Italy Extends Win Streak to 29 Matches, Repeats as Women's VNL Champions

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. Women's VNL is officially over. Italy got
that repeat. Okay. They now have a world record
29 consecutive wins. Super impressive. Maybe
people will disagree with this, but I thought
that they looked pretty untouchable as they cruised
through finals week this week. Their match is
generally straightforward, but there were some
very exciting matches mixed in there this week.
So today... It is all about women's VNL Final
Eight. And we are very excited to talk about
what went down in Poland. So let's get started.
Shockingly, but maybe not so shockingly because
the same thing happened last week. The summer
seems a little slow. So we don't really have
highlights or juice. But NCAA programs are starting
up soon. This week, they got the go -ahead by
the NCAA to start their preseason a week earlier
than usual. Why? Why not? Because now they're
getting paid $500 ,000, so the schools want them
to show up and be prepared. That's why. Just
a whole week in advance, you know? Just really
make that investment worth it for that extra
week. So, yeah, NCAA preseason is going to be
starting, is starting. We also, I got sent a
little screenshot. And nobody sends me anything.
Of some Instagram comments. And basically, it
was this girl commenting on one of Jess Merzik's
photos on Instagram. If you are familiar with
Beach, you might know the name Devin Newberry.
She played at UCLA. I think she's trying to make
moves internationally. But anyway, she commented
on Jess Merzik's post and she was like, get this
girl on the beach. And Jess Merzik responded
with a double winky face. So, yeah, my sources,
you know, sent me that. So, and the reasoning
it was sent was like, maybe she feels like she's
falling behind her counterparts. that graduated
and maybe she's thinking about it. I don't know.
Just speculation. I mean, we talked about this
earlier in the summer when we found out she declined
an invitation or didn't want to train with the
national team to take a break. And I don't know
about you, but I said, I think this is a mistake.
I mean, everybody has to take care of their own
mental well -being, physical well -being, rest.
But this was a huge summer, as we saw for all
kinds of young, inexperienced. U .S. athletes
to get international experience, and she doesn't
have that anymore. And I think this might cost
her if she wanted to play internationally indoor
because it's going to get real after this, both
for the players and for the coaching staff. So
beach is maybe an option. Well, I have been following
the signings for different people in the Italian
market. I've kind of been following. The Turkish,
Japanese. I have not seen her name come up anywhere,
so I'm assuming she's going back to love. If
I miss something, let me know. But I have not
seen her name come up anywhere. So maybe it's
back to love. Anyway, here I am. I'm like, we
don't have any gossip, but listen to this. Tracks.
So there's that. But as I said, this episode
is all about the women's final eight. Little
recap, we're not going to dive into every match
in detail, but we will talk them through, you
know. So why don't we get started with that.
Quarterfinal matchups. So match number one, we
had Italy versus USA. There was a very interesting...
kind of question brought up on the YouTube channel
that pertains to this match. So I kind of want
to address it now. I'm glad you brought that
up because when I read it, I was like, this is
very interesting. And I'm curious how many people's
perspective are similar because I had a very
different reaction to this match. So let's read
the comment. I'm curious how many people or what
other people thought about this match. And I'm
assuming. People are not going to agree with
me on this. I'm very curious, actually. So this
person sent a comment on the YouTube channel.
And they said... I thought the gold medal rematch
Italy versus USA was closer than the 3 -0 score
would suggest. The deciding factor every set,
rather than the pure talent gap I expected, were
unforced errors and effort. The USA had so many
uncontested swings they sent way wide or long.
Italy rarely. USA never made the effort to dive
for tips. Italy... rarely seem to give up a point
off a tip. They're diving, going to a knee, making
sure to follow up with a solid set to avoid sending
free balls over. Would you attribute this to
coaching experience or was that a mark of how
wide the skill was? Am I wrong in thinking that
it didn't seem like the US was not out of their
depth had they tightened things up a little bit?
I'm not saying they're on the same footing, but
they're not leagues apart. So let me just, I
will say, The U .S. had a lead in every set.
Yes. In the first set, they were up like 10 -7,
I want to say. Granted, a little early. But that
got gone real fast. 10 -7, 10 -10, snip, snap.
Okay. Second set, I feel like they pushed it
a little further. They had a slight lead, like
16 -14 maybe, something like that. Gone. But
the biggest one, and this lead extended even
deeper into the set, was set three. They were
up like 22 -18, and they could not get it together,
and they lost in overtime. So they did have a
lead in every set. Pissed it away. In every set.
What are your thoughts? My original thought watching
Italy in this match was they are so confident
that they're going to win that nobody's really
engaged in the match. That was my first kind
of take watching the team. They were laughing
when balls hit the floor. They were coming together.
Honestly, the feeling watching that team, having
watched them over the three weeks, was that they
knew they were going to win, and they could kind
of just coast. They were very relaxed. The demeanor
on the court was very relaxed. And specifically
for Aganu. And so what people saw was Aganu tipping
a whole bunch of balls. I think one thing that
is missed is that this was, to me, very clearly
an Italian game plan on how to score on them.
So if you look at the difference in how the US
and Italy play defense, my take is the US has
a game plan for an individual player. So if they
set this player, we're going to set up here.
These are your responsibilities. This is how
you're going to play defense. What I saw was
the ball go back to the right side. Everybody
got into position. Iganu saw where they were
and knew that she could score tipping the ball
where they weren't. And they weren't fast enough
or making reads to adjust to that. So you would
see. Sarah Franklin slide over in six because
they were playing her for the cross court. Lexi
would stay back to dig the line. She would tip
the ball right into the middle of the court,
knowing where everybody was. They would adjust.
Sarah would still shift over. Lexi would come
in for short. She would push the ball straight
over her head into the corner. She was toying
with them, and the defense was moving early enough
that she could see where the open holes were.
And the left sides did that as well on several
occasions. Now, if you watch Italy play defense,
they play a rotational style defense. So given
what rotation the U .S. is in, they have a very
specific serving strategy. They're either jamming
up a route or trying to take a player away. They
have, if the ball gets set out to the left side
and it's a fast set versus an inside set, they're
going to play defense this way. And their six
is actively reading the situation and filling
in the gaps based on how their block is set up.
It works very well in coordination, and the U
.S. just plays one style and everybody does their
own job. I think there is a huge gap there in
their ability to play defense. I mean, Italy,
there's a huge gap between Italy and everybody,
how they play team defense, I think. Japan might
be the exception to that, but Italy's team block
defense is elite. I find this comment interesting
because... at this level I mean everybody's a
good volleyball player I know based on some of
my feedback you guys probably think I don't think
that I do everybody at this level if you have
made it to this level you are a good volleyball
player the difference is understanding how to
make adjustments the difference is mindset, mentality,
when the game is tight. Do you tighten up? Do
you make smart swings? Do you go for it? Do you
have the confidence? Have you been in situations
like this enough that you are able to maintain
aggression? There's so many factors that come
involved. So a skill gap, like I think individually,
when you look at players at this level, the skill
gaps aren't huge. The things that differentiate
teams that are, and teams that aren't, are cohesion,
team systems, game plans, adjustments, like I
said, mindset, mentality, confidence. And Italy
blows the U .S. out of the water in almost every
single one of those, quite frankly. I don't know.
I don't know if I agree with it. It's just like,
okay, for me in that situation, if I was the
U .S., and the thing is, even when Nganou was
swinging, She was just reaching high and snapping
like 60, 70 % to the openings. You didn't see
her go up and unload on anything. She was going
up, reaching high, snapping to corners or seams,
or she was tipping. And quite frankly, the U
.S. didn't even do anything to stop it. The only
adjustment we saw was in the third set. Eric
Sullivan said, we can't let another tip hit the
ground. Like, I'm not even sure. He knew what
was happening in the moment. Because that feedback
is, she's putting the ball where our defenders
aren't. It's not about them not trying. It's
about them not being in a position or understanding
that she's waiting for them to move to look for
the spot. Here's how I would have defended it.
And it may have been effective for a few points.
And then Italy would have adjusted. And then
you adjust back. But in this scenario, what I
would have done. Egonu. She swings high and deep,
as I said, seams and corners generally. When
she does attempt a sharp angle, that is usually
where you see her make her most errors, is attacking
the sharp cross -court angle. So I would bring
the off blocker under to get the tip. I would
play position six neutral, middle of the court.
The libero digs down the line and then the off
the position one digger. play like near the sideline
but like in your normal position force her to
hit the sharp angle and go to that sharp angle
because then it's just like nobody think about
the tip off blocker you are covering the tip
it is your job and they run the pipe well enough
that they still have an option back there if
the off attacker can't attack then if she starts
throwing it a tip in the sharp angle or she starts
going and stroking a sharp angle then you can
move that digger back and make a slight adjustment
but that you didn't you saw both players going
under sometimes you saw neither one going sometimes
and it's just you have a disaster you have to
give her a different look you can't just set
up the same way on her all the time and expect
that she's not going to figure it out yeah so
yeah it's great to have a lead early in a set
It's great to have a lead in the middle of the
set, but good teams make adjustments. Good teams
figure it out. So that's why I think that there
is a massive gap between the two teams. USA is
out. If we look towards World Championships,
given what you saw from them, give me two things
that you think they're going to be working on
in preparation, and do you think we can expect
a better result from them come Worlds? Honestly,
I feel like maybe one and a half attackers connect
well with Jordan Poulter right now. That is a
problem. Avery Skinner is in a good rhythm with
her. And Dana Redke, when she runs in front of
Poulter, good connection. Everybody else is struggling
with that speed. So they need to figure that
out. Outside of the pipe. I think she runs the
pipe well. The pipe runs well with pretty much
everybody. You're right. But front row, you see
everybody struggling except Avery Skinner and
Redke in front. I also think they need to work
on their defensive system and their passing.
So I said basically everything. Great. Yeah,
I think for me the biggest thing is I'm making
an assumption that the coaches are going to get
a good system in place for teams and that they'll
be prepared. So that's one thing. They're outside
hitters. like you said, outside of Avery Skinner,
they're in this weird place as a program because
they've been so successful hitting high balls,
but that's not going to work internationally,
and they have to be able. Not the U .S. program.
The U .S. outsides in general, like coming from
college. But the U .S. has built their legacy
in the last 10 years on a fast offense. Correct.
Yeah. So none of, like, Madison Skinner. Sarah
Franklin struggles with those fast balls. She
started getting a little bit better, I think.
She started figuring it out a bit. But you even
saw when the ball comes fast, she can cut off
and hit angle, but she makes errors down the
line. So you saw Italy make an adjustment. We're
going to block her angle. We're going to leave
her the line. She made some errors. She has to
find a way to be able to hit those fast sets
down the line as well. So they need to keep sticking
with it because... If they don't iron out a faster
offense, they're not going to be successful.
So how long does that take? Can they figure it
out before Worlds? Is it going to be next VNL?
But that's something they need to iron out because
they need both Maddie Skinner and Sarah Franklin
to be able to score points on the outsides because
their middles right now just aren't super offensive.
They're not generating a ton of points. They're
blocking pretty well, but they need to score
more points in the middle. If the outsides aren't
going to score. I'm not liking Dana Redke on
the slide. Not going well. I'm sorry. She does
not run it well. She is not an M1 keeper in front
of the setter and find somebody who can run a
better slide because it's not effective. She
gets under the ball every time. No pace on it.
Also, Kalia Lanier came in that match. That was
a tough spot to put her in. That was a tough
spot to put her in, but she literally got taken
out with the first serve. And it was not good.
I think they will make it to the Quarters of
Worlds. I don't think they'll go further. Okay,
second match was Poland versus China. We saw
Poland win that one in five. Honestly, after
the third set, I thought China had it. The two
of the three first sets, they looked dominant.
My favorite player of theirs, WuMJ, was unstoppable.
Poland had to put a good set together in set
two, but after set three, I was like, China's
got this. Wow. Was I wrong? Poland's blocking
destroyed them. I almost felt bad for China,
honestly. They're two main attackers in Gong.
They're opposite in Wu, the outside, number one
and number six. They could not hit past the block.
It was bad. Well, I thought China's inexperience
and youth showed in that moment. I thought their
setter, who I thought has done a fantastic job,
all V &L, started getting a little trigger happy
to the outsides, didn't run the middle as much,
didn't run the pipe as much, so the middles for
Poland could close. And it just kind of spiraled
from there. Once things started going, the setter
became so predictable. Like her patterns became
predictable. Yeah. Like she got pulled in both
of the last sets. And she just looked a little
overwhelmed. Yeah. Which, again, she's 16. Yeah.
So to be expected on that. But China just couldn't
right the ship. And this is the downfall or the
issue with having such a young team and not a
ton of leadership in that places they couldn't.
Again, you're playing in Poland. It's loud. They're
pushing back. Those were youthful mistakes or
kind of learning experiences for me watching
China play, and Poland, to their credit, stuck
with it, and their block made the difference.
Well, I think Damaske came in off the bench in
set four and made a big difference for Poland.
Stiszak got taken out with the double sub a whole
bunch in the other right side. Did a great job
when she came in, both blocking and offensively.
Poland got it together. Like, we can't say it
was all, like, their blocking was amazing. They
kept China out of system to make their setter
predictable. Yeah. So their serving stepped up.
And then the bench players who came in for Poland
did their job. Well, if I'm not mistaken, they
did a straight -up setter swap in the fourth
set that kind of got everything going. Grabka
came in. Yeah, her and Damaske. kind of brought
a different energy to the floor, and they went
from there. I also thought their young left side,
number 15, I can't pronounce her name. Starts
with a C. Yeah. So I apologize, but my Polish
isn't great. But I was really impressed with
her in this final V &L. I thought she played
well all the way through. So it was an entertaining
game, kind of back and forth. You saw some young
mistakes. You saw Poland come back. I wasn't
sure how they were going to deal with the pressure
of the home crowd. Going to five, it was good.
With China being eliminated in this round, do
you see them bringing a few more experienced
athletes to Worlds, or do you think China has
decided this is pretty much their Olympic roster
and they're going to learn and they're going
to go through with these players? I mean, the
Worlds rosters have been announced. I would be
lying if I said that I dove into all of them.
I haven't. This may be out there already. I wonder
if Zhu Ting will make an appearance. You know,
the middle, the middle who was playing for Vacavbank
last season, I feel like she's a little older.
I feel like she's probably done. I think that,
you know, they have nothing to be ashamed of.
I think continuing to build this group is worth
it. Yeah. I don't know. I would say China, for
me, is one of the most unpredictable teams for
Worlds. If they bring in a couple veteran pieces
or they learn their lesson and their youth show
up and compete really well, they could have won
that Poland match. So, yeah, I don't really have
a feel for how they're going to do at Worlds,
but I think they're a team to watch. The third
quarterfinal saw Japan beating Turkey in five.
We were talking about... you know, a couple weeks
ago, whose strengths would surpass the other's
weaknesses. And, you know, I think Japan did
a really good job of getting Karakurt out of
the game early. You know, a big thing for that
matchup is the physicality and the height mismatches
at the net. So removing the physical presence.
of Karakurt at the net so early, I think worked
in Japan's favor. That was the only way they
were going to end up beating Turkiye. But the
other thing that I was thinking, Erkek, the smaller
left side who came in for her, I kind of feel
like that worked in Turkiye's favor because as
a smaller hitter, it's so much easier to find
a smaller block. And she did a great job, I thought,
finding the Japanese block's hands. and working
the ball, whereas when you're bigger, it's hard
to find the block when you're above it. Mind
you, hitting over a block is always a good alternative.
But I think Urkick came in, because against any
other team, it might have not gone so well for
her because of the size mismatch, but her having
to come in against Japan was good. Yeah, I mean,
we saw the same issues we've seen. with Turkey
all through this tournament. Passing was an issue.
Emotional, executional stability is an issue
for them. Like you said, they have some smaller
left sides who are ball control skilled, which
is why I think it was a game when Kirk came out.
But they're just not able to put a full match
together. They play in spurts. They do things
really well. But there's very little consistency.
That happens with that team. And I don't know
what the remedy for that is. I mean, we've been
saying at all VNL, you in particular, that they
are too volatile. They're either incredible or
they just cannot figure it out. And, you know,
we saw the young right side come in to replace
Vargas on some double sub situations. Like they
were trying everything, but I mean, it was a
good game. For sure, and we expected it to be
a good game. We expected it to be close. And
they could have won. Yeah, I mean, 15 -9 in the
fifth, it was not close in the fifth, but there
were definitely opportunities. Japan found a
way. Yeah, and I don't think Japan gets enough
credit. So if you watch international volleyball,
you always are just, Japan is so good defensively,
they don't give up. It's almost a foregone conclusion
that you just assume that they do that, which
is fair. They've earned that reputation. But
I don't think people realize how much work and
effort that takes. And they have to play that
way every match. They don't ever have an easy
out because they don't have a Vargas. They don't
have an Iganu. They have players who can score,
but you don't have an out -of -system. genius
or somebody you can rely on they have to be so
good all the time and it's just impressive to
watch them be able to do that they just push
teams and wear teams down to five and you have
to be on to beat them I will say for Japan Wada
kind of dropped off for me after week two and
I thought that she struggled to find consistency
this week I think life would have been much easier
for Yoshino and Ishikawa had Wada been able to
show up the way she did in week one. And obviously,
teams were more prepared for her after her incredible
performances early. But a lot of the load was
put on Ishikawa and Yoshino. And being lined
up with some of those massive blocks was not
great. I mean, and this is typical, right? You
get some film on somebody, you can prepare for
them. Not that she hasn't played, but she was
a star centerpiece. So defenses were focused
on her. Japan, in my opinion, needs to own the
middle of the court a little bit more. Moving
their middles around, creating seams and blocks,
running the pipe. To me, that's their key to
success. And they don't physically win those
matchups because other middles are large. They
need to find a way to hold those blockers to
make life a little bit easier on their outside
hitters. What do you think about Turkey going
into Worlds? Do you think they will find a little
team magic? Or are we going to see the same Turkey
we saw in the VNL? I mean, I said something similar
about the US and Italy is like at this level,
a lot of success comes down to connection, mentality,
mindset. confidence attitude and turkey is a
good skilled team they have the pieces but the
question mark with them always comes down to
consistency and attitude roll the dice you know
see what happens yeah i'd be curious to watch
turkey in the u .s play in the sea That matchup,
because I agree with you. I think they're struggling
with similar things, and it will be interesting
to see how they try and find their own individual
solutions. Like, Turquoise is the most inconsistent
top team. Correct. Every other team, you know
what you're getting, you know what to expect,
and if it doesn't go that way, you're almost
surprised. Turquoise is... for sure the most
volatile, which is a very dangerous place to
be, I think. Well, I feel when you play Turkey,
your mentality is, if we can push them to four
or five sets, we'll beat them because they can't
play that long. Turkey is capable of winning
matches against the top teams if they could play
their best volleyball for three sets straight.
They just haven't been able to do it. Okay, I
don't have much to say about this last quarterfinal.
Brazil just laid a beat down. To Germany, three
straight. Germany was just outclassed. Yeah.
They did a very good job in qualifying for the
final, but they're just out of their depth against
these teams. Yeah. And, you know, they pushed
Brazil to five in week one. Brazil didn't have
the same roster that they came to the finals
with. They obviously studied that game film.
It was not even close to the same match as the
first time they met up. I don't have much to
say other than Brazil was just better. They came
to play, and Germany needs to be happy with their
performance. All right, on to the semifinals.
Semifinal number one had Italy beating Poland
three straight. As Italy will do. Two teams.
Poland, Stasiak, who played well in the quarterfinals,
could not buy a point against the big block and
the controlled defense. Poland just couldn't
generate points against Italy. They couldn't
dig anything either. Wow. The thing that got
me, like, first of all, Italy, you could tell
they decided to all show up. They were dialed
in this match. They were very good. And that's
what I kind of said. Like, if you look at the
team who came out against the U .S. versus Poland,
it was totally different. Oh, they were much
more focused, for sure. But Poland's defensive
system. I am sorry. Stiszak is a liability. This
girl goes under for tips and doesn't dig the
tip. Like, what are you doing under there then?
Okay, like and when you do hit the floor, you
don't get up until the ball's already coming
back after going over and coming back. So like
Italy was just having a field day because Stishak
is a liability for the tips. So they send her
up for tips and then they're like, but she's
not going to dig any. So let's bring our left
side blocker under for tips too. And you know
what? Let's try to dig the backcourt with two
people. It's not going to work. You might as
well just stick Stischak back there to just get
hit by the ball and just have the left side dig
tips and just balance it. This is where I think
Italy right now is head and shoulders above everybody
else. You see teams coming in with defensive
game plans to attack certain players or rotations.
Italy's coming in with a defensive game plan
and then a very specific offensive game plan
to just rip teams' defenses apart where they
have weaknesses, and they will do it over and
over and over again until you make an adjustment.
And it's automatic, and it's, quite frankly,
impressive to watch. Yeah. You watch most teams
tip to get out of trouble. Italy tips to expose
your defense, and then when you adjust, they
hammer balls at you. Or it's just like, I'm going
to tip here because A, I think it's my best opportunity
to get a point. But if not, we know where you're
going to set out of this. And our defense is
better than yours. So we'll just get another
chance. Also, their out -of -system setting for
every player on their team is spectacular. They
get a defensive touch. They're getting a good
swing out of it. Every player on the court can
set out -of -system. Poland, again. had a good
tournament, but they're just outclassed, quite
frankly, in every position. And Laverini, who
coaches Poland, coached and coaches Egonu, Oro,
Danesi, Silla, all at Milano. I mean, obviously
not this year with some players leaving, but
he knows them. Yeah, and they couldn't stop them.
And, I mean, Poland, their players just don't
match up one -on -one with... I mean, Poland's
a great blocking team, don't get me wrong, but
Italy is good enough and experienced enough that,
sure, yeah, they'll get blocked a few times,
but they understand the assignment and what their
get -out -of -trouble options are should it come
down to it. Players will get blocked when they
decide to take swings, but they aren't going
to allow that to continuously happen in the way
that you saw the very young Chinese team that
happened to them. Correct. Yeah, it wasn't close.
No, it was not. Brazil versus Japan, however,
was very close. That one went five. I was a little
nervous my prediction wasn't going to come true.
So was I. What did you think the biggest difference
was in that match? As to why Brazil won? Yeah,
I have an idea. Don't look at my... I just think
that when it came down to it... Brazil's hitters
are just a little more physical than Japan can
handle from a blocking standpoint. They put Brazil
in trouble and they dug balls and they extended
rallies. But normally when you watch Japan play
defense, they're getting attacks out of their
defense. And against Brazil, it was over dig
or free ball came over. They were always playing
slightly on the edge of out of control. and they
just couldn't hang for five sets with their physicality.
You're looking at me like you disagree with me.
My reasons are different, for sure. Okay, there's
a few changes that happened on the Brazil side
that I think contributed to pushing them over
the edge, but there's one thing on Japan's side
that I think was their shortcoming. The changes
that Brazil made. First of all, they started
Roberta. Well, that was a mistake. Who had been
coming in with a double sub and played on an
off -throat VNL, but Macris got you there. So
I was surprised to see Roberta on the court so
much. She was setting a lot of balls tight. I
don't think she played well this week, personally.
They brought Macris in, I want to say, what's
that? Three? Three, four? Yeah. So that was a
big difference. Secondly, I thought Julia Bergman
struggled for the majority of the match and then
had the set of her life in set five. So Bergman
had a tough time getting going defensively, passing
-wise, attacking. Makes it a little predictable,
and Brazil's middles aren't the most offensive
out there. They're not like the Italian middles
who are used as part of the regular flow. Julia
gets set a lot more than Gianna does. So a lot
of the load fell on Gubby. But Macris and Bergman
stepping up in the fifth, I think, was a difference
maker for Brazil. Japan did not run the middle.
And again, the Brazilian middles are very good
blockers. I would say that they are more blocking
middles than offensive middles. They weren't
threatened by Japan's middles at all. which made
it very easy to put a massive wall up in front
of the undersized attackers that Japan has. I
just kept being like, just run the middle, even
if it doesn't score, just to keep them thinking.
And then if you run the middle, you can incorporate
the pipe over top. But it was just very predictable
because they were refusing. It's almost like
they were scared to run their middles into those
blocks. Japan has accepted the fact that they're
mismatched on the outside and trust them to find
hands and to do that, but they don't have the
same faith in their middles. Which, I mean, may
or may not be accurate, but as the match goes
on and your style is to grind teams down in five
sets, you have to hold that middle some way,
shape, or form. Otherwise, we talked about it
again on the previous team they played. But you
have to give your outside some seams. And by
the end, Brazil's block was just solid. Yeah,
that's a great observation. I don't know. Brazil's
a pretty good ball control team. I'm not sure
Japan could have served, like if they even served
that much better. They already made a bunch of
errors in that match. Like they were trying to
be aggressive. They just, they're skilled. They're
very good. They push teams. But Brazil is one
of the top teams in the world. You have to do,
A little bit more than just forcing teams to
beat you. Where Turkey made mistakes against
them, Brazil doesn't make those same mistakes.
And Japan just, they need to find a way to earn
a few more points against those top teams. All
right. What were your thoughts on the bronze
medal match? So the bronze medal match saw Poland
beating Japan 3 -1. Going into that, I honestly
thought Japan was going to take it. Agreed. Poland
continued their blocking that we saw throughout.
They were a very good blocking team. I think
at one point they said they were outblocking
Japan 12 -2. They did play earlier in VNO, and
they outblocked Japan 16 -4 and Japan 1. I believe
that was in Week 3. But the biggest difference
in the Japanese performance for me from the semi
to the bronze was that they were making a concerted
effort to run the middle. And I think it was
effective. It elicited the response that I thought
it was going to get. But the left sides, the
outsides in general, were having trouble putting
the ball away. It looked like they had run out
of gas. They played, those three in particular,
played a lot of volleyball. Got set a whole bunch
of balls. And it just looked like they didn't
have the juice to finish the match. I mean, Japan's
passing was good. Their defense was good. I liked
how they were running the middle to try to open
things up better. Their serving was not as effective.
They missed way too many serves, I think. And
that needs to be like a staple for them. It is
a staple for them. So I think their serving kind
of killed them a bit. And again, WADA just didn't
do much. Yeah. And as you said, the outsides
in general struggled. Yeah. And Stasiak, when
she doesn't feel like she's threatened with the
block, she was unloading. She scored a ton of
points in that match. She had a good game. And
Japan just didn't have an answer for her. Poland's
middle also played very well. Kornelik? Yeah,
Kornelik. That was a mismatch, and Poland set
her quite a bit, and Japan couldn't. Well, Stasiak,
massive mismatch. Kornelik. Again, we're talking
6 '6", 6 '7". Yeah, I think they said 30 centimeters
difference in a couple of the players. These
girls were not threatened. And they played like
it. Yeah, they played well. They scored well.
They blocked well. The outsides having that kind
of block in front of them, it was not pretty.
I thought Japan would be able to break down Poland's
serve -receive. and kind of like work around
defensively, but it didn't happen. And Poland
subbed in a few different left sides to kind
of mix that up, find a passing rhythm, kind of
negate that. And they did a good job of it. And
again, like you said, I think Japan made a whole
bunch of errors from the baseline in that match.
So Poland on home soil brings home a medal. I
think that's their third bronze in a row. It
is, yeah. Okay, so looking ahead to... worlds
for both these teams thoughts on japan what they
can do do you think we'll see anything different
i mean i think japan has their system yeah their
system when they're executing it works for them
i do think they need to continue to push the
middle if not for scoring just to be eventually
be a good decoy yeah to be able to run the pipe
over the top, get people to stay a little longer,
just like make life easier for your outsides.
So I would push the middle discussion and yeah,
they need to apply that service pressure that
we're used to seeing from them that just didn't
come through in the same way that it usually
does. I love that they were using two liberos.
Kojima was the passing libero. Fukudomi was the
defensive one. I think that was a really good
system for them. So I would like to see them
continue that. Yeah, and I think that Worlds,
given time to rest, their players, their outsides
will be a little more fresh. It kind of lends
itself to their five -set grinding style. I think
they'll be, you know, a little bit more, they'll
have a higher level of execution on the outside
for Worlds as opposed to, I think you'll see
closer to week one performance versus finals
performance from Japan. What about on the Poland
side? Poland? You need to figure out what you're
going to do with Stiszak defensively. Are you
going to just give up the tips and have her under
there? Do you want her back and just make your
off -blocker work to just get all the tips? You
need to do something with her or figure out how
to do something with her defensively because
as it is right now, it's a massive liability
and teams are just... going at her whenever they
need a point and they're scoring like 90 of the
time well and then along with those defensive
liabilities against big blocks she's not nearly
as effective no so she's gonna need if poland's
gonna take a step she needs to find a way to
elevate her performance on both sides of the
ball well because i think their left sides played
well yeah as a group even the ones when they
had to make substitutions i think the left sides
in general played well I think the middles did
their job. As a team, their blocking was very
good. They could shore up their defensive coverage
around their block. I know Stasiak is a big issue
with that, but I think their six could do, their
left sides could do a little better job reading
and filling in some of those positions situationally.
I think that their M2 needs to be a little more
offensive. I think that would help as well. And
they don't generally run a pipe. So if they could
run a little more back row and maybe alleviate
some of the pressure on Stasiak. I think they're
close. I think their adjustments are within reach
and not kind of pie in the sky. So I'm going
to be curious to see what they bring to Worlds.
Hit me with your thoughts on the final. To be
honest, I don't think either team played their
best. What was that face for? I was going to
start with a similar comment. That game was won
by the substitution depth, by the team depth,
because I didn't think either Brazilian setter
set very well, so they were in trouble. Brazil
rotated through three different opposites. Their
right sides could not get it together. Their
middles. Julia blocked well, but they're not
offensive. Gianna blocked. Both of them blocked
well. Julia was scoring. Props to her, too. She
set a record for V &L or tied the record for
most blocks. So congratulations. That was kind
of cool to see. So she played well. I think the
depth comment you made is apt. You know, for
Italy, we saw Oro get subbed out as well. We
saw Degrotti get injured. I mean, Italy's middles
are just so good. It's almost not fair. I love
how they can switch up the depth of their attack.
They have really good angles, but they're also
very good at hitting deep. And you don't often
see middles searching for those deep swings.
Especially, well, Farr, especially off the net.
When the pass is around the attack line, Farr
does a great job of being available and being
able to hit the deep corners. in that spot. And
it's a discussion. Velasco does a good job of
reminding them of doing that. And then, I mean,
we saw Agano get taken out and Antropova. That
1 -2 combo on the right side for Italy, just
the thing about watching Italy play is nobody
has to be all -world for them to win. If you
look at teams, you look at Brazil, for example.
Now, again, I understand they're dealing with
an injury, but... If Rosa Maria is not playing
well, it makes it really hard for Brazil to win.
Gabi always plays well, pretty much. Gabi is
very consistent. But they need one other person.
Bergman struggled a little bit, then played well.
She was a little inconsistent. She's pretty good
down the stretch. Bergman played better in the
final than she did in the semi, I thought. Yeah,
I let you have better as the match went on. But
with a team like Italy, whose game plans are
tight, if you're... filtering through three right
sides and your middles aren't a super threat
offensively, your left sides are having the worst
night of their lives because you're either facing
Antropova and Danese or you're facing Agonu and
Farr. Like, it's just not good. And Oro's no
slouch as a blocker either. And Oro's a good
blocker as a setter. So, for me, I thought the
Brazilian setting killed them. Like Macris at
the start could not find the middle. Flat out
missed on a couple ones. When Roberta came out,
she sewered the left sides with a bunch of balls
that were dragging onto the net right into the
block. Rosa Maria was struggling getting to some
tight sets too. Yeah. So it wasn't a clean match.
But again, for me, Italy's ability to rotate
players in and not have their level drop as much
as Brazil was the difference. And the middles.
We saw two right sides come in, two setters,
four different left sides. The only players that
stayed true the whole match were the middles
and the libero. Like, Degrotti went out and set
two. Nervini had to come in, a little 21 -year
-old. Then Giovannini came in to serve for Silla
and play back row sometimes. And Tropova came
in to replace Oganu when Oganu kind of dropped
off a little. Like, it's just they keep coming.
You get rid of one, you hit somebody off the
court, and it's like, well, we've got an equal
replacement coming in right now, so good luck.
Yeah. Italy can just play at 85%, 90 % with all
of their players on their bench, and other teams
find that hard to match. Their level just drops
when they've got to pull some players off. And,
you know, again, Gabi was good, as she always
is. Oh, Bergman did fine. I think the middles
blocked well. They scored when they were given
a good ball. Yeah, neither team played their
absolute best. Italy's B game is better than
Brazil's B game, especially with Ana Cristina
being injured. Yeah. And, I mean, they did a
good job filling in for Ana Cristina. Those two
teams are the deepest teams in the world, I think.
And the best. And they're just the best. Would
Anna Christina have made a difference? Yeah,
absolutely. But that's the reality of sport.
And you might not have her back for Worlds. And
Italy might not have Degrotti back. So we don't
know what the injury was at the time of this
recording. We hope she's okay. But she had surgery
on that knee pre -Paris. So hopefully it's not
a re -injury. But honestly, I think these two
teams are the best teams in the world. I wouldn't
be surprised if we got a rematch at Worlds. Agreed.
Who knows? As long as pool play doesn't get messed
up and they meet in the semis. I think these
two teams have separated themselves. There's
a 1A, 1B here, and then the next grouping of
teams, in my opinion. Regardless, I think the
matches were fun to watch. There were a couple
blowouts that I was like, ooh, yikes. But from
top to bottom this week, I think the games were
really good. feedback during timeouts to his
team I love his tactics I love his instruction
of the adjustments that they're making like well
their staff is so good Barbellini is your assistant
I love their timeouts I love listening to them
so yeah it was it was fun huge congrats to Italy
let's see how long they can keep this streak
going because that is Impressive. I mean, you
know they're pushing for the Olympic gold, VNL
gold, back -to -back, and a Worlds gold. Oh,
100%. Yeah, you're going for that trifecta. Worlds
will be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Okay,
our focus today was obviously VNL finals, all
things VNL finals. So we've got a bit of a roster
of questions from our listeners today. We wanted
to wrap up VNL. We wanted to wrap up the women's
side of things. So I'm kind of throwing a bunch
out there. I'm going to give you a heads up.
The majority of these questions are about the
Americans. There are some that aren't. But the
questions that are submitted, most of them are
about the U .S. So in the future, if you have
a question, be sure to submit it, and we will
answer it about your team. So question one is
what happens to the relegated teams and how do
they get back to VNL? So the international ranking
system is the same for all teams, whether you
participate in the VNL or not. So VNL is the
top level. And then there are regional competitions.
So you have like the CEV, which is like the European
League where all the Europe teams compete and
you can still earn. international points you
have you know the division in asia you have one
in north america if you get relegated from vnl
you go back to your regional competitions and
they host the same tournaments and you aggregate
points for wins same way you do in vnl and then
the team that has the most internationally kind
of sitting below the vnl threshold comes in the
next year and the bottom team goes down so that's
how it works so the relegated teams cannot participate
in the 2026 version of vnl So even if they do
have the highest world ranking going into 2026,
like aside from the top teams, they can't, they
have to wait till the next year. But for example,
like the US goes and plays Norseca. So let's
say like Puerto Rico beats the US. It doesn't
take into account if it's like the B team or
not. Norseca championships. Is worth points.
Is worth points. So regardless of who the U .S.
sends, if like a Puerto Rico beats them, they
would gain a ton of points. Whereas like in the
Asian championship, China sends a team. So if
South Korea beats China, they will get a ton
of points. So there are opportunities to do that.
Question two, do you think Italy should consider
moving Iganu or Entropova to outside like Turkey
did with Karakurt when Vargas joined? It seems
like a waste to have either of those opposites
sitting on the bench. It is a waste to have them
on the bench, but look at the, wow, they are
so good as a like duo. So two things. One is,
you know, sometimes Iganu looks a little unmotivated.
Disengaged. Disengaged. So having Antropova come
in is huge to kind of keep that balanced. When
they have the ability to use the double sub and
have nine rotations with a front row right side,
I think that that gives them a huge advantage
in matches to like separate by a few points kind
of leading into that 20 mark of sets. And the
other thing is their middles are so effective
that you need to be able to pass the ball. And
I mean, I don't know this for sure, but I'm going
to go out on a limb and say Antropova and Aganu
don't pass as well as the combination of Degrati
and Scylla and the kids that they've got coming
up. So they just, they don't need to. And having
two really good opposites allows you some flexibility
to do some things, which is one of the reasons
they're so consistent. I can't see them making
a change. Like Karakur, it took her a while to
figure out how to pass. And even though she has
gotten so much better at passing, it's just not
the same level as the top left sides that you
see. And I feel like it might be a similar situation.
Yeah, but with Turkey, their left sides don't
score as well as Italy's. So you kind of needed
a little more firepower, which is why they did
that, in my opinion. Question three, why does
Avery seem like such a complete player compared
to Madison? Does this pertain to a past viewer
question about Maddie changing back and forth
from opposite to outside? Avery has more experience.
She's played internationally. I will say this
person also alluded to the fact that even when
they were in college and playing the same position,
Avery seemed like the more complete player. Maybe
she just is. Maybe her perception of... the ball
and her ability to control her body is a little
bit better, so she's innately a better passer.
I'm assuming that this question is coming down
to passing and ball control because Maddie's
a great attacker. I think Maddie jumps better
than Avery does. Maddie gets off the ground better
than Avery does. I think she has potential to
be a better attacker. Yeah. I just feel like
it comes down to their innate skill sets. I think
Avery is just a better ball control player, whereas
Madison is a little more physical. And probably
their playing experience. I don't know what Maddie
played in club or leading in, but she's played
opposite, so she's not passing and not expected
to play defense the same way Avery is. That experience
matters. Well, and the thing is, if you go into
my experience, my experience is different, but
the college game has evolved and college training
has evolved. If you don't go into college with
the skill set already, the coaches don't spend
a ton of time trying to teach it to you. So it's
like maybe she was a late bloomer passing or
defensively or something, but then when she got
to her school, they were just like, let's just
maximize your strength and we can hide your weaknesses.
I got games to win. Yeah, exactly. Okay, question
four. How do you think the Love players looked
during VNL compared to the Love season? Who adjusted
and who didn't? Oh, what an interesting question.
Well, we can't say anything about Lexi Rodriguez
because she didn't play in Love. She didn't even
get a chance to play. So there's that one. Okay,
let's Sarah Franklin. Did better than I thought
she would. I did not think she would be able
to pass as well as she did. Now, she didn't pass
amazing, but she was better than I expected.
So kudos to her. She had some matches where she
scored very well and some where she struggled,
to be expected. I think she needs to learn how
to hit the line. Well, so what I was going to
say is now that teams have seen her play, the
benchmark for me will be how she adjusts to those
top teams adjusting to her. She did better than
I thought she was originally. And now you've
been able to get away doing a couple things super
well in the leagues that you've played in. How
will you adjust to being countered? But overall,
I think better than I expected from Sarah Franklin.
What about Eggleston? I think she did about as
well as I... She seemed the same. She did the
same things that she did in Love. I don't think...
I don't think she's it for the U .S. on the left
side internationally. Sage? She was, again, they're
good volleyball players. I don't think she's
making the jump. I don't think she made any adjustments.
I think she set fine. She set the high balls
that the Texas players like to hit, and they're
comfortable with her, but she doesn't run an
international -style offense for me. And that's
not to say she's not capable, but I didn't see
it. And I don't know if they're going to put
the time in to get her to change it. I don't
think Maddie really adjusted. She had a couple
really good matches, but if you take the VNL
experience as a whole, I feel like she did what
she always does, which is jump and just hit straight
where she's facing. Maddie needs to learn to
hit a fastball in different places. She needs
to learn to hit away from her body, hit some
angles. You can tell where she's going to hit.
She relied a lot on being higher than blockers
and throwing the ball to the ground when she
was feeling uncomfortable, and she rotates her
shoulder on the right side and kind of pushes
the ball to the sideline, which makes it inconsistent,
and she makes errors in those situations. She
doesn't hit outside the body or use the wrist
at all, and you can see her trying to swing her
hips around, and that's when she's making errors.
Yeah, I didn't see much adjustment from her.
I can say the same thing about Molly McCage.
But I did think IG'd was pretty good. Yeah, I
thought she blocked well. There were a couple
matches where they got her going. She needs to
find a way to be more offensive. The U .S.'s
middles have to contribute offensively. I think
when they set her, she scores. They just don't
often. I don't think anybody really made adjustments.
Franklin was starting to figure it out. And IG'd.
But other than that, yeah. Question five. Did
any of the snubbed U .S. players like Simone
Lee, Elena Scott, Taylor Bannister, Kami Miner,
etc. expose cracks in the final roster choices
by USA? Or did Sullivan's decisions seem justified?
I mean, I don't think any of those players are
moving the needle. I mean, I thought, you know,
my thoughts on Elena Scott, but, you know, Hentz
was... decent when she played like not great
but decent like I'm not sure Alina Scott would
have done much better than that I don't think
you know you're given players who you think have
a higher upside the chance to see what they have
and I'm not sure any of these players are that
much better than who they brought or who they
gave chances to I wonder I wonder about Kami
Minor not that she was snubbed I understand that
Stanford's school schedule didn't allow them
to make the first week. I think I still would
have put her on the roster for the later weeks,
so that's just me. I think it would have been
worth a try with her. I definitely think Kami
Weiner would have done better than Ella Mae Powell.
Yeah, I agree. But she's not going to be better
than Poulter. But Poulter wasn't connecting with
anybody. I very much doubt that any of the setters
that they brought other than Poulter to VNL will
be a starting setter when the Olympics roll around
in 2028. Maybe Cammy can do that depending on
how her pro seasons go. You almost need Poulter
to figure it out with those hitters. I wonder
how Sammy Francis would have done. I think she
would have run a slide better than we saw. Agreed.
I think there's room for a couple other middles
to come in. You know, we talked about Jackson.
We talked about Sammy Francis. Ogbogu. Ogbogu's
on the world's list. So there's, again, I thought
Dana. Dana is good defensively. She's a good
blocker. She's a good blocker. She moves well,
especially for middle on the defensive end. Her
all -around game is good, but I just think when
push comes to shove, if their goal is to win
a gold medal in L .A., they're going to need
some offensive threats from the middle. And can
those two generate it? Rettke, we'll see. But
I think that they're going to have to seriously
look at some other offensive options in the middle.
When I think of the snubbed players, do I think
any of them would have passed better than what
they had? I don't know. I mean, you can justify,
Sullivan can justify his choices. There's not
one person you look at and be like, that's just
wrong. Well, I have a couple. I mean, in terms
of who you would replace them with. I don't agree
with some of the players they brought along to
play. I don't think they have necessarily a future,
but you can justify them on the roster compared
to some of those players mentioned. Question
six pertains to Lexi Rodriguez. This listener
was basically saying that it seems that she's
been struggling. She has not been performing
as... well as you saw her play at Nebraska, i
.e. she's on her heels for balls that get dropped
in the middle of the court but are obvious tips.
She's not passing as well as usual. What are
these players on the other side of the net doing
differently that makes her react so slowly or
miss the ball completely? This person was basically
saying it looks like she's just like not trying
because like sometimes she's not even going for
the ball. Why is she playing over hints and why
do her stats look better than when you actually
watch the game? I think that there's an issue
of expectation around jumping from college to
international. So when you play at the college
level, hitters don't have as many angles. They're
not hitting the ball as hard. They have fewer.
tools in their toolbox in terms of the decisions
they can make. And so Lexi has her decision making
revolves around what's capable at that level
in the system at Nebraska. You move out and you
start hitting or you start playing defense against
hitters like Gabi or really good left sides as
she's digging a lot of those cross -court balls.
They hide where they're going to hit for longer.
The ball comes a little bit faster. They have
angles that you're not used to. So you're starting
in positions that you think are covering the
angles, and then they're not when the ball comes
on you faster. It's just your understanding of
the game needs to shift based on your competition,
and that takes time. And Lexi set such a high
standard for herself in college that if you're
watching her expecting the same results, it's
just not realistic. I think the other thing to
think about too is the college game from a ball
control perspective offers a bit of a luxury
because you often see a back row stacked with
defensive specialists. So there's no looking
at each other of who's going to take the ball
because all of you are very good at serve receive
and at defense. Internationally, because of the
substitutions, She's now in the back row with
players who aren't defensive specialists. They
don't move as well. They maybe don't read the
game as well. So you could definitely see a lot
of hesitation from Lexi, I thought, on the defensive
end where it was clearly her ball, but she didn't
go for it because I think she's so used to being
on the court with three highly skilled defensive
players. Now it's like, no, you are it. You need
to take care of all those things. Again, as Adam
said, the college game is much more linear. You're
not seeing players go up and like put crazy spin
on their serves like sideways or you're playing
against players whose trajectory of their serve
is just coming at you so much. I'm not making
excuses for her. I agree. The Lexi that you saw
in college is not the Lexi you're seeing at USA
Volleyball right now. But I think that's to be
expected. Why is she playing over Hentz? Who
did you think was better? Like if you were going
in. I saw hesitation from both of them defensively,
honestly. I thought they both passed pretty well.
I mean, compared to everybody else on the team.
I think Lexi set herself apart setting. That's
what Lexi's about. Hentz's setting was virtually
unhittable. whenever she played. So I think that
that is the reason she was playing. Everything
else being equal, I think she put her hitters
in a better spot to score and transition more
frequently. I agree with that. Question seven,
how much do you think politics and past relationships
are driving Sullivan's obsession with his Texas
players? To me, it seems that he has his favorites,
but those favorites aren't producing. Will we
see a continuation of his Texas players being
pushed onto rosters, or will we see new players
take over? I think as a coach, you have a bias
towards players you know. You know what you can
expect. It's easier to put them in. So I don't
think it's necessarily political. But I think
there's a level of comfort. You have to remember
that he's in a new position as well. So there's
that. You know, everybody is new in this USA
roster. I mean, you saw Eggleston start a ton
in weeks one and two. And then as we got down
the stretch, it was Avery and Sarah playing when
it mattered. Like that is not a Texas thing.
That was a performance -based decision. They
have a gaping hole at right side, which is totally
open for the taking. You saw them rotate through
players looking for somebody to start there.
Texas has produced a lot of high -level volleyball
athletes, so it makes sense that they're being
given a chance. Nobody on the USA roster has
really separated themselves, in my opinion. Yeah,
we joked about it in week one and two in terms
of who got opportunities, but I think that the
decisions the staff made were performance -related
as we saw the VNL go forward. Well, because I
think at the end, Maddie Skinner, was she the
only Texas athlete that was playing consistently?
Yeah. Because we didn't see Sage step on the
court at all. McCage lost her travel spot. Eggleston
came in as a serving sub. We saw Jarvis lose
her spot. I think it definitely maybe started
that way, but they dropped off real quick. Yeah.
And like you said, if you have two athletes that
are close in ability, you generally take the
one you know better because you know how to utilize
that player. You know their strengths and their
weaknesses. I think that's human nature. Okay,
our final question, you guys. We had a big lineup
today. I love the listener questions. How do
you think the U .S. program evolved during VNL
and do you think it's heading in the right direction?
Well, I don't think it could have gotten any
worse from the beginning. So they definitely
got better. Did they? I mean, you need to have
perspective in this. Are they good? No. Like
the U .S. is historically competing for medals
in VNL in volleyball. They're not close currently.
They need to sort out a lot of positions. They
need to tighten up as a team. I think their passing
got better. Yeah, fair, their passing got better.
Their passing got better from week one to the
end. They're also missing a couple players who
could come back and make a difference. So we'll
see what happens with that come Worlds. They
pulled their six -back defender back a bit. Yeah,
again, they made decisions. But you still have
very inexperienced international athletes competing
with high -level athletes. And coaches. And coaches.
And so, yes, they made some moves and did some
things better in the finals than they did in
week one. Are they competitive? No. Are they
moving fast enough to be contenders? TBD, if
you made me answer now, I'd say no. They've got
a ton of work to do. I don't think it's close
yet, but... They need to find a right side. Correct.
They need to find a middle who can run a slide.
Maybe that's going to be bringing Ogbogu back.
They need to connect with a faster offense for
their outside hitters. And then they need to
understand how to play team defense. There's
a lot of... And make adjustments, but I feel
like that's a lot on the coaching staff. I mean...
They need their players to go play overseas against
these top players week in and week out. That
is, if they stay in this system for leading up
to LA, it will not go well. They need Justine
back. They need, I know people have mixed feelings
about her. They need Jordan Thompson back. They
need, I wonder, like, why didn't Franti travel
at all? Is she still injured? Like, she's a better
passer than... But Plummer is like an offense.
Like, I don't think Plummer's moving the needle
from a passing perspective. No, she's not. But
is she a better attacker than Franklin? So who
do you, like, you need a passing left side to
lock it down. You need somebody who can score
consistently on the left. You need an out of
system opposite. Somebody who can run a slide.
There are missing pieces. I mean, I think this
was a wake -up call, at least I hope it was,
for the coaches and the players of, like, what
it takes. I honestly feel like because the scores
were so close against Italy, it might give them
a false sense of how good they are because, like,
quite frankly, no. I don't think it was close.
Italy was coasting. I really hope they don't
look at that Italy game and go, hey, we're a
few plays away. Yeah, we're almost there. No,
because it's just not true. Thanks so much to
everybody who sent in questions. I know we've
got a bunch. I've been sitting on some for a
while. I've been waiting for like an off week,
you know, because some of these are big. So if
you submitted a question a while ago and we haven't
answered it, it's because I'm sitting on it.
They're still coming. They're still coming. But
yeah, hopefully you guys enjoyed that question
session today. All right, we got one more banger
week before we start to get into Worlds and the
college volleyball again. We're heading into
the final week of the men's VNL. Top eight quarterfinals
are on Wednesday and Thursday again. Similar
setup to the women's side. We have the semis
on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday.
So if you like the schedule this week, it's coming
at you again. If you're in North America, it's
really going to mess you up because they're in
China. So the time change, we're probably going
to be watching a lot of replays. So you've got
to not be on social media. Don't look at any
scores. Load up the game right from the app.
Don't look how long the game is. Just don't look
at the time thing, you know. And save all the
surprise. 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
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or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much
for joining us and we'll be back next week.