Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley
Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers
who want to dig deep into what is going on in
NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host,
Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball
world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and
longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And
I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international
volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat
guy. Week two of Women's VNL has wrapped up.
I will say that I experienced some surprises.
There was a lot of back and forth, teams winning,
upsets that I was a little bit shocked about,
then teams turning around and then losing. Things
were all over the place this week. We've got
some things to discuss for sure. We also have
a really interesting listener suggested segment
to go over that we're pretty excited about. It
was quite challenging. As always, so excited
to talk volleyball with you guys. So let's get
started. All right, weekly highlights and happenings.
So continuing the MLV and love signings train,
I'm not going to go into specifics this week,
but the trend that we are seeing in MLV is that
a lot of love bench players are making the shift
to MLV. Do we know if that's because their contracts
aren't being renewed or they're choosing to go
where they think they're going to play? Very
good question. Because Love has been signing
a lot of international athletes. Are they signing
enough to fill four new teams? I'm not sure about
that, but I bet it's a little bit of A, a little
bit of B. Makes sense. Because I think there
were a lot of two -year contracts in Love, which
obviously two years is up. Yeah, I'm not sure.
I'd be curious if anyone knows any specifics.
I wonder what the ratio is between contracts
renewed, people choosing to leave. It would just
be a curious. I'm thinking like Love Bench. They're
probably going to make on the higher end an MLV.
Probably. So they probably are getting a pay
increase. Fair. But I don't know. That's what
we've been seeing. The exception question mark
to this rule is I have noticed that Dallas is
taking a lot of current top talent from MLV.
Kaz Brown signed there. There are several names
that I was like, oh, they did really well in
MLV, and they're going to Dallas. So that is
interesting because we've seen Minnesota gather
some players that were playing overseas. NorCal
is gathering, I couldn't tell you, to be honest.
They posted their first 12, and I'm like, I literally
don't know any of these people. And then Dallas,
I feel like, is pulling from within. MLV already,
Omaha's looking outside. So it's been pretty
interesting to watch that unfold. On the love
side, a lot more international athletes have
signed. Current Czech women's head coach, Giannis
Athanasopoulos. If I said that right, somebody
give me a gold star because that name is like
28 letters long. He is the head coach of Nebraska.
Interesting. Yes. What happened to Susie? Susie.
Your question. Just MIA. Maybe her contract was
up. Oh, fair. So we're seeing a lot more international
coaches coming to love as well. So that you can
tell that they're trying to make the push that
we've been discussing about like having to bring
more good international talent if they want to
keep making the push to consider themselves among
the top leagues. Are they bringing top international
talent? In my opinion, not yet. But they are
transitioning and heading that way. You need
to start somewhere and you need to build positive
momentum. Like players come and go, oh, it was
a good experience. Then maybe another player
comes or somebody from their national team comes.
So, I mean, it's not going to happen overnight.
We knew that like the salaries in Turkey and
Italy and China are still way higher than you
can get here. But again, it's a start. Definitely.
So that's that on the American domestic front
for the week. A couple. happenings in the vnl
world there were three coaches who were sanctioned
by the fivb this week the first giovanni guadetti
for his red card in their match against japan
he earned that one he earned that one also earned
a 1500 franc swiss franc fine and i'll tell you
there's no way that canada's paying that fine
that's coming out of his pocket If he was a player,
absolutely not. Volleyball Canada wouldn't pay
it. I'm wondering if they paid it. I would be
shocked if they paid it. Volleyball Canada is
holding on to that money. They need to. That
they don't have. He got a red card. The Chinese
men's coach was sanctioned because he used inappropriate
language during the press conference. He earned
that one as well. Did you watch it? I didn't,
but I read about it. Oh, I didn't read about
that one. And then Zé Roberto, the head coach
for Brazilian women, had to miss a game. He had
to sit at least 20 feet away from the court.
They won't tell us. Oh, I found out. I saw a
video. I didn't know. What was the wording they
used? Inappropriate conduct toward a member of
the global volleyball community. You know the
Italian, like... Yeah. Basically, F you. He did
that to Julio Velasco during their Brazil's match
against Italy in week one. Earned it. Earned
it. But the thing for me is, like, you're going
to get fired. I mean, he was probably not happy
they were losing to their, like, juniors. But
that's not the time you blow a gasket. I don't
know the context. I know somebody's probably
watched that game and knows the context, but
I saw it and I was like, oh, that's good. Earns
suspension and fines across the league. Those
sanctions. I mean, it's kind of what you want.
You want personality. You want a little juice.
Do we want that? I don't know. Happens in every
league. Kara Kurt is out for all of VNL. Injury?
has pain. I read a Brazilian site, and so going
off of my Portuguese. Which is very good. Thank
you. From what I read from this Brazilian site,
she has pain in her back and legs that will take
four to six weeks of rest to heal, which takes
her in between the final of VNL and the European
Championship time. So she's going to miss all
of VNL. Makes me think like pinched nerve or
disc something. Yeah, what if it's like a sciatic
nerve thing? That's terrible. Not that I've never
had that before, but like we're on the street.
Terrible stuff. Hopefully that gets cleared up.
Or maybe like a disc issue. Could be. Four to
six weeks. That seems short for a disc. Anyways,
speculation here. So she's out and Italy announced
that Antropova will be moving back to the right
side. She is done on the left. Oh, I assumed
it was just for this week because they struggled
a little bit. No, she's done. Interesting. So
it's like, is it because the girls who have been
playing right side with Egon Ugon aren't, he
doesn't consider them good enough to be the backup
option? Or does he think that in trouble can't
cut it? It's curious. I didn't think the opposite.
played particularly well this week. Again, it's
a small sample size. She's young. I get it. Well,
there were two different ones that have been
playing. I know. I didn't love either of their
games. Well, Italy was very high error this whole
week. Yeah. And again, you have a whole bunch
of young players. It's not only one team's fault,
but you have Aganu and Antropova, and it was
a big dip after that from both of them. I don't
know whether Aganu is going to play in week three
if she's coming back. Or if they want to run
with Anthropova and they think they're going
to be able to win without her. It'll be curious
to see. I'm a little surprised the experiment
ended so quickly. Me too. I mean, she definitely
wasn't as comfortable hitting on the left as
the right, obviously. Yeah. I mean... It just
seems like not a big enough sample size. Yeah.
I didn't think she was doing that bad. No. No.
I didn't either. And I still think the upside
is really high, but we'll... We'll see. I bet
you this isn't the end of her on the left. Well,
because she wasn't, in my mind, given her lack
of experience on the left wasn't that bad, it
makes me think that they just feel like they
need a better option for the right side. I agree.
Especially because their passing wasn't as on
point as it usually is. And so you need a terminal
option that you can just jack the ball to. You're
weighing future considerations to winning now.
In that situation. So we'll see. So that. Is
what was up this week. Couple tidbits. Couple
news items. So we'll see if anything else comes
to light. This current week. As we head into
men's week two. We got a very interesting. Listener
question. Slash segment request. And so I'll
just read it. I was wondering about the athletes
who don't get to participate in VNL because their
countries don't make the cut. If you were to
create a dream team comprised of these athletes,
what would your starting lineup look like? And
how far do you think they'd make it? This was
really challenging. Well, half of this assignment
was very easy. Half of the assignment was very
hard. Half of the assignment was very easy. Half
was very hard because. Every player that I was
thinking of, I'm like, oh, they're not playing
VNL. I was like, but their country is playing
VNL. So I couldn't put them on my list. Walk
through kind of our process. I manually looked
at all of the Italian teams or any players that
were not on a VNL team, looked at their bio,
looked at their history. and then i used a combination
of manual search and ai to scrub some of the
other leagues germany turkey china and then poland
japan brazil and then i kind of looked at some
of the national team members from some of the
south american countries argentina puerto rico
peru just to kind of see mexico if there was
anybody out there that we were missing and compile
the list and then from there we picked some players
now I will say I didn't look heavily at outside
hitters and opposites because I was 100 certain
I wasn't going to find anybody as good as the
ones we picked yeah when we were going like we
didn't work together on this we kind of like
brainstormed some potential athletes that could
be in the pool but as we were going through this
I mean I think it's obvious to everybody who
our pick for opposite was. Yes. Isabel Hawk.
Correct. Sweden. Okay, so obviously she's our
opposite. Now, Tolok is also out there. No, Hawk's
better. I understand that, but I'm just saying
that was another option. Yeah, Tolok was another
option for opposite. And then for left sides,
we landed on the same two immediately in Marina
Markova and Irina Fedorovskaya, both from Russia.
Now this would have gotten much more interesting
if we excluded Russia, assuming given the political
climate, if they were competing in VNL, because
they would have been, they're good enough. And
it might've been easier if we were like, you
know what? Let's just look at, do a deep dive
into Russia. Yeah. But we're like, you know what?
Players we've seen. Let's spread it out a little
bit. We're not going to just do Russia. But I
will say on the outside, I probably would have
picked Melanie Parra for at least one of those
positions outside from Mexico. She's. She's very
good. So she was, I'm going to give her a little
bit of a shout out just cause I've seen her play.
I like her game and I think she's a good outside.
Who did you have for your setter? I picked Valentina
Anderson. Okay. I, she's got a ton of Puerto
Rico from Puerto Rico. She's got a ton of experience.
She's 36 years old. She's been playing in the
U S pro leagues for the last several years, but
she's played in a bunch of other leagues. I like
the offense she runs. I like how fiery and competitive
she is. My only knock on her is that she's short,
but given what else I was working with, I was
going to take the experience and the set location
and the offensive kind of style. Okay, I took
Karla Atunovic from Croatia. Yeah, fair. She's
quite young, but she played this past season
in Chieri. The year before, she was in Severin.
Germany, I believe. She's an up -and -comer.
Kyrie is pretty good. Schwerin is always a very
good German team. So I was like, okay, we can
work with this. I didn't love the other options
as much. There was a Greek girl that I was looking
at, but she actually retired a couple years ago.
So I was like, I can't pick her. Then we had,
I looked at like Raquel Lazaro. There was a Cuban
setter, Austrian, but no. Those were the two
that I looked at too. I liked Anderson over Atunovic,
just a little more experienced. Okay, who did
you pick for middles? I stayed in Europe and
I picked Bozana Butiga from Croatia. She's 25.
She played for Canigliano. or I will say she
trained with Conigliano for a year. She spent
four years in Italy A1 on a bunch of different
teams. She's won a bunch of awards on the European
side. I mean, when you play for Croatia, you're
not going to be in the top, but she's seen some
initial recognition. So just being in that environment
specifically with Conigliano and being able to
come back then and play in Italy for four years,
I like my chances with her. I also had her. Who
was your second? Sasha Planincek from Slovenia.
I had her as my second on studio. Okay, she played
for Woods for the last few seasons. She's played
in China. She's been in Turkey. A lot of experience.
She's 31. I really liked her career trajectory
and where she's been. She jumped out at me. Another
person I was considering was Bianca Fario from
Argentina. But I just liked the body of work
from these other two more. They played for more
reputable clubs. Yeah. Okay, we had the same
ones. And then who did you pick for libero? Shara
Venegas from Puerto Rico. I picked the same.
The libero options were tough because you can't
see any of them play, really. And I've seen Venegas
play. Most countries keep their liberos in their
own leagues, as we've discussed, unless you're
from the U .S. she's the only one I had seen
play and none of the resumes were super good
because they were all kind of local leagues.
So that's where I landed. I think that's probably
the one where somebody could throw out a bunch
of suggestions and be like, well, you've missed
this player or this person. I'm sure people are
going to throw out a bunch of everything and
be like, you did this completely wrong. Well,
so I would be, I would be curious because it
does take, it took a lot of time to look for
players and to kind of figure it out. Yeah. It's
hard. When you eliminate the countries that are
playing VNL, there are not a ton of options left.
It was an interesting assignment. And then on
top of that, when you take out Hawk and the two
Russians, you're left trying to find middles,
liberos, and a setter. Like, that is hard. Yes.
Yeah. So I challenge you guys to try to top our
roster. Please post them if you do. But how do
we think this team would do in VNL? I'm going
to say not good. If they can get the ball in
the air to set super high balls to the Russians
and just like put a ball in a hittable spot for
Hawk, then yes. So, you know what? Maybe they'd
do okay. I mean, you have enormous firepower
on both the left side and the right side. You
just, you can be out of the system the whole
time. Are you going to block anybody? Yeah, but
like your block defense. Like, are you going
to do anything? You're doing solo blocks with
the outsides. You're just making big moves. Markova,
you're going one -on -one middles. We're just
focusing on the middle left side, okay? You're
leaving Markova by herself. Yeah, Hawk's not
outstanding defensively. Markova's not wonderful.
We've got to be a high -efficiency out -of -system
team. So, Fedorov, save up. Bomb your serve.
Hawk, you as well. Markova. So, you know what?
Maybe they wouldn't do 2 -2 bad. I think they
would finish above Thailand. Yeah, eventually
they'd finish like 14th. So Thailand's currently
14th. I think they would finish above that group.
You know what? They could push those mid -range
teams. It all depends on how their ball control
is. How many aces do we give up? How many aces
do you give up? How out of system are we setting
these hitters? Okay. That's the question. We're
shooting to pass around the four or five meter
mark. And can these setters set out of system?
Can my setter set out of system is a question.
So I'm going to say like they're not making the
final eight. No. But I think they would do like.
They wouldn't get relegated. No, absolutely not.
They would not get relegated. This is a really
interesting question. It was very difficult.
It was a lot of fun. All right, let's dive into
week two VNL. Just to start, I want to go over
a couple of the roster changes from this year.
Notably, Dominican brought a new opposite, Gonzalez.
So she was probably one of their better players.
Wasn't there week one, was here week two. So
that was a good addition. Germany added four
new players to their roster, including Kinderman,
who's an opposite, and Timmer, who's an outside.
So we saw them bring a few new players. Italy
added Farr. So she was here week two. Poland
added Stisiak. Turkey said the rest week is over
and revamped their roster. So they were looking.
Well, they were playing at home. Yeah. So they
were looking pretty stacked. Karakurt wasn't
on there, but obviously you said she was injured.
So I think they were pretty much back to full
strength. USA added Poulter, Rettke, and Obagu.
to their roster. So lots of similar rosters with
a couple additions of players who had, you know,
maybe had a longer international season and came
up other than Turquoise who kind of went crazy.
I mean, playing at home makes sense, but those
were the major additions. Now, if we look at
how week two went, Turquoise Forno, USA Forno,
France 0 -4 and Japan 2 -2. So we no longer have
any unbeaten teams left in VNL. Brazil almost
got blanked 3 -0 against Germany, but then pushed
it to almost achieve a reverse sweep. Not the
team I thought they would lose to. No, me either.
So they lost that match. But before we go into
a couple of the notable matches, let's look at
the standings as we currently sit. So USA and
Brazil are at the top, 7 -1. Did we ever think
we would say USA is currently number one? Italy,
Poland, Japan, Turkey, all tied at 6 -2. And
rounding out the current top eight is Canada
and China at 5 -3. Now, at the bottom, battling
for relegation, Dominican and France both only
have one win. So we will see what happens with
that. I think the standings will be very different
at the end of week three, but this is where we
stand currently. Particularly, well, everywhere.
I was going to say particularly at the bottom,
but like a lot of teams up at the top haven't
played each other. So for example, in one pool
next week, and this is just USA schedule. USA
plays Poland, Turkey, and Brazil. And Japan is
also in that pool. But they're not playing Japan.
They're not playing Japan. But I'm just saying
like that pool is stacked. So you're going to
see some losses there. Clearly one of the USA
or Brazil is going to end up taking the top.
And we'll see who Italy ends up bringing. So
there's going to be lots of movement. But for
now, it's an interesting leaderboard. But even
at the bottom. Bulgaria, Ukraine are kind of
hanging out down there too. And there's a pool
with all of those teams in it next week. Isn't
that so crazy? It's wild. Well, I think a lot
of it is somewhat mathematical in how they pick
the pools. I mean, this is entertainment, right?
You have a lot of the top teams playing for the
top spots, and then you have a lot of matches
with relegation potential also in week three.
It'll be really interesting watching. There'll
be pucker matches, so it'll be a lot of fun.
What's your favorite term? Dominican had a shot
to beat Czech Republic. They did. They were reverse
swept. But they did beat Japan. No, but that's
huge. You're telling me you're going to beat
Japan and then you're going to get reverse swept
by the Czech Republic when you are like at the
bottom? I mean, that loss could come back to
haunt them. Can you imagine if they get relegated
and they have to think about that? Yeah, not
great. Not great. A couple matches. I want to
just kind of get your thoughts on. Four matches
kind of caught my attention. USA beat Italy 3
-0. Give me your thoughts about that, about that
match. What does it mean? If anything, were you
surprised? Okay, so I heard the result before
I watched it. Like, I didn't watch it live. I
had an idea in my head of who the USA, of who
the US played started. I could not have been
more wrong. The U .S. lineup was not what I thought
it would be when I heard they won 3 -0. To be
fair, U .S. looked much better this week. I need
to, you know, give props when they're due. And
they looked much better this week. Eric Sullivan
talked in timeouts. That's point number one.
But they definitely looked smoother. Running
the pipe a little bit more. Was it up to what
I... thought it was last year no but they were
running it a bit more the middles were doing
really well and you know my the biggest surprise
for me on team usa do you know who it is i think
we probably the same i'm a cubic banks well i
thought we were going to say it at the same time
but he got too excited yes biggest surprise for
me is maddie banks she has put herself in the
running now i'm eggleston is just like Gone.
She's been voted off. She played against the
Dominican Republic and Serbia. They split some
time with the left sides, and we'll go over their
full usage after we talk about these couple matches,
but there's a log jam there of athletes now.
People I didn't think would really be in consideration
have stepped up and played well. I was showing
that Maddie Banks was on the roster and seeing
her play. I'm like, she is doing a good job.
I agree. Not to mention, this is an aside. She
just seems like such a great teammate that like
not related to her play at all, but just, you
know what I mean? Yep. She's a, she's a glue
player. She seems to bring everybody together.
There's a good positive demeanor there when there's
a bit of a flat line, I think on that team, I
think she brings some intangibles and I thought
her game honestly for two weeks has been very
good. Yeah. So I needed to say that. I know I've
been critical of the U S. But much improved.
Going back to your question about Italy, Italy
obviously playing their B team. And not the Ross,
like no Retke, no Agbagu, no Poulter or Hancock.
Running a two libero system. It was not, no Jordan
Thompson. Yes. Like literally all the players
that I thought would have been on the court were
not. So I was, it was weird. It seemed like it
was a. rest match for the starters. So that was
the third match that they played. The starting
lineup for the first two matches they played
were, I think, what you would expect. Against
Dominican was Jordan Thompson. It was Kubik,
Eggleston, Retke, Obagu, and Poulter. So they
started the first game. In the second game against
Czech, it was pretty much the same roster, except
Skinner played for Kubik. Then you had a bit
of a wild roster against Italy. So you had Kubik,
Samity. Wank, Skinner, O 'Neal, McCage, and Kahana
Torres set. And then for the last match against
Serbia, it went back. It was Skinner, Eggleston,
Thompson, O 'Neal, Holter with Retke and Obagu
splitting time. So it was kind of like you had
a staple and then that Italy game was, I almost
wonder if he saw that as a throwaway game or
if players needed rest. Those were the roster
decisions for week two. He had that error, in
my opinion, last year against China, where beating
China would have pushed them out of competing
against Italy. And he threw that game away. So
I would like to think that they learned from
that and realized this is a team that if we beat
them, it will really impact things later. So
I would say it was not a throwaway game. So then
you're assuming that he was resting players that
needed to be rested. Yeah. Okay. That's my guess.
But what do I know? I mean, I thought O 'Neal
blocked well in that match. To me, the narrative
of the USA -Italy match was Italy's errors. They
made so many hitting errors. And then when they
were out of system, to the US's credit, they
blocked really well. O 'Neal blocked well. I
thought Samity attacked well. Kubik attacked
well. Gahanatoris. set good balls i still don't
love her offense i don't love the way she runs
the middle pipe combo but her hitters were in
rhythm and gelling so she managed to do that
really well they were solid i mean you can't
control if another team makes errors totally
you just need to not make them yourself which
they did and the u .s kind of across the board
stat wise was good they used the double a barrel
system which i think is a step in the right direction
for them because I don't think hence is going
to be able to pass. And I think that her, I'm
sorry, her out of system setting is not it. I
know. And I know there's probably people like
up in arms. Cause I have a list of points at
different times and matches where she blew sets.
Cause I know people always talk about it, but
it was like five feet past the ref stand at one
point. Like, are you kidding me? Or over the
net or what? Even, even with her hands. You guys,
that is unacceptable. I don't care what your
feeling is about how good she is. She's not a
good setter, period. They had a good week. They
didn't have the stiffest competition, but they
came out and they took care of business and they
found, I think most importantly for me, they
found some rhythm it looked like in terms of
playing together, in terms of how they were blocking
and defending. We'll see if that translates next
week against those top teams. But I'm expecting
to see Jordan Thompson, Red Key, Obagu, Poulter.
Well, I kind of heard that they weren't going
home. That's what I heard. Oh, okay. Because
they're, I want to say, in Japan next week. So
they were in Philippines and then they're in
Japan. So I heard that they're just staying.
So if they're staying, which of the outsides
would you start in a must -win match? So you've
got Kubik, you've got Eggleston, you've got Skinner,
and you've got Wank. vonk if we're looking for
the german german pronunciation that stuff that's
the thing is because like vonk can be really
good or just like really bad i feel like there's
not really an in -between which is terrifying
to not know what you're gonna get i'm gonna say
avery skinner and i'm gonna say maddie kewik
that was my instinct with with the other two
coming off the bench Good for the U .S. for taking
care of the opponents that were in front of them.
The show starts next week. I'm honestly shocked
that they're in first place, but good for them.
They figured it out. They could go one and three
quite easily next. I mean, anybody in that pool
could. Yeah. Thailand beats Canada 3 -1. You
guys, what are you doing? And they played all
their starters. And then you're going to turn
around and beat Poland? Like, what are you doing?
Take care of the matches you need to take care
of, okay? But I think this is the case. We didn't
watch that one. But looking at who played, they're
rotating left sides in and out. So my guess would
be that the left side struggled. It's another
issue to the U .S. Who's going to play? And that
could have been passing. It could have been attacking.
It could have been defensive. There are holes
pop up in different places with that left side
core. I did have somebody message me and be like,
they're not doing the double sub. Kieran Van
Rijk is playing back row. You guys, she single
-handedly can turn around games just with her
serve. And I understand even when they do the
double sub, she serves. She should always serve.
She, I want to say in week two, she was top attacker,
top scorer, top server. Keep her in the back
row. She can clearly score. Wherever she is.
So I was happy when that person messaged me and
was like, no double sub. Maybe we daddy listened
to our podcast on the way to the bank to get
his fine payment. He's like, oh man, 1500 Swiss
francs. That's like a million Canadian dollars.
So Canada drops that, but they're still in the
running for the top eight and their pool is not
the death pool next week. So I'm expecting them
to pull off and be. Top eight in the playoffs.
Have they ever made the final eight? I don't
know. Somebody tell me. I think they missed last
year. No, they definitely missed last year. Because
remember, Bree, Kira, and Alexa were not playing.
I bet you they made at least one under Shannon
in the run of the other Olympics. Somebody tell
us. So they'll be in, which is good for them.
And then the last two things I wanted to cover
in the VNL segment, we had lots of listeners
asking for our opinions on Brazil and Japan.
So we watched a few of their games. I did not
watch Japan this week. I'm not going to lie to
you. I did see Brazil, though. Okay, I watched
a few Japan matches. We'll give the Brazil -Japan
kind of overview, our thoughts on them. So far,
Japan dropping two matches this week. Not great.
Not the best. Especially losing one to Dominican
guys. Yeah. But give me your thoughts on Brazil.
Their middles are outstanding. Yes. Wow. Julia
Kudais is automatic. I was saying offensively.
Okay. On that slide, unstoppable. Okay. Her arm
is so fast when she runs that slide. Feed her
the ball. Every opportunity you get, give her
the ball. And blocking, she is rushing it. And
Gianna's no joke either, you guys. She is blocking
really well. Their middle combo is top -notch.
They're looking really, really good. The only
thing I will say is I think they need to score
or be more of a threat in front of the setter.
In front of the setter. Okay, that is fair. But
that's my only little tidbit. And that probably
has less to do with them then. I think their
left sides are looking pretty good. Gabi obviously
is still not playing. So my big question marks
with Brazil are, as always, their right side
and setters. I think that is where you beat them.
And so when Gabi comes back, I'm assuming Bergman
is going to move to the right side. But, like,
is she good enough on the right side to kind
of make up that deficit that they have there?
And then I kind of feel like Macris and Roberta
are still kind of up and down. Like, one of them
will have a great match, and then one of them
will struggle, and then the opposite. Like, I
think the pieces are there. If they can pass,
which when Gobi comes back to, it should not
be an issue. Their middles are doing... a great
job opening things up. But yeah, my question
is the right side. I agree. I think for me, the
question is more the setter. Like they have two
options on the right side, right? You're going
to have one of Bergman and a Christina playing
on the, on the right. And then you have Tynara
coming off the bench. Like you should be able
to find somebody who's going to be able to be
serviceable on the right side at any given match.
Are they going to be top five right sides in
the world? No, but you should be able to be fine.
My issue is I don't think McCrease runs a very
good back row ball. Like her back row sets to
both the left side and the pipe are behind the
attack line pretty consistently, which makes
it hard to score. And I think you need a good
back row threat. And I don't think she runs a
good middle in front. So you're missing. that
good overload to the left side or overload on
the pipe when she's running an offense. And so
it becomes, I'm going to give you a hittable
ball, which she does, but it's hitters versus
blockers. She's not, I don't see her as giving
her hitters a good advantage. Like when you watch
good setters get you a one and a half or a one,
or I think if they lose, it will be on the setting.
Good points. I can get behind that. Now, Japan.
I did watch them in week one. I want to say,
I think Sato is playing very well. So I'm impressed.
Japan is standard, right? They're tenacious on
defense. They cover so well. The way they recycle
balls and they put their hitters in good positions.
The speed at which they run. All of that is still
happening. They need to be able to run the middle.
We saw that last year, too. And it just hasn't
changed. I don't care if your middle's good or
not. Obviously, the Japanese middles are going
to be undersized against pretty much every country.
Run them on a 31. Run them on a couple different
patterns. Take a step and then fade out. Something
to make the middle blockers on the other team
at least have to pay attention or run the pipe
over top really well. Again, I haven't watched
all their matches, but I'm not seeing an effective
back row overload from Japan consistently either.
Well, I mean, I just think also they're kind
of, and again, this is from week one. I didn't
watch week two. And they did go 4 -0 week one,
so I know. But the kind of foundation of what
they need to do well in order to run the offense
they want is to serve like crazy. and have really
good passing and I feel like their serve and
pass breaks down at like sometimes inopportune
times like they'll give up some aces or they'll
the balls will be getting pulled off the net
or they'll go on some serving error streaks and
it's just like no those need to be the foundation
of your team because your block's not huge give
your floor defense a chance to shine And you
need to run that fast offense with multiple options
to create some seams. So like just, I think the
timing of when the serve and pass breaks down
is like tough. Japan has very little margin for
error. Like if two of their outside hitters are
having not even off nights, but just decent nights,
they're not going to win. You can have at most
one player having. decent slash off night otherwise
it's just too hard for the other hitters to be
keyed on and and it's too hard like i love their
hitters i love wada i love ishikawa i love sato
i i really like them as individual players and
i think that they can be clutch in key moments
but i think yeah what you were saying makes sense
and it's just hard to be that consistent in a
vnl setting over three weeks all the time so
they are going to lose some matches where you're
like probably shouldn't have lost that one So
that's the wrap -up for week two. We have a whole
bunch of good matches, relegation, and top teams
that we'll be looking forward to in week three.
I'm excited. Yeah, it'll be very good. So keep
those questions coming. Let us know what you
thought on the women's side. Okay, it is time
for listener questions. Let's go. We've got a
good lineup this week. Question one, is there
any world where if Justine Wong -Arantes doesn't
come back? that a Jordan Larson or Kelsey Robinson
could play as libero for USA and be better than
Hintz or Rodriguez? 100%. I was going to say
no. You don't think Jordan would be a better
libero than those two? Is there a world where
she comes back? No. Do I think she's going to
come back? Highly unlikely. I don't think you'll
find a better out -of -system setter than Jordan
Larson, personally. Let me clarify. I don't think
she's coming back to play libero. I don't think
Kelsey Robinson would come back and play libero
either. But if Jordan decided she wanted to play
again, she would be a better libero than those
two. I don't even think that's close. Her serve
receive is outstanding. Her out -of -system setting,
incredible. Her ability to read the game. Court
presence. Again, I don't think she's not coming
out of retirement. She's literally played 12
Olympics. But if she chose to, yes, I think she's
better than those two. But like part one, is
there a world where that would happen? No. I
don't think so. No. I don't think so. But if
it did happen, would they be better? It's Justine
Wong -Arantes or bust, I think. I mean, the Libero
discussion, we get a lot of heat for it because
people who love Morgan Hens love Morgan Hens.
Oh, yeah. Totally. People who love Lexi Rodriguez
love Lexi Rodriguez. And there's no... There's
no swaying anybody's opinion around it. And I
don't care. I don't want us. I don't need to
sway anybody's opinion. I'm just saying like,
but you can just look at the fact that they're
playing a split libero this week, which was a
question before week one. Is there a time? Do
you think that USA will ever run a two libero
system? And we were like, yes, they should. But
the fact that it is really, I mean, they're running
it. Right. Well, yeah. They are running it, and
I think it's probably their best option, but
it just goes to show you that neither of them
is ready to be on the court full -time. I don't
know what your take or thoughts on this are,
but I want one libero on the floor. It adds to
consistency. It adds to the rhythm of what's
going on. You have Lexi setting some balls. You
have Hentz setting some balls. For me, I want
one libero on the court. Dictating everything.
I mean, in an ideal world, yes. Right. I would
prefer one libero to be able to do everything.
So neither of them are ready. But in the situation
that they're currently in, I'm not opposed to
this two libero system. Totally. Okay, question
two. What are your thoughts on people who dedicate
a huge chunk of their time each week to a sport
for decades, but don't make a living from it
or intend to be a world champion? but they still
feel like this sport is a way of life for them
and it's how they express themselves to the world.
For more context, perhaps people like this didn't
think there was enough money in that sport for
them to go pro or they trained just for self
-improvement and not necessarily to compete.
I'm interested in hearing your insights from
a more life purpose perspective than a sports
psychology perspective. Do you want to go or
you want me to go? I definitely have thoughts,
but if you want to start, go for it. I think
it's great. I think everybody should have goals
that they are striving towards, whether those
are professionally, whether those are hobbies,
whether those are fitness goals. It's no different
than putting a ton of time into anything, into
your work, into your family, into being in shape.
How you choose to spend your time is totally
up to you. And if you're going to do something,
why not do it to the fullest and do it? The best
you can. Yeah, and I mean, I have the same feelings
as you. Not everybody's goal is to be the best
in the world at something. It is possible to
be incredibly passionate about something, to
have it be a huge part of, I don't want to say
identity, but maybe a part of your identity.
Your community. Your community. Your sense of
purpose, as this person mentioned, without needing
or wanting it to be your career, your source
of income, to be the best of the best, whatever.
And honestly, sometimes that ruins it. Yes, 100%.
Think of how many times people do something,
they love it, and then as soon as they start
making money doing it, it becomes a chore and
not fun. If your life purpose... is volleyball
if you have been dedicating hours of your life
to it every week for decades I applaud you and
I think volleyball in particular or if it's not
volleyball if it's anything but volleyball in
particular like it is a sport that you can play
your whole life there is a spot for you regardless
of your level your age that is what I think is
such a beautiful thing about volleyball Some
people are passionate about crochet. Yes. I like
to crochet. So that wasn't throwing shade to
anybody. FYI. Well, and I've worked with lots
of people who are not intending to go pro. And
honestly, they're some of the best people to
work with because they just, they're coming out.
They want to get better. They love everything
about it. The atmosphere is positive. I mean,
I think. And I think it's super healthy for people
to have something like that. I'm all for it.
I know a lot of people who, for lack of a better
term, are like weekend warriors who pay for coaching.
And they have no intention of making money playing
the sport, but they want to improve. I think
that that is admirable, honestly. Totally. Okay,
question three. Can you guys comment on the frequency
of the VNL matches? I saw a couple coaches last
week complaining about having to play three consecutive
matches and how that impacted the quality of
the game. I've also seen interviews with players
where he brought attention to the demanding schedule
of VNL and how that impacted the recovery of
players in national teams that had to go from
club directly to VNL. I love VNL, but not at
the cost of players having more injuries. I agree,
it is a grueling schedule if you are required
to play every match. If you are on a national
team that is not very deep, that needs to play
their top 6, 7, 8 players every single match
to even have a chance. Of making Final Eight,
of not being relegated, whatever it may be. Yes.
Tough. I'm looking at you, Canada. It's tough.
However, VNL as a tournament is designed to reward
teams that are deep, who have developed more
than eight players, because it's not meant for
people to play every match. And unfortunately
that is the case for some countries and for some
teams, but it is, I would say that it is not
the purpose or how VNL was designed to be played.
So I have a couple of questions for you, just
out of curiosity, knowing that you've kind of
done this one, I will say for those athletes
who are playing club and champions league and
then going national team, like that's, that's
a ton of volleyball in and of itself is very
hard playing two matches back to back. Is that
challenging? Is that physically demanding and
draining? Okay, for context, before people come
at me, so I played for Canada's indoor team before
I played for Canada's beach team. So there was
a period in time where I was doing club, Champions
League, indoor national team. And then for several
years, what was it, like six years? I was doing
club, pro, and then beach world tour and doing
that on cycle. So yes, I have done this before.
If you are going five sets and you're getting
set 90 balls, turning around and playing a full
match the next day, yes, it is challenging. However,
the cycle of going year round, My own take on
it and how I kind of dealt with it was I didn't
think about it. I really truly believe that your
mind is incredibly powerful. And if you allow
yourself to go there, you will be exhausted and
fatigued. But if you just stay like day to day
and keep grinding and keep going like one foot
in front of the other, it is very manageable.
But you also, That's not to say it's like it's
all in your head. No, you need to be surrounded
with good people who understand load management,
who understand that recovery is part of a yearly
training plan and not have you jump a hundred
times a day during practice. Like some days you
need to stay on the ground. Some days it needs
to just be a ball control practice, but like
it is. doable but yeah so i think you can probably
play back -to -back matches and not see a ton
of decline but three matches in a row especially
if they're long hard matches that's tough from
a maintaining performance standpoint and again
which is where you need to be subbing players
in and out that is strategic about how you manage
your roster exactly now that's why you're not
seeing The starting six for Italy traveling for
the first two weeks. They are not even on the
travel rock. They're not traveling. They need
them. Gabi is traveling, but she's not playing.
So it's like those countries have the luxury
of having a ton of players at their disposal.
And they're able to do that. The other thing
I will say is. I don't think it necessarily adds
to acute injuries. Like volleyball isn't really
an acute injury sport from fatigue, I would say.
Like if you're going to roll your ankle, you're
probably going to roll your ankle from stepping
on somebody, whether you're fresh or whether
you're not. You know, if you're going to. No,
but like a stress fracture. Right. So it's, you're
managing. Labral issues. You're managing shoulder
swings and things like that. Not necessarily.
I don't think we're putting athletes in acute
harm's way by playing a schedule like this. It's
more managing the load, like you said, and the
shoulders and the soreness around those kind
of things. So yes, it is a thing, but it is manageable.
And if you're in one of the countries where it's
not, well, yeah, it really sucks. All right,
question four. In most sports, one team wears
white. and the other in colors. How do they decide
uniform colors per team in volleyball at the
world competition level? Okay, it's been a while
since I've played internationally indoor, but
not so long ago that I was doing it on the beach.
So I'm pretty sure it's the same. Somebody tell
me if this is wrong. But from what I know in
recent years, every team usually has like three,
colors of uniforms and when you go to like your
team check -in or whatever your delegate tells
the officials your preference in order one two
three so like for example let's say it's usa
and their colors are red white and blue if they
like the red jersey they'd be like hey red first
then blue then white third When you are playing
against a team, the higher ranked team always
gets their number one choice. So if two teams
have red as their number one choice, the higher
ranked team will get red. And then this next,
the other team will get their number two choice.
However, let's say you are ranked number one,
like you're Italy or something. Always ranked
higher. And you're like, man, I'm really getting
sick of wearing this. blue jersey or something
you can tell them like for our next match we're
gonna go with our choice number two so like you
can switch it up if you are the higher ranked
team but if you're the lower ranked team you're
kind of at the mercy of like whatever team you're
playing that is how we did it internationally
for like olympics and stuff for beach and i'm
pretty sure it's the same but again correct me
if i'm wrong okay question five Would it be insane
to say that Serbia might win VNL this year? Yes.
Yes. It's not happening. The context for this
question after the follow -up statement to this
question was Cajic, Ushulak, and Boscovic are
probably the top outside trio in VNL. I will
counter that with Silla and Tropova and Egonu
might be better. Yes, I'm saying an untested
Antropova is better. Gabi Bergman, Anna Kristina.
Yeah. Yes, if Serbia wins VNL, that is crazy.
It's not. I don't see it happening. Serbia, at
best, will make the playoffs. Yeah, let's remember.
Last year, they were just trying to get one win.
Yeah. And they finally got a bunch when Tiana
came back in week three. So for them to go from
the basement to the penthouse, Wow. Those three
players are playing well. Uzilak, Csajic. Okay,
the game that I played, Uzilak, Aleksic, Kortadzic,
Boscovich were not playing. No, but they played
the game before that. Not Boscovich, but the
other three. And yes, they played well. But I
don't think they're not grooving on the same
level as the top. teams like i think they'll
make final eight this year and then i don't think
they'll make it past the quarterfinals like and
i think that's like you said to go from not winning
any matches to making the top eight is i think
it's a good jump in a year whoever submitted
this question go ahead and do the bet on the
vnl betting site and i hope you win a ton of
money honestly yeah i mean i think it's you're
gonna get great odds and again it's not it's
not so outlandish because those are good players.
If all four of them had three career matches
at the same time, could it happen? Maybe, but
it's very unlikely. Okay, question six. Why do
you think Italian coaches are so dominant in
international volleyball, both in national team
and at the club level? In the women's game, for
example, the Turkish league is really strong
as the Italian league. but we see Italian coaches
everywhere, including the Turkish national team.
Similarly in the men's game, like Poland has
a great league, but you don't see Polish coaches
everywhere. It's Italians again. This comes down
to how long the league has been around and how
many teams and the depth and quality of the league.
You've had longer to develop. what I would call
coaching trees. So let's say you have, you know,
three great coaches in Italy 40 years ago, right?
When the league started, all those four coaches
who were probably maybe four of the best eight
coaches in the world at that time, they have
all influenced tens of coaches who then go out
and spread and learn. put their own spin on it,
and they've got 20 teams, and there's lots of
opportunity for young people to come in, to learn,
to do their own thing. There's just so much room
for experience and for growth and for opportunity
at the highest level and learning from such elite
coaches that they're just better than everyone
else because they've been doing it for longer
at a higher level. It's like the Brazilians on
the beach side. Yeah. Everywhere you go. Every
national team, every anything, there's a Brazilian
beach volleyball coach. And it's Canadians with
hockey. Like every country has, or many countries
have their sport where they've just been so dominant
that everybody looks to them. And that's the
case with volleyball. That's a really good question
though. Yeah. Well, and I will say, I feel like
I started learning volleyball when you played
in Italy. Like for real? For real. For real,
for real. Well, Italians created data volley.
Yes. And that's where you started learning. Dadavoli
was with my Italian team. And like you, I even
take that season, for example, that group of
coaches. Outstanding. The stats guy eventually
went to coach club Italia and the junior national
team for Italy. The stats guy. Mickey. Yes. The
head coach was Marcello Avondanza. Who's like,
he was just a Fender Bocci. Now he's, he's been
all over the place. Then the assistant coach
became a head coach in A1 Italy. That coaching
staff itself is an example of it. Okay, question
seven. Who do you think will be relegated this
year from VNL men's and women's and how do they
determine who takes their place? My pick for
men is Cuba. My pick for women is Bulgaria. I
agree with Bulgaria. However, I think Bulgaria
and France play. In the last week, that match
could decide who gets relegated. So that could
be potential. Okay. So my, it was between Bulgaria
and France for me for women, but I think France
is better overall. But then Cuba, Argentina for
men, it was like, I was thinking, and both of
those teams are also in the same place at the
last week, but I just. It depends who shows up
for Cuba. I think it's going to be Cuba. Cuba
was in the final eight last year. Yes. Well,
that's what I'm saying. They could pull some
guys out of the woodwork and beat Argentina.
No, but that's the thing. Cuba can be literally
the best team in the world or they can just be
a dumpster fire. I totally agree. I'm just going
to say Cuba. I'm watching the Bulgaria -France
match and the Cuba -Argentina match. I think
those are going to be... Are Cuba and Argentina
even playing each other? I believe they played
each other the last week, if I'm not mistaken.
They're in the same place, but yeah, they do.
I think for me, those are the teams that are
kind of on the bubble, and those might be the
matches to determine who goes down. To answer
your question, who replaces them? there are various
international competitions for non -VNL teams
within their continent. So Europe has like, I
think it's called like the Golden League and
the Silver League. And then there's, you know,
Pan Am Cups and stuff like that. So there are
opportunities for other teams to alter their
world ranking. So basically whoever is relegated,
it's the next team in the ranking. who isn't
currently playing VNL, gets boosted in. Every
match you play throughout the summer, even if
you're not playing VNL, matters because it could
push you in the next season. All right, question
eight. I just saw highlights from the U .S. women's
sweep of Italy. I know Italy was not playing
their A team, but they did have a couple starters
on the court. Do you think this win will save
Eric Sullivan's job? No. I don't think it can
be put under such a microscope as one match.
I think it needs to be taken as a whole for the
summer and then as a body of work over the last
two seasons. I will say, if anything, they finally
started playing better. They had a better blocking
system up against that Italian match. I don't
care that they beat the young Italians. But they
looked better and more cohesive. Now, I still
don't think Kahana Torres is the setter that
you're going to ride to the Olympics. And the
fact that she is getting the hitters in rhythm
and in system, I still think in terms of meddling
is a problem. But they looked more coherent.
They got Italy in some passing trouble. They
blocked well out of system. I thought a couple
players looked good. So that more than the win
in itself helps Sullivan's case. They looked
cohesive. He talked in timeouts too. Yeah. Wow.
It's not so much about the win, but the product
looked like it might be coming together. Okay.
Last question of the week. Would you rather have
a 6 -5 player on the outside who can touch 10
-8 or a 5 -11 player on the outside who could
also touch 10 -8? Does height truly matter if
the reach is the same? So we've talked about
this a little bit in the past. For me, height
is not the thing. It's like, how high do you
play above the net? And so from an offensive
perspective, I would consider these two players
equal. Maybe the 5 '11 player can pass better.
Who knows? The discrepancy for me and the thing
that makes it a little tricky, and we've talked
about this when we've talked about Cameron Thorne
on the men's side. becomes a defensive blocking
issue. The time it takes for a 5 '11 big jumper
to get their hands in the same position as a
6 '5 person touching the same is a lot longer
because their hands have that much further to
travel. Does that make sense? That is the issue
and the discrepancy that you see. for different
size players who touch the same is like how fast
can you get off the ground to make up for that
difference in timing and if you have multiple
blocking responsibilities because you're higher
off the ground longer time to land longer time
to move less on the outside probably you see
that more in the middle but you still if you're
helping with the pipe or the middle and you have
to get outside like all of those fractions of
seconds count if the pat So let's say the hitting
contact is the same. Let's say the passing is
the same. You take the taller player. I mean,
I probably would, but let's say they can get
off the ground really fast and block really well.
It's not an issue. They can hit fine. I'll take
the better passer. If it's the 5 '11 person,
I'm taking them. Yeah, no, I agree with you.
So that's what I'm saying. Like if all things
are equal, you take the size, but very rarely
is that the case. love those questions keep them
coming sometimes i get the questions like just
a little bit after we record the questions and
i'm really sad so if you submitted something
like late this week well i got you for people
to know if like if you have a question we generally
aggregate questions on friday there you go so
get them in like during the week and then we'll
try and get to them in the otherwise in that
pod we'll get to them yeah in the future all
right looking forward obviously vnl but our highlight
matches for this upcoming week are friday at
2 p .m eastern brazil versus italy we'll see
what squad italy brings but i'm guessing brazil
is going to have their top squad so that'll be
a good game sunday at 11 a .m eastern france
and japan france needs to get off the schneid
we'll see i think it's gonna be a good game because
i'm convinced that france is going to make improvements
Well, I don't think they can be much worse than
they were last week. So I'm assuming that they're
going to be better. So yes, I think that is going
to be a good game. And then also Sunday at 2
.30 p .m. Eastern, Serbia versus USA. Couple
good matches, couple solid teams. I'm looking
forward to another week of men's. That concludes
this week's episode of Volley Talk. There's always
something shaking in the volleyball world, and
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