Women's 2025 World Championship Enters Final Phase, NCAA Season Off to an Exciting Start

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'm Paul Pavan, former player, former high
school coach and university coach, current club
president and club coach, and first -time grandpa
this week. That's also Sarah's dad. Spoiler alert.
Spoiler alert. Our daughter was born just over
a week ago. So, yeah, we kind of talked about
it last week that this could potentially, or
last episode that this could potentially happen.
We've had a lot of volleyball on. Correct. But
let me tell you, I have not been able to focus
on it. So we had to bring in reinforcements in
my dad. We're hoping for some Paul Pavan hot
takes this episode. So we'll see what happens.
Yeah. So you can count on them from me. You could
probably also count on them from him. I think
they're genetic. I'm going to be moderating the
discussion for the most part, but you know, I
can't help myself. So I'm probably going to have
to jump in and say something. Because you guys
know that that's what I do. So that is the state
of affairs this week. But it was a big week for
both international and NCAA volleyball fans because
Women's World Championships have been happening
and it was the start of the NCAA preseason. So
as we know, pool play and early playoffs at Worlds
are usually pretty straightforward. But we are
heading into crunch time and like... the playoffs
for real for real this week and then on the NCAA
side there has been some exciting volleyball
being played already great very good matchups
so we have no shortage of things to talk about
this week so let's get started We don't have
many weekly highlights this week. I mean, obviously,
our daughter being born is the highlight, you
know, for our lives. But in a volleyball sense,
men's U21 Worlds wrapped up this week. Iran won
with Italy taking silver, USA took bronze. So
semifinals were pretty decisive. Iran beat the
U .S. three straight. Italy beat the Czech Republic
three straight. In the bronze medal match, USA
beat Czech Republic three straight. We are just
sweeping the board here. Efficient. Yeah. And
then in the gold medal match, Iran beat Italy
in four. To be honest, I didn't know what to
expect here. I don't know if I would have had
Iran on my radar. I mean, they have a pro league.
Their men's team has been doing better. Like,
I'm not surprised that there's a groundswell.
I can't say I was expecting it, but then when
you say the results, I'm like, okay. That can
track. I could get that. So, good for them. And
Italy continues their dominance across the board
in youth and senior play this summer. Always
in the medals. Always. In every single category.
Yeah. U19, U21, men's, women's. It's been a good
summer for the Italian Volleyball Federation.
So, congrats to Iran. on taking home gold there
but that was all i had for the highlights so
let's get into the the good stuff here women's
world championships have been going on in thailand
so we're filming this uh on sunday night so there's
still a couple round of 16s to happen things
have been i would say proceeding more or less
as expected i think we saw the general round
of 16 matchups that we were expecting i would
say for pool a i wasn't necessarily expecting
thailand to come out i thought maybe sweden would
come out of that really i thought thailand would
come out i just didn't know who would come second
but netherlands like they look pretty good the
netherlands i thought had a really good tournament
i thought sweden uh just given The fact that
they had Hawk might be able to. Watching Sweden
play, they cannot get her the ball. Well, yeah.
And again, in fairness, I hadn't seen Sweden
play. So I thought that there was the potential
for that, but they just technically weren't able
to do what they needed to do. Of course, Italy,
Belgium came out. Brazil, France came out. U
.S., Slovenia. That pool messed me up. Was the
question mark. Yeah. So U .S., Pool D, U .S.,
Slovenia, Argentina, Czech Republic. I figured
USA would come out on top. Agreed. I honestly
thought Czech would come out, but they finished
last. They had such a good V &L that I thought
they were going to carry over their play into
Worlds, but that just didn't happen. And Slovenia
actually had a really good tournament. I thought
they played really good matches. Pool E, Turkey
E, Turkey A, Canada. I'm honestly shocked that
Bulgaria came last. I thought maybe they could
beat Canada. Given the fact, I'm not even going
to put a qualifier on it. They played well. Their
outsides were actually hitting balls instead
of bailing out and tipping, which we saw during
VNL. They were being much more aggressive. Guidetti
is having an impact on the mentality of those
players, and you could see that in Worlds. So
I think that they have to be happy with how Pool
Play went. I think Canada, without Van Rijk or
Alexa Gray playing, was a plus for them in that
these young players are getting a lot of confidence
right now, and they're really starting to believe
in themselves, which is really what we haven't
seen from these other players in a long, long
time. They needed to step up, because in V &L,
you can tell that they have been taking a backseat
to Gray and Van Rijk, so finally being able to
develop and have to find solutions on their own,
I think. We're starting to see it come together.
And again, I thought Gusen and Thakboom continued
to improve, so that was really good to see. In
the remaining pools, China Dominican came out
as we expected, Poland and Germany, and then
Japan and Serbia rounded things out. So we have
had a few elimination matches in the round of
16. Let's start with Netherlands -Serbia. Adam.
had if you go back to last episode adam had serbia
japan having a rematch in the quarters but netherlands
beat serbia in five and they earned that victory
i thought they played really well they were fearless
they were playing to score points they did not
look inexperienced or let the moment take over
for them that was a good match but boscovich
didn't play which what Boscovich doesn't play
and you lose by two points and two points in
your first two sets, two of the matches, you
know that she's going to make a difference. Yeah,
but you can only beat who's in front of you.
Granted. Let's roll it back to VNL when Boscovic
wasn't playing and they were baggled. Like literally
did not win a match when Boscovic wasn't playing.
I mean, I think in fairness, the expectation
should have been for Serbia to beat Netherlands
without Boscovic. Did they play each other? They
were in the same location in week one of VNL.
Did they play each other? I can't even remember.
I don't remember either. They were both in Canada.
But my question is like, was she injured? Like
that's my only explanation for why she wouldn't
be on the court. Like you've got... To be injured.
That's the only explanation. She was there supporting
her team. She was on the bench with everybody.
She just didn't play. I thought Uzalak played
well. Who they also were missing in the first
couple of weeks of VNL. That was bad. Yeah, I
mean that's... Serbia. It's been a rough... You
say Italy's had a summer for the ages. Serbia
has had one to forget. Hasn't been great. For
men and women. Across the board. For men and
women. Take your pick. Right off the hop. Adam's
quarterfinal predictions are ruined. Yeah, but
my semis could still be right because I had Japan
going through. Ruined. We'll see. We'll see.
In another round of 16 match, Japan beat Thailand
three straight. Not a surprise. We saw that coming.
We have seen Italy take down Germany three straight.
They continue to cruise. I don't think that's
unexpected. Germany played some good matches
in their pool play, but Italy's just too good.
Belgium pushed Poland to five. Shout out to Belgium.
I watched quite a bit of that game. They played
really, really well. I was very impressed. And
I think that Poland squeaked one out. A little
more experience, a little better in the middle.
Okay, why was it so close? This is one of the
matches that I was taking care of the baby. Belgium
played really well. It's just that at the end,
in game five, I counted three out -of -system
sets that were set into the block. That made
a huge difference. Those things go the other
way, and we might have Belgium coming out of
that thing. You guys know how I feel about out
-of -system setting. And running the middle.
And running the middle, two things I am very
passionate about. But, I mean, I think Belgium
has to be proud of that effort, right? You're
in there. You're going to five. I mean, Poland
meddled in the VNL. All of their players are
experienced. That's a stepping stone game for
Belgium, I think, in terms of getting experience
and building towards next year. They had to be
happy with how they played. They are today. At
the time, you could see them at the end of the
match. They were devastated by losing, and I
think they knew they threw away some points they
should have had, and that hurts. But today, they're
probably thinking, you know, we did okay. Nobody
expected this from us. Last two. We do have two,
at the time of this recording, we do have two
round of 16 matches that still have to be played,
which is USA versus Canada, Turkey versus Slovenia.
But Adam's prediction for round of 16, wrong
again with this match in France beating China
in four. I would have been wrong with that too.
No, I did not see that coming. I remember in
the last episode I said France -China could be
a pretty good match. But I think China's going
to win. France has been playing well lately.
They've been doing a pretty good job. Surprise
for sure. China, they're young and inexperienced.
I didn't watch this match, so I would be curious
to see what actually happened. But they're more
physical than France. Kazot has been playing
very well all summer. Like, there's a reason
Kazot is going to Vaca Bank. I mean, yes, but
if you match a position to position, I think
China generally comes out. Even, like, you guys
know how I feel about the Chinese left sides.
I love them. I think they're so good. But, like,
lining up with Kazot. Yeah. Do I think it's a
wash? I don't know. I don't know if I would go
that far. But they're not. France has surprised
me this year. And you got to play the games.
And, yeah. And Indaye had a huge match. Yeah.
Statistically. I mean, good for France. You think
they beat Brazil? No. Well, did they? They pushed
Brazil in the NL. They did. I don't think they'll
beat Brazil. I wouldn't bet the house on that
or the farm, but I don't think they'll beat Brazil.
I'll be shocked if that happens. So I think my
semis are still going to ring true. So you still
think USA over Canada, Turkey over Slovenia?
Correct. I agree. If that does hold true, our
quarterfinals are Netherlands versus Japan. I
take Japan. I take Japan. We would have, hypothetically,
USA versus Turkey. I'm taking Turkey. I'm going
to go USA. What? Why? I'm just kidding. I've
watched them play some since the VNL, and they
are playing better than they were. They're physical
enough that they can cause problems. Their block
is big enough to cause problems. And I think
they serve very aggressively also. I'm starting
to like what I'm seeing right now. I'm not saying
they're going to beat Italy. I'm not saying they
could beat Brazil. In fairness to them, they
don't have to play either of those till the final.
You just endeared yourself to all of our listeners.
Just an FYI. Well, you know. All of the Americans
out here who've been so frustrated with us, they're
like, thank you so much. Well, I just liked what
I've been seeing lately. And I think, you know,
if their passing can hold up, and that's the
big thing. If their passing can hold up, they
will give everybody a problem. Anybody who passes
well can give someone a problem. Except Italy.
Nobody can touch Italy. You know how we feel
about them. Let's put a pin in USA because there
are some things that we can touch on here in
just a minute. But to finish out the potential
quarterfinals, which these ones are set, we've
got Italy versus Poland. Italy. You guys know
I have so much faith in Italy. I don't know.
They're just so consistent. They're so good.
And then Brazil, France. I'm going to say Brazil
in five in this one. France is on a high. They've
got nothing to lose. Brazil, Ana Cristina is
still injured. Honestly, don't sleep on France,
though. Brazil in five. I think it's going to
be a good game. You know what? We're all sitting
here, and we'd love to pick France, but none
of us have the guts to do it. That's basically
what it comes to. We just know that they can
be pushed, but we don't want to say that, so
we're not going to. No, I just have so much faith.
The players that I've played with and against,
I guess I just have so much faith in them. I
don't know. I'm just like, I can't turn my back
on them. I think Brazil's block is going to give
France some trouble. They're blocking very well
right now. Fair, fair, fair. Okay, so for semifinal
one, we're still holding strong to Italy versus
Brazil. Semifinal two, we are torn. We think
Japan will be in it for sure, but we're torn
on if it'll be Turkey or USA. And we have had
a lot of back and forth with American fans and
viewers over the last couple weeks. So just wanted
to touch on a couple things. I've gotten a lot
of comments about Morgan Hentz. She's earned
the spot. She snatched that spot from Lexi Rodriguez
real quick. She's passing better. I think defensively,
she's been better than Lexi is. I think that's
where the edge is for her. I still don't love
her setting, but she's giving them chances defensively,
which I think they need. Do you think, because
Lexi started in the first match and then they
completely, they changed it. Do you think Lexi
was doing anything particularly poorly? Do you
think Morgan is playing that much better? Do
you think her setting is improved? I was watching
this and I was wondering myself because I think
Lexi Rodriguez is a better libero, quite frankly.
Best of what? Well, I see Hintz flopping around
a lot. She's a flopper. Rodriguez is a reader,
reads and moves. The other one is a reactionary
type of libero or just flop. And I'll try to
get it up. It's working, but I'm still thinking.
Rodriguez is the better of the two. Well, you
see that in beach too. You see in beach volleyball,
people love the like flashy digs or the people
like dive across the court. And then you have
the people who just like read the game and make
it look easy. But people love the ones who like
dive and make it look crazy. But like, if you
really think about it, it's because they don't
read the game as well. I understand what you're
saying. I think that Lexi will eventually win
the job. But if you watch her playing defense.
Her reads are off because she hasn't calibrated
to what these international players, the angles
they can hit yet. Well, my thing is she's played
this all summer. You've been doing this since
May. We're almost in September. Has she been
playing it all summer? Or has she been practicing
all summer? Well, that's the thing. It's like
you're at the... She played V &L. Yeah, she played
V &L weeks two, three, the final. It takes time
to get used to that level and the angles and
everything else that these players are capable
of doing. And until you have a steady diet of
that, it's going to be difficult to just jump
in. I think she's the better of the two. I think
Hentz is doing a great job in keeping the ball
up. It's just two different styles of libero,
and I prefer the Rodriguez style. I think Hentz
gives them the best chance to win today. in Worlds,
I think Lexi will be the libero of their future
if she can sort out her reads. Has her setting
gotten better? Because that was my biggest knock
on Morgan Hentz. Not really. I still think she
misses too many. Like for me, if you're a libero
in your setting, it needs to be hittable 95 plus
percent of the time. And I don't think she puts
her hitters in great positions. Well, I would
say the same thing about the entire American
team because the sets that I was able to watch
this week. As a whole, their out -of -system
setting was atrocious. The number of free balls
they had to put over. Internationally, if you
are digging the ball within the perimeter of
the court, you need to be able to get a swing
off of it. And the number of free balls I have
seen from the American team on digs within the
perimeter is insane. I don't disagree with you.
Now let me ask you a question, because I thought
I heard you say... two or three weeks ago, I
can't remember right now, that you believed Wong
Arantes was the best libero in the U .S.? Yeah.
Correct me, I don't know for sure. Did she retire,
or is she just not even being given a chance
anymore? No, I think it was her choice to take
the summer off. We are wondering if she's coming
back. Okay. Yeah. The other thing with Lexi,
too, is we should point out that she missed the
whole pro season being on the bench behind Wong
Arantes. True. She lost a season of... competing
her first season out of college like that hurts
developmentally we have uh chiaka who came back
i think huge difference maker the offense coming
out of the middle for the u .s is much improved
this tournament i think yes it's getting there
i still think they need to run in front of the
setter more yeah They keep sending Redke on the
slide too. And while it is looking better than
it did in VNL, I still don't love her on the
slide. But I've seen Redke because I watched
her a lot in college. And I've seen her swing
in front of the center probably more this world
championship than I ever have. And any other
stretch. That's where they need to have her hitting
from, in my opinion. In front of the setter.
Absolutely. And the thing is, she dominated in
college running behind the setter, but it is,
as we have said countless times, it is a completely
different game. Completely different caliber
of athlete. Her slide isn't fast enough internationally
to be able to score. No, I agree. Now, the other
thing with the U .S. is that they run the pipe
over top of the middle so much they don't necessarily
always have to set it, but it still has to be
a threat. And I think they need to get better
at that. Those are the couple pieces, couple
tweaks to the U .S. system that we just wanted
to touch on that we have gotten a lot of questions
and comments about. But we will see how these
last two round of 16 matches shake out. And yeah,
it's go time. Quarterfinals start on September
3rd. So you know we'll be tuning in. Hopefully
I'll be tuning in. We know you guys will be tuning
in. Yeah, we're excited to see how this all plays
out. All right, while Worlds was kind of ramping
up, you know, it's kind of a slow burn in World
Championships as we get through pool play and
then things get exciting. That was not the case
with NCAA Volleyball, okay? We started out with
a bang with the ABCA First Serve Tournament that
we talked about last episode. And since then,
there have been some... Massive. Very good matches.
There are obviously way too many great matches
to talk about here. Why don't I ask you guys,
what has been your favorite match or two that
you have watched in the last couple weeks? For
me, today, Nebraska -Kentucky. Oh, baby. I was
looking forward to the match, and to be honest
with you, I... I expected Nebraska in three,
maybe four. And then they lost the first two.
So I'm watching this thing thinking Goliath is
going down. And because Kentucky was playing
really, really well. But Nebraska is so deep.
One thing doesn't work. Another thing doesn't
work. They'll figure it out because they have
so many options that they can go to. At the end
of the game, I think they just wore Kentucky
down. Kentucky. Last week when we were going
through the AVCA preseason rankings, Kentucky
was one of the teams that I was like, I feel
like they are going to be better than their ranking.
And watching them play Nebraska, I stand by that.
I think that they are very good. That was an
interesting match to watch. Losing the first
two sets. and coming back and winning in five
is probably the best thing for Nebraska. I was
afraid watching them play early that they were
in such good form that they were going to roll
through everybody and end up not really being
pushed because they just looked cleaner than
everybody else up until today. Showing that grit
and coming together as a team and finding some
leadership, being put in that position early
in the season, I think... puts them in a good
place to have a really good run and to stay focused.
Winning in that way was probably the best thing
for them. But I think if you watched it today,
one thing stood out for me, and I don't know
if anybody would agree with me, but it was all
like deja vu to me today. In what sense? I'm
watching Nebraska play, and it reminds me of
Merritt Beeson when she started slumping at the
end of the season where they were getting no
production. from the right side. I believe that
the right side hitters on Nebraska today had
five kills, and that's just not going to cut
it. So the pressure now is on everybody else
to score, and the biggest difference today that
I found, and I got away with it, was, and I was
really impressed by Harper Murray. She... showed
me some stuff later on in the matches as it went
on because I was very critical of her inability
to hit high hands and get blocked, I mean roofed
badly. And then she started doing what international
players do. She started hitting high hands. And
that got up to 23 kills. And she's, actually
we were talking about this, she's probably out
of the backcourt a better hitter. But she started
doing it in the front court too. So kudos to
her. But I still think they need consistent points
from the other left side. Landfare has never
been it for me. I think you guys know that. I've
never hidden that. but I did expect more from
the right side. I am impressed with Rebecca Alex's
improved offense. Absolutely. She's always been
a good blocker, but they are ramping up her offensive
game, which I think is amazing. A big difference
I'm noticing in the Danny Busboom era versus
the John Cook era is how many... substitution
she's willing to make and how many changes she
is willing to make in game coach cook would stick
with his lineup and that was that you are not
coming off the court we are not changing we're
not changing the lineup and danny is like no
we're gonna make wholesale changes here if we
have to and we're gonna just find what sticks
so i think that that's a marked difference well
the key the key for me was the libero switch
after the second set big move cho boy to pass
the ball in the first two sets, and they couldn't
get their middles going. I say that relatively.
Their middles are always a threat. I think they're
very good. But as much as they need to or want
them to be a threat all the time, Choboy was
being picked on going after seams. They weren't
passing well. And that's, quite frankly, going
to be the way you beat Nebraska. I think Nebraska's
middles, 1 -2, are probably the best in the country
and probably by a large margin. If they can...
get the ball to those middles, and then have
the pipe on top of that, it's going to be hard
to stop. You've got to get Nebraska hitting high
balls. That's going to be the only way to beat
them, in my opinion. I still think you're going
to have to find points from the right side. Traditionally
in this game now, the right side is your point
score. That's your point score. So what do you
do if you're Danny? Do you give this Italian
kid a runway to figure it out? Are you playing?
The transfer, are you, what's your strategy here?
I think that the youngster from Italy, a much
better blocker of the two. She's a very good
blocker. And gets up in the air higher. And I
think the girl from Baylor, I can't remember
her name. Ali Cech. If she's not scoring points,
then Danny did what she had to do, took her out,
put the Italian girl in. And she did a pretty
good job. She didn't score a lot of points. I
think that she has been interviewed saying that
the speed of the sets is much faster than she's
used to. I can understand the difficulty coming
from the international style play as a younger
athlete. With her size, I can relate to the sense
of it's very hard to find a setter who can set.
with tempo and get the ball high enough at the
same time I always struggled with that with a
lot of setters so I'm wondering if it's a case
of that because she does look to not be fully
extending on her attacks I would stick with Adriano
because you have longer with her and a higher
ceiling I think and a higher ceiling I think
you need to stick it out with her find a way
to make it work because I think her upside is
a lot bigger and you can use her for longer.
Well, and you can win without her scoring points
right now. You just beat Kentucky with your right
side not really producing anything. You can give
her time to figure it out so that she's really
good come national championship time. Now, on
the Kentucky side, I have to admit, I think Craig
did a really good job right now for this point
in the year. Craig Skinner, that's the coach
of Kentucky. And the only thing I think he probably
realizes because he's a good coach and a smart
man. Those two left sides today in a five -game
match took 135 swings. That's just not going
to be enough. And it's not sustainable for the
attackers' bodies for game planning. Brooklyn
DeLay and Eva Hudson are great left sides, I
think, as a combo, outstanding. But you need
to get some production from your other hitters,
or at least use your other hitters. They've got
to have a middle presence. And I know I say this
about everybody, but it's got to happen. Okay,
so I've got to ask you right now, which outsides
are you taking? Kentucky's outsides or Nebraska's
outsides? I'm taking Kentucky's outsides. I was
going to say Kentucky too. Oh, my gosh. I agree.
As a one -two punch. I just think as a combo,
Kentucky's outsides are better than the Nebraska
combo. I think it's hard to argue. They're the
best one -two punch in the country. Do you agree?
I do. I do. Okay. Just like the Nebraska middles
are the best one -two punch in the country. And
Nebraska's running those middles. So it makes
up for potential weaknesses on the outside, you
know? The biggest difference to me, because Harper
-Murray's skilled. She can pass the ball. She
plays defense. It's the out -of -system hitting
for me that puts the Kentucky outsides. above
the other two. You give Harper Murray the ball
in system where the middle's a threat, she's
going to score. She's a good volleyball player.
You put a triple block on her and everybody knows
where the ball's going, that's when the numbers
drop a little bit. So I think that's where, in
my opinion, the Kentucky left sides have the
edge. If Murray can continue to do what she did
today toward the second half of that match, I'm
going to tell you now, player of the year. You
think? I think. If she can continue what happened
today, player of the year. Heard it here first.
Landfare, in my mind, is a question mark. I think
Sigler or Pierce need to take her spot. I don't
know what she's doing starting. I'm not sure
she finishes as a starter. It's going to be a
crowsy situation from last season. We have our
favorite match from the week. If you didn't watch
the Nebraska -Kentucky match, check it out. But
my next question is, what was the biggest surprise
of the week for you? I was surprised at how well
Florida did. That was my surprise of the week.
I thought they played good teams really well.
I like their setter. I thought Stucky did a really
good job. She was playing really well before
she got hurt. Stucky's good, man. I like Florida.
I think they're going to be my dark horse team
this year. They were a pleasant surprise. I'm
not disagreeing that they were a big surprise,
but a bigger surprise to me today was Arizona
State University taking down Penn State in four.
They had a right side number 10 Glover who put
up a massive block. She had nine blocks today.
I'm watching this young girl play and she can
hit the ball too. I was really impressed. I think
their coach did a great job with the team. Can
they sustain? I don't know. but they certainly
did it today. They got a real superstar in that
young girl. I think she's going to be good as
well. We were watching that match together. She's
got a lot of pieces there. What do the following
teams need to do to win a national title? Let's
start with Penn State. Penn State needs to run
a balanced offense. They got a shiny new toy
in Kennedy Martin. Stark set her every ball.
I didn't think Kennedy Martin played particularly
well against Creighton. She didn't really do
much for me. I agree with you, but today I could
see a Kennedy Martin that people have been talking
about as she's getting comfortable with maybe
the best setter in the country. Maybe. She is.
She's definitely the best setter. I have nothing
against Kennedy Martin. I think she's very good,
but if you are only going to set her to a national
championship, it's not going to work. You have
to find a way to get other players to score points.
Selman is going to need to find a way. Selman
has improved. I was impressed. She's gotten better.
But Jura Vicious, I'm not sure that she's a left
side there. You've got Mendelsohn in the middle,
but they didn't run her a ton. Like, I get it.
You're trying to find your rhythm between Stark
and Martin. They're going to need to balance
their offense out if they want to be good all
year long. Well, I know Selman made a ton of
mistakes, but seeing where she was last year.
And some of the things she is doing now, I think
she is better. She needs to cut down her errors
100%. I'm a Selman fan. I liked her at Ohio State.
I think she's going to be very good. But that's
what they need to do to win, in my opinion. I
think Hugh Mocker panicked a bit today, actually,
to be honest with you. I think she saw a game
that was probably tougher than she thought it
was going to be. And as they were going down,
I'll give you a stat that probably forced her
to do this. The two left sides for Penn State
today. Their efficiency was 3 of 58. And just
for people who aren't super familiar with volleyball
stats, efficiency means you take the number of
kills, you minus the total errors that you have,
and then you put that over top of the number
of attempts. Yeah, that's 5%. Yeah, it's not
great. 6%, maybe. Pretty bad. So I think that
she was probably telling Stark, get the ball
to Martin. I mean, with reason, yeah. They wanted
to win the match. There's no way that Schumacher
wanted to lose this match. And this is how she
saw herself winning. Because if you looked at
the end of the match, and I agree with you on
Jura Vicious, she had opportunity at the end
of that fourth game to put it away and keep her
team alive. Didn't happen. She swung negative,
by the way, in this match. I think the transition
for her from right side to left side is going
to be a problem unless they can figure this out.
It is not an easy transition to go from right
side to left side. Okay. I hope they got a young
kid or somebody coming off the bench because
that experiment might not work all the way through.
Agreed. Okay, what does Pitt need to do? Pitt
is not looking good to me, you guys. I'm sorry
I said this last episode. Pitt was overrated
in the initial rankings. I am not loving what
I'm seeing at all. Pitt needs to pass the ball.
Pitt has two good middles and Babcock. Yeah,
the only three players who came back. Yes, they
have two good middles and Babcock. And the way
they're passing, they can't get the middles involved.
So all of a sudden, same type of thing. As the
game evolves and it's getting tight. Everybody
in the gym knows where that ball's going. It's
going to Babcock. Everybody knows it. And I don't
care how good you are. When you see a steady
diet of double blocks on you all the time with
no seam, nothing, it's wearing on you. Life sucks.
Yeah. I find it's not fun, but like that's part
of the job of being. A right side. Absolutely.
And I feel uniquely qualified to say that because
I was that player. And you played for Canada,
who couldn't pass. So you hit a lot of out -of
-system balls. I feel like I can say that because
I lived it. It's part of it. Let's put it in
perspective, though. You lived it in both realms.
You lived it as the right side for Canada that
was the big -time scorer. But you also lived
at Nebraska with a good team around you that
made life easier. And I don't think you would
argue that playing for Nebraska and having people
there that could play with you and did a great
job made life easier for everybody. Oh, it's
great to play on a well -balanced team. Yeah.
It's amazing. And that's what Babcock probably
experienced last year, a well -balanced team
people had to respect. And I feel bad for her,
but unless they get something else in there and
the passing improves. It's going to be tough.
I respect the fact that she stayed, though. It
might be good for her international career to
have a little adversity. There we go. We've talked
about how USA needs a right side who can swing
at a system. Olivia Babcock is getting the training
in. I have a lot of respect for her for staying,
too. I think it's a great thing. I respect her
a lot for sticking around when they've lost so
many players. So Penn State needs to run a balanced
offense. Pitt needs to learn to pass the ball.
What does Texas need to do? Get experience. They
are young. I have two opinions of this. Neither
are going to be popular. One is Swindle needs
to do her job now that she's the starting setter,
and I watched her set some balls in the last
two weeks, and I thought, oh boy, it's going
to be a long season in Texas. You ran the other
setter out of town. Yeah, you ran the other setter
out of town, Texas fans, so let's see what happens.
You got one girl in there doing the job, and
she... better do it and she better leave because
you have some young players there. And the other
one, Tori Stafford needs to be a star now. You
were on a team with Babcock. You didn't have
double blocks all the time. You know, life is
easy when you've got a good middle and a good
right side and you're hitting balls from the
best setter in the country. You left, you moved,
you better be the star. You know, I think with
time, They will be very good. I agree. Will they
be able to close the gap on Nebraska? I don't
know right now, but I do agree with you. They're
going to need 20 points from Torrey Stafford
in big matches. Those two things are going to
need to happen. They're young players I thought
looked pretty good. I thought so too. They're
going to keep getting better. For them to have
success, Swindle and Stafford are going to have
to be... really, really good and really, really
consistent because there's going to be mistakes
from those young players. Okay, we're not touching
on every single team and what they have to win,
but our last one that we can touch on, it doesn't
have to be long because we talked about them
already, is Nebraska. They've got to be able
to score out of system. I think their right sides
have to score points. Also fair. So to sum it
up, Penn State needs to run a balanced offense,
figure out the errors on the left side, pit,
let's pass the ball, let's get some in system.
Play happening here. Texas needs to figure out
their setting situation, get some experience
for their young players. Torrey Stafford really
needs to step up. And Nebraska, left sides need
to improve, but they're out of system hitting,
and we need production from the right side. Those
are our way too early critiques. I don't think
Pitt is going to be in the discussion for national
championship. That is like the earliest statement
I could ever make. Don't come at me for it. Take
Pitt out and put Kentucky in. Fine, yeah, Kentucky.
Run somebody other than your left side. Well,
you know, watch Kentucky. Watch Kentucky. Their
right side for me, though, is a big question
mark. Yeah, she's pretty small. She's small.
She gets up. I thought she was the substitute
setter for a second, and then she hit, and I
was like, wait, what? But with those two left
sides, if you can get something else going, they're
going to be a handful for everyone. Oh, yeah.
All right, we have seen a lot of the top teams
play, if not all. We have seen a lot of the big
name transfers, the buzzy transfers play in a
few matches now. So after the very start of the
season, first few matches, who do you think was
the biggest transfer pickup? Well, only one.
Let's modify this a little bit. Let's go, who
do you think is going to be the most important
for their team? Going to be or who is currently
the biggest? Currently. Because it's, I mean,
you could just argue like this is the best player
no matter what. But who is going to make the
biggest, who made the biggest impact on their
team? I have two. Okay. Martin from Penn State
has had to already start to carry a load. And
there's no doubt. Mimi Collier has to carry a
load for Wisconsin. Though, if I may, my hat's
off to Grace Egan, is it? Yeah. I thought she
played really well today. And I don't think they
expected her to start on the right side because
they had Grace Lopez come in from Miami, who
I think they intended on playing on the right
side. So Egan came in from Ohio State. Yes, Mimi
Collier has to carry a heavy load, but she is
not replacing Franklin. I'm sorry. I never said
she was placing Franklin. They're still losing
out in that position. But they needed somebody
that could go up on the left side and score some
points, and I thought she's doing a pretty decent
job. I think Martin is the one that is going
to make the biggest difference at the end of
this thing. I agree. Penn State needs somebody
to score points for them, and it's going to be
Martin. They are going to live and die. With
how she plays. You guys know that I can't help
myself and I can't be too positive. So I'm going
to say I was most disappointed by Tori Stafford
as a transfer with all the hype. And I loved
her at Pitt. I loved her. I still think she's
a great player. But she was the biggest disappointment
for me in the transfer game with how much hype
she had around her. She was getting blocked like
crazy. I agree with you, Sarah. It was not a
good start. I agree. I thought, I really didn't
pay much attention, really, to Stafford last
year. As a team, they were just so good. Yeah,
as a team, they were so good. But Babcock was
there, and I just was mesmerized by how this
girl played. And then I heard Stafford, Stafford,
Stafford during the portal season. So when I
watched Texas, I was expecting 22 kills, 20 kills.
Today was nine. Now, they handled Wisconsin with
no problem. They handled Wisconsin, but even
when, who did they play? Was it Creighton or
Kansas that they played? She could not hit past
the block. Yeah. Yeah, I was disappointed. Well,
and again, I don't think Swindle looked particularly
good these last couple weeks in terms of getting
her hitters in system, getting them in good places.
Like, there's work to be done there. Stafford's
a good player. They're going to figure it out.
Swindle hasn't looked good for me since her freshman
year. That wouldn't have been my choice, but
that's who they have now. I think everybody listening
has to understand, we're going out on a limb
after two weeks. I know. That's the fun of it,
though. That's the fun of it. You need to talk
about it. You need to speculate. You need to
stir up some controversy. That's what we're here
for. I want to read those comments. We may have
another opinion in November. Yeah, in November
we'll be like, remember that episode at the end
of August? Let's take it all back. Sarah and
I aren't sleeping right now anyway, so we're
not going to remember any of this. Exactly. All
right, our last NCAA Women's Question of the
Week. Who do you guys think are going to finish
top, let's say, two or three in each of the Power
Four conferences? So who are your picks for top
three in the Big Ten? In the Big Ten, I think
Nebraska is going to finish one. I think they're
just better than everybody else. Then I'm going
to go with Penn State. Even after their loss
to Arizona State today? Yeah. Even after exposing
their weaknesses? Yeah, they're going to get
better. They're going to figure it out. I'm an
Izzy Stark fan. She's going to find her offense.
Again, I'm not worried about that. Three, that's
a tough one. Wisconsin did not look great to
me. We have UCLA who went in preseason four.
No. I was like, on principle, no. No. UCLA is
not going to be three. Wisconsin. We're sticking
with the usual suspects and Adams. Well, I didn't
pick them in any order, but I went Nebraska,
Penn State, Wisconsin too. I thought, unfortunately.
Nobody thinks UCLA is going to make a push with
their transfers? No. No. Okay. I thought, really,
like it's rather sad, but I thought if we were
looking before Portal, I would have looked at
Purdue and Ohio State too. They've been decimated.
Purdue, too. That stinks for them. Yeah, so those
are my three. My concern with Wisconsin is, are
they going to be able to find an identity this
season? They've always been big and physical,
and they've just... That's been Wisconsin volleyball,
and they don't have that anymore. They have good
players. You know, they're skilled. But what
are they going to gel around? What are they going
to hold on to? I'm curious to see what they become
as a team. Well, what do you do when your entire
roster... leaves or graduates you go transfer
diving well that's the thing like you can't develop
an identity yeah you can't develop an identity
losing like 10 athletes no that's why he gets
paid the big bucks yeah but you have like programs
no i'm saying you have to he has to but it's
like hard when you have that level of turnover
Yeah, but again, programs have identities outside
of their players, right? Like Nebraska's super
defensive. Texas is very physical. Penn State
is gritty. Pitt has got that swagger. Wisconsin's
always been big and physical, and they don't
have those athletes anymore. So their whole...
culture and mentality is going to have to change.
Furbringer likes to run more of a faster offense.
Well, it'll suit her because now she's got smaller
players. Yeah, but there's a shift that's going
to have to happen with how they do things as
a staff. I'm curious to see how they pull it
off. They're talented. They're going to figure
it out, but it'll be interesting to watch. ACC?
Pitt, Louisville, Stanford, and no particular
order. Yeah, I think I have Pitt, Stanford, Louisville
in that order. You think Pitt's going to win?
I think, okay. We critique them on a national
championship stage of winning it all. They still
have bad cock. They still have good middles.
Like, they're still going to be good. And in
conference play, I just don't think, like Stanford's
super young. Louisville's lost their head coach
and a couple other players. I didn't see Louisville
at all this last week. I think Pitt is still
going to be the class of that division. I didn't
see Louisville either, but I... Figure that they've
been very, very good for a number of years. They
can't have dropped that far. Stanford, I understand
why. They just absolutely got slaughtered by
Nebraska. They got slaughtered by Nebraska, but
they beat Florida. Yes. And Ilya Rubin had a
really good week. Yeah. Yeah, those are the three
for me. All right. Looks like we're all agreeing.
What about the SEC? Kentucky, Texas, Florida.
Texas and Florida, for me, could flip -flop depending
on how quickly Texas comes together. Well, I
picked three and then I put a fourth. Vanderbilt?
No, I'm just kidding. No, maybe I've got that
conference wrong too. Texas, Kentucky, Florida,
Texas A &M. Oh yeah, don't sleep on Texas A &M.
I can't leave them out of this because I think
they could be really, really good too. Well,
you guys are agreeing on everything. Okay, Big
12. Arizona State, Kansas, and Utah. Again, I've
only seen one game from one and I've seen Kansas
a whole lot. Kansas, I'll put them in there as
a top three. I don't think... They can beat any
of the top teams. There's just not enough there,
but they can do well in their conference. And
then ASU today really impressed me, but who knows
if they can do that again. And BYU, so those
are my three, though. BYU, okay. This is the
one that there's a slight disagreement. And again,
we haven't seen Utah or BYU play anybody, so
it's a little bit off last year and what happened
in the portal, but we'll see what happens. Playing
it safe here, sticking with the usual suspects.
It was a really, the NCAA season's off to a great
start. It was so entertaining. So entertaining,
so many good matches to watch. If you missed
any of the big ones, check them out. There is
going to be a ton more happening. this coming
week so that was just a little taste what we
want to see more of but let us know your thoughts
for sure as we head into this coming week all
right it is time for listener questions our first
question so in an episode a long time ago I talked
about how Danny Busboom will be able to recruit
any anybody in the country now because she's
at Nebraska and I said like Nebraska is just
one of those schools that like most players want
to go to this question came about from that in
what are some of the schools that are able to
go after and recruit the top high schoolers in
the country the two that jump out to me right
away are Nebraska Texas yes like those programs
can get whoever they want and it's not kind of
eyebrow raising you know I would say Stanford's
up there, but their ability to accept students
without a certain mark is limited. But I think
that school has a huge draw as well. I think
Wisconsin is now in that category with them.
Penn State is in that category now. I would say
Penn State more than Wisconsin. Yeah, I would
say. Okay, that's fair. So here's my other question
to you. As a female sport for female athletes,
does having a female head coach, do you think
that that adds to your ability to recruit? I
think this day and age, I think it is definitely
a draw. I tend to agree with you. I think it's
a draw when the name is Danny Busboom, what she's
been able to build, and she's got a reputation.
But the women like Danny and Schumacher Collie,
those two, girls want to play for them. You have
to be a good coach. You have to be. What I'm
saying is all things equal. If you had the same
resume and the same credentials and the same
success. I think playing for a female coach probably
is one thing that would tip the scales. Unless
you're Nebraska. I think if you're Nebraska,
it doesn't matter, female or male. It's just
got that aura about it. And that's like the essence
of the question, I guess. It's just like... You
know how much they still will get out of that
93 ,000 fans? You don't think they play that
video in front of those kids when they come in
for a visit? Come on. That sells, trust me. So
to sum it up, Nebraska, Texas, Penn State, Stanford,
if you're a good student, are the schools who
can kind of have their pick, I would say. I would,
as a caveat to that, I would say if any of the
West Coast schools with the great weather get
their programs to a top place, that then becomes
a destination to go to for the lifestyle as well.
but the programs aren't good enough right now.
Agree. That UCLA campus, one of the most beautiful
in the country. All right, question two. With
the COVID season giving players an extra year,
is it really fair that certain players have broken
records at their respective schools when others
in the past will only get four seasons of stats?
Asterisk. I think there needs to be an asterisk
next to those because like Dana Retke, for example,
five -time first -team All -American. Yeah, because
you played five seasons. Nobody else had that
opportunity. I don't think it's fair, no. I don't
think it's fair either. So then when you played
to 30, does that put an asterisk on your records?
Absolutely not, because we won most games in
three sets. And, no, actually we can take that
back a little further. Because when you played
to 15 and didn't have... No rally scoring. No
rally scoring, those games could go on for four
hours. Sure. I'm just saying. So we have the
rally scoring era. We have the era that I played
in when we played to 30. Then we've got the COVID
era. And I'm sorry, playing to 30 points in a
set does not make up an extra year. And the side
outs era. And the side out era. But so I was
like kind of joking. But like when you win in
three and you never go like five, that also makes
a huge difference. I think it's unfair. I think
there definitely has to be a... I think there's
only a handful of cases where this actually matters.
Dana Recchi going five times. It's good to talk
about it. Yeah, it's fair. But in the grand scheme
of things, you still know. It's obviously not
fair. Let's face facts. Question three. Could
you elaborate on what hitting angles actually
means? Also, what does it mean to hit outside
of your body and why is that a good tool? So
this person, when they submitted this question,
they were like, when you say hitting angles,
I thought it meant like hitting cross court and
hitting line. When I talk about hitting angles,
I tend to refer to it as hitting inside the attack
line. Like really going for a sharp cross court
angle. That's what I refer to it as. Because
you don't see that happen much anymore. So that's
what it means. And like when I say to hit outside
your body, you see a lot of players like they
hit wherever their shoulders are facing when
they're hitting. That is the direction the ball
goes. When I say hit outside your body, it means
the ball is traveling in a way from where the
shoulders are pointing. And to do that, you like
take you use your wrist to hit the side of the
ball. to drag the ball away from the defender.
Defenders tend to line up around the block and
then they line up where the hitter's shoulders
are facing. So if you're using your wrist to
hit the side of the ball to get a little bit
of spin away, it makes it much more difficult
to read defensively and to dig even if you do
get a hand on it because it has that movement.
So that's what I mean. Like when we talk about
this with young kids, because like I mentioned,
I'm a club coach. We talk to kids often about
watch your hitter. This hitter is a body line
hitter, meaning wherever she's coming in on that
angle, that's where the ball is going to go.
So move yourself behind her shoulders. But then
you get the hitter that'll be there and they'll
snap it one way or the other with their wrist.
And now you've got to be a little more elite
of them. player to dig that ball well and this
is kind of goes back to what we were talking
about with lexi right players are doing this
more at the international level than they are
at the collegiate level and she's just trying
to figure out what's possible dialing into different
hitters question four if you were coaching against
the italian women's national team what would
your strategy be to beat them boo that's a really
good question one thing i'd want i'd definitely
do is make sure if I could, because the Liberos
are so active, is try to get Igano to play that
first ball. That's one thing I would definitely
try to make happen. That was my initial idea,
to serve short, to try to get the right side
to come in and pass a short ball. or to create
a conflict zone for the middle to take away their
approach angle. When Italy has three or four
options, you are not going to stop them. So you
need to try to hinder or take away at least one
of them. And I think the way to do that, because
Italy's passing is so good, is to serve short
to try to draw one of the front row attackers
to pass. Yeah, you can also serve across middle
zones to try and jam up their approaches so that
it's a little more uncomfortable to set them.
I mean, offensively, their weakness is their
left sides. You want them to set their left sides
as much as possible, and that gives you the best
chance to beat them. Serving and strategically
putting the ball to Iganu, those would be the
things that you're trying to get at. But as you
watch these games, just focus on... what liberos
and how active they are it's pretty amazing how
much ground they will cover to get a ball yeah
and that's the mark of a good libero is like
when your passers that you're passing with know
that if the ball is anywhere in your zone you're
taking it like that's that is the mark of a good
libero but italy is so good that they always
make adjustments and they come back but like
so you need to be able to counter that but to
start the serving strategy is what I would go
with. All right, our last question of the week
is, how much do you think Brazil's lack of great
opposites impacts them? Rosa Maria has gotten
a lot of hate from Brazilian fans in VNL, but
I don't think it's her fault that Brazil doesn't
have anyone better, especially with such bad
setting in the final. Plus, Ana Cristina's injured,
and they've really lacked aggression from the
outsides. I mean... I mean, they don't have a
Shayla. like they have in the past not having
a really good opposite is debilitating it's a
safety blanket for teams hey if we screw this
up we've got a decent chance at scoring a point
even massive for just team mentality about how
you go about things not having an opposite at
that level to be the best in the world that's
a problem not that rosemary is bad but she's
just but like i always saw her more as a left
side but like compared to the left sides that
brazil currently has she's just not she's that
she's the l3 Four at this point with Ana Cristina's
back. If you were to line Brazil up against the
other top international teams and rank them purely
on what they can put on the opposite side, they're
seven? Eight? Well, I mean, Italy. It's not a
coincidence. Serbia. Canada. Sweden. Sweden.
You've nailed it right on the head. It's not
a coincidence that the so -called greatest players
in the world are mostly right sides. There's
a reason. A. You got a lot of pressure on you.
You have to score. It's not... When everybody
knows that you're getting the ball, you need
to score. You need to score. Yes, I think that's
the reason they're not going to beat the top
teams. And when they lose, it's because they
lack somebody at that position who can get them
out of a jam. Because they keep coming second.
They're meddling. They're coming second. They
are there. They're in the conversation. Let's
rewind to when they won gold in London. Shayla
was one of the top opposites in the world. Since
she has retired. You don't need to be the best,
but you need to be in the top five. Yeah. Yeah.
Honestly, again, it's not Rosemarie or anybody's
fault that they haven't been developed. Like
Rosemarie was developed as a left side, as a
young athlete. It's like with the U .S. The U
.S. is in the same position. They need somebody
who can score out of system. And it's not happening.
Brazil is lucky that their left sides and middles
are so good. It says a lot for that individual
or those individuals that. everything's breaking
down and everybody in the gym knows where the
ball's going and you still have to score. Not
a lot of people have the mentality to deal with
that. This is always my favorite segment. You
guys, I love getting your questions. I love reading
them. I love thinking about them. I love answering
them. So keep them coming. These were really
good ones this week. So thank you so much to
everybody who wrote us and sent them in. All
right, so we pulled a few matches for you. I
mean, obviously... world champs is going on so
all of those matches are going to be priority
yeah just watch all of those quarter semis finals
the volleyball is going to be good we're coming
down to crunch time who's going to step up who's
not will brazil find an opposite in three days
you know we'll see and we'll figure that out
when we come in for looking into the ncaa here
are the matches that i'm going to watch this
week one we have kansas versus purdue That's
a 14 -15. I like that. I think Kansas has been
playing well. I'm curious, ranking wise, it's
close in the standings. Purdue was decimated
by the transfer portal. What do they have? Are
they going to sink in the ranking? So that one
has some interesting implications. So I'm looking
forward to watching that one. So that match is
Friday at 7 p .m. Eastern. We also have Kentucky,
who's currently number seven, but should be higher.
Penn State. Number two, probably going to drop.
And that's going to be Friday as well at 8 o
'clock Eastern. So you can watch those games
back to back. That one I want to watch. Finally,
Stanford, number six, Texas, number five are
playing on Sunday. That time was TBD. I'm sure
they'll post that online, but it's going to be
on Sunday. I think that's going to be a fantastic
game. So a couple things to put on your calendar.
If you have a little time to watch some volleyball,
those would be the ones I'm looking at. That
concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk.
There's always something shaking in the volleyball
world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix.
Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss
any updates and we'd be so grateful if you'd
leave us a five -star review. Huge shout out
to my dad for stepping in and helping us this
week, offering his opinions as I was taking care
of a baby. Maybe we'll have to... Have some more
guests. We'd like to hear your thoughts on that.
You can find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore
podcast. If you have a topic you'd like us to
discuss, be sure to let us know by reaching out
to us on Instagram or at info at sarahpavin .com.
Thanks so much for joining us and we'll be back
next week. Thank you.