00:19:17.769 --> 00:19:21.170
Dallas pulled it out. That's all I have to say

00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:23.269
for now. I'm going to say overall, I think I

00:19:23.269 --> 00:19:27.670
was a little disappointed in the level of play.

00:19:28.230 --> 00:19:31.349
Oh, yes, that too. In the weekend. And I'm not

00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:33.589
talking about like compared to Love or Champions

00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:37.339
League. I think I had higher expectations. based

00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:41.180
off the season performances. And I thought the

00:19:41.180 --> 00:19:44.359
volleyball was pretty error filled. There were

00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:48.019
some spectacular rallies. I think the entertainment

00:19:48.019 --> 00:19:51.480
value was high. Like a lot of the couple of the

00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:53.819
matches went five. It was back and forth teams

00:19:53.819 --> 00:19:56.539
winning and losing. Like it was a fine product,

00:19:56.619 --> 00:19:59.640
but from a purely like watching the volleyball

00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.579
execution, it missed my expectations based off

00:20:03.579 --> 00:20:06.440
what I had come to expect throughout the season.

00:20:06.940 --> 00:20:11.039
Let's dive in. Indy Omaha. Omaha winning in five,

00:20:11.339 --> 00:20:15.160
15 -13 in the fifth. There were some close sets

00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:18.619
in this match. What were your overall thoughts

00:20:18.619 --> 00:20:22.519
about this one? I'm not sure how Indy managed

00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:25.700
to lose this one, to be honest. When they went

00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:28.200
up after three sets, they were up two sets to

00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.460
one. I thought they had it, and correct me if

00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:32.039
I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure they had a decent

00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:35.180
lead going into the end of set four. Maybe I

00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:38.029
blacked out. I don't know. I honestly don't know

00:20:38.029 --> 00:20:42.730
how they won. It was member, member meta. Where'd

00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.470
you go? They dominated all season. And then to

00:20:45.470 --> 00:20:47.250
put that product on the floor, it was just like

00:20:47.250 --> 00:20:50.009
really disappointing. Merritt Beeson. I'm like,

00:20:50.029 --> 00:20:52.549
you disappeared for literally two years and like,

00:20:52.569 --> 00:20:55.329
you're able to play volleyball again. Like it

00:20:55.329 --> 00:20:58.329
was just, I don't disagree with you. It wasn't

00:20:58.329 --> 00:21:02.589
like fun to watch. I had a couple of things that.

00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:05.420
I noticed watching that match. We knew going

00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:09.400
into the match that Indy was undersized as an

00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:13.200
outside hitting core and that we said if teams

00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.420
could get solid blocks up on them consistently,

00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.579
they were going to struggle. I think Omaha is

00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:22.460
a unique team in terms of their ability to do

00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:25.400
that. So I did a little, kind of just obviously

00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:29.299
looked at the roster and compared the sizes of

00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:30.940
the outside hitters for both of those teams.

00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:34.950
So Indy's... 5 '11", 5 '8", and 5 '9", versus

00:21:34.950 --> 00:21:39.089
Omaha's 6 '4", 6 '2", and 5 '10". There were

00:21:39.089 --> 00:21:43.170
two things that stood out to me in terms of why

00:21:43.170 --> 00:21:45.789
Indy didn't win this. One was I thought there

00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:47.650
was inconsistent play on both sides. We can get

00:21:47.650 --> 00:21:49.869
into that a little bit later. I thought Tueninga

00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:53.549
was too predictable as who she was going to set,

00:21:53.710 --> 00:21:56.250
even though the blocking stats on the match were

00:21:56.250 --> 00:21:59.349
very close. So Omaha had 13 blocks and Indy had

00:21:59.349 --> 00:22:04.670
12. soft touches that turned into really good

00:22:04.670 --> 00:22:07.329
defensive opportunities for Omaha. Crazy in their

00:22:07.329 --> 00:22:10.309
favor. They touched almost everything. And Tuanenga

00:22:10.309 --> 00:22:13.329
generally runs like that lob over the middle.

00:22:13.390 --> 00:22:15.549
The outsides are quick. They get like one and

00:22:15.549 --> 00:22:18.309
a half blocks. That was not happening. Omaha

00:22:18.309 --> 00:22:21.970
managed to make life miserable for the outsides

00:22:21.970 --> 00:22:24.670
in terms of not getting clean kills, which they

00:22:24.670 --> 00:22:28.130
were used to. And Indy's outside hitters, they

00:22:28.130 --> 00:22:30.309
just... They didn't step up. They did not play

00:22:30.309 --> 00:22:32.450
very well. Remember, Mena was subbed out. She

00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:35.089
didn't play the fourth or the fifth set. DeBeer

00:22:35.089 --> 00:22:38.950
started well. She hit 857 in the first set and

00:22:38.950 --> 00:22:43.930
then proceeded to hit 091, negative 083, 118,

00:22:43.930 --> 00:22:47.690
and zero. You know, you just can't do that. Teeler

00:22:47.690 --> 00:22:51.309
was their best, most consistent hitter for that

00:22:51.309 --> 00:22:53.769
match. Your outsides, your two left sides can't

00:22:53.769 --> 00:22:56.190
do that, period. It just, it's not going to work.

00:22:56.809 --> 00:23:00.269
I mean, I think we also saw a men's style serving

00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:03.990
from an heirs perspective, not aces. So Omaha

00:23:03.990 --> 00:23:09.210
had four aces, but 13 heirs. Indy had one ace

00:23:09.210 --> 00:23:14.609
and 17 heirs, which is crazy. I feel like Indy

00:23:14.609 --> 00:23:17.849
usually serves better than that. When you have

00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:21.569
undersized blockers, as Adam mentioned, and you're...

00:23:21.789 --> 00:23:24.589
missing so many serves, not putting as much pressure

00:23:24.589 --> 00:23:27.569
on, it's really hard to defend. Especially with

00:23:27.569 --> 00:23:30.910
the size mismatch and stuff, it's basically target

00:23:30.910 --> 00:23:33.509
practice. Going back to last week and the things

00:23:33.509 --> 00:23:35.589
that we said that Indy had to do to win, I don't

00:23:35.589 --> 00:23:39.609
think they did it. Nobody had their whole team

00:23:39.609 --> 00:23:42.250
playing well at one time. If you looked at some

00:23:42.250 --> 00:23:44.710
of the stats for some of the top players for

00:23:44.710 --> 00:23:47.390
both of the teams, the reason that Omaha won

00:23:47.390 --> 00:23:49.970
the fifth set was because Merritt Beeson hit

00:23:49.970 --> 00:23:53.519
600. But she hit zero in the fourth set. This

00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.660
was a match of like who could manage to squeak

00:23:56.660 --> 00:23:59.819
out being the best in a situation. It wasn't

00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:03.279
consistent. Nobody played more than two and a

00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:06.859
half good sets. And I didn't think Tueninga had

00:24:06.859 --> 00:24:08.960
any rhythm with her hitters. They looked like

00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.920
they were fighting it all day. Like I said, I

00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.519
didn't love her decision making. Omaha was absolutely

00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:16.519
prepared. I have to give a lot of credit to the

00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:19.710
coach. And we asked the question like, How is

00:24:19.710 --> 00:24:22.849
he going to do in his first kind of run as a

00:24:22.849 --> 00:24:25.269
head coach with no experience? I think he did

00:24:25.269 --> 00:24:27.529
really well. I don't think his team played particularly

00:24:27.529 --> 00:24:29.990
well, but he was moving players in and out. He

00:24:29.990 --> 00:24:32.569
made some good subs. They were clearly prepared

00:24:32.569 --> 00:24:35.190
from a defensive standpoint. The numbers, I don't

00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:38.430
think they should have won. Indy had a kill efficiency

00:24:38.430 --> 00:24:42.750
as a team of 241 to Omaha's 219. Both teams made

00:24:42.750 --> 00:24:45.710
12 hitting errors. It was 13 to 12 in blocks

00:24:45.710 --> 00:24:48.059
for Omaha, but like I said, I thought... The

00:24:48.059 --> 00:24:50.380
soft touch or the slowdown blocks was one of

00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:51.980
the biggest factors in that match. That doesn't

00:24:51.980 --> 00:24:55.259
show up on the stats. But Indy also outdug Omaha

00:24:55.259 --> 00:25:00.119
81 -62. They just can't score at a system against

00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.460
a disciplined block that's much bigger and more

00:25:02.460 --> 00:25:05.759
physical. And that's what it came down to. They

00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:08.200
didn't have their offensive rhythm, and they

00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:10.140
were hitting against double blocks all night.

00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:14.980
Well, and the Omaha middles were commit blocking

00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:18.410
on the Indy middles. And Mia Tuniga kept setting

00:25:18.410 --> 00:25:22.069
the middles. It's like at what point is if you

00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:24.630
as a setter are not picking up on this commit

00:25:24.630 --> 00:25:27.289
block from your middle, the coaching staff needs

00:25:27.289 --> 00:25:30.789
to tell you. Obviously, they understood that

00:25:30.789 --> 00:25:33.269
the outsides were struggling. So any opportunity

00:25:33.269 --> 00:25:35.410
that Tuniga had to run the middle, she was going

00:25:35.410 --> 00:25:38.589
to do it. And she just kept doing it. Well, and

00:25:38.589 --> 00:25:41.190
Martin didn't have a great game. Again, minus

00:25:41.190 --> 00:25:45.029
one set. So she hit 750 on eight balls in the

00:25:45.029 --> 00:25:48.369
third set, which. Indy ended up winning 29 -27.

00:25:48.950 --> 00:25:51.710
Other than that, she was zero in the first set.

00:25:51.750 --> 00:25:53.829
No, but from then on, Omaha was committing with

00:25:53.829 --> 00:25:57.049
her. Yeah, so she hit zero in the fourth set.

00:25:57.049 --> 00:26:01.289
I thought Omaha staff outcoached the Indy staff

00:26:01.289 --> 00:26:03.809
in that match. They definitely, I could see the

00:26:03.809 --> 00:26:06.230
defensive adjustments that they made when they

00:26:06.230 --> 00:26:09.259
were down two sets to one. And then, you know,

00:26:09.259 --> 00:26:11.519
their backs were against the wall. You saw the

00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.079
blocking adjustments, the serving pressure ramped

00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:16.779
up. Like I, you could see that they made a difference,

00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:18.819
which is what you have to do. We talk about this

00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:21.900
all the time. Indy seemed very reactionary and

00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:25.119
almost like we were talking about UCLA men last

00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.859
week, how it was just like, okay, we're going

00:26:26.859 --> 00:26:28.019
to figure it out. We're going to figure it out.

00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:29.319
We're going to figure it out. It's like, no,

00:26:29.380 --> 00:26:30.980
at some point you need to make a change. And

00:26:30.980 --> 00:26:33.940
Omaha did, but I don't think Indy did. I listened

00:26:33.940 --> 00:26:37.019
to the post game press conference. After this

00:26:37.019 --> 00:26:39.940
one, because I was curious what the indie team

00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:42.579
and coaching staff had to say. And across the

00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:46.099
board, there was a comment of, you know, all

00:26:46.099 --> 00:26:48.859
season we've had fun. We've been playing loose.

00:26:49.059 --> 00:26:52.400
We've been doing that. And that just wasn't the

00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.819
feeling today. It's called pressure. Curious

00:26:56.819 --> 00:27:01.619
what your thoughts about that are. Like, I almost

00:27:01.619 --> 00:27:04.160
want to laugh out loud at that, honestly, because

00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.920
it's like. Yeah, guess what? Losing isn't fun.

00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.500
It's easy to have fun when you're rolling through

00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:13.559
a whole season. Easy peasy. You're only losing

00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:16.660
a few matches, but you're like well in the lead.

00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:20.799
No threat to your position whatsoever. But guess

00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:25.079
what? When playoffs start, everybody's on even

00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:28.319
playing ground. Everybody's even again. So everything

00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.640
you did in the past when you're having fun, like

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.630
it doesn't matter. So I think that just comes

00:27:33.630 --> 00:27:36.509
across as just like a lame, unprofessional excuse

00:27:36.509 --> 00:27:39.829
to me. Yeah, it's the playoffs. People show up.

00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.390
You need to just be better. I'm like, I'm kind

00:27:42.390 --> 00:27:44.710
of disturbed that that was a comment. Yeah, it

00:27:44.710 --> 00:27:47.690
was just an interesting little tidbit. And it's,

00:27:47.690 --> 00:27:50.809
you know, clearly they practiced and they were

00:27:50.809 --> 00:27:53.309
consistent and they had a good thing going and

00:27:53.309 --> 00:27:55.950
all of that. But you have to understand, like,

00:27:55.970 --> 00:27:59.710
if you don't start in your mental state, that

00:27:59.710 --> 00:28:02.380
is good. You need to know how to get back there.

00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:04.960
You need to know how to make adjustments. Like,

00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:08.299
Anna DeBeer hit 857 in the first set and then

00:28:08.299 --> 00:28:13.740
hit 091, negative 083, 118, and zero. Well, yeah,

00:28:13.779 --> 00:28:16.039
when you're uncomfortable. Is it fun to be on

00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:18.819
the court being uncomfortable? Not really, but

00:28:18.819 --> 00:28:20.400
that's part of sports. That's why you're being

00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.619
paid to play sports, because you need to work

00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:26.819
through it. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's always fun

00:28:26.819 --> 00:28:29.559
to hit 500 and not really be pushed or challenged.

00:28:30.190 --> 00:28:33.730
But it's also really fun to be struggling and

00:28:33.730 --> 00:28:36.569
find a way to be better and win anyway. That's

00:28:36.569 --> 00:28:39.950
even more fun. Again, I don't think anybody...

00:28:39.950 --> 00:28:42.210
One, that's not fair. I thought Beeson came out

00:28:42.210 --> 00:28:43.930
and played really, really well in the fifth set.

00:28:44.049 --> 00:28:46.109
She was the one athlete that came out and was

00:28:46.109 --> 00:28:47.869
like, we're going to win this, to her credit.

00:28:47.990 --> 00:28:51.329
Which is crazy to me. But that's, again... No,

00:28:51.410 --> 00:28:54.529
good for her. I'm happy that she figured it out,

00:28:54.609 --> 00:28:56.630
but I'm just like, where have you been? Yeah,

00:28:56.690 --> 00:28:59.269
nobody else took the reins and she stepped up

00:28:59.269 --> 00:29:02.710
in this regard. And I don't think anybody from

00:29:02.710 --> 00:29:05.609
Indy had a particularly good match. So let's

00:29:05.609 --> 00:29:08.809
talk Dallas, San Diego. That was the other semifinal.

00:29:08.829 --> 00:29:12.470
We had one good set in this where San Diego beat

00:29:12.470 --> 00:29:15.430
Dallas in the first set, 30 -28. And then after

00:29:15.430 --> 00:29:18.910
that, Dallas pulled up their shoelaces, buckled

00:29:18.910 --> 00:29:24.609
in. And won 25, 18, 17, and 10. I expected this

00:29:24.609 --> 00:29:27.329
game to be closer, honestly. I thought that this

00:29:27.329 --> 00:29:31.390
would be the closer semi. I agree. It was opposite

00:29:31.390 --> 00:29:33.609
day. You watched the first set and I was like,

00:29:33.670 --> 00:29:35.849
all right, this is going to be like a knockdown

00:29:35.849 --> 00:29:39.609
drag out fight. Like San Diego pulled out that

00:29:39.609 --> 00:29:42.130
first set. What a great win for them. I still

00:29:42.130 --> 00:29:43.569
thought Dallas was going to win, but it was going

00:29:43.569 --> 00:29:45.789
to be hard fought. But they, it was like San

00:29:45.789 --> 00:29:48.190
Diego ran out of juice after winning the first

00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:52.299
set. Dallas just imposed their will, especially

00:29:52.299 --> 00:29:55.579
from a blocking standpoint. They out -blocked

00:29:55.579 --> 00:30:01.420
San Diego 21 -8 on the match. San Diego, to their

00:30:01.420 --> 00:30:03.000
credit, I mean, they tried to serve tough. They

00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.039
had seven errors, three aces. At the end of the

00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:10.759
day, Dallas hit 333 as a team, and San Diego

00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:14.910
hit 108. Dallas was just the better team. I think

00:30:14.910 --> 00:30:17.289
period, but they also had a much better night

00:30:17.289 --> 00:30:19.309
more consistently after losing the first set.

00:30:19.430 --> 00:30:22.730
Didn't Tristan Savage set an MLB record with

00:30:22.730 --> 00:30:24.910
like eight blocks herself in that match? I believe

00:30:24.910 --> 00:30:29.390
so. That's crazy. The top players for San Diego,

00:30:29.450 --> 00:30:32.690
Lohberg hit 211 on 38, which is respectable.

00:30:32.890 --> 00:30:38.430
That's fine, yeah. But Tabron hit 032 and Prokoczowicz

00:30:38.430 --> 00:30:42.289
hit 167. That's not going to win. I will say

00:30:42.289 --> 00:30:45.279
Sambuthi. Played very well. I thought she was

00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.680
San Diego's best player. She hit 368 and they

00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:50.579
got her a ton of balls. Like she hit 19 balls

00:30:50.579 --> 00:30:54.160
in those four sets. Other than that, it just

00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:56.680
wasn't great. Cox was unbelievable for Dallas

00:30:56.680 --> 00:30:59.960
on that one. Hit 591. Both Maldonado Diaz and

00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:03.099
Mimi were decent. Like Dallas was just better.

00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:04.599
I don't know what else to say about this match.

00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:07.960
I mean, when those are the numbers for the outside

00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:11.480
core, like you can't even compare the two. Like

00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:13.559
the three athletes for Dallas just dominated

00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:16.480
San Diego's. So even if you're getting your middle

00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:20.000
19 swings, it's not enough when the like core

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.140
trio is being outperformed like that. Yeah. You

00:31:24.140 --> 00:31:26.240
could just see that they had a mindset of like,

00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:28.319
we're not messing around here. We're coming like,

00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.400
fine. You beat us in one set. Now do it again.

00:31:31.700 --> 00:31:33.680
And I was, I was really impressed with their

00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.829
mentality in that match. That is the last time

00:31:36.829 --> 00:31:39.930
we will be seeing the San Diego Mojo play because,

00:31:40.009 --> 00:31:43.309
as I'm sure a lot of you are aware, they announced

00:31:43.309 --> 00:31:46.890
that they will not be a team anymore, which is

00:31:46.890 --> 00:31:49.150
really sad. Well, especially because they had

00:31:49.150 --> 00:31:52.269
such a good year. I mean, I know there's finances

00:31:52.269 --> 00:31:54.730
and stuff involved, but I thought they were the

00:31:54.730 --> 00:31:57.589
biggest surprise on the year. So congrats to

00:31:57.589 --> 00:32:00.289
all those athletes, and hopefully they all find

00:32:00.289 --> 00:32:03.509
teams elsewhere. All right. Let's talk about

00:32:03.509 --> 00:32:08.849
the final. No, man, I was worried. I was worried

00:32:08.849 --> 00:32:10.450
that Omaha was going to win. And I'm like, oh,

00:32:10.470 --> 00:32:12.589
my gosh, Omaha is going to win MLB. Austin won

00:32:12.589 --> 00:32:14.930
love. What is happening? OK, so let's let's just

00:32:14.930 --> 00:32:16.970
put this out there for anybody who hasn't followed

00:32:16.970 --> 00:32:21.390
along for the season. Just you need to give some

00:32:21.390 --> 00:32:24.470
context around your dislike for Omaha. I mean,

00:32:24.470 --> 00:32:26.430
our regular listeners know. I just think that

00:32:26.430 --> 00:32:31.589
it's shady that. You go and just because you

00:32:31.589 --> 00:32:34.289
have more sponsorship money and more ways to

00:32:34.289 --> 00:32:37.589
get around a salary cap, you go handpick who

00:32:37.589 --> 00:32:40.769
you think are the best athletes in the league,

00:32:40.789 --> 00:32:43.410
put them all together and expect a steamroll.

00:32:43.549 --> 00:32:46.730
And then when it doesn't work, you fire your

00:32:46.730 --> 00:32:48.710
coach. Like, I don't know, just the whole way

00:32:48.710 --> 00:32:50.650
that everything was gone about with that team

00:32:50.650 --> 00:32:53.190
this year just rubbed me the wrong way. I think,

00:32:53.190 --> 00:32:56.630
you know, even with Valentin Anderson, she was

00:32:56.630 --> 00:32:59.269
setting for Omaha. They didn't want her because

00:32:59.269 --> 00:33:01.369
they thought Sydney Hilly was better. Setter

00:33:01.369 --> 00:33:03.250
of the year last year. Let's take Sydney Hilly,

00:33:03.309 --> 00:33:05.970
get rid of Valentin Anderson. And so like the

00:33:05.970 --> 00:33:09.069
redemption story there, I thought was a really

00:33:09.069 --> 00:33:12.230
cool storyline that I wanted to see like her

00:33:12.230 --> 00:33:16.750
specifically succeed. I didn't love how it all

00:33:16.750 --> 00:33:19.450
went down. So now what were your overall thoughts

00:33:19.450 --> 00:33:23.630
of the match? I didn't think Dallas played great.

00:33:24.329 --> 00:33:28.319
I thought. Maldonado Diaz was very up and down,

00:33:28.420 --> 00:33:31.079
particularly in set three. She could not like

00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:35.619
pay to put a ball on the floor, like really struggling,

00:33:35.619 --> 00:33:40.519
but somehow dragged herself out of it, which

00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:42.619
is what we were just talking about, you know,

00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:47.619
and was like on fire in sets four and five. Yeah,

00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:49.799
it was, I would say it was very inconsistent

00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:54.509
from everybody again. It seems to be the theme

00:33:54.509 --> 00:33:57.170
of the weekend, just like a lot of inconsistency.

00:33:57.549 --> 00:34:01.450
I don't love, honestly, how Dallas runs Carter

00:34:01.450 --> 00:34:04.230
Booth as an M1. She does not run a slide, you

00:34:04.230 --> 00:34:07.390
guys. Carter Booth is an M2. Keep her in front

00:34:07.390 --> 00:34:09.869
of the setter. She should not be running slides.

00:34:10.329 --> 00:34:14.090
That's an aside. I just had to say that. It wasn't

00:34:14.090 --> 00:34:17.590
the most entertaining final ever. Yeah. Even

00:34:17.590 --> 00:34:20.570
though it went five sets. I think that the teams

00:34:20.570 --> 00:34:22.869
did. basically a crossing pattern. I thought

00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:27.050
Omaha continued with their momentum that they

00:34:27.050 --> 00:34:29.670
had after they won the semifinal. Like they came

00:34:29.670 --> 00:34:32.309
out and all of their players played well in the

00:34:32.309 --> 00:34:35.030
first set. None of Eller hit 500. Parsons hit

00:34:35.030 --> 00:34:39.050
231. Beeson hit 400. Like Kiera Reinhart was

00:34:39.050 --> 00:34:41.570
going, like they came out firing on all cylinders

00:34:41.570 --> 00:34:43.070
and I thought they looked really good. And I

00:34:43.070 --> 00:34:47.199
thought Dallas was slow and just. They couldn't

00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:49.920
find what they needed to do. And then as the

00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:53.019
match went on, that kind of shifted. Dallas settled

00:34:53.019 --> 00:34:55.760
in. They found a little more rhythm, and Omaha

00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:00.199
continued to struggle. I thought Mimi did not

00:35:00.199 --> 00:35:04.440
play well whatsoever. She struggled to find it

00:35:04.440 --> 00:35:08.739
all match. Overall, Mimi hit 0 -19 on 52 balls.

00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:12.320
I'm shocked Dallas won with their star player

00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:15.900
playing so poorly, quite frankly. Like you said,

00:35:16.269 --> 00:35:20.250
Maldonado Diaz was inconsistent, but was unbelievable

00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:24.170
down the stretch. Omaha couldn't keep it going.

00:35:24.230 --> 00:35:27.190
And their players, when the pressure came to

00:35:27.190 --> 00:35:29.590
actually win, where they managed it a little

00:35:29.590 --> 00:35:33.010
bit better in the semifinal, they did not play

00:35:33.010 --> 00:35:35.449
well in sets four and five. I specifically broke

00:35:35.449 --> 00:35:38.269
this match down into hitting percentages based

00:35:38.269 --> 00:35:40.849
off set because it was so inconsistent. And I

00:35:40.849 --> 00:35:43.710
want to read the set five stats just because

00:35:43.710 --> 00:35:48.179
they're kind of... Both four and five. In set

00:35:48.179 --> 00:35:52.760
four, Nunneviller hit negative 125. Parsons and

00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:55.440
Beeson both hit zero. And Kira Reinhardt hit

00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:59.480
negative 500. Now they got crushed 25 -13. That's

00:35:59.480 --> 00:36:01.219
hard to do. That is hard to do. And we're not

00:36:01.219 --> 00:36:03.539
talking like on one or two balls. Like that was

00:36:03.539 --> 00:36:08.050
on a good amount of sets. In set five. You had

00:36:08.050 --> 00:36:11.730
Nunaviller hit negative 167. Parsons was the

00:36:11.730 --> 00:36:14.510
only positive hitter at 250. Beeson was zero.

00:36:14.610 --> 00:36:18.070
Kiera was zero. You just, you can't win. But

00:36:18.070 --> 00:36:21.550
on the flip side, Cox for Dallas hit zero. Mimi

00:36:21.550 --> 00:36:25.710
only hit 167. Maldonado Diaz hit 625. Like she

00:36:25.710 --> 00:36:28.789
was, Maldonado Diaz was Beeson from the set before.

00:36:28.929 --> 00:36:31.929
She was the only player who was going and scoring

00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:34.679
points. Like it just. It shouldn't be this way

00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:36.239
in a final. I mean, when those are the stats.

00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:38.780
Exactly. When those are the stats, it's just

00:36:38.780 --> 00:36:42.380
like error volleyball. Yes. Which is not fun

00:36:42.380 --> 00:36:48.059
to watch. You want to see plays. You want to

00:36:48.059 --> 00:36:51.360
see rallies. You want to see these top players

00:36:51.360 --> 00:36:54.860
scoring back and forth. And just a ton of missed

00:36:54.860 --> 00:36:57.800
serves, too, down the stretch. Yeah. It was bad

00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:02.469
execution, quite frankly. And again, you had

00:37:02.469 --> 00:37:05.809
some athletes play well when it mattered and

00:37:05.809 --> 00:37:10.170
make the difference. I hope that as we get more

00:37:10.170 --> 00:37:12.409
experience in the league goes on, the athletes

00:37:12.409 --> 00:37:14.250
get more and more comfortable in these situations

00:37:14.250 --> 00:37:18.130
because this was not a great volleyball product.

00:37:18.289 --> 00:37:20.389
You had a winner. Like you said, it was five

00:37:20.389 --> 00:37:22.730
sets. It was back and forth. It was entertaining.

00:37:23.349 --> 00:37:26.329
But I didn't think from an athlete perspective,

00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:30.690
the moment was managed very well. I agree. I

00:37:30.690 --> 00:37:36.690
tend to really like MLV's product, but, and we've

00:37:36.690 --> 00:37:39.250
been talking about this offline. It's hard to

00:37:39.250 --> 00:37:44.409
tell like quality of play sometimes when athletes

00:37:44.409 --> 00:37:47.889
are evenly matched skill wise. And that's what

00:37:47.889 --> 00:37:50.590
makes MLV. I think a good league to watch is

00:37:50.590 --> 00:37:52.230
like, it might not be the highest level, but

00:37:52.230 --> 00:37:55.329
the athletes are similar skill level. So the

00:37:55.329 --> 00:37:58.440
matches are entertaining. And they go along,

00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:01.679
they go to five sets, whatever. But the errors.

00:38:02.139 --> 00:38:05.360
If you plugged one of these teams into, I would

00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.820
even say, love, it would have been annihilation.

00:38:09.380 --> 00:38:14.900
It's just the errors were crazy. From a strictly

00:38:14.900 --> 00:38:19.940
quality of skill, it was not the best to watch.

00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:25.440
Yeah. Kudos to Dallas. They ended up. having

00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:28.559
enough players kind of find the momentum. I thought

00:38:28.559 --> 00:38:31.239
the Dallas middles played very well. They didn't

00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:33.260
set them a ton, but they were incredibly efficient

00:38:33.260 --> 00:38:36.360
and they held what they needed to. And I think,

00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:38.300
you know, maybe I'm biased because I'm a coach

00:38:38.300 --> 00:38:40.800
now and not an athlete, but I think that your

00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:43.579
coach helped shape the mentality and how you

00:38:43.579 --> 00:38:45.519
do those things. So I have a lot of respect for

00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:48.280
Dallas being able to kind of. go down in that

00:38:48.280 --> 00:38:50.780
set we like shannon everybody knows we like shannon

00:38:50.780 --> 00:38:53.320
so but again i think part of that is international

00:38:53.320 --> 00:38:55.880
experience and being you know part of a national

00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:58.559
team and seeing you know top level athletes and

00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:00.739
things like that so i think that makes a difference

00:39:00.739 --> 00:39:04.480
and i think that it showed in even diaz plays

00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:08.409
national team and Is it shocking that she was

00:39:08.409 --> 00:39:10.449
able to kind of find her way through starting

00:39:10.449 --> 00:39:11.909
poorly? Well, Valentin Anderson plays for her

00:39:11.909 --> 00:39:14.710
national team. Yeah. So I think there is something

00:39:14.710 --> 00:39:16.610
to be said there. And I think that that showed

00:39:16.610 --> 00:39:19.309
up when it mattered, obviously. And Dallas is

00:39:19.309 --> 00:39:22.110
a million dollars richer. So congrats to Dallas.

00:39:22.250 --> 00:39:25.250
The expansion teams in MLV just keep showing

00:39:25.250 --> 00:39:29.050
up year after year. So we expect big things from

00:39:29.050 --> 00:39:31.670
NorCal and Minnesota. My money's on Minnesota

00:39:31.670 --> 00:39:33.710
right now. Well, Seth Samity, she's going to

00:39:33.710 --> 00:39:37.760
be the Jordan Thompson of MLV all season. Again,

00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:41.679
really fun season. Fantasy League made it even

00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:44.820
more exciting to stay involved in what was happening.

00:39:44.900 --> 00:39:49.019
But huge congrats to Dallas for winning the title.

00:39:49.860 --> 00:39:53.099
As we know, and as was mentioned a little bit

00:39:53.099 --> 00:39:56.099
earlier, this weekend was the men's national

00:39:56.099 --> 00:40:00.480
championship for NCAA. And for the first time

00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:04.639
in 15 years, we do not have a back -to -back

00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:08.150
national champion. That stat was wild. Crazy.

00:40:08.449 --> 00:40:13.849
Huge congrats to Hawaii on winning the 2026 NCAA

00:40:13.849 --> 00:40:16.570
men's volleyball championship. It was an interesting

00:40:16.570 --> 00:40:21.690
weekend. Do you think the games were good? Let's

00:40:21.690 --> 00:40:23.809
just start there. I mean, I think there were

00:40:23.809 --> 00:40:28.369
parts of games that were good. This week for

00:40:28.369 --> 00:40:32.630
me, if I had two themes that kind of ran through

00:40:32.630 --> 00:40:36.469
the championships, it was... consistency, and

00:40:36.469 --> 00:40:39.250
where are the true right sides. Those are my

00:40:39.250 --> 00:40:43.210
two thoughts. Or lack of consistency. Yes. Those

00:40:43.210 --> 00:40:44.650
are things that happened in the matches that

00:40:44.650 --> 00:40:47.769
we watched. I thought both in MLB and NCAA. I

00:40:47.769 --> 00:40:49.829
would agree with you on the right side. Well,

00:40:49.909 --> 00:40:54.750
both points, except for the Hawaii opposite.

00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:56.989
I feel like he was the only one that showed up

00:40:56.989 --> 00:41:00.110
in MLB or NCAA. That was kind of my point. I'm

00:41:00.110 --> 00:41:02.889
not shocked that the team with the best right

00:41:02.889 --> 00:41:05.909
side ended up. winning because i think if you

00:41:05.909 --> 00:41:09.730
look at a lot of the top ncaa teams if your right

00:41:09.730 --> 00:41:11.929
side wasn't going and scoring points you were

00:41:11.929 --> 00:41:14.809
having trouble winning matches and i don't think

00:41:14.809 --> 00:41:18.070
a lot of the right sides currently are particularly

00:41:18.070 --> 00:41:21.289
good or consistent yeah well let's break it down

00:41:21.289 --> 00:41:25.360
okay first match uc irvine ball state I think

00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:27.699
last week we had Ball State winning this because,

00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:29.480
like, seeing them against Pepperdine, I was like,

00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:33.059
okay, it's very evenly matched. Ball State, their

00:41:33.059 --> 00:41:36.199
floor defense, block defense, their system is

00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:41.579
solid. They just didn't look the same to me.

00:41:41.739 --> 00:41:43.940
And, of course, like, you have to give UC Irvine

00:41:43.940 --> 00:41:46.219
credit. Like, they prepared. Their preparation

00:41:46.219 --> 00:41:49.260
was solid. They are a very good serving team,

00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:53.969
which my assessment would just... very quick

00:41:53.969 --> 00:41:58.630
watching is because Ball State relies so heavily

00:41:58.630 --> 00:42:03.150
on their middles to kind of get going and open

00:42:03.150 --> 00:42:07.570
things up because UC Irvine was serving so aggressively.

00:42:07.710 --> 00:42:11.170
It was very obvious that the balls had to go

00:42:11.170 --> 00:42:14.469
to the outsides and Ball State really only had

00:42:14.469 --> 00:42:17.869
one in Pat Rogers that was producing at all.

00:42:18.010 --> 00:42:21.829
Yeah, that was my big takeaway was I actually

00:42:21.829 --> 00:42:24.460
thought Ball State, could have won this match

00:42:24.460 --> 00:42:27.579
if one of their other outside hitters other than

00:42:27.579 --> 00:42:31.679
Patrick Rogers was remotely competent. Ryan Lewis

00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.860
hit 032 and Will Basilio hit 056. That's unacceptable.

00:42:38.260 --> 00:42:41.320
Unacceptable. So that was the big storyline for

00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:44.079
me. If one of those guys had have played even

00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:47.599
marginally better, I think there was at least

00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:49.659
a possibility that the outcome could have been

00:42:49.659 --> 00:42:52.400
different. Well, and we know that Machado, the

00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:56.360
setter, loves to force the middle. I'd be curious

00:42:56.360 --> 00:42:59.500
to hear how many times the middles got set because

00:42:59.500 --> 00:43:02.880
we know if it's a possibility, he's pushing it.

00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:05.659
They ran the middle almost 20 % of the time.

00:43:05.780 --> 00:43:08.320
The two main middles scored at over 500. Like,

00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:10.380
I don't think there was anything else the middles

00:43:10.380 --> 00:43:12.960
could have done. Honestly, you needed one of

00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:16.039
those two outside guys to be better. Plain and

00:43:16.039 --> 00:43:18.639
simple. There was one other thing from a setting

00:43:18.639 --> 00:43:21.099
standpoint. You had mentioned Machado forced

00:43:21.099 --> 00:43:23.639
the middle. I thought he did a great job. I like

00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:25.800
that decision making, but I thought some of his

00:43:25.800 --> 00:43:28.760
other set selection was a little reckless. He

00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:33.179
definitely takes swings in weird times. He is

00:43:33.179 --> 00:43:36.940
a lefty, which lends itself to being able to

00:43:36.940 --> 00:43:41.539
do that. But I think, yeah, maybe a little overambitious

00:43:41.539 --> 00:43:45.539
certain times in his decision to do that. 14

00:43:45.539 --> 00:43:47.280
attempts he took in that match. Yeah, I mean,

00:43:47.400 --> 00:43:51.500
Moni Nikolov, everybody. And I just think back

00:43:51.500 --> 00:43:54.800
to the end of set three where, first of all,

00:43:54.940 --> 00:43:58.860
Rodgers got away with a huge foot fault. Yes.

00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:02.300
Because they were down 24 -23, I believe, or

00:44:02.300 --> 00:44:05.119
it was 24 -all. Yeah. Something like that. He

00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:08.420
foot faulted, and they didn't call it. Ball State

00:44:08.420 --> 00:44:11.739
won the point. Then he foot faulted again. They

00:44:11.739 --> 00:44:15.139
did call it. And then there were two more opportunities

00:44:15.139 --> 00:44:18.440
that they had to sign out. Pat Rogers did not

00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:22.219
get another ball. I'm sorry. What are you doing

00:44:22.219 --> 00:44:25.519
setting Lewis so many times in that next rally?

00:44:25.900 --> 00:44:29.400
It didn't make any sense to me. I felt like one

00:44:29.400 --> 00:44:33.579
of those last two rallies, the set had to go

00:44:33.579 --> 00:44:36.219
to Rogers and it didn't. Every set should have

00:44:36.219 --> 00:44:38.239
gone at that point to the middle or to Rogers.

00:44:38.860 --> 00:44:41.440
Your life is on the line and your other two outsides

00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:43.840
are hitting. Below 100. You don't set them again.

00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:45.619
Period. They were the ones that got set, though.

00:44:45.780 --> 00:44:49.400
Yeah. Questionable. I wasn't cheering for one

00:44:49.400 --> 00:44:52.179
team or another, but I would have been interesting

00:44:52.179 --> 00:44:55.760
had one of the other players played better to

00:44:55.760 --> 00:44:58.360
see what the outcome would have been. Because

00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:02.559
when they lost, like 25 -19, 25 -19, that's the

00:45:02.559 --> 00:45:04.539
difference between one of those hitters being

00:45:04.539 --> 00:45:09.079
below 100 and even mid -200s in terms of being

00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:11.449
able to score just a little bit. Because everything

00:45:11.449 --> 00:45:14.590
else, like, they outblocked UCI. Their kill efficiency

00:45:14.590 --> 00:45:16.150
wasn't good, but it was because of the other

00:45:16.150 --> 00:45:18.489
two players. Like, their middles and Rodgers

00:45:18.489 --> 00:45:22.050
was great. The digs, UCI was outdug them, but

00:45:22.050 --> 00:45:25.769
not by a huge margin. Like, the games were close,

00:45:25.809 --> 00:45:29.449
except for those kind of two glaring players.

00:45:29.650 --> 00:45:32.030
It was also insane to me that after the first

00:45:32.030 --> 00:45:35.369
three sets, there were no aces in the match.

00:45:35.909 --> 00:45:37.789
That's almost unheard of in men's volleyball.

00:45:38.730 --> 00:45:41.190
Well, I thought both teams were going after their

00:45:41.190 --> 00:45:43.690
serves. Like UCI missed 13, Ball State missed

00:45:43.690 --> 00:45:46.070
14. So it wasn't like they were hammering. Well,

00:45:46.130 --> 00:45:48.469
no, and like UCI does bring it from the service

00:45:48.469 --> 00:45:51.949
line. I think it does speak to like Ball State's,

00:45:51.949 --> 00:45:55.769
you know, ball control and floor play for sure.

00:45:56.110 --> 00:46:01.070
But yeah, it was not a battle of attrition from

00:46:01.070 --> 00:46:03.750
the service line. It was like what's happening

00:46:03.750 --> 00:46:07.010
at the net and Ball State did not own the net.

00:46:07.659 --> 00:46:10.980
From an offensive standpoint. One of my favorite

00:46:10.980 --> 00:46:13.280
players coming out of this weekend and somebody

00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:15.860
who I thought had an outstanding tournament was

00:46:15.860 --> 00:46:18.539
Clark. He had an outstanding season. His hitting

00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:20.440
percentage was off the charts all year long.

00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:24.360
And he continued to be great in both matches

00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:26.280
that they played this weekend. I was so impressed.

00:46:26.980 --> 00:46:30.400
722 on 18 sets out of the middle. And I know

00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:33.460
like efficiencies are always higher, but he was

00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:36.940
virtually unstoppable. I thought, and I was just

00:46:36.940 --> 00:46:39.739
incredibly impressed with him. I'm not going

00:46:39.739 --> 00:46:41.780
to lie. I was a little salty that UC Irvine was

00:46:41.780 --> 00:46:44.320
even in this match. I'm like still not over it.

00:46:44.380 --> 00:46:49.519
So I wanted both states to win. They looked like

00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:51.840
the better team in that match, like overall.

00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:54.360
Their left sides played really well. Brink hit

00:46:54.360 --> 00:47:00.300
300 on 30 sets. Jokanovic hit 308 on 39 sets.

00:47:00.840 --> 00:47:03.980
Darcy, who I have not been loving. In the NCAA

00:47:03.980 --> 00:47:06.460
tournament so far. Had probably one of his better

00:47:06.460 --> 00:47:10.280
matches. I think he hit 242 on 24 balls. I don't

00:47:10.280 --> 00:47:13.019
think he was great overall. He was good enough

00:47:13.019 --> 00:47:15.719
in this match. To help them get through. But

00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:18.059
their young left sides. Are going to be good

00:47:18.059 --> 00:47:21.699
for a long time. I was pretty impressed. Well

00:47:21.699 --> 00:47:25.739
they. The left sides. Micah Goss. I'm not sure

00:47:25.739 --> 00:47:29.360
what your Clark is. The setter. They're returning

00:47:29.360 --> 00:47:32.719
a lot of players. They're going to be very good

00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:36.619
and maybe favorites or up there in the favorites.

00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:38.440
You know who's going to be the favorites? Hawaii.

00:47:38.780 --> 00:47:43.840
Their entire lineup is coming back. Fair enough.

00:47:44.260 --> 00:47:46.480
And they might be second. Okay, fine. We might

00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:50.800
see a repeat. I think Ball State leaves this

00:47:50.800 --> 00:47:53.579
match knowing they had a chance. Given the way

00:47:53.579 --> 00:47:56.579
the third set ended and knowing that two of their

00:47:56.579 --> 00:47:59.000
outside hitters did not have great matches. Like

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:01.480
literally cost them the match. I think at least

00:48:01.480 --> 00:48:03.360
as a coaching staff, you're looking at that going,

00:48:03.480 --> 00:48:05.599
man, if we had one more piece, we're right here.

00:48:05.699 --> 00:48:09.019
We're one match away from playing in the finals.

00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:12.860
It's good for that division, and it's good that

00:48:12.860 --> 00:48:16.800
the game was competitive outside of what we talked

00:48:16.800 --> 00:48:20.280
about. Okay, the match that everybody was excited

00:48:20.280 --> 00:48:24.699
about was... Hawaii, Long Beach State. Hawaii

00:48:24.699 --> 00:48:27.260
swept the regular season. Long Beach State won

00:48:27.260 --> 00:48:29.719
the Big West final. People were very interested

00:48:29.719 --> 00:48:32.119
to see what was going to go down here. Ultimately,

00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:36.159
Hawaii won in four. I didn't love the match.

00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:40.840
I didn't think it had the same competitiveness

00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:42.920
that we saw in some of the other ones. They traded

00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:46.619
first and second set wins at 25 -15 for Hawaii

00:48:46.619 --> 00:48:49.579
and then 25 -18 for Long Beach. So those are

00:48:49.579 --> 00:48:53.380
basically nothing sets. And then it was 25 -21,

00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:58.860
25 -22. It just wasn't competitive almost. I

00:48:58.860 --> 00:49:02.400
don't know. The problem for me was, and I'm going

00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:05.679
to say this, I thought Varga was the only player

00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:09.059
from Long Beach who was really firing. And again,

00:49:09.179 --> 00:49:14.159
Gadget, the right side, was brutal. He did not

00:49:14.159 --> 00:49:17.579
have a good match. He hit 0 -71 on 28 balls.

00:49:17.800 --> 00:49:20.170
I just... He made errors from the service line.

00:49:20.289 --> 00:49:22.690
I didn't think he attacked particularly well.

00:49:23.409 --> 00:49:26.550
I was just underwhelmed, and they needed somebody

00:49:26.550 --> 00:49:29.710
else to be able to score other than Varga, who,

00:49:29.769 --> 00:49:32.269
again, I thought had a great tournament. I don't...

00:49:32.269 --> 00:49:36.090
Gajek had an outstanding match in the final against

00:49:36.090 --> 00:49:39.849
Hawaii in the Big West final. 27 kills, something

00:49:39.849 --> 00:49:43.909
crazy. So you had to know that Hawaii was going

00:49:43.909 --> 00:49:47.429
to be keying in on him to not let him... and

00:49:47.429 --> 00:49:50.429
Varga go off, they knew they needed to stop one

00:49:50.429 --> 00:49:53.130
of them. And I do think it's fair that the assumption

00:49:53.130 --> 00:49:57.769
was they could stop a guy, a freshman over Skylar

00:49:57.769 --> 00:50:01.389
Varga, who first team all American, you know,

00:50:01.510 --> 00:50:05.190
international, whatever, like let Varga do what

00:50:05.190 --> 00:50:07.909
he does. But like, if they could stop one of

00:50:07.909 --> 00:50:10.519
them. They were probably going to be in a good

00:50:10.519 --> 00:50:12.780
position. And let's not kid ourselves. They were

00:50:12.780 --> 00:50:15.159
probably extra fired up because like the narrative

00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:19.239
throughout the match was just how after the Big

00:50:19.239 --> 00:50:22.480
West final, Gaiac went to the Hawaii crowd and

00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.699
did shock us down, which was like super disrespectful.

00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:29.099
I think Hawaii had an extra chip on their shoulder

00:50:29.099 --> 00:50:32.050
toward that kid for sure. For me, you see a young

00:50:32.050 --> 00:50:35.210
kid that had the match of his life the last time

00:50:35.210 --> 00:50:37.590
he played Hawaii. He was probably trying, like

00:50:37.590 --> 00:50:39.969
thinking he could do it again or trying to refine

00:50:39.969 --> 00:50:42.110
that the whole match. And it's not something

00:50:42.110 --> 00:50:45.650
that can be fixated on like that. That's what

00:50:45.650 --> 00:50:48.670
I saw. True. The stats of the match were pretty

00:50:48.670 --> 00:50:52.010
close other than kill efficiency. So Long Beach

00:50:52.010 --> 00:50:56.989
made 23 hitting errors to Hawaii's 15. So that

00:50:56.989 --> 00:50:59.550
meant Long Beach kill efficiency as a team was...

00:50:59.840 --> 00:51:03.440
200 and Hawaii hit 337, which is a pretty big

00:51:03.440 --> 00:51:05.420
difference. But outside of that, which is obviously

00:51:05.420 --> 00:51:07.659
a massive stat, the other things were pretty

00:51:07.659 --> 00:51:11.480
close. So they had Long Beach had six aces to

00:51:11.480 --> 00:51:14.059
18 errors. Hawaii had five aces to 18 errors.

00:51:14.119 --> 00:51:18.599
So very similar. 25 digs to 23 for Hawaii. Now

00:51:18.599 --> 00:51:21.500
the blocking for Hawaii was massive. They had

00:51:21.500 --> 00:51:24.900
15 blocks to Long Beach of six. And I attribute

00:51:24.900 --> 00:51:27.679
this. I didn't think the Long Beach middles were

00:51:27.679 --> 00:51:30.079
very good. They did run them a whole bunch, like

00:51:30.079 --> 00:51:34.059
almost 18%, but they hit under 200 as a group,

00:51:34.119 --> 00:51:38.059
and you can't do that. You need to have a threat

00:51:38.059 --> 00:51:40.579
in the middle, especially when the pin blockers

00:51:40.579 --> 00:51:44.119
are quite good in Hawaii. You need to be able

00:51:44.119 --> 00:51:46.639
to find some seams and find some holes in the

00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:50.619
block because they made life miserable for Gaiac

00:51:50.619 --> 00:51:52.639
and Bloom. Varga did a good job, but the other

00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:56.219
two struggled. I was also really confused why.

00:51:57.380 --> 00:52:02.000
They started another kid in set three over Bloom.

00:52:02.380 --> 00:52:05.480
Okay, Bloom wasn't lighting it up, but I didn't

00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:08.800
think he was killing them either. It just seemed

00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:12.079
like a really random decision to put this kid

00:52:12.079 --> 00:52:15.019
in, and then they didn't play him again. He played

00:52:15.019 --> 00:52:19.000
set three. He didn't do good or bad. He was just

00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.699
a neutral, in my opinion, and then out he was

00:52:21.699 --> 00:52:25.659
again. That felt weird to me. Yeah, and I don't

00:52:25.659 --> 00:52:27.409
know. Like, I would have taken the right side

00:52:27.409 --> 00:52:29.710
out. Like, put somebody else in there. See if

00:52:29.710 --> 00:52:31.789
somebody can have a match. Because he, Bloom

00:52:31.789 --> 00:52:34.650
hit 267 on the match. Yeah, it's not terrible.

00:52:34.849 --> 00:52:37.110
And especially for a P2. Like, if he's doing

00:52:37.110 --> 00:52:40.789
that, he's fine. Nobody really stood out to me

00:52:40.789 --> 00:52:44.329
for Long Beach State. Again, Varga played well.

00:52:44.469 --> 00:52:47.949
But I did really enjoy the back and forth between

00:52:47.949 --> 00:52:53.130
the middle. Justin Todd. Came out on top, though,

00:52:53.170 --> 00:52:55.789
let me tell you. Those middles were staring at

00:52:55.789 --> 00:52:58.010
each other back and forth, blocking back and

00:52:58.010 --> 00:53:01.150
forth, and just to see that happening, I love

00:53:01.150 --> 00:53:04.670
it. Give me more, please. Justin Todd, particularly

00:53:04.670 --> 00:53:09.289
in the set four, really turned it up a notch,

00:53:09.469 --> 00:53:11.769
and that was cool. Set three and four, to me,

00:53:11.909 --> 00:53:15.050
were characterized by runs of points. Hawaii

00:53:15.050 --> 00:53:18.070
was up really big in set three. Long Beach State

00:53:18.070 --> 00:53:20.909
came back, and then... you know, Hawaii grew

00:53:20.909 --> 00:53:24.150
the lead again. And then in set four, I think

00:53:24.150 --> 00:53:26.150
Long Beach State was up something like 18 -14

00:53:26.150 --> 00:53:31.809
and managed to just lose that lead and then lose

00:53:31.809 --> 00:53:34.070
by several points. So I just, Adam's word of

00:53:34.070 --> 00:53:36.869
inconsistency, 100%, but just like the point

00:53:36.869 --> 00:53:40.710
swings, we don't see that as often in men's volleyball

00:53:40.710 --> 00:53:45.070
as we do in women's. I will shout out my boy

00:53:45.070 --> 00:53:48.690
Cade, who came in as a serving sub in both this

00:53:48.690 --> 00:53:53.860
match, and in the finals and their team did score

00:53:53.860 --> 00:53:55.760
a ton of points when he was at the service line.

00:53:55.820 --> 00:53:58.579
So he did a good job. I think it ranged from

00:53:58.579 --> 00:54:00.800
like three to six points when he was in there

00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:03.179
and that turns the tide of matches, especially

00:54:03.179 --> 00:54:06.179
he would come in like in the mid teens and then

00:54:06.179 --> 00:54:07.860
you'd get that push and then they could kind

00:54:07.860 --> 00:54:11.019
of finish it out. From there. Adam's eyes twitching

00:54:11.019 --> 00:54:13.219
as he says that, everybody. No, you know what?

00:54:13.260 --> 00:54:17.360
I will give credit where credit is due. It's

00:54:17.360 --> 00:54:20.159
not an easy job to do, and he managed to put

00:54:20.159 --> 00:54:22.420
pressure on, and the team scored a whole bunch

00:54:22.420 --> 00:54:24.800
of points. That can be a difference maker, and

00:54:24.800 --> 00:54:29.539
it was. Shout out to Tread, too. He went down.

00:54:29.639 --> 00:54:34.119
It looked like he slid on some sweat or something,

00:54:34.199 --> 00:54:37.289
and then his stabilizer leg just like... Was

00:54:37.289 --> 00:54:40.929
not okay. He was visibly hurting. For that match.

00:54:41.150 --> 00:54:44.230
And I'm like okay. Adrenaline. He's warm. He

00:54:44.230 --> 00:54:47.289
can probably make it through this game. Wasn't

00:54:47.289 --> 00:54:49.369
sure how it was going to be in the final. Kudos

00:54:49.369 --> 00:54:52.489
to him for sticking it out. Toughing it out.

00:54:52.550 --> 00:54:55.809
Like did not look for one second. That he was

00:54:55.809 --> 00:54:57.789
going to let this affect him. So I think that's

00:54:57.789 --> 00:55:02.309
huge. Yeah Hawaii just looked better. Their outside

00:55:02.309 --> 00:55:05.489
core all tournament. Played and put up great

00:55:05.489 --> 00:55:09.309
numbers. And when that happens and your middles

00:55:09.309 --> 00:55:11.690
are efficient, like Justin Todd was good, they

00:55:11.690 --> 00:55:15.309
blocked well. Hawaii played consistently well.

00:55:15.309 --> 00:55:19.650
I was thinking this watching. I was like, we've

00:55:19.650 --> 00:55:21.730
often talked about how it's probably difficult

00:55:21.730 --> 00:55:25.309
for Tread to set the middle when he has to kind

00:55:25.309 --> 00:55:28.570
of jump set down sometimes. He has found a middle

00:55:28.570 --> 00:55:33.940
in Jordan who he can touch 12 -4. Who finally

00:55:33.940 --> 00:55:39.179
it looks so smooth when they run the middle because

00:55:39.179 --> 00:55:44.059
he is higher up than Tread. So it doesn't look

00:55:44.059 --> 00:55:46.539
so uncomfortable. And I think that the connection

00:55:46.539 --> 00:55:49.679
that he had with his middles compared to last

00:55:49.679 --> 00:55:54.099
year was way better. They're playing so high.

00:55:54.219 --> 00:55:57.739
It's absurd. They were consistent in all aspects

00:55:57.739 --> 00:56:01.679
of the game. They were gritty in terms of. keeping

00:56:01.679 --> 00:56:04.840
rallies going. Sakunoko was wearing boxing gloves

00:56:04.840 --> 00:56:09.460
and still found a way to hit 360. It was a good

00:56:09.460 --> 00:56:12.400
win, but even still it was gritty when it didn't

00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:14.539
have to be in terms of their mentality on the

00:56:14.539 --> 00:56:16.480
floor. They weren't being beat. And shout out

00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:20.079
to the libero who is from very close to my hometown.

00:56:20.460 --> 00:56:24.880
Okay, the final. UC Irvine, Hawaii. This match

00:56:24.880 --> 00:56:29.719
was not good to me. It was just like blowout

00:56:29.719 --> 00:56:32.360
after blowout. I was worried at the beginning.

00:56:32.519 --> 00:56:35.460
Okay. When Hawaii got absolutely slapped and

00:56:35.460 --> 00:56:37.739
then I was watching it and I'm like, okay, there's

00:56:37.739 --> 00:56:40.900
no way UC Irvine can keep this level up. Yeah.

00:56:40.980 --> 00:56:43.780
And Hawaii needs to settle in to this match.

00:56:43.860 --> 00:56:47.860
Like this cannot continue because it was brutal.

00:56:48.179 --> 00:56:52.739
Oh, UC Irvine generally shows up. They play hard.

00:56:52.860 --> 00:56:57.000
They've got good pieces and they came out with

00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.699
a purpose. I really like their coach in terms

00:56:59.699 --> 00:57:02.710
of how he, gets the team to play like you can

00:57:02.710 --> 00:57:05.590
tell they were ready to go and they were outstanding

00:57:05.590 --> 00:57:08.570
they're blocking everything they were in system

00:57:08.570 --> 00:57:11.949
all the time they were serving machine like they

00:57:11.949 --> 00:57:15.909
are on a mission yeah like they are prepared

00:57:15.909 --> 00:57:18.929
they knew the assignment the block defense was

00:57:18.929 --> 00:57:24.889
tight yes that combination of Clark and Goss

00:57:24.889 --> 00:57:29.719
when they're both going is They block well. They

00:57:29.719 --> 00:57:31.760
attack well. They don't set. I think they should

00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:34.099
set Goss more than they do. They barely set him.

00:57:34.280 --> 00:57:37.639
But I really like that combo. And I was excited

00:57:37.639 --> 00:57:41.000
to see those two go up against Justin Todd and

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.380
Jordan. But after the first set, like it just

00:57:44.380 --> 00:57:48.280
flip -flopped. It wasn't ever close. It was super

00:57:48.280 --> 00:57:51.639
disappointing because I thought, now it wasn't

00:57:51.639 --> 00:57:55.659
going to be a UCLA. Hawaii final, but I thought

00:57:55.659 --> 00:57:58.800
there would be tons of scrappiness block touches.

00:57:58.940 --> 00:58:03.139
I was expecting a really good match and I was

00:58:03.139 --> 00:58:06.760
disappointed. It was very one -sided from that

00:58:06.760 --> 00:58:10.300
point forward for sure. It like, what is there

00:58:10.300 --> 00:58:13.059
to say? I honestly, at some points looked like

00:58:13.059 --> 00:58:16.539
target practice. Hawaii was just in system and

00:58:16.539 --> 00:58:21.159
just absolutely detonating balls. Like it was

00:58:21.159 --> 00:58:23.750
ridiculous. The service pressure from Hawaii

00:58:23.750 --> 00:58:26.989
was just relentless. I don't even know what else

00:58:26.989 --> 00:58:30.250
to say. They had nine aces and 22 errors. And

00:58:30.250 --> 00:58:34.329
again, Cade came in and put on serving runs in

00:58:34.329 --> 00:58:38.409
multiple sets consistently. The hitting discrepancy

00:58:38.409 --> 00:58:41.710
was just so black and white. I have to read you

00:58:41.710 --> 00:58:44.829
these notes. Sakunoko hit 500 on the match. And

00:58:44.829 --> 00:58:46.489
that's after the first, like you have to remember

00:58:46.489 --> 00:58:52.460
the first set was awful. So Sakunoko 500. roar

00:58:52.460 --> 00:58:54.599
and we watched this game live so i was super

00:58:54.599 --> 00:58:58.960
impressed that he hit 323 and to trisky hit 387

00:58:58.960 --> 00:59:01.019
like what are you gonna do with that nothing

00:59:01.019 --> 00:59:03.320
they were unstoppable and that's that doesn't

00:59:03.320 --> 00:59:05.219
even include what the middles were doing and

00:59:05.219 --> 00:59:07.519
they were going after it again they've got some

00:59:07.519 --> 00:59:11.460
fire in the middle in hawaii justin todd will

00:59:11.460 --> 00:59:14.119
let you know what's going on i he's gonna be

00:59:14.119 --> 00:59:17.159
on the national team crazy to me that he never

00:59:17.159 --> 00:59:19.440
played volleyball before the end of high school

00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:26.280
wild Wild. Like, what? What were you doing? They're

00:59:26.280 --> 00:59:31.420
big. They're so big. Yeah, just Travelle Jordan

00:59:31.420 --> 00:59:34.579
hit some balls that I was like, I will say I

00:59:34.579 --> 00:59:37.460
was a little annoyed at Hawaii's attitude in

00:59:37.460 --> 00:59:41.260
the first set. They looked so mopey. They looked

00:59:41.260 --> 00:59:42.519
like they were feeling sorry for themselves,

00:59:42.599 --> 00:59:45.960
especially to Trisky. He was just moping around.

00:59:46.119 --> 00:59:48.139
And I'm like, you guys, this is not the time.

00:59:48.650 --> 00:59:51.349
This is not the time to feel sorry for yourself

00:59:51.349 --> 00:59:53.070
because you're going to look back if you lose

00:59:53.070 --> 00:59:55.110
and be like, why didn't I get my head out of

00:59:55.110 --> 00:59:57.469
my ass? I'm glad that things started falling

00:59:57.469 --> 00:59:59.630
their way. But in the first set, I was like,

00:59:59.690 --> 01:00:02.690
okay, I understand that this is uncanny how good

01:00:02.690 --> 01:00:04.789
UC Irvine is right now. But pick it up. You're

01:00:04.789 --> 01:00:07.130
in the national championship. But we talked about

01:00:07.130 --> 01:00:11.309
this in the MLV final as well in terms of needing

01:00:11.309 --> 01:00:15.349
to be able to find your level of play even when

01:00:15.349 --> 01:00:20.389
things don't go well. teams have to, you have

01:00:20.389 --> 01:00:22.150
to be able to punch back when something happens.

01:00:22.269 --> 01:00:24.690
And they did, obviously. Right. But that's my

01:00:24.690 --> 01:00:27.409
point, right? Like you get blasted in the first

01:00:27.409 --> 01:00:30.429
set. And I remember actually thinking for UC

01:00:30.429 --> 01:00:32.730
Irvine, I was like, man, I hope Hawaii makes

01:00:32.730 --> 01:00:35.369
it closer because if they don't, they're going

01:00:35.369 --> 01:00:37.349
to come back and smack. Like when you beat a

01:00:37.349 --> 01:00:40.710
team that badly in the first set, it's almost

01:00:40.710 --> 01:00:44.929
always a bad omen, quite frankly. Yeah. Well,

01:00:44.929 --> 01:00:47.750
I just kept thinking if I was UCLA at this moment,

01:00:47.869 --> 01:00:52.429
I would be so pissed. Like seeing UC Irvine go

01:00:52.429 --> 01:00:55.369
and just slap Hawaii in the first set. I was

01:00:55.369 --> 01:00:59.030
like, this has to turn around because UCLA is

01:00:59.030 --> 01:01:02.429
probably like ready to strangle somebody. Hawaii

01:01:02.429 --> 01:01:06.690
was just better after set one. Hands down. They

01:01:06.690 --> 01:01:10.489
held none of Brink's. Swings were working. I

01:01:10.489 --> 01:01:12.929
mean, UCI out -blocked Hawaii 12 -6, and this

01:01:12.929 --> 01:01:15.670
still happened. Hawaii came out guns a -blazing.

01:01:15.690 --> 01:01:17.530
They were swinging on everything. They out -killed

01:01:17.530 --> 01:01:21.989
them 58 -38. Like, they were just scoring at

01:01:21.989 --> 01:01:25.849
will and bombing serves. It was a clinic in how

01:01:25.849 --> 01:01:28.510
to win outside of the first set. I mean, of the

01:01:28.510 --> 01:01:31.820
final four teams, the best team won. Yes, I agreed.

01:01:31.980 --> 01:01:35.440
Would I have liked to see UCLA in the Final Four?

01:01:36.219 --> 01:01:38.480
100%. I'm still heartbroken that they weren't

01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:41.699
there. But the best team won. I just need to

01:01:41.699 --> 01:01:44.940
hit one more thing. Before you go there, and

01:01:44.940 --> 01:01:47.320
I know where you're going, I want to ask you,

01:01:47.380 --> 01:01:51.900
I thought Hawaii played incredibly well. Do you

01:01:51.900 --> 01:01:55.400
think they would have beaten UCLA if they had

01:01:55.400 --> 01:01:58.420
played like that? These numbers, and not to say

01:01:58.420 --> 01:02:00.559
they'd be able to do this against UCLA because

01:02:00.559 --> 01:02:04.179
their outside hitters are better blockers, I

01:02:04.179 --> 01:02:06.539
would say. If we're taking these stats just as

01:02:06.539 --> 01:02:10.719
they are, I think there is a very good possibility

01:02:10.719 --> 01:02:13.300
that they would have beaten UCLA, especially

01:02:13.300 --> 01:02:15.400
if they were serving the way they did in that

01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:18.699
match, because that is how you have to beat UCLA,

01:02:18.920 --> 01:02:23.300
is to just absolutely destroy your serve, and

01:02:23.300 --> 01:02:26.630
they were doing that. So I think... If Hawaii

01:02:26.630 --> 01:02:29.269
put that exact performance on the court, I think

01:02:29.269 --> 01:02:33.530
it at the very, very least would have gone down

01:02:33.530 --> 01:02:35.849
to the wire or Hawaii would have won. That would

01:02:35.849 --> 01:02:37.969
have been such an epic match. I know. I'm like

01:02:37.969 --> 01:02:40.190
disappointed that we didn't get to see that because

01:02:40.190 --> 01:02:43.030
I think that that matchup, that is the matchup

01:02:43.030 --> 01:02:45.210
that should have happened in the final. Those

01:02:45.210 --> 01:02:47.690
were the two best teams in the country. You got

01:02:47.690 --> 01:02:49.510
to win when it matters. Before I do my last point,

01:02:49.590 --> 01:02:52.230
Andrew Rowan was named national player of the

01:02:52.230 --> 01:02:55.489
year. I think well -deserved. Yes, and he is

01:02:55.489 --> 01:02:59.469
the third player ever to be a four -time first

01:02:59.469 --> 01:03:03.369
-team All -American, which... Kudos. Wow. Yes.

01:03:03.469 --> 01:03:07.590
Three players in history have been four -time

01:03:07.590 --> 01:03:09.690
first -team All -Americans. Think of the greatness

01:03:09.690 --> 01:03:12.949
that we were able to witness. Well, you're talking

01:03:12.949 --> 01:03:16.219
about names like Karch, Sinjin, like... So many.

01:03:16.219 --> 01:03:18.179
They weren't. No, that's what I'm saying. That's

01:03:18.179 --> 01:03:20.639
what I'm saying. Eric Shoji and TJ DeFalco were

01:03:20.639 --> 01:03:22.639
the only other two four -time first -team All

01:03:22.639 --> 01:03:24.280
-Americans. So just like think about that for

01:03:24.280 --> 01:03:27.280
a second. That is insane. I think that that player

01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:29.320
of the year award was very well deserved. I'm

01:03:29.320 --> 01:03:31.260
glad they still gave it to him. Me too. Like

01:03:31.260 --> 01:03:33.139
if you go through your career and you're one

01:03:33.139 --> 01:03:36.340
of three to ever do that, like. Impressive. Yeah.

01:03:36.519 --> 01:03:39.539
Anyway, congrats to him. But my last point about

01:03:39.539 --> 01:03:43.059
this match, you guys, maybe this is petty, but

01:03:43.059 --> 01:03:46.059
I have to say it. So after the match, somebody

01:03:46.059 --> 01:03:48.679
has probably seen this. So hit me up. Kevin Barnett

01:03:48.679 --> 01:03:51.000
is on court interviewing Charlie Wade, the coach

01:03:51.000 --> 01:03:54.820
for Hawaii. And, you know, eventually gets to

01:03:54.820 --> 01:03:57.039
a question and he's like, do you want to highlight

01:03:57.039 --> 01:03:59.300
some of the athletes and the players who like

01:03:59.300 --> 01:04:02.219
really put on good performances and like helps

01:04:02.219 --> 01:04:05.300
you win this today? And he's like, oh, you know

01:04:05.300 --> 01:04:09.019
what? Like our team is just a really deep team.

01:04:09.820 --> 01:04:13.099
Anybody can come in at any time for anybody on

01:04:13.099 --> 01:04:14.940
the court. Like that's one of the things that

01:04:14.940 --> 01:04:18.340
really makes us so good. But like our serving

01:04:18.340 --> 01:04:22.420
subs, they came in and they did an outstanding

01:04:22.420 --> 01:04:25.820
job. But like we're just a really deep team.

01:04:25.880 --> 01:04:28.579
So anybody can come in for anybody. Who's the

01:04:28.579 --> 01:04:33.280
serving sub? Cade, your son. You're telling me

01:04:33.280 --> 01:04:37.239
the only thing that you have to say to single

01:04:37.239 --> 01:04:40.400
anybody out is the. Position that your son is

01:04:40.400 --> 01:04:43.219
filling. What about your starting setter who

01:04:43.219 --> 01:04:46.400
was very clearly struggling to make it through

01:04:46.400 --> 01:04:48.880
the match and who like got it together to perform

01:04:48.880 --> 01:04:52.920
your left side who very clearly either sprained

01:04:52.920 --> 01:04:55.400
both of his thumbs or had something going on

01:04:55.400 --> 01:04:58.460
who made it work after being injured in the semifinal

01:04:58.460 --> 01:05:01.260
last year came back like that's what you have

01:05:01.260 --> 01:05:04.800
to say. I am. I'm disturbed. I'm totally fine

01:05:04.800 --> 01:05:07.469
with his. answer he just should never have said

01:05:07.469 --> 01:05:10.210
anything about the serving sub like you win and

01:05:10.210 --> 01:05:13.309
lose as a team like if you don't want to single

01:05:13.309 --> 01:05:15.789
somebody out i'm totally fine with that like

01:05:15.789 --> 01:05:17.989
we are a team this is what we do but our serving

01:05:17.989 --> 01:05:21.269
there's nothing there i excellent it's a great

01:05:21.269 --> 01:05:24.630
answer if you leave out the serving so everyone

01:05:24.630 --> 01:05:27.949
knows your kid was the serving sub dude if you're

01:05:27.949 --> 01:05:29.969
gonna say anything you go hey we had a bunch

01:05:29.969 --> 01:05:32.150
of players who were hurt who showed up and continued

01:05:32.150 --> 01:05:35.750
to play that's something you can say to acknowledge

01:05:35.750 --> 01:05:38.550
the mindset of all of that and i'm again i'm

01:05:38.550 --> 01:05:41.210
fine with him not giving credit to anybody because

01:05:41.210 --> 01:05:44.090
it's a team win like you train all of those things

01:05:44.090 --> 01:05:47.949
but just sliding that in there it's just it's

01:05:47.949 --> 01:05:51.690
greasy it's unnecessary it just i was so happy

01:05:51.690 --> 01:05:53.750
that hawaii won and then i heard that interview

01:05:53.750 --> 01:05:56.230
and i immediately like turned the tv off after

01:05:56.230 --> 01:05:57.590
it was done i was like i can't do this anymore

01:05:57.590 --> 01:06:00.369
it's like you ruined it unbelievable anyway just

01:06:00.369 --> 01:06:02.699
had to add that in because That's what I do.

01:06:02.800 --> 01:06:06.340
Huge congrats to Hawaii. I'm really glad that

01:06:06.340 --> 01:06:10.519
they pulled it out. As I said, I think the best

01:06:10.519 --> 01:06:14.000
team at the final four won. Before we wrap this

01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:16.480
segment up, which was your favorite match of

01:06:16.480 --> 01:06:19.820
the weekend for the men? I like the final. I

01:06:19.820 --> 01:06:22.099
like the final because it's all on the line.

01:06:22.179 --> 01:06:25.360
The way it started, I'm like, how bad does Hawaii

01:06:25.360 --> 01:06:28.239
want this? And then to see people get a little

01:06:28.239 --> 01:06:31.599
chippy, for the refs to not get involved. Thank

01:06:31.599 --> 01:06:34.960
you so much. Let me see what personality these

01:06:34.960 --> 01:06:38.619
guys have got and can they handle it? So yeah,

01:06:38.699 --> 01:06:42.460
I like that one. It is time for listener questions,

01:06:42.719 --> 01:06:46.559
everybody. So question one, I'm interested in

01:06:46.559 --> 01:06:49.059
your thoughts. Rachel Fairbanks has never made

01:06:49.059 --> 01:06:51.340
it past a semifinal round, whether in the NCAA

01:06:51.340 --> 01:06:54.159
Final Four with Pitt or in love for Atlanta.

01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:58.079
I know her team wasn't the favorite every year.

01:06:58.239 --> 01:07:01.000
At Pitt, they were often a one seed. But at a

01:07:01.000 --> 01:07:02.920
certain point, it must wear on an athlete to

01:07:02.920 --> 01:07:06.159
keep coming up short in the same round. She obviously

01:07:06.159 --> 01:07:08.380
wasn't always the reason that they lost these

01:07:08.380 --> 01:07:10.960
matches, but she's touching every second contact,

01:07:11.039 --> 01:07:13.760
so she has a lot of impact on a match. How do

01:07:13.760 --> 01:07:16.059
you think you'd handle that situation as that

01:07:16.059 --> 01:07:19.599
player? Or if you were her teammate or coach,

01:07:19.820 --> 01:07:24.179
would you even bring that up? First of all, consistently

01:07:24.179 --> 01:07:26.219
making semifinals and whatever you're doing is

01:07:26.219 --> 01:07:29.300
a huge accomplishment it's not easy I know we

01:07:29.300 --> 01:07:31.900
all talk about winning and all that but it's

01:07:31.900 --> 01:07:35.440
hard to do and having even that amount of consistency

01:07:35.440 --> 01:07:39.940
I think is is pretty impressive now I know you

01:07:39.940 --> 01:07:42.519
can speak about this from the beach side you

01:07:42.519 --> 01:07:45.780
know you you get to a certain point and you get

01:07:45.780 --> 01:07:48.539
stuck there until you don't I get yeah I guess

01:07:48.539 --> 01:07:51.119
my experience with this particular situation

01:07:51.119 --> 01:07:53.519
does come more from the beach side. You know,

01:07:53.539 --> 01:07:57.099
you often see it. A team will reach the same

01:07:57.099 --> 01:08:00.019
round, whether it's a quarterfinal or, you know,

01:08:00.039 --> 01:08:02.119
semifinal or whatever. And for whatever reason

01:08:02.119 --> 01:08:05.659
that they cannot make it past that. And in my

01:08:05.659 --> 01:08:08.880
first, you know, season or two and on the beach,

01:08:08.940 --> 01:08:11.920
like that was the case, like just not cracking

01:08:11.920 --> 01:08:15.719
into the semifinals. But then honestly, it's

01:08:15.719 --> 01:08:18.590
like, as Adam said, it's just. Once you crack

01:08:18.590 --> 01:08:22.029
it, you don't look back. I don't know if it's

01:08:22.029 --> 01:08:25.310
a mental thing or a mental block. Again, like

01:08:25.310 --> 01:08:27.430
you said, it's not all her fault. There's six

01:08:27.430 --> 01:08:29.090
people on the court. She does touch the ball

01:08:29.090 --> 01:08:33.050
the most. But it has to be so wearing as an athlete

01:08:33.050 --> 01:08:35.909
to like be in that place again. Know that you're

01:08:35.909 --> 01:08:38.789
obviously good enough to be there. But then be

01:08:38.789 --> 01:08:41.050
like, okay, am I going to make it past this time?

01:08:41.109 --> 01:08:43.090
Am I going to make it past this time? And it

01:08:43.090 --> 01:08:46.350
is honestly just a mental thing. It's not physical

01:08:46.350 --> 01:08:49.470
at all. I think as a coach, what you would do,

01:08:49.489 --> 01:08:51.430
and even as a player, because it's obviously

01:08:51.430 --> 01:08:54.710
in a couple different arenas that this has happened

01:08:54.710 --> 01:08:57.609
to her, is are you changing how you're playing?

01:08:58.069 --> 01:09:00.630
So is your decision -making different than it

01:09:00.630 --> 01:09:04.920
is in other rounds? not handling the moment or

01:09:04.920 --> 01:09:07.020
are you doing exactly the same thing and it's

01:09:07.020 --> 01:09:09.199
just not good enough to win like there are different

01:09:09.199 --> 01:09:13.140
reasons why you do and don't break through those

01:09:13.140 --> 01:09:15.760
rounds so some of that could be on her in terms

01:09:15.760 --> 01:09:18.260
of you know does she just go to one player more

01:09:18.260 --> 01:09:20.779
than the others is her offense different in those

01:09:20.779 --> 01:09:23.520
situations because she's not you know she's thinking

01:09:23.520 --> 01:09:25.279
about the moment I'm not saying she's doing this

01:09:25.279 --> 01:09:27.359
but I'm just saying as a coach those would be

01:09:27.359 --> 01:09:29.399
the things that you were looking at in terms

01:09:29.399 --> 01:09:32.670
of Is your process and decision making and execution

01:09:32.670 --> 01:09:36.029
different in those matches? And if it is, that's

01:09:36.029 --> 01:09:38.250
what you need to work on. And if it's not, then

01:09:38.250 --> 01:09:40.329
you just need to keep taking those cracks at

01:09:40.329 --> 01:09:41.949
those situations and eventually you'll break

01:09:41.949 --> 01:09:44.329
through. Or like, are you placing more value

01:09:44.329 --> 01:09:46.689
on certain points than others? Like when you

01:09:46.689 --> 01:09:49.949
get past 20 or is it all of a sudden like those

01:09:49.949 --> 01:09:53.729
points are worth more to you? Or are you doing

01:09:53.729 --> 01:09:56.869
the exact same thing pre -serve routine, pre

01:09:56.869 --> 01:10:00.279
-reception routine, like every single time? Every

01:10:00.279 --> 01:10:02.659
point is worth the same amount, but like the

01:10:02.659 --> 01:10:05.979
way we respond in those situations often has

01:10:05.979 --> 01:10:09.899
a lot to do with what the weight that we put

01:10:09.899 --> 01:10:13.399
on it. That is not accurate. Like every point

01:10:13.399 --> 01:10:17.000
objectively is weighted the same, but we create

01:10:17.000 --> 01:10:19.680
that difference in our minds just based on where

01:10:19.680 --> 01:10:23.300
we are in the set. I'm curious if that is something

01:10:23.300 --> 01:10:25.899
that ever enters the thought process or not.

01:10:26.060 --> 01:10:28.619
It is an interesting stat. That's a great question.

01:10:29.000 --> 01:10:30.979
Okay, question two. Last week you were mentioning

01:10:30.979 --> 01:10:34.100
MLV teams and hitting efficiency. Chalker, we

01:10:34.100 --> 01:10:36.079
just talked about that a lot. And none of the

01:10:36.079 --> 01:10:38.159
teams were hitting very well, most hitting under

01:10:38.159 --> 01:10:41.899
250 as a team. I'm curious how MLV teams compared

01:10:41.899 --> 01:10:45.060
to Love for hitting percentage this season, taking

01:10:45.060 --> 01:10:47.600
it even further, comparing both of those leagues

01:10:47.600 --> 01:10:50.340
to the top Turkish and Italian leagues. Why is

01:10:50.340 --> 01:10:53.590
there such a disparity assuming... Higher leagues

01:10:53.590 --> 01:10:56.050
have better efficiencies. And how do teams get

01:10:56.050 --> 01:10:59.050
more efficient but still maintain a high level

01:10:59.050 --> 01:11:03.210
of play? Okay, I don't have the numbers in front

01:11:03.210 --> 01:11:07.409
of me right away, but you generally do see better

01:11:07.409 --> 01:11:10.130
hitting percentages in those leagues, I would

01:11:10.130 --> 01:11:15.630
say. I think you see different types. So, for

01:11:15.630 --> 01:11:18.369
example, again, we haven't pulled the numbers

01:11:18.369 --> 01:11:20.810
on this, and I'm sure somebody out there is going

01:11:20.810 --> 01:11:24.920
to. Even assuming, even if we want to assume

01:11:24.920 --> 01:11:28.220
that the numbers are similar, as you get to a

01:11:28.220 --> 01:11:31.420
higher level, the blocking is better. The floor

01:11:31.420 --> 01:11:34.760
defense is better. I think even if the numbers

01:11:34.760 --> 01:11:38.239
are the same, I think the things in MLV that

01:11:38.239 --> 01:11:43.159
are making those numbers so low is errors. Whereas

01:11:43.159 --> 01:11:45.579
when you're at the Turkish League or Champions

01:11:45.579 --> 01:11:48.640
League or whatever, the reason those numbers

01:11:48.640 --> 01:11:52.949
may be similar continues. The teams are getting

01:11:52.949 --> 01:11:57.250
more digs or blocks. You're not getting that

01:11:57.250 --> 01:12:00.149
decrease in percentage from straight up errors

01:12:00.149 --> 01:12:04.210
in the same way that you are in MLV because the

01:12:04.210 --> 01:12:06.270
blocking is better. The floor defense is better.

01:12:06.869 --> 01:12:09.369
If the numbers for the other leagues are higher.

01:12:09.430 --> 01:12:10.909
And I think, you know, when we've looked at some

01:12:10.909 --> 01:12:12.989
of the champions league matches, like teams were

01:12:12.989 --> 01:12:15.350
hitting, you know, 300 and some of those sets

01:12:15.350 --> 01:12:17.649
it's because the athletes are a little more terminal,

01:12:17.729 --> 01:12:19.970
right? I think they. They run the middle more.

01:12:20.109 --> 01:12:22.489
They're running the pipe more. So you have more

01:12:22.489 --> 01:12:25.810
one on O's or one on ones with blockers. And

01:12:25.810 --> 01:12:27.789
I think the hitters are smarter and more terminal.

01:12:27.850 --> 01:12:30.869
You see more off the block and kills versus off

01:12:30.869 --> 01:12:33.369
the block and continues. Those are some of the

01:12:33.369 --> 01:12:36.090
things that could factor in on the discrepancy,

01:12:36.090 --> 01:12:38.930
given that that is an accurate statement. And

01:12:38.930 --> 01:12:41.550
I think to improve to for part two of this question,

01:12:41.670 --> 01:12:45.189
how do you get more efficient? You need. Certain

01:12:45.189 --> 01:12:48.289
players who understand that their role is to

01:12:48.289 --> 01:12:50.789
be that terminal player and other players are

01:12:50.789 --> 01:12:54.909
not. And I think sometimes in MLV, we see errors

01:12:54.909 --> 01:12:58.050
from everybody. You know, there are some players

01:12:58.050 --> 01:13:02.810
that by their makeup should have the green light

01:13:02.810 --> 01:13:04.829
to just go for it. And other ones need to be

01:13:04.829 --> 01:13:06.529
more selective of when they're going to keep

01:13:06.529 --> 01:13:10.010
the ball in. Or do more of a finesse play than

01:13:10.010 --> 01:13:13.130
just try to be terminal. And I think players

01:13:13.130 --> 01:13:14.930
and coaches need to understand what types of

01:13:14.930 --> 01:13:19.409
athletes they are and do that accordingly. Question

01:13:19.409 --> 01:13:21.890
three. I was recently watching Team USA and thought

01:13:21.890 --> 01:13:24.289
this was worth noting. A lot of the swings in

01:13:24.289 --> 01:13:28.430
MLV were showing at 50 miles per hour max. While

01:13:28.430 --> 01:13:30.529
I'm watching a VNL match, they're hitting 80,

01:13:30.710 --> 01:13:33.630
for example. What causes that drastic of a change

01:13:33.630 --> 01:13:36.369
in hitting speed where at the pro level it's

01:13:36.369 --> 01:13:39.930
so different? For the leagues that we're watching,

01:13:40.170 --> 01:13:42.930
if we're comparing MLV and Champions League,

01:13:42.970 --> 01:13:45.989
for example, it's just straight physicality.

01:13:46.090 --> 01:13:50.050
In MLV, we're seeing players who were good NCAA

01:13:50.050 --> 01:13:55.909
players who probably would not have made a huge

01:13:55.909 --> 01:13:59.229
career out of volleyball. Champions League, we

01:13:59.229 --> 01:14:01.109
are seeing the best of the best in the world.

01:14:01.770 --> 01:14:05.229
And just the sheer physicality is so much different.

01:14:05.289 --> 01:14:09.789
Watching the final four for MLV, they were also

01:14:09.789 --> 01:14:14.369
posting attack height, which they do in Champions

01:14:14.369 --> 01:14:17.210
League. And so in the final for Champions League,

01:14:17.409 --> 01:14:21.329
we were seeing hitters hitting at 10 feet, 10

01:14:21.329 --> 01:14:26.689
-4 at their contact point. In MLV, similar sized

01:14:26.689 --> 01:14:28.890
players, Merritt Beeson, for example, is about

01:14:28.890 --> 01:14:32.880
6 '4". Her hitting height was 9 '7". Okay, we're

01:14:32.880 --> 01:14:37.979
talking 6 to 12 inches difference that we're

01:14:37.979 --> 01:14:42.000
playing above the net. So that's just sheer jumping

01:14:42.000 --> 01:14:45.399
and reach ability. Add into the fact the power

01:14:45.399 --> 01:14:48.579
that these women are able to generate. It's just

01:14:48.579 --> 01:14:51.340
they're two completely different types of athletes.

01:14:52.090 --> 01:14:54.750
I think it's also setting efficacy as well. The

01:14:54.750 --> 01:14:57.810
way the setters at the highest levels are able

01:14:57.810 --> 01:15:01.229
to consistently put their hitters in a good spot,

01:15:01.470 --> 01:15:05.090
lead their hitters on the back row, you're able

01:15:05.090 --> 01:15:09.630
to generate so much more power when you, A, know

01:15:09.630 --> 01:15:11.649
where the ball is coming, B, you're in a great

01:15:11.649 --> 01:15:14.409
rhythm, and C, you're led in a way that you can

01:15:14.409 --> 01:15:17.890
maximize your jumping and power abilities. Whereas

01:15:17.890 --> 01:15:20.449
as the levels decrease and the setting is a little

01:15:20.449 --> 01:15:22.689
more inconsistent, you're seeing players fall

01:15:22.689 --> 01:15:24.670
as they're hitting. You're seeing them jump backwards

01:15:24.670 --> 01:15:26.510
and you're not able to put anything on balls

01:15:26.510 --> 01:15:28.850
that are like that. Okay, question four. What's

01:15:28.850 --> 01:15:31.029
your take on yet another professional volleyball

01:15:31.029 --> 01:15:33.670
league debuting in the US? It's apparently named

01:15:33.670 --> 01:15:36.869
the American Volleyball League. Who's going to

01:15:36.869 --> 01:15:38.989
play for it? I was only made aware of this league

01:15:38.989 --> 01:15:42.850
when a girl's club coach was named head coach

01:15:42.850 --> 01:15:46.289
of the St. Louis franchise. Okay, I didn't know

01:15:46.289 --> 01:15:49.729
anything about this. So I went on their website

01:15:49.729 --> 01:15:54.649
and the website looks fake, you guys. It looks

01:15:54.649 --> 01:15:58.590
like a high school kid did a project of their

01:15:58.590 --> 01:16:01.510
computer class. Without using AI. Without using

01:16:01.510 --> 01:16:05.170
AI. A high school kid would have used AI. This

01:16:05.170 --> 01:16:08.449
website apparently is kicking off in less than

01:16:08.449 --> 01:16:13.029
a month, June 3rd. There's no information. Do

01:16:13.029 --> 01:16:15.479
you think this is fake? This is the first I'm

01:16:15.479 --> 01:16:17.920
hearing of it. Guys, this does not look right

01:16:17.920 --> 01:16:21.340
to me. There's no rosters. There's no way this

01:16:21.340 --> 01:16:23.300
is happening in June. There's no way this is

01:16:23.300 --> 01:16:25.560
happening in June. There's no rosters. I don't

01:16:25.560 --> 01:16:27.979
even know where the teams are on this website.

01:16:28.079 --> 01:16:30.720
They don't even say that. This cannot be real.

01:16:30.880 --> 01:16:33.140
Okay, let's operate. Let's assume it's real.

01:16:33.960 --> 01:16:35.439
Because apparently somebody was named a head

01:16:35.439 --> 01:16:38.600
coach. What do I think about it? Do we need another

01:16:38.600 --> 01:16:42.300
leak? The timing is good. Okay, summer. Yes,

01:16:42.300 --> 01:16:44.560
it conflicts with national team, but so far we've

01:16:44.560 --> 01:16:48.420
got AU in the fall, Love and MLV in the winter.

01:16:48.920 --> 01:16:52.140
Summer's available. I am, if people are going

01:16:52.140 --> 01:16:55.340
to try and do things to increase the visibility

01:16:55.340 --> 01:16:58.140
in the sport and continue to give athletes opportunities,

01:16:58.640 --> 01:17:01.920
go for it. There's a big push for live sports

01:17:01.920 --> 01:17:04.539
and all of those things, specifically in women's

01:17:04.539 --> 01:17:07.699
sports. Try it. See what happens. Somebody make

01:17:07.699 --> 01:17:09.859
it work. Do I think that it's... going to be

01:17:09.859 --> 01:17:12.239
easy? Do I think that the product is going to

01:17:12.239 --> 01:17:15.239
be amazing, especially at the beginning? Probably

01:17:15.239 --> 01:17:19.079
not. But if people are willing to try, I will

01:17:19.079 --> 01:17:22.100
check it out at least once. Can we get some of

01:17:22.100 --> 01:17:26.939
our listeners to sign up, please? Because there's

01:17:26.939 --> 01:17:30.560
no draft in 2026 or seven. So when I click free

01:17:30.560 --> 01:17:34.640
agency, it opens an email. Some of you young

01:17:34.640 --> 01:17:38.000
listeners out there. Send the email and let us

01:17:38.000 --> 01:17:41.100
know what happens because I'm very curious. Yes,

01:17:41.100 --> 01:17:45.039
let's get our Volley Talk listeners out there

01:17:45.039 --> 01:17:49.159
infiltrating, getting the info, sign up for free

01:17:49.159 --> 01:17:53.199
agency, tell us the process. Is it real? I don't

01:17:53.199 --> 01:17:55.100
know what to think, you guys. Question five.

01:17:55.359 --> 01:17:58.060
Ideally, would both left sides and opposites

01:17:58.060 --> 01:18:00.319
take out of system balls depending on where the

01:18:00.319 --> 01:18:04.279
pass was? Do any teams actually do this? Is one

01:18:04.279 --> 01:18:06.960
side better than the other? Could really good

01:18:06.960 --> 01:18:09.399
teams also send out -of -system balls to the

01:18:09.399 --> 01:18:11.819
back row, or would that not be a good choice

01:18:11.819 --> 01:18:14.460
out -of -system? Why don't you start with this

01:18:14.460 --> 01:18:16.279
one, because you are a very good out -of -system

01:18:16.279 --> 01:18:21.159
hitter. Ideally, yes. Both left sides and opposites

01:18:21.159 --> 01:18:23.800
are good out -of -system hitters. That is the

01:18:23.800 --> 01:18:26.640
goal. You want your hitters to be good in -system,

01:18:26.739 --> 01:18:29.520
good out -of -system. Is one side better than

01:18:29.520 --> 01:18:33.210
the other? I would say no. A lot of the success

01:18:33.210 --> 01:18:36.510
depends on setting quality, depends on how the

01:18:36.510 --> 01:18:38.310
other team is setting up their block defense.

01:18:38.869 --> 01:18:41.390
All things, just if we're starting from scratch,

01:18:41.569 --> 01:18:43.430
no, I don't think one side is better than the

01:18:43.430 --> 01:18:45.670
other. The only thing I will say about that is

01:18:45.670 --> 01:18:48.390
I think it's easier to hit a ball on your dominant

01:18:48.390 --> 01:18:50.949
hand. So if you're a right -handed right side,

01:18:51.189 --> 01:18:53.550
you lose a little bit of vision with the high

01:18:53.550 --> 01:18:55.789
ball coming across your body. So I think that

01:18:55.789 --> 01:18:59.609
in and of itself makes it more difficult, but

01:18:59.609 --> 01:19:03.100
it's still doable. Is running the back row good

01:19:03.100 --> 01:19:07.319
out of system? I think it depends what back row

01:19:07.319 --> 01:19:10.680
option you're looking for and where the pass

01:19:10.680 --> 01:19:15.220
is. Running the pipe, it's tough to run a good

01:19:15.220 --> 01:19:18.619
pipe ball out of system. I think if you are able

01:19:18.619 --> 01:19:22.359
to reverse the flow across the court, setting

01:19:22.359 --> 01:19:26.619
to the right side back row makes the most sense.

01:19:27.100 --> 01:19:30.340
If the setter is being pulled off the court,

01:19:30.680 --> 01:19:34.079
off the sideline in position one, it can often

01:19:34.079 --> 01:19:37.119
be hard to run an effective back row ball with

01:19:37.119 --> 01:19:40.520
such a small distance. I think a lot of it depends

01:19:40.520 --> 01:19:44.260
on the pass location, but running the back row

01:19:44.260 --> 01:19:47.859
is not necessarily a bad idea out of system at

01:19:47.859 --> 01:19:50.539
all. I think it just really depends on set quality.

01:19:50.960 --> 01:19:53.640
Okay, question six. Do you have any thoughts

01:19:53.640 --> 01:19:56.720
on Robin Amo stepping down as the University

01:19:56.720 --> 01:19:59.399
of Hawaii's coach? It's pretty clear she did

01:19:59.399 --> 01:20:01.520
it for personal slash family reasons, which I

01:20:01.520 --> 01:20:03.520
understand. But thoughts on where Hawaii goes

01:20:03.520 --> 01:20:06.640
from here. Is it considered a top job and who

01:20:06.640 --> 01:20:11.859
might be a fit? I mean, coaching is a very taxing

01:20:11.859 --> 01:20:15.859
job on family life. All consuming. It's, you

01:20:15.859 --> 01:20:18.920
know, my dad was slash is a coach. Like I've

01:20:18.920 --> 01:20:22.659
seen like playing for so long. I've seen how

01:20:22.659 --> 01:20:26.739
much time coaches spend with their team. or thinking

01:20:26.739 --> 01:20:29.619
about volleyball, or preparing for matches. Even

01:20:29.619 --> 01:20:33.340
if they are present at home, they are preparing,

01:20:33.439 --> 01:20:37.180
or they're traveling, or whatever. So it is very

01:20:37.180 --> 01:20:41.720
hard on family life to be a coach. So completely

01:20:41.720 --> 01:20:44.899
understand if family is a priority there. Is

01:20:44.899 --> 01:20:47.220
Hawaii a top job? I think Hawaii has taken a

01:20:47.220 --> 01:20:51.239
big dip since Dave Shoji retired. kind of built

01:20:51.239 --> 01:20:53.439
that program into the national powerhouse it

01:20:53.439 --> 01:20:55.859
was for a long time. And when he retired, I feel

01:20:55.859 --> 01:20:59.760
like it kind of had a progressive, steady decline.

01:21:00.319 --> 01:21:02.500
They're moving to the Mountain West Conference,

01:21:02.659 --> 01:21:05.739
which in volleyball is not the strongest conference

01:21:05.739 --> 01:21:09.279
by any means. So would it be considered a top

01:21:09.279 --> 01:21:13.100
job? You have even more travel than you do for

01:21:13.100 --> 01:21:15.199
a normal program, so you're going to be gone

01:21:15.199 --> 01:21:18.920
even more. than a coach on the mainland playing

01:21:18.920 --> 01:21:22.579
for a middle of the pack conference for a team

01:21:22.579 --> 01:21:25.079
that's not historically been doing very well.

01:21:25.199 --> 01:21:27.420
Like I personally wouldn't consider it a top

01:21:27.420 --> 01:21:30.840
job. It's a good volleyball market. Like it's

01:21:30.840 --> 01:21:33.380
not a top, top job, but here's a candidate that

01:21:33.380 --> 01:21:36.000
I think would be a good fit. If you have a young

01:21:36.000 --> 01:21:39.199
coach who's been an assistant at a very top school

01:21:39.199 --> 01:21:42.560
who doesn't have to move a family, they can just

01:21:42.560 --> 01:21:45.979
go and it doesn't affect. anything else, I think

01:21:45.979 --> 01:21:47.819
it's a really good opportunity to try and bring

01:21:47.819 --> 01:21:51.399
a pro, uh, a university team kind of back into

01:21:51.399 --> 01:21:53.380
its quote unquote glory. Like the men are really

01:21:53.380 --> 01:21:56.100
good. I believe they're well -funded, you know,

01:21:56.100 --> 01:21:58.460
if you're not worried about being away from home,

01:21:58.600 --> 01:22:02.680
I think it's a really unique opportunity. I think

01:22:02.680 --> 01:22:05.239
you'll get some good candidates for it, but I

01:22:05.239 --> 01:22:09.439
think it would be tough for a family, you know,

01:22:09.439 --> 01:22:13.630
to up and move for that job. Expect maybe a young,

01:22:13.750 --> 01:22:16.229
not a ton of experience as a head coach, but

01:22:16.229 --> 01:22:19.369
some really good volleyball credentials and looking

01:22:19.369 --> 01:22:21.430
to build something is the kind of coach I would

01:22:21.430 --> 01:22:24.869
expect to end up in that job. So part B to that

01:22:24.869 --> 01:22:28.470
question and our last question of the day. Any

01:22:28.470 --> 01:22:30.829
chance Charlie Wade moves over from the men's

01:22:30.829 --> 01:22:33.229
team to the women's? He was on the Hawaii women's

01:22:33.229 --> 01:22:35.609
staff for several years and coached the Pacific

01:22:35.609 --> 01:22:38.890
women for a couple of years. Zero chance. I think

01:22:38.890 --> 01:22:41.970
no. His team is really good. They're so good.

01:22:42.069 --> 01:22:45.289
I can't see him leaving the men who are top,

01:22:45.369 --> 01:22:48.470
top, and then going back to the women, particularly

01:22:48.470 --> 01:22:53.210
when he has a kid on the team. Yeah. I can't

01:22:53.210 --> 01:22:55.569
see him leaving that program. They are very good.

01:22:55.689 --> 01:22:57.630
You might have one of his assistants step into

01:22:57.630 --> 01:23:00.170
that head coach role. Maybe. All right. Looking

01:23:00.170 --> 01:23:04.270
forward, we have not a ton on the schedule this

01:23:04.270 --> 01:23:07.520
week, but Saturday at 11 a .m. Eastern. Men's

01:23:07.520 --> 01:23:10.100
Champions League Final Four begins. We have Warsaw

01:23:10.100 --> 01:23:13.539
versus Perugia. And we have Ankara versus Zavirce.

01:23:13.819 --> 01:23:16.439
Sunday at 2 .30 p .m. Eastern, we have Men's

01:23:16.439 --> 01:23:18.979
Champions League Finals. So we'll have an episode

01:23:18.979 --> 01:23:21.840
next week all about Men's Champions League. Whee!

01:23:22.279 --> 01:23:24.399
Yeah, not a lot happening. Like we said, VNL's

01:23:24.399 --> 01:23:28.060
around the corner, everybody. So tune in to ChampionsLeagueEuroVolley

01:23:28.060 --> 01:23:31.890
.tv. That concludes this week's episode of Volley

01:23:31.890 --> 01:23:33.670
Talk. There's always something shaking in the

01:23:33.670 --> 01:23:35.609
volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed this

01:23:35.609 --> 01:23:38.029
little fix. Be sure to follow the show so you

01:23:38.029 --> 01:23:39.750
don't miss any updates, and we'd be so grateful

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if you'd leave us a five -star review. You can

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also find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore

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info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining

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