Undefeated Italy Headlines Women's VNL Final 8, Korea Comes Up Just Short for Relegation

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. I just wanted to remind everybody that you're
here for us and this is only about us, and it's
just on our side. Am I in a USA Volleyball timeout?
Sorry, I had to do it. I was pulling my hair
listening to those timeouts. It will be too soon
if I ever have to listen to another one again,
but look at Adam getting sassy. That's my job.
We'll talk about it later, but that one in particular
was just... I was sitting on the couch. My favorite
was, hey, guys, let's just have fun. What are
we, 12U club? Even playing time. We're on one
today. We'll get into it. We'll get into it.
We are feeling some type of way today, and we
are on one. So if you're not ready for this sass
and spice. Come back tomorrow. Come back tomorrow.
Anyway, that being said, we just finished up
week three of the women's VNL competition, and
the final eight are set. We saw some really good
volleyball. We saw some really bad, messy, ugly
volleyball. But regardless, we watched all of
it and it was a ton of fun. So we've got the
rundown for the week. We're excited to dive into
our predictions for how the final eight is going
to go. So let's get started. We actually have
a few highlights and happenings to talk about
this week. Give them to me. First up, it was
the U19 Girls World Championship this past week.
Bulgaria beat USA in four to win their first
ever gold medal. Congrats to Bulgaria. That's
huge. And Poland beat Turkey 8 -3 -0 to win bronze.
We won't talk about how our Canadians did. I
think 18th. How many teams were there, 20? 24.
Oh, dear. But, yeah, Bulgaria, USA, Poland were
on the podium for that. A listener wrote in to
tell us that they saw a post by Matt Anderson's
wife letting everybody know that Matt Anderson
is going to be competing or working towards LA
2028. Now, I think Matt Anderson is very good,
but I have a serious question of, Do you think
that spot is just going to be given to him? Or
do you think there is serious competition on
the men's side for that spot? I mean, he's going
to be, what, 41 at that time? 42, maybe? I'm
not entirely sure how old he is right now, currently.
I don't want to put limits on anybody. Age is
just a number, you know? Based on what I've seen
from the USA men's right sides, he's definitely
still it. But... time is not friendly so well
I see listen I think he I think he's an asset
to the team whether he ends up playing or not
just being there they're a young roster he's
done everything he knows how to win he's played
everywhere he'll be a great mentor for those
guys that's just it's still a long ways away
and he has put on some miles in his life but
how often does the opportunity to be in the Olympics
in your home country present itself? I feel like
if you are curious about it and you still got
some gas left, you do it. I think it's a great
decision for him. I think the team will be lucky
to have him. My question was solely around what
do you think his performance level in 2028 would
be? I cannot predict. He's still playing at a
high level. That's true. So there's that. I love
my secret informants, you guys. Okay, I absolutely
love it because here's another one. This news
is also from a secret informant of mine. Kerry
Walsh started a club, like a club volleyball
team in San Francisco. Like an MLV team? That's
what you would think based on how spicy she was
about major volleyball in... When was it? January?
No. So that makes me like, what happened to MLV?
You were like all on board literally yesterday.
And now you're just starting a youth club? Like,
hello. Maybe she's doing two things at once.
Here's Adam trying to be a nice guy again. He's
like, I reached my quota for Spice. I'm back
to nice guy. So also tied into that. Another
informant of mine. It's been a couple weeks,
you know, so. Aggregating. The gossip mill is
churning everybody. So one of our listeners is
a season ticket holder for PVF for Omaha. Hasn't
heard anything about season's tickets or purchasing
tickets or anything. It's tough when you don't
know what you're putting. So they wrote. the
person or the like ticket agency and stuff and
was like hey at this time last year I had purchased
my tickets just wondering like when I can expect
to do that or get the opportunity to do that
again and the response was we're waiting on the
new league before we do that and so I'm like
the new league as in MLV the new league as in
is PBF changing but like nothing The time is
ticking away. We went from all of that time.
You have a year from January. You're at six months.
People want to buy tickets. You have to. I would
say there has to be some sort of announcement
or movement by the end of August at the absolute
latest. Otherwise, what are you doing? Well,
the other thing is like a bunch of PVF teams
haven't even announced. their rosters or anything
and apparently this time last year they had so
i'm like what is going on something nobody knows
here nobody knows anyway if you know anything
you know i want to know so hit me up this one
actually pertains to what happened this past
week unfortunately anna christina the outside
for Brazil in their match against France. She
went down with an injury and it was later reported
that she tore her medial meniscus. Let me tell
you, I did that right before Olympic qualification
last year. It was not fun. It's not fun, but
in terms of knee injuries, it might be the shortest
recovery time as opposed to... An MCL or an ACL
or something of that nature. I wonder if she
just tore it because she looked like she could
straighten her leg. So I wonder if she'll need
to have surgery. Your girl here could not straighten
her leg. Needed surgery. Bucket handle tear.
Needed knee surgery. That timing was unfortunate,
let me tell you. Not great. Not great. So, yeah,
that's unfortunate. So hopefully she'll... BOK,
the recovery is straightforward. Luckily for
Brazil, they're deep. Yep. They just picked right
up, you know, and Bergman and Gabby took over.
Bergman was playing opposite, came back to the
left side. Rosa Maria, they've got everybody.
Yeah, it's really impressive, and I'll talk about
this with Italy later in the episode, but when
you can just, when your bench players are so
good that... you can move them in and out and
not miss a beat and still keep chugging away.
It's incredible, actually. Obviously, a huge
loss. She's an outstanding player. But if it
were to happen to any team, Brazil's got that
depth. So those are the happenings this week.
A little bit of gossip, a little bit of juice,
and a little bit of relevant information. But
we wanted to share it all. Okay, let's get into
our VNL Week 3 recap. So Italy ended the preliminary
round with a perfect 12 -0 record. Undefeated.
Okay. And they were followed closely by Brazil,
who had 11 wins. Losing only to Italy. Correct.
I thought that Italy's record was going to be
in jeopardy at one point during the Turkey -A
match. And I think we'll talk about this one
later because it was my favorite match of the
week. Well, we don't even have to do that segment
now. Adam already gave it away. I'm just kidding.
I know you had another one. But that was a good
game. I like when teams have streaks like this.
It's fun to watch them play. They're not necessarily
playing for anything, but you see them still
compete. They want to hold their undefeated record.
Well, they're at 26 wins in a row now as a team.
Yeah. You've got to keep it going now as long
as you can. Watching what they're doing is impressive.
Yeah. We were a little harsh on Serbia, and I
think rightly so over the last two weeks. 100
% it was rightly so. They were baggled up until
this point. They managed to win 3 of 4 this week.
They had to pull Boscovich out of whatever vacation
or retirement she was in. Or injury. Or she injured.
Because they could not figure it out without
her. But she showed up. And Uzalak showed up,
too. Yeah. So she showed up. Uzalak showed up.
They went three for four. They will not be relegated.
They actually looked pretty good. I mean, I wouldn't
go that far. But, like, they beat Turkey in their
final match 3 -0. So that was a nice cap to VNL.
So I'm curious to see what they look like. Because
I think that will be... I mean, this was not
the Serbia we expected. They should have been
better without her. But it seemed as soon as
she came back, everybody elevated their game
around her. And they were a completely different
team. Got those three wins. Saved themselves.
Easy peasy. But speaking of Turkey, they had
a very rough week. Not the best. They went 1
-3. So they beat Netherlands 3 -0, and then they
lost to Czech, Italy, and Serbia. But they did
set a VNL record for the worst beatdown in a
set ever. That game was hard to watch. 25 -4,
they beat Czech Republic in a set. They still
lost in four, but that one set, they're like,
don't forget. And this is my issue with Turkey,
is the inconsistency. How do you... How do you
play so well that you can win 25 -4 and then
you can't figure it out after that? It's kind
of bewildering, quite frankly. I will say the
young right side that they interviewed after
that match for the Czech Republic was like hyperventilating.
She was so excited. I thought she was going to
pass out during the interview. I'm like, whoa.
That's the win of the century for the Czechs.
Yeah, 100%. And rightly so. They should celebrate.
That's a huge win for them. We talked about relegation,
and I actually made an error last week. I thought
two teams were relegated. Two weeks ago. Two
weeks ago. But it was only one. I didn't know
that he thought that. I thought he was just running
through options, and I was like, okay. And then
he told me after, and I was like, wow. It made
sense to me that two teams out of the number
of teams playing would be relegated, but it's
only one. So that being said, Korea was relegated.
They did not pull out a win, although they were
close to beating. Bulgaria, I believe. And that
would have thrown a wrench into Canada's plans,
who ended up winning, so it didn't really matter.
But they would have been in and out of sight
of Thailand. So there was a lot of movement and
a lot of tenseness around a couple of the matches
in terms of relegation, but Korea is going down,
and we'll wait and see who's coming out for next
year. But even though the final eight was set,
Pretty much, like, going into the last day of
competition, like, everybody kind of knew who
the top eight were. The battle for relegation
came down to one of the last matches on Sunday.
Like, Thailand was at the very bottom going into
their match against Canada on Sunday. Korea was
obviously one spot ahead of them. They both had
one win. And they both had five points. So going
into that match, Thailand literally just needed
to win two sets. Okay? They won the first set
against Canada. Then Canada comes back and wins
the next two. So you're just like, is Thailand
going to pull this off or not? Like, they just
have to win one set. Set four went the distance.
And as soon as they won set four, it was like.
Party on a card. Oh, my gosh. But that was tense
because you're watching and you're like, oh my
gosh, I don't want this team to get relegated.
That's so sad. But then it's like, Canada, geez,
you haven't won a match since week one. Are you
going to do this? Are you going to give it to
them? What is happening here? That relegation
battle was exciting. Volleyball World and VNL
have to be happy Thailand is still in it because
they bring a massive viewership. Oh, 100%. You
know when you log in. to vbtv and like the thai
matches they have thai language and then english
you know they are getting those thai subscribers
so they're like thank you so much we will maintain
a vbtv core membership yeah totally a couple
things a couple matches teams to kind of touch
on here but When all is said and done, the final
eight is R. However you want to do it. Italy,
Brazil, Japan, Poland, China, Turkey, Germany,
USA. We will dive in a little later into how
we think the final eight is going to play out,
but that was our little summary key takeaways
of the week. What was your favorite match of
the week? I alluded to this earlier, but I really
enjoyed watching the Italy -Turkey A match. Why?
I mean, I enjoyed it too, but you know. So there's
a couple things. I find Turkey a fascinating
team. They are incredibly physical. When everybody
is playing well on Turkey, they're literally
unstoppable, and they're so much fun to watch.
But they just... can't figure it out yet in terms
of being consistent and specifically they seem
to come and go as Kara Kurt some motions come
and go whether she's frustrated whether she's
playing well whether she's bringing energy and
so it's it's fascinating to watch how that pendulum
swings Like, even within matches or even within
stretches of points. And then you have them playing
Italy, who is, they're just so talented. But
the thing that impresses me the most is how much
of a team they are, right? Their team defense
is unbelievable. They're so disciplined. And
the depth that they have, you know, when Iganu
is a little... disconnected from the match or
not playing super well they have Antropova who
can come in and arguably might be one of the
top five opposites in the world on the bench
for them right and then on the left side they
have like two legitimate options that can come
in if they need to move pieces around and quite
frankly they did against Turkiye they needed
to bring in those other players and they just
they sub in seamlessly. They fit within the system.
They're just, that is incredible volleyball that
Italy plays. So to watch them play a super emotional
Turkey A team that comes as super high and then
super low, it was a five setter. There were emotions
back and forth. I just found the whole dynamic
of that match incredible to watch. I couldn't
stop. No, Italy's definitely plug and play for
sure. And the level of consistency that they're
able to maintain while doing so is what makes
them so dangerous, I think. But, yeah, Turkiye
had moments of absolute brilliance in that match
and then moments where I was scratching my head.
Well, and you look at the difference between,
let's say, Turkiye and Italy. Turkiye's top players
have to play well because they don't... really
have other options like who is coming in from
Vargas for Vargas the drop -off is significant
when they have some other very good left sides
who can pass well who are solid volleyball players
but they don't have another offensive threat
if Carriker is not on the floor and so when she
has to come off you lose some of that offensive
ability and then teams key on Vargas and make
her life more difficult. So they have to find
a way or Karakurt has to find a way to keep her
highs if she can, but manage her lows and stay
on the court and be a threat, not make three
errors in a row, but they're fun to watch. Do
you want to know my favorite match? Hit me. I
enjoyed the Canada -Thailand match simply. For
the relegation intrigue factor. For the drama.
Sarah loves the drama. I loved the drama. I wanted
to be like, can Thailand find a way, you know,
to win two sets? Was it the greatest match of
all time? No, but from an excitement, like anticipation
factor, I like that one. But the other one that
like legit I enjoyed just for itself was Germany
versus China. Oh, that was a very good game.
Reverse sweep. China was the team of the reverse
sweep this week. They just don't disappear. And
don't forget, that's a hybrid U21 team, junior
national team. Yeah, a lot of these girls are
playing for U20 club teams. And you would not
be able to tell from their level of volleyball.
absurdly impressive. Now, did China play their
best in the first two sets? No. But I find it
so impressive the way that they are able to keep
going, especially at such a young age. They just
keep grinding. They keep fighting. They just
don't give up. And the adjustments they're able
to make, particularly with how young they are,
they're... Their middle, their left side. I am
so impressed with these players. It was a really
fun match to watch. And I understand that Germany's
not a top -top team, but they're in the final
eight, so they're no slouch at all. I've actually
been really impressed with Germany as a whole
over this V &L. Yeah, I mean, when you look at
Germany, I wouldn't say that... Like, when you
think of a star player... You aren't naming any
Germans. No. Do you know what I mean? But they're
consistent. They're steady for the most part.
They know how to play. They're able to take the
talent they have, make it cohesive, and make
it work. And, yeah, I just found that match to
be so interesting and engaging. That was my pick.
I also enjoyed watching that match. I thought
number nine, Holzmeier, for Germany, had a fantastic
week. Germany had to win matches this week to
make the final eight, and I thought she was very
consistent. I thought she scored well for them.
I was impressed by her play, specifically on
that team. They're a good team. They're disciplined.
They're well -oiled. They're German. But she
specifically elevated, in my opinion. What are
the teams that you thought played very well and
sort of elevated for the end, you know, in week
three? And which teams did not look so hot? This
is a really interesting question. I'm going to
leave out the obvious ones. Like the teams that
are at the top of the... Oh, I thought you meant
for the ones who didn't look so hot. I was like,
no, tell me. I mean, I thought Serbia elevated
when they needed to. I thought that... France
actually played pretty well. I was impressed
with them. They have a couple pieces. They need
a little bit more on their team to compete with
the really good teams, but I thought that they
played well again. I thought Czech battled. They
lost a match they shouldn't have, which took
them out of the running. That match they lost
to Netherlands was real bad for them. That was
a key one. You know, they came out and they played
Turkey. You have to factor in that this was their
first VNL. They stayed. They arrived. They have
some good young pieces. That right side is very
good. They were great. I was disappointed. I
would add, before we, I would, I don't think
we can avoid adding the USA to that list. Like,
they were on the bubble. I know we have very
specific feelings about them. But they were on
the bubble and they managed to win three out
of four, albeit against not the strongest competition,
but they did what they needed to do to make it
into the final eight. They won three of four.
Yeah, fair enough. We'll talk about them specifically
later, but they did what they needed to do to
get in. You have to give the players credit for
that for sure. Yeah, so Serbia, France, USA.
I think those are solid picks for... For teams
that elevated. I thought from a disappointing
standpoint, I didn't think Turkey had a good
week. I didn't think Canada had a good week.
You don't really have any expectations for Korea,
I would say. I don't think they were disappointing,
though. They fought. They pushed Bulgaria to
five. When VNL started, we thought that they
wouldn't win a match. They beat Canada. They
beat Canada. They weren't on a disappointing
list to me. For me, the disappointing teams were
Canada and Turkey. I thought Netherlands was
going to put on a better showing at home. They
had a tough group. I mean, two of their matches
were Czech and Serbia, which... I figured they
would win those matches at home. Yeah, Turkey
going 1 -3. They had no business losing to Czech.
They had no business losing to Serbia. I'm sorry.
No. Even with Boscovich, like, no. For me, Boscovich
was not playing at the level that we've known
her to play at. She, I know, is coming off of
an injury, but she's in Serbia's successful years,
or most successful years, she has had pieces
around her that have been able to take some of
the load. And now that you're seeing that diminish
quite a bit, she hasn't elevated the way that
I expected her to. And again, we don't know if
they rushed her back. Well, no, I'm just saying,
based on what I saw this week. Yeah, fair, fair.
I will say I thought a couple of the players
around her stepped up. I mean, they were not
good for two weeks. I mean, she took attention.
I thought Ivanovic played way better this week
than she did in the first two because Boscovich
was there to take some of the load. Stuff like
that, you know what I mean? So the question that
I have for you, and I know that we have a lot
of Canadian listeners and we got a couple of
questions about this is, you know, Canada is
missing arguably three of their best pieces.
And, you know, so was Serbia. They needed their
pieces to come back to win. I mean, you see it.
It's definitely a thing. But what are your thoughts
about their performance and about them as a team,
given that fact? Okay, I'll preface this by saying
I am aware that I am probably hardest on Canada
and USA. I know that. It's probably not going
to change, so I'm just telling you I'm aware.
The thing for me and the thing that drives me
nuts watching this Canadian team is how they,
A, don't know how to finish sets. Like, you're
rolling, you're playing really well, and then
all of a sudden it matters and you make a ton
of errors, you do stupid... things and then you
swing neutral you miss a serve 20 meters out
about like for me that's not okay so it's just
like the way that they're losing they're giving
team teams matches they're not being aggressive
when it matters their most aggressive most fearless
player is a 19 year old who has no experience
which okay that comes with being 19 I get it
but like that that can't be the case You know
what I mean? And I just feel like they don't
have any leadership on the court, especially
from the players who you would expect it from,
the ones who have been there. Yeah, I think there's
a lot of panic, poor decision -making. I think
a lot of it's mental, but I was very frustrated
watching them this week. There's no way that
losing that many five -setters is a coincidence.
There's no way that all of the teams that you
played and went to five over the course of three
weeks, it's coincidental that you didn't win
any of them. So I agree with you. Well, you're
giving up huge leads at the end of sets. You're
giving up five match points to the U .S., seven
set points to Thailand. What's changing from
one point to the next? What's the difference?
And the other thing that I noticed is that their
pieces don't have good games together. Like Johnson
had two very good games in this round, but there
was nothing else happening around her. They set
her every ball. Yeah, there's no offensive flow.
You just give the hot hand the ball. You're missing
pieces on the right side who can score. Like,
Gusen was playing on the right side because Smrek
couldn't score. And she needs to be on the left
side. Yeah, they just couldn't get an offense
going. And sometimes Maglio is very good in the
middle, and then she'll just disappear for stretches
of time or miss every serve. Like, there was
never a cohesive. team performance and the crazy
thing is they had 24 blocks against the U .S.
like they were prepared to play them and defensively
where they were good but they could not score
and like you said it's it's a tentative mindset
when there are chances to win and that doesn't
bode well somebody somebody needs to want to
score and you can't just say oh Alexa will do
it or Van Rijk will do it when they get hit that's
not how you build a winning program that mentality
was very telling missing those players, in my
opinion. And it needs to change. And quite frankly,
Gusen, in my opinion, was the only one who embodied
what needed to happen. And I thought she was
good. And I thought Fockboom was good until she
got... Unfortunately, got injured. And I'm assuming
she got concussed because, dang, she took that
in the face hard. But you need, with those two
young players, you need to build... that mentality
around the program not wear it out of them the
thing for me is like you guys score points and
you're just kind of like let's go like these
other teams are like bleeding volleyball you
know what i mean they're like let's do this we're
gonna like the emotion you can tell how bad they
want it and canada is just a bunch of flatliners
that are like oh nice play The most emotion that
you get on your team should not be your coach.
And he toned his emotion down like 20 notches
this week. Not when the play is going on, because
you can still see his face. But after the play
ends, he's smiling. But he still is more emotional
than everybody else on the team. He can't be
the one that cares the most. Yeah. And I've noticed
emotion individually for players who are playing
well. Which is also not okay. It'll be interesting
to see what Canada brings to Worlds, who shows
up. And they definitely got better defensively,
I thought, as the tournament went on. You could
see Guidetti's game plans and hand -molding the
team that way. It'll be interesting to see how
far they come, what they can accomplish, what
looks different come Worlds for them. And again,
it's a mindset. At this level, you can't expect
teams to give you matches. You need to take them,
and Canada doesn't take matches. They wait and
hope that other teams give it to them. And it
didn't work out for them. No. As we said earlier,
the final eight is set. So we are going to go
through our predictions of how this is going
to play out. Okay? So the quarterfinal matchups
are going to be Italy versus USA. Brazil versus
Germany, Japan versus Turkey, and Poland versus
China. So Italy versus USA. I think Italy's going
to win. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a
question. The odds are like 100 % to zero, I
think. Adam says that, and then the office is
going to happen. It really stresses me out when
he's so sure, but... I mean, come on. They're
Italy's... They're a well -oiled machine. They're
super physical. Their middles are outstanding.
There's no comparison. Well, it's clear that
the USA was just happy to be there. Yeah. I'm
sorry. If you beat China, you have the opportunity
to jump into seventh, avoid Italy. Granted, Brazil
is also a very difficult match, but avoid Italy.
And you play an entire roster who hasn't sniffed
the court. in week three or maybe at all yeah
i don't think fairbanks set taylor mims came
in i'm like hello what yeah it's you're clearly
just happy to be there i don't think that they're
i don't think that they're prepared to win i
don't think they'll be ready to make adjustments
i don't it's just in watching the u .s this week
they their physicality won over teams that were
bottom to middle of the road teams well they
didn't beat china but they played two out of
the three bottom vnl teams this week correct
and went five with canada and yeah so you know
watching them the only thing in my opinion that
they're doing right now that is world class is
their pipe over top of the middle they do run
that it's fantastic excellent and you know i
will give them credit Their game plans to start
matches were better than they had been in week
one and week two. However, you were playing teams
with obvious weaknesses, so the game plans were
easier to put together, and there were no in
-game adjustments. That was a huge issue in the
China match, in my opinion. You start well, but
then when a team makes an adjustment, you don't
change back. And to me, that's on the coaching
staff, and we kind of make fun of... you know,
their timeouts and whatever. And maybe they went
in to VNL saying, hey, we're going to let you
guys play. We're going to figure it out. We want
to see what's going on. That may be the case.
What happens at Worlds for them, we'll be telling.
So if you've decided as a coaching staff you're
going to sit back and evaluate your players and
kind of let them run the show and do all of that
because you want to see the character, I don't
necessarily agree with that decision. but I can
understand where you're coming from. But when
we get to Worlds, Worlds is about winning. So
are you able to flip that switch? Are you able
to now execute high -level game plans, make adjustments
in match, see what's happening and go from there?
My instinct is no, but I'm willing to give them
to Worlds to find out. The way that they construct
rosters just makes no sense to me. Well, it was
fair play VNO week three at home. No. No. There
is no world where you should bring more than
two opposites on your roster. They brought four.
All right. Yeah. You're a team whose passing
is very up and down, questionable at best, and
you're telling me you're going to bring three
left sides, three people who can pass and attack.
You're going to bring Madison Skinner, who I'm
sorry at this point is an opposite, and three
more opposites. If anything, you bring two opposites.
You bring four left sides because guess what?
A left side could step in and play opposite,
and opposite's not going to go start passing
and playing six rotation serve receive. The way
that they're constructing these rosters makes
absolutely no sense, and I've got a very hot
take for you. Are you ready? I'm ready. It's
steaming. I think that Eric Sullivan has been
messing around with fair play in all of these
matches to save face. I think it is so easy to
hide behind the excuse of, oh, well, we're just
testing players out or just giving people experience,
blah, blah, blah. I think he is saving face.
And that's why he's doing it. Because there is
absolutely no reason they shouldn't have pushed
and started the team that had won every match
to beat China to get a more favorable draw. I
thought that as well when I saw the roster against
China because they're going to play Italy now.
And it's like, well, Italy's the best team in
the world. That's why my comment about Worlds,
you have no excuse. Worlds is a tournament about
winning. And that's where... I think every tournament
is a tournament about winning, but I'm... Call
me crazy. No, I understand what you're saying,
but the U .S. is in a unique situation. You can
make a cohesive argument for looking at your
players, letting them play, figuring out who
you want your roster to be. This isn't club volleyball.
I don't care. This isn't the let's everybody
play a game. Are we all happy? Are we feeling
good? Are we having fun? No. I understand what
you're saying, but there is. There is a long
-term planning aspect to what they are doing.
But you have to realize that four years is not
as long as you think they are. And you need to
start moving. You don't have the best athletes.
You don't have the best volleyball players as
of right now. There is a lot of work to do. You
are an inexperienced coaching staff. A lot of
things have to go right for them to find a roster
that can compete. And so this was your mulligan.
Show me at Worlds. Okay, so that matchup, we
think Italy's going to win. Okay, perfect. Brazil
versus Germany. I mean, I think Brazil's going
to win. I'm taking Brazil. Brazil and Italy are
the two deepest teams in the world. Yeah. I think
if Germany can win one set and get to 20 in the
other sets, that is a spectacular outing for
them. Even if they lose 3 -0 and they can get
to 20, You're happy with that? Brazil's another
plug -and -play team. Like I said, before Ana
Cristina got injured, it was Ana Cristina, Gabi
on the left side. Bergman was on the right side,
which, amazing. I kind of loved that. But then
Ana Cristina gets injured. Oh, Bergman, come
back to the left side. Rosa Maria, go in. Tainara,
go in. Right side. Like, it's crazy. Italy and
Brazil, plug -and -play, they are totally fine.
So even though I think Germany has been steady,
I don't think they're going to match up with
Brazil. No, I don't think they have the consistent
firepower that Brazil has. Japan versus Turkey.
Oh, this is the one that I think has the most
variability in it. Turkey is up and down. Japan
makes you hit over and over. And over again,
that's where you think Turkey gets frustrated
and makes mistakes. I think Japan is going to
serve Karakurt off the court. That's honestly,
she has improved in her passing. Bowen, they
are coming at you with those serves. Okay. And
if she gets frustrated, it's going to be downhill.
I think they're going to massacre her on server
C. Now the only thing is that the other left
sides for Turkey A can still score against Japan
because they're not quite as physical. So I can
see a world where Karakur gets subbed out and
they seem to have rotating options of who comes
in on the left side. That doesn't necessarily
mean to me that Turkey is going to lose in this
case, given Japan. My pick is Japan. Turkey,
Japan is so consistent. They bring incredible
service pressure. Their defensive game is on
point. Will, obviously they need to receive well
so they can run their speed of offense against
the... mismatch height block for sure, but they've
been playing against mismatch height blocks this
whole time. I think Japan's strengths overcome
Turkey's weaknesses. My instinct in this was
that Turkey was going to win. Okay. The last
one, Poland versus China. This is another toss.
I think this is going to be a fantastic game.
I think this is going to be the best game. It
is in Poland too. It is in Poland. China is very
good, but they are young. Poland at home. I think
this is a five -setter. I think this is overtime,
but I give the edge to Poland. Both of these
teams are really good. This is going to be the
match that I watch with my popcorn, no distraction.
I think it's going to be awesome. This one's
a tough one for me to come up with. I've been
liking China so much. I really have. Oh, they're
outside. They're one middle with the longer hair
are cold in the best way possible. Okay. Oh my
gosh. You're right. And playing in Poland. Poland
loves playing in Poland. I'll play devil's advocate.
I'll say China. Okay. Okay. So based on that.
I mean, to be completely honest, I think it's
going to be an Italy -Brazil final. I do as well,
and I think Italy's going to take it. I think
Italy's going to win. My prediction going into
this whole thing was that Italy's going to win.
Yeah, my prediction, Italy -Brazil final, because
we were disagreeing on the quarterfinals, like
this could go forever. And then, yeah, I think
Italy's going to win it all. I think they're
just too good right now. They're playing too
well. Sarah Farr, I'm obsessed with her. Well,
and Deneze is no slouch. Deneze is no slouch
either. And, like, your one -two punch with Igonu
and Antropova. Again, like, either one, like.
They have so many good left sides. Dagenaro runs
the show in the backcourt. She's unbelievable.
Her setting gave me a break. Yeah. There's just
no holes in that roster. And I love Brazil, too.
Don't get me wrong. But I think Italy. My pick
is Italy. I think Italy's playing. just a little
bit more clean and consistent than Brazil is
right now. You heard it here first. That's what
we think is going to happen. VNL, we're clearly
very passionate about a couple of these matchups,
but we do agree on our semifinal and final. So
let us know what you're thinking. Let us know
your thoughts for these matchups. We would love
to hear it. And I'm curious if any of our predictions
line up with yours. It is time for listener questions.
So and I'm going to pronounce these names wrong.
I'm so sorry but I'll try my best. What are your
thoughts on Gizem versus Simge for Turkiye? So
for context these are the liberos. The two libero
options we have seen kind of switching out for
Turkiye. Gizem is the blonde haired one. She
plays for Vakifbank and Simge is the Brunette,
she plays club for Izazibashi. There's one thing
that makes this a difficult question to answer,
is that neither of them ever get served because
their left sides aren't great passers. They're
both very good. So if I look at this defensively,
I think Gizem has the edge. Again, we're splitting
hairs here. They're both good. But to me, Gizem
is just... a little bit ahead of the play in
terms of her positioning and her control on what
she's doing defensively. She takes a little bit
more court and a little bit more initiative,
I think. I watched her in the Italy match and
some of the digs she made, you know, she controls
the ones that are at her very well and her positioning
is very good, but then her one -touch stabs and
her ability to cover. To me, defensively, and
that's kind of what I'm looking at for the Turkey
A libero, I give her a slight edge. She was my
pick, too. But don't get me wrong, they're both
very good. Yeah, I mean, we're splitting hairs
here. Question two. I like this question a lot,
actually. If Japan is known for being good at
serving and defense slash passing and running
a faster offense, those are things that you have
to spend more time practicing. you would think,
to compensate for being small. What are things
that a more physical team would have to spend
more time practicing? Or are they just lucky
because they're bigger? Oh, this is a great question.
And I actually think the prime examples of this
are Turkey A and the USA. So when you're a little
bit bigger, you're further off the ground, which
means you have a little bit less time, and you're
playing the ball a little bit higher in general.
And so for me, that means that your positioning
has to be that much better, both on passing and
on defense. So if you watch smaller liberos,
they can kind of make up for being in the wrong
defensive positioning by being a little quicker,
by sprawling out. They're closer to the ground.
They're closer to the floor. You watch bigger
athletes, and I think Kara Kurt is a good example
of this. You know, when the ball is close to
her, she can dig it, but she's very often out
of position, in my opinion. You look at Sarah
Franklin, reads the game pretty well. She's in
decent position, so she can dig balls, but she's
not mobile if she's out of position. So you need
to work on... that defensive lineup around the
block or your responsibility of being so tight
and disciplined on there? Because there's no
margin for error when you're bigger than the
normal defensive players. I have two answers
now after hearing Adam's answer. My answer one,
which will kind of be in line with his, is like,
I think if you're bigger, you need to work on
your serving and blocking because you want to
hammer your serves to bring your block into play.
If you're not a good defensive team, you want
your block to take most of the load defensively,
and that starts with serving really well to allow
your block to get set up early. My other answer
before I heard Adam's answer was more physical
teams need to work on these things too. I think
if they work on them, it complements their physicality
very well. Because like you're not always going
to be able to go and hit a great angle around
the block. You're not always going to be able
to go and swing out of a system all match like
deep corners. So I think big teams or physical
teams need to work on these same things too.
But more as a compliment and to add to their
toolkit as opposed to like relying on it so much.
Question three. What are your thoughts on the
rotation rule with players being able to move
before the serve? I mean, I think it just makes
sense. Like, what difference does it make if
you start on the left and have to walk over?
I'm a purist. I love knowing exactly where everybody
is, you know? There are a few matches you're
like, oh, who was subbed out? And I looked at
the front row to see who, where they were, and
they were all lined up already. And I was like,
I can't even tell you what rotation they're in
right now. Yeah, and that is the only downside
is for the viewer, not knowing kind of where
you are, having looking at the court when the
serve comes. But from a play standpoint, from
a being on the court standpoint, I'm indifferent.
What about like running on the toss now instead
of the contact when you're in serve receive,
you know? Yeah, I kind of, I think running on
the contact makes. the serve able to be a little
more effective because you can ruin attack lines.
You can take middles out. So I think it takes
away some of the efficacy of some of the really
good like float servers or short servers. Yeah,
I don't like it so much because it allows people
to hide their weaknesses so much easier. Like
you barely see right sides having to hit on the
left anymore. Yeah. Because they can just take
off like on the toss. Like when you used to have
to take off on the contact. It was so rushed
that you just had to stay on the left. So that
one I disagree with. But the changing on your
own side, I'm like, I don't think there's any
advantage gained or lost there. So it doesn't
matter to me. Question four. I'm confused as
to why Olivia Babcock is referred to as more
physical than Logan Lednicki. both by you on
past episodes and by commentators during the
matches. In watching both of them, they honestly
seem pretty even to me. So in general, what makes
a player more physical than another, and why
is Olivia Babcock considered more physical than
Lednicki? That's a good question. So I think
there's two things. One is, for me, your... decision
making which I know is not a physical thing but
how you use your either height or your jump ability
or your size to your advantage to me Olivia Babcock
is more aggressive when she attacks the ball
she will default to being more terminal like
going for the kill and when I watch let Nikki
play Sometimes she's unsure to me what she wants
to do or she'll play it a little bit more safe.
And again, I know that's not necessarily a physical
trait, but on the right side specifically where
your job is to score points, how you hit the
ball is part of how you're perceived. And the
other one I would say is the pace of how you
hit. If you listen to Babcock hit versus Lednicki,
there's more pace on her swing, Babcock's. It's
heavier. So those would be my opinions on that.
I think my definition is slightly different.
That doesn't surprise me. Okay. When I think
of physical athletes or physicality, I think
of how high you contact the ball. I think of
the angles. that you're able to hit if you're
a blocker. I think of how much in the opponent's
face you get, how high you jump. Like, I think
Olivia Babcock, she gets off the ground better
than Lydnicki. She contacts the ball at a much
higher point than Lydnicki. She goes for steeper
angles than Lydnicki does, all of which I consider
or I think make a player quote -unquote physical.
Blockers that you see completely penetrate the
net into the hitter's face, that is a mark of
physicality for me. So those are kind of what
I think of. All right, let me ask you the last
question because I can't answer this one. Yes,
you can. Are you playing in the Nebraska alumni
match? That is a hard no for a couple reasons.
First of all, it's been a minute. since I've
played indoor. But I think more critical is that
at that time, I'll just be about giving birth
because I am very pregnant. So nobody needs to
see that, and there's no way I'm fitting into
a volleyball jersey or moving or jumping anywhere.
So no, I will not play. You'll be the libero.
I'm shaped like the ball, okay? I will be the
ball. So no. I'm not as fun as I would be. It's
just not in the cards. We are heading into week
three for the men's V &L competition. Matches
are being played in Gdansk, Poland, Ljubljana,
Slovenia, and Chiba, Japan. He's looking at me.
If it sounds like a question, it's because it
is. Sarah loves to do this to me. I'm not the
best with pronunciations, so she just teased
these up for me to make a fool of myself. So
we're going to Poland, Slovenia, and Japan next
week, everybody. Now, I know normally we've done
breakdowns about who's going to be where and
the top eight and all of that. The reality of
it is the men's is still a free -for -all. There
are so many teams who could make it. There's
so many permutations depending on what happens.
It's still wide open. And so instead of running
down all the possibilities and laying it all
out there... No, you did, though. We did. Although
we did forget that China was hosting. Yeah, so
there's... So forget it. If we look at the rundown
for men's, the top team, which is Brazil, has
seven wins. The 13th team in the USA has four
wins. along with five other teams. So, I mean.
Try to get seven out of that number. Yeah. We're
getting seven out of the top, what, 14, 13? Top
13. Yeah, it's crazy. It's, I mean, it's do or
die. You have to win your matches. Every game
is going to count. Pretty much the only safe
teams, Brazil is in, Poland is in, Italy is in,
you know, assuming they each win. two matches.
But after that, you have to believe that France
is going to have a good showing. But nothing
is guaranteed. It's going to be win and you're
in. Week three, win and you're in on the men's
side. Should be good volleyball. That being said,
there are some matches that I think are going
to be worthwhile watching. So Wednesday at 10
.30 a .m. Eastern is Cuba versus Bulgaria. Cuba's
always a ton of fun to watch. Both of those teams
are in the four -win bubble, I think. Correct.
Now, we don't know who we're going to see setting
for Bulgaria, which I think plays a big factor
in whether they make it or not. So we'll see.
Hopefully he's all right. Looking forward after
Wednesday, Friday at 6 .20 a .m. Eastern. That's
an early one. But Brazil versus Japan is going
to be a fantastic match. And finally, Sunday
at 2 .30 p .m. Eastern, we have France versus
Poland. So lots of good matches. You could have
it on all day and just watch, and you'll be thoroughly
entertained. But we will see you next week, and
we'll break down who qualified. who played well,
who threw away their chances, but it's going
to be a great episode. That concludes this week's
episode of Volley Talk. There's always something
shaking in the volleyball world, and we hope
you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow
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