Intangible Contributions and Week 11 Recap

00:00:00
Speaker 1: As a volleyball player, I trust Adidas to meet my own court needs, but they'll also offer the ultimate in everyday's style from trendy platform sneakers, vibrant track pants, and cozy, chic flea sweatshirts from their zny collection. Adidas has everything I need to feel comfortable, stylish, and confident. Explore all that Adidas has to offer at Adidas dot Com or through the Adidas App and receive fifteen percent off your first order when you sign up for ADDI Club, getting access to fantastic perks, including free shipping. Unlock your style with Adidas. Today, I'm Tiffany Oshinsky and I'm Capbo, and this is serving pancakes with League one Volleyball. The inaugural Love Season is finally here. Each episode will be going over the matches from the week to keep you up to date on everything League one Volleyball. Then stick around after the analysis for interviews with some amazing people in and around the sport with only If you were weeks left in the regular season and after a jam packed weekend, We're gonna focus just on all the action from week eleven. But before we get into the games.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: How are you doing Cat, I'm doing good.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: Long travel day, going to Omaha, Longevelday, coming back, But I feel great.

00:01:15
Speaker 2: How are you doing?

00:01:16
Speaker 1: Not doing great? I feel like, you know, I'm probably a little more arrested than you are.

00:01:20
Speaker 3: But I'm feeling good for sure, for sure. But you know, body still tea. We keep going, We keep going, keep going.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's three more weeks, lap, so you guys can.

00:01:29
Speaker 2: Believing for three more weeks? So crazy, I know.

00:01:32
Speaker 1: I gotta say, like this season flew by so quick.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm for sure I say the same thing.

00:01:39
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get into it in week eleven. We're gonna start with Thursday Night's matchup between White Hot Love Madison versus Love Salt Lake at Bruin Arena, and Madison continue their hot streak in dramatic fashion, solidifying the w in five sets twenty twenty five, twenty five, fifteen, seventeen, twenty five, thirty two, thirty fifteen seven. So what was Madison doing right to stick out this win?

00:02:04
Speaker 2: Hey, Madison has found their groove.

00:02:05
Speaker 3: Honestly, like kind of shortened the're kind of like long term in the game, but now they found a groove of the consistent right Now, obviously Annie's amazing.

00:02:11
Speaker 2: They found a connection through Lauren car Leading. So they're in a group right now.

00:02:14
Speaker 1: They're killing it, Yes they are. Now let's talk about that fourth set. Madison was trailing twenty four to twenty one, one set point away from losing the entire match. We've talked about previously on the podcast about how the best teams find ways to win and can persevere in these moments. But what specifically did Madison do at the end to not just stay in the game but eventually get the win at thirty two to thirty.

00:02:38
Speaker 3: Honestly, I think exeking transition. I think tradition game is always very important. If you can defend the ball and get the ball hop in the mental court and get a great set to do your pins. I think transitioning out of system was great. Defending well and just staying in those moments, taking one point of the time. I feel like Madison wasn't being rushed.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: They're super patient and obviously helped them out on the end.

00:02:54
Speaker 1: Now you already mentioned Annie Drew Schumacher. We can't talk about this match without mentioning the great Southpaw. Cannot, no, not at all. She has been unbelievable in this wind streak for Madison, and Thursday night was absolutely no different. A love best twenty six kills, only five errors in fifty eight attempts, absolutely insane, and her biggest contribution probably came in that fourth set where she had nine kills alone. But I actually want to give a shout out to outside Jennifer Yaniska, who finished with fourteen kills, including the match winner. Those fourteen kills were a season high for her. So talk about the importance of being ready to come in off the bench and contribute.

00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.

00:03:39
Speaker 3: You know, we didn't see a lot of Jennifer I'm coming in the beginning of the season, and now she's kind of made us stride with the team these last five matches. And I love that when she comes on the floor, she's bringing in what she does. I said last time I talked with her a few weeks ago that she's very consistent. So they have a consistent attacker on the pan. That is what you need where there's ball control, I'm putting a ball away. She brings him a much more stable option on the outside because they have Annie all day on the right side, so she helves them out quite a bit now.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: They're on a five game win streak right now, two more weeks left in the regular season before Love Finals begins. Are they peaking too soon? Or is this the right time for them to peak?

00:04:14
Speaker 3: You know what, I'm gonna say, it's the right time. It's a great time to peak. Actually, I think it's better late than never. You do have some teams still figuring some stuff out aka Austin and Omaha, but hey.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: We're gonna figure it out. I think it's a great tradition game with them right now.

00:04:27
Speaker 3: They found a way to pivot and they're playing well, and I just hope they continue to play well. Not too well gets this, but like I hope they could even good playing well and showing up every week.

00:04:35
Speaker 1: Speaking of Austin and Omaha, perfect pivot to the next match, which was the game that you crushed it. Let's go. After three straight losses, Love Austin beat Love Omaha and five thrilling sets on Friday twenty four to twenty six, twenty five, twenty twenty five, fifteen, twenty three, twenty five, eighteen sixteen, and you and Middle Chiacobago had had a night. I mean, absolutely incredible between the two of you, you had forty three points thanks to thirty one kills, eleven blocks and an ace, and you yourself had seventeen kills. So besides being on the court, what was the what was different in this game that helped you ladies get that wh.

00:05:24
Speaker 3: And know, I think it's one thing that Chiaca mentioned to our press conference, said, like there's just some things you just a score on paper doesn't have, you know, I think it takes more than just beople to put a ball away, be able to kind of feed the energy around the players around you. And I felt like I was breathing fire into the girls around me.

00:05:39
Speaker 2: You know.

00:05:39
Speaker 3: It was just it was a great night. I think we were bobbing off each other really well. I came in with a lot of energy, just trying to, like I said, feed into them, feed into logan and try to find stop a flextapability on the course.

00:05:48
Speaker 2: So it was just it was our night and it was great. It was great.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: I mean, Chiaca mentioned that during her postgame interview because she earned Player of the Match honors in this match, but I mean she mentioned that you being on the court helped create Like you said, you lit a fire underneath them, right.

00:06:06
Speaker 4: I feel like today we needed a lot of energy and a lot of fire coming on the court, and I felt like Kat lit a fire under everyone's part of my French ass. And I feel like when she was in I.

00:06:16
Speaker 1: Felt more confident.

00:06:17
Speaker 4: So I feel like I could not have done tonight without her, without her pumping up everyone.

00:06:21
Speaker 1: So thank you. You two are good friends. So talk about the sixth sense that you guys kind of have when you get to play with your friend, and how do you try to replicate that sixth sense when you're not actually lined up to block next to your bestie.

00:06:36
Speaker 3: I think it's the communication. I'm talking to Chi, I'm tripping to her em I'm in the back court. I'm telling her, you know, give me one, sell me what you got, what you could you get her or not like somebody like I'm giving her just some like you know, information, just like you know, just trying to get her to like kind of like perk up a little bit, you know. I talked to the girls like they're my friends. I don't have a a kind of like a volleyball dialogue. I'm kind of like, hey, guys, let's go. No I talk how I talk normally to them like hey, get this ball right now, like shut her down, be in her face, like that's the kind of thing I'm saying, as well as like obviously the opposing team you can hear it too, So you know, just like bringing who I am my personally into the court and being able to, like I said, feed into the girls around me and bring the spirits up is what it's cost me nothing, you know what I'm saying. So it's a tough job obviously come off the bench, but it's what I do best, and I was very fortunate. I'm very happy to be able to be able to contribute the way I did on Friday night.

00:07:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and after a pretty dominant win in the third set, Omaha fought back to win that fourth. So what did you say to the team in between that fourth and fifth set to keep their spirits up? And what did you say to yourself because seven of your seventeen kills did come in that fifth set.

00:07:43
Speaker 3: Honestly, I told him, I was like, hey, I was like, give me your best Bally ball right now, like fifteen points.

00:07:47
Speaker 2: Everything you have on the floor right now.

00:07:48
Speaker 3: Obviously we're all tired and kind of being like a dog fight throughout the tire and nighte I was like, give me your best balleyball and the rest of.

00:07:53
Speaker 2: The work itself.

00:07:53
Speaker 3: I think in the fifth set it was connect towards the end, I would kept telling myself, but we got to get two more points in the last block.

00:07:59
Speaker 2: I told you. I was like, get me one, get me a block, and she would and did that. So it was it was great. It was great.

00:08:04
Speaker 1: You didn't need just fifteen points, you needed eighteen points to when that matche towards me and we were like, dang, you're like, let's go. What was the celebration like post game?

00:08:17
Speaker 3: I mean, it was just like I was screaming and then like I stopped screaming, and I just like was just taking it in the moment of just like hugging Chiaka and hugging their girls around me and just knowing that, like, you know, the well fought battle was working towards the end, you know, it wasn't all for nothing. It sucks to go into a fifth set and lose, you know, regardless of you're getting you know, it's a good match or not, but it just sucks to go all the way and not to get the results. So the fact that we went all the way and it was at one point tied. They were up game. Matt set point fourteen fifteen on us and we managed to fight back and you know, to be able to be and that moment with them was amazing.

00:08:47
Speaker 5: It was great, all right.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: Well, that game was a great win for you ladies, But unfortunately there wasn't a repeat in the first game of Saturday.

00:09:09
Speaker 2: Shortly normal it's normal.

00:09:12
Speaker 1: A good a good win on Friday. But in the end love Atlanta pulled off a sweep over you guys on Saturday twenty five, nineteen twenty five, one twenty five to fifteen. So what was the difference between Friday night's match and this one and how did Atlanta take advantage?

00:09:27
Speaker 3: I mean, what are we talking about here? The difference was the team, obviously Atlanta. We held them pretty well, I think offensively with our blocking and defense.

00:09:34
Speaker 2: But Atlanta's great. They're a really good team.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: They have really good chemistry right now. Obviously, Kelsey is going to be Kelsey every single night, and she definitely was for us the player of the match as well. I know it's Mackinsey as well, but I think Kelsey doesn't kept from the game a lot, and they found a weakness. I think we caught onto tips kind of late, I would say, in the second set, but I would just say, you know, they played the game well.

00:09:57
Speaker 2: They had some really good points.

00:09:58
Speaker 3: Blocking was amazing and like you've either had to try to go through them or around them, and they would just have touching balls all day long. So we just a really good job fars like blocking us and we kind of figure out what we were at in our offensive speam.

00:10:08
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Mackenzie for a second, because, as you said, you know, she won the player of the match honors. She scored twelve points from nine kills three blocks, but she also had eleven digs. So which part of her game do you find the most dominating and hardest to stop?

00:10:22
Speaker 3: Surprising dominating, I would say passing. You know, we served her basically almost every ball and she kept them in system. So that was things that was one thing kind of cut us off by surprise.

00:10:33
Speaker 2: You know.

00:10:33
Speaker 3: I think in the past this season Mackenzie has kind of struggled in the passive line. I think that's kind of all of all areas on every team you have one passer who's you know, pretty good and like, you know, you can kind of get the ball in a certain way, maybe we can kind of catch them at the system, but Mackenzie was just passing dimes or catch them the system. On top of the said defense, in transition, they're digging balls high middle of the core. And then they have Maddie Buck who's an amazing center as well, and she would keep them and keep them in transition. So it was tough, tough to be, very tough to be.

00:10:58
Speaker 1: Week after we keep topalking about how great Atlanta has been playing, and they've been atop the standings the majority of the season and have already clinched a buy in the Love Finals as one of the top two teams in the standings. But you've played them three times now, we've seen them lose to Houston. So what is their achilles heel? How can teams beat Atlanta?

00:11:21
Speaker 3: That's a hard to needle in a haystack. That's the hard thing to kind of fine. It's almost like you have to kind of catch them on a bad day potentially, and even if their bad day is bad, it's not that bad, you know. If anything, I would say if a team can outdefend them, that helps know, Houston's a great defensive team.

00:11:38
Speaker 2: I would say probably the best team in the league defensive wise.

00:11:41
Speaker 3: I think Maddi Kingdan Michelle, she's actually the league defensive player right now outside even including Livero. So I think Houston has done a really good job of far as defending them pretty well. And I think, like I said, if you could, if you can defend more balls, it's going to help you and again transition out and be more successful in that.

00:11:57
Speaker 2: It's that's easy, a good way to help you beat Atlanta.

00:12:01
Speaker 1: Well, at Lana was hoping to secure that number one spot going into the finals, but they're going to have to wait a little longer because number two. Houston secured another win beating love Omaha Saturday night and four sets twenty five, twenty one, twenty five, eighteen, twenty three, twenty five, twenty five, twenty three. Now you can tell by the scores, especially the last two sets, that this was a tough match for them to win. So what did Houston ultimately do to get that w.

00:12:25
Speaker 3: I think, honestly, what most people can't really see is the chemistry that Houston has, Like everyone has a third mesh.

00:12:31
Speaker 2: Their jail is so nice. It's so tight.

00:12:33
Speaker 3: The most Jordy, that starting six are really good friends. They have their relationship, but I think it kind of relies off the court and it helps them on the court as well the communication standpoint. They're able to kind of feed into each other the way they can communicate with one another, and it's able to help them be consistent about the season.

00:12:46
Speaker 1: Those intangibles for sure.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're besties.

00:12:51
Speaker 1: Of course. Jordan Thompson, no surprise here, was named Player of the match thanks to twenty one kills, two blocks, and thirteen digs. Then, looking at Jordan's stats, her three highest kill efficiencies came in matches against Omaha. How does she do it when she goes up against that Omaha block and defense.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: I think, honestly just being her JT is so athletic. She gets so high.

00:13:15
Speaker 3: On top of the ball, and I think it's finding that range in motion if she can keep the ball. I think throughout her game she keeps the ball off of jesting, which helps a lot. So her being able to trigger between middle back and right back. Putting the ball in those placements placements areas definitely does help.

00:13:27
Speaker 4: You know.

00:13:27
Speaker 3: Just teams won the best of barrels or probably the best barrow in the league right now. And if you can be able to keep any ball off of her will help you off with some game for sure.

00:13:34
Speaker 1: And we talked about Madison being on a hot streak and if they're peaking too early, but with Omaha, we kind of have the opposite right they've lost nine in a row. Now, do you think this slump might get to them enough to actually turn it around before the finals?

00:13:48
Speaker 3: You know, going to the finals, I think it's anyone's game. I think right now, it's almost like you know, chess, it's okay, we win this game. Who do we want to play in the SMIs on the quarterfinals?

00:13:59
Speaker 2: Who do we don't want to play? Kind of thing. Like I said, it give me anyone's game.

00:14:02
Speaker 3: Hopefully Omaha going into the finals can find some type of like stinch together and kind of will together to come to the final chemistry. But it's tough, but I think they can come of manage their game and manage their mindset and manage each other. They will be able to kind of pull it together.

00:14:15
Speaker 2: All right.

00:14:16
Speaker 1: Well, now we only have two weeks left in the season, so we're gonna look ahead to week twelve and which game we are most excited for? So the lineup we got for Week twelve. On Thursday night, the top two teams face off for the final time in the regular season, with Houston hosting Atlanta and Atlanta looking to clinch the top spot in the finals. Your team, Austin hosts the Weekend with Love, and we start with you ladies playing Omaha on Friday night. Then it's Love Salt Lake versus Love Omaha in the first match of Saturdays doubleheader. And we end with you guys Austin facing off against Love Madison, who are on a five game win streak. So which game are you most excited for?

00:14:56
Speaker 2: I would say Love Madison.

00:14:59
Speaker 3: The last time you played them, it wasn't the best volleyball and now be able to be more in of our home court advantage, so to speak. I think we have a little bit of about that game. We were not as a team, we were not happy about that match. So I think I'm excited to see what we come up this week. Durham practice unfair for that and for Omaha, but yeah, that's my match of the game for sure, match of the week.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: That's what I'm thinking of. I like it.

00:15:19
Speaker 1: That's definitely going to be a really good match, and I can't wait to watch you guys especially. I mean the way that you guys played Friday night. If you show up like that against Madison, who's white hot, I mean, it's going to be a really good match exactly. But I'm also I mean, I've been saying this weekend and a week out, but I just Houston Atlanta for me, rivalry, that's not that's not officially a rivalry.

00:15:38
Speaker 2: But to me exactly, I think it is for everyone. I think we all do the same thing. One would always be a rivalry for sure.

00:15:44
Speaker 3: And I think also I think this is the game to secure the spot for number one, right mm.

00:15:47
Speaker 1: Hmm yeah, because if Houston wins, then they're tied with so because there are two games back, so it'll be exciting. I'm pumped.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: All right.

00:15:58
Speaker 1: Well that's to be it for this episode of Serving Pancakes. Say tune next week where you and I will recap Week twelve. Wait lea go. Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball. I'm your host Tiffany Oshinsky. My co host is kat Bell. Amya Alvarez is our senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Juara Parker. Sound editing and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: Mass Junior.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: Next week we'll recap Week twelve. Thanks for listening.