2025 Women's NCAA Volleyball Final Four is Set, Texas A&M Shocks Nebraska

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. Talked about it last week. The greatest
week of the year in NCAA women's volleyball was
this past week. We have a lot to talk about,
okay, as far as those matches go. Might get a
little messy. Might get a little messy. People
might be a little upset with us, but what else
is new? We're just keeping it consistent here,
people. But we have a lot of thoughts, and I'm
just telling you right off the hop here, you
might not like them. So buckle up, get ready.
That was your warning. Don't say I didn't tell
you. But because this episode is going to be
lengthy with the amount of chit chat we've got
going on, we are foregoing the listener questions
this week. They keep them coming because we will
address a bunch of them next week once the final
four. is over. There were a lot of matches to
watch this week. There was a lot of volleyball
to consume. Too many. Okay. I'm brain dead right
now. So here we go. We are very excited. We hope
you are too. Let's get started. NCAA heavy but
we do have to mention that the women's club world
championships finished up on Sunday just a little
recap we didn't watch any of the matches because
as Adam said too much college volleyball to watch
so if you did watch these matches and have some
thoughts let us know because we would love to
know what things were looking like okay so just
the highlights The Italians were pretty dominant
in pool play. So the pool standings were in pool
A, Scandici, Osasco, the club from Lima, Peru,
and then the team from Kazakhstan finished fourth.
Pretty predictable. Pool B, Corneliano was in
first. Praia Clube from Brazil second Orlando
third and the Egyptian club fourth I think that
pretty much played out as expected basically
the top two from each school advanced to the
semifinals they didn't play out anything below
that so overall Orlando finished fifth which
given the strength of some of these teams or
the lack thereof that's exactly where given the
teams that went they were supposed to finish
yeah I figured them and Lima would be this 5
-6, and then the Egyptian and Kazakh standing
teams would be at the bottom. It would have been
interesting for them to play each other. I would
have been curious what the Orlando -Peru match
looked like, but we'll never know. Then, because
it was just the top two, Scandici played Praia
Klubi, crushed them in three. Conigliano played
Osasco, beat them in four. So in the bronze,
Osasco beat Praia Klubi 3 -0. And then in the
final, Scandici beat Conigliano in four. The
dynasty is cracking a little bit here. I was
going to say, are we crowning a new champion?
Well, they dropped. Who did they lose to? Novara?
Earlier in the. Yeah, I don't know off the top
of my head, but yes. Or no, they lost to Milano.
That was their first loss in a championship match.
eight years or something in Italy. Don't quote
me on that. So they lost a title match to Milano
earlier this season. Now they drop a championship
match to Scandici. I mean, the Italian League
and Champions League. We'll see where those end
up because those are the ones that matter. Yes,
those are the ones that matter, quote unquote,
but they brought back pretty much all of their
starters. from last season, I want to say, their
roster looked very similar. And then, of course,
for those who aren't aware, Scandici, we've got
Sarah Franklin, Avery Skinner, we've got Antropova,
obviously, we've got the German middle. So we've
got a lot of well -known names, and to the American
fans, a lot of... that are known there as well.
I'm going to try and watch that final at some
point this week, so maybe we can just talk about
it a little bit next week. We'll see what happens.
But that's the big question mark. What's happening
to the dynasty over in Panigliano? All good things
come to an end eventually. All right, let's dive
into some NCAA. As we talked about in our last
episode this past week, regionals week. is our
favorite time of NCAA volleyball. People are
grinding to get to that final four. We are just
going to run through the round of 16 matches
and just, you know, hit the highlights, hit our
thoughts, and then we'll dive in a little deeper
into the round of eight matches. Let's just work
through the bracket kind of top to bottom the
way it's displayed. We'll start with Nebraska
-Kansas. Nebraska winning 3 -0 with scores of
12, 11, and 12 for Kansas. Thoughts? I felt bad
for Kansas. It was so bad. It was so lopsided.
And the thing is, Kansas didn't even play poorly.
Really? They didn't do anything. No, I know.
You could just tell that they came in. With absolutely
no belief that they were going to beat Nebraska.
No. And they played like it. It was real bad.
Yeah, their hitters would swing and it was touch,
recycle. They're not good enough to compete with
Nebraska. They don't have the athletes. I think
the game could have been. I don't think they
would have won. I think the game could have been
better had they had just an ounce of belief in
themselves. It's a hard place to be in. got as
far as they could have. They knew they were going
to run into Nebraska. I didn't think they were
sloppy. It didn't look like they were unprepared.
It just looked like they weren't as good and
they knew it. Regardless, that game was incredibly
boring. Oh yeah, it was not a good game to watch
unless you were a Nebraska fan. No, I am a Nebraska
fan for obvious reasons. I was like, this is
awful. But you're a volleyball fan and a Nebraska
fan. That's kind of what I'm saying. It's fun
to win, but there's nothing. Nebraska has yet
to be tested in this bracket, so we'll see what
ends up happening, but they just kicked them.
Let's talk about Texas A &M -Louisville. Texas
A &M almost coughed up the match. They managed
to pull off a reverse sweep. What were your initial
impressions of that match? I think it should
have been over in three. Texas A &M building
up huge leads in both of the first two sets and
then coughing them up after 20. Like they kept
getting stuck in this one rotation. They could
not get out of it. I think in the first set they
were up like 17 -12 and lost. And then the second
set they were up 23 -18 or something wild. Lost.
And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me right
now. The thing is though, this might be a hot
take and people might be mad. Logan Lednicki
is not nearly as dominant as I would expect her
to be, given all the hype around her and things
like that. She was not dominant by any means,
and they didn't even go to her down the stretch
a lot of the time. No, and it seems to me that
she's lost a little bit of her range, that she's
just swinging straight with her shoulders. Now,
that's not to say that she doesn't hit the ball
down the line or she doesn't hit. sharper angles,
but it's always with her shoulders. There's no
risk. There's no, it doesn't look super creative
or deceptive. She just trying to muscle it through.
That's what it looked like. She hits good angles
when they're obviously available to her or if
the situation lines itself up to hit a sharp
angle, she doesn't create those angles. Like
you were saying on her own. I didn't think that
Louisville looked particularly good. Texas A
&M had a good strategy. They took Cressy out
of rhythm for a bunch of the match. They out
-blocked Louisville, which is generally Louisville's
strength. I thought Dan Meske got out -coached
in that match, and I didn't think they were able...
We saw this a couple times this weekend, actually.
They didn't adjust. I didn't think Cressy...
Adam's game plan was way better. Totally. Way
better. It was, like, clear what their game plan
was. I think down the stretch, Kosokpala, her
blocking destroyed them, and Perkins... Stower
scored well offensively. Stower scored when she
needed to, had stretches where she struggled,
but put it down. And, Nikki, I'm sorry, but for
being as highly touted as you are and for being
the quote -unquote go -to player of your team.
She wasn't. She's not the reason they won that
match. No, and this isn't the first time I've
thought that this season. They have not relied
on her. as much as like Olivia Babcock or Kennedy
Martin are relied on. And I'm not saying that
that is the standard you want to set for your
team, but... But that's your role. That's how
she's been defined as a player. And I thought
it was everybody else around her who stepped
up. I have to admit, I was very impressed with
Texas A &M's fight. It's really tough when you
know you should have won sets one and two. You
had leads, you gave them up. And then you still
come back and you grind it out. And on the other
side, I didn't think Kara Cressy was a factor
in that match. Both middles were not a factor.
Blocking, she made some big blocks, but offensively,
neither middle for Louisville did much. And I'm
a Cabello fan. I like her. I didn't think she
set well except to the left side. It looked like
the moment got to them that they weren't ready
to compete in that. And the thing is, they got
lucky and they end up losing another five setter.
They didn't. Know how to win. The five -set curse
for Louisville. The five -set curse for Louisville.
As soon as I went five, Adam was like, bye -bye,
Louisville. Your record in five is not good.
Not good. And again, Cressy is your go -to hitter.
They've set that up all year, and she wasn't
able to do that. And they don't have the pieces
to score and win those games when they want to.
I think it's a huge missed opportunity. I thought
Metzke got outcoached. I thought A &M was more
prepared. A &M's a little barrel, though. down
those stretches at the end of sets one and two.
I was like, girl, could you stop getting aced?
She was like, what is your deal? And the fact
that they kept her in, I would have been like,
we're hiding the libero and serve receive. This
is awful. You have to tell me you have another
person who can step in. And I was like, let,
let Nikki pass for God's sake. Like this is bad.
Their libero was the worst player. They won in
spite of her. And she coughed up leads. The one
thing I will say is Texas A &M needs to find.
a solution to their tough rotations when Ledecky's
in the back row. They need to still be able to
score. You would think that she would be the
solution. She should be, but they either have
to find a way to get her going or something because
when they play Nebraska, if they can't get out
of that rotation, Nebraska's going to score multiple
points against them in those rotations consistently.
This was a fun match to watch. Just because you
saw Texas A &M crumble in the first two sets.
I'm so glad they held on, honestly, for the health
of my bracket. Because some of the other games
we're about to talk to, they messed me up to
the point that there's no hope for me. Well,
yeah, mine too. But I will say Texas A &M was
the better team all match. They just had a couple
flips. They basically won five sets. Minus a
rotation in set one and a rotation in set two.
Yeah. Agreed. It was a good match to watch. It
was one of the better round of 16 matches I thought
there was. And it was curious to kind of see
the back and forth and who crumbled and what
they did. But that was a fun match. All right.
Let's talk about a bracket buster in Purdue over
SMU in four. What did you say? 18 % of brackets.
13%. 13 % of people in our bracket picked Purdue
to win this game. Correct. And Purdue squeaking
it out 29 -27 in the fourth set. I haven't been
an SMU fan for a long time, but give me your
thoughts on the match. You alluded to being outcoached.
For me, this is the other match that I think...
There was a huge coaching discrepancy. I think.
The biggest one. Shondell completely outcoached
Sam Erger. Give him the wizard hat. Because he.
His. The craziest thing is like it was very obvious
what they were doing. Everybody. You don't even
have to be a volleyball junkie to understand
what the heck was going on here. And SMU just
did not adjust at all. So this is something I
actually, I wanted to talk about because I'm
not sure a lot of people, there's a lot of things
that happened here and you could see Sam Erder
getting frustrated on the bench that her team
wasn't picking up tips. Purdue did two things.
They served short, almost all match, trying to
bring the passers in and disrupt their routes.
And once they made the adjustment on servancy,
which was completely obvious, they drove them
back. They yin -yanged them all match to perfection.
Or yo -yo. Correct. The second thing is they
tipped the ball to precision to the open spots.
And when the adjustments did come, they were
able to see that and put the ball deep to the
perimeter. SMU was on the defensive that whole
match trying to catch up to what Purdue was trying
to do. I know people look at this match and go,
hey, why can't SMU just adjust and pick up those
tips? Like, I don't understand why those balls
keep falling. And I'll tell you, I have the same
question, honestly, like get beaten by something
like two times before you flip and make an adjustment.
Okay. But here's, here's the thing that you have
to understand. You can't, it's really difficult
for teams to just make adjustments when you don't
practice it. It was clear that SMU has not done
tip defense all year. Even when they moved all
their players in, they didn't know who was taking
the ball. They didn't know whose responsibility
it was. They didn't know how to work out of it
on the rare occasion they did get a tip. They
don't practice this. They have not, I can tell
you just watching them, they didn't understand
their responsibilities. And that comes from a
season long of preparation. There's no way that
Shondell's athletes can just go, hey, we're just
going to tip here all the time without having
practiced it. You could tell that they look at
defenses and they make decisions. That's a skill
they worked on all year. It doesn't happen just
in one or two matches of preparation. And that
to me was a key difference in how the teams were
prepared to play a match like this. That was
my biggest takeaway. I think that was very well
said. So, but. I will go back to what I said.
If you're getting beaten two or three times,
you're one of the top NCAA teams in the country.
As an athlete on that team, if your coach tells
you get the tip, get the tip. Do you know what
I mean? You're not a junior high school player
here. You're playing for one of the top programs
in the country. Dig the tip. And I understand
it comes down to what you're saying. I get that.
I completely agree with what you said. But it's
also like you are a, Good volleyball player.
You are high level volleyball athletes. You need
to be able to do this. Okay. But we've talked
about this with SMU and it comes back to it.
Culture, consistency with the program. They haven't
had a chance to do that. They've been a revolving
door of players. And when push comes to shove
and you need to do something, those things matter.
And I think between those two things, the preparation
and just the... They shut down. They made Malaya
Jones frustrated too. Totally. And that's what
Purdue does. They dig the ball. They put it back
over. They force you to beat them. They force
you into making mistakes. And Malaya Jones, they
made her work. all night. They tipped the ball
to her. They made her play. They got block touches.
They recycled it. Their game plan, and I have
to give Shondell a ton of credit. It was intentional.
His athlete's ability to stick to the script
all match long and not waver, that match for
me makes Dave Shondell coach of the year against
everybody. That just shows how much his athletes
trust him. Correct. If your coach tells you,
You are like, if you have a, I'm assuming the
conversation was, if you feel like you can score,
take a big swing. If you are in like, you must
tip here. The amount of trust it takes to just
do that. That says a lot. Coach of the year performance
in my mind. I think at the end of the day for
me, SMU had the better athletes. They probably
should have won, but Purdue was more of a team
and they stuck to their identity and they frustrated
SMU. And I just kept smiling, thinking about
what the game plan was and how well it was executed.
Congrats to Purdue. That's what a season. And
I kind of love that people left and it was so
unexpected and like he was going to quit and
like the, but how the team rallied and sort of
like had that FU mentality all season. Like you
think you're going to leave for greener pastures.
Let's, we're going to prove you wrong. Like,
I just love that. Totally. Totally. Congrats
to Purdue and Dave Shandell. That was a master
class in a team performance. Let's talk about
Minnesota Pitt. This was a game we had on in
the background, but I don't think we fully watched.
Yeah, full disclosure, this is the one I paid
the least attention to. Pitt 1 -3, 16 -23 -22.
Blair Bayless and... Olivia Babcock scored the
majority of the points. Pitt was never afraid
of losing that match. Let's just call it what
it is. I thought the Minnesota freshmen played
and got experience, and the first set was rough,
but they didn't look out of their depth in the
second and third. Minnesota is a team that I
think did better than expected after all of the
injuries. They got their young players really
good experience. They're going to be able to
build on this. They went as far as they could
go. Yeah. If you'd asked me at the beginning
of the season or when all these injuries took
place, if I thought Minnesota would make it this
far, that would be a hard no. Yeah. So I think
they did well. Exceeded expectations. Yeah. At
the end of the day, they couldn't stop Babcock.
But plain and simple. And anybody, though? Well,
we will find out. But this one was pretty cut
and dry, in my opinion. Speaking of cut and dry
matches. Are you referring to Kentucky Cal Poly?
I might be. 18, 19, and 7. There were a couple
people who were disappointed in how Kentucky
handled themselves. They thought they were kind
of making fun of Cal Poly or being disrespectful.
Who said that? I saw a couple comments online
about it. Do you feel that that was the case?
I think what these people were referring to were
some people laughing after blocks and things
like that. Kentucky plays with a certain amount
of swagger. Let's call a spade a spade. Cal Poly
does not belong. I don't know if I got that impression
watching Kentucky. You know who does give me
that impression sometimes? Eva Hudson. Yes. But
she doesn't just do that against Cal Poly. She
does that against everybody. Yes. Like if a ball
like lands close to the line and she lets it
go, she like stares at it for like three seconds.
It's a little over the top. Or like she will
do things. That for me are unnecessary, but I
don't, I watching that didn't get that impression
personally. I didn't think anything of it at
the time either. I mean, let's again, Cal Poly
greatly overperformed even making the tournament.
I think in the first two sets, they, they played
well. Totally. Like given their personnel, I
think they did a good job. Kentucky is just better.
And bigger. And then you saw the wheels fall
off in set three. But I think in sets one and
two, it was respectable. The scores, yes, not
close. But I think, you know, they were fighting.
They were making good serves. They clearly had
a game plan. They had a game plan. Their outsides
were making intentional swings. I thought they
did what they could. But it just, it was not
a good matchup for them. No. And I mean. Kentucky's
not really a good matchup for anybody, quite
frankly. And so, yeah, again, I think this is
one of those situations where Cal Poly got great
experience. This is a journey that every single
person on that team will remember. The highlight
of their season, they performed to the best of
their... The highlight, honestly, of a lot of
their college careers. 100%. What else is Kentucky
supposed to do? You can only beat the people
in front of you, and that's what they did to
move on. This was a match I think we were both
looking forward to. Creighton beats Arizona State
3 -1. Creighton winning 26 -24, then losing 25
-19, and then winning 13 -18. What did you see
and what were your impressions? Honestly, I thought
Creighton was going to take this match. While
their conference schedule might not be the strongest,
I honestly just don't think Arizona... State
had the pieces to go further than this. Glover
is solid. He's very good. But the other parts
of that team, they don't stand out to me. And
we saw the Big 12 was an absolute dumpster fire
this year. The Big 12 was about consistency,
and that is the bread and butter of Arizona State.
But they don't do anything. Spectacular. Glover
makes some great swings. I think she's very good.
But their middles are, for me, fine. Their left
sides, I couldn't even tell you their names.
Their libero, not it for me. I didn't think their
setter played particularly well in that match
either. Ava Martin is consistent. She is solid.
Their middle, Kiera Reinhardt, very good. A lot
of... what would probably be role players on
a Texas, a Nebraska type program, but they are
consistent and they make good choices. And honestly,
this match went about the way I thought it would.
Yeah, me too. Arizona's a team that you need
to beat. And Creighton came out and beat them.
They were able to score when they needed to.
Arizona struggled when Glover wasn't on the court.
She only plays three rotations in the front row.
And then who is going to score? They were getting
touches on the block, transition opportunities.
I mean, I think Glover, I think they should have
Glover hitting out of the back row. Totally agree
with that. Like she is your most consistent scorer.
Don't they run like a 6 -2 sometimes? Yeah. I
think she needs to play six rotations personally.
Would you say that that is an acceptable season
for them? Did they overachieve? Did they underachieve?
Did they end up? I was never a huge Arizona State
fan all season. So when they kept getting voted
in the top 10, I was like scratching my head
all season long. And even them getting a two
seed, I thought was generous. I think that that
is exactly where they should be. Okay. I think
maybe the match I was most looking forward to
was Wisconsin Stanford. I thought Stanford was
going to win this one. I had Stanford going to
the final four, so that pretty much tells you
the health of my bracket. Wowee. And let me just
say, they should have won set three. They gave
away four free ball opportunities. No free ball.
A couple over passes that they hit right back
at the defender. Literally a couple free ball
opportunities that landed. and then got aced
three times after being up 18 -15. Like, Stanford
had no business losing that third set, and then
once they did, it was like, oh dear. Yeah, that
third set in this match was completely pivotal
in order to... You were up 18 -15. Yeah. You
got two overpasses, two free balls that you messed
up, and got aced three times? Like, goodbye.
What are you doing? I was pulling my hair out
watching this. Well, and I think... For me, you
know, one of the players that we've spoken highly
of this year is Elliot Rubin. She did not have
a good match, in my opinion. I can't really tell
you anybody on Stanford that I was like, wow,
I thought Blashov did a good job. Nobody stood
out for me on Stanford. Yeah, Elliot Rubin went
15 kills on 35 sets with six errors. So she was
fine. But for me, it was... the timing of those
errors and the opportunities that she didn't
take care of. There were passes where she got
aced. I think she missed one of the overpasses.
You know, she had a couple swings and where she's
generally been automatic, she was not. Well,
at the end of set four, they fed her the ball,
which they should have. Absolutely. And she could
not put it away. And you could just see how devastated
she was at the end. I mean, granted. This was
Logan Parks' first match in the NCAA tournament
as a freshman. I thought she did pretty well.
Like she wasn't standing out to me as being bad.
Yeah, I don't think she was the reason they lost.
No. You know, I thought Charlie Furbringer played
very well. So you beat me to it, but I was going
to say I'm going to make my pick right now. Charlie
Furbringer will be the best setter in the NCAA
next year. That's my take. She did a very good
job. I mean, Mimi Collier, same thing. You know
who has played better for me is Vajicic. And
I've been talking not great about her all season,
but I will say she's stepped up. You can only
talk about what's in front of you. And she has
struggled this year. And we talked about that
other left side position was going to be the
key for Wisconsin to be successful. And she has
stepped up her game to her credit. I thought
Verbringer did a good job of getting Carter Booth
in, especially in transition. Her and Booth have
a really good connection. Yeah. I think. Charlie's
ability to understand who needs to get the ball
in different situations and read defensively
what people are keying on is maybe the best I've
seen at this college level this year. And I think
she's going to keep getting better. she's a very
good piece to build a team around. And if they
continue to have success, it will be because
of her, I think. And Mimi. I mean, Mimi is a
staple, but. And she's graduating, but. Yeah.
Well, I mean, in the tournament, like if they
make it. Yeah. Big Charlie fan. Shout out to
Trinity. Chad Ceres from my hometown. Played
for my club. Played for Big Paul, my dad. She
got in against North Carolina and against Stanford.
So, yeah. Any other thoughts about Stanford before
we move on? They just didn't look like the team
that I saw at the end of ACC play. And do you
think is that nerves? Is it inexperience? I don't
know. I was so disappointed with their serve
receive. I don't know what it was. They just
looked flat to me. Well, they definitely started
incredibly slow in that match, and they fought
back. It looked to me like the moment. got to
them a little bit. They were a little bit tighter
from a hitting perspective than I think they
were in the ACC. When your season's on the line,
when it's win or go home, it's a little bit different,
especially if you haven't played in that atmosphere.
And playing the ACC championship, you know you're
going to the tournament, right? It's a different,
it's big. See, that's interesting you say that
because my mindset whenever NCAA tournament time
came along, it was like, you're going for it.
Who cares about errors? You are being fearless.
You are taking every point you can. It is do
or die here. Like nothing matters. You are like
going for it. Well, I mean, that's why you're
the competitor that you are and you've had the
career that you had. I think that that is not
everybody's mindset. And I think you have to
learn to compete like that. And I, it looked
hesitant compared to the ACC final for me. Okay.
Let's talk last match of that round. Texas -Indiana.
Texas with the sweep. 20 -22 -22. What did you
see? What did you think? My first impression
watching that match was that Texas was incredibly
prepared for their quick offense outside. You
saw them move their pin blockers a step outside
so that they weren't late. They could work. from
the outside to the inside of the court, and they
challenged Indiana to beat them up the middle.
And they got a whole bunch of blocks and good
touches because of it. And because of the speed
that Indiana runs, their hitters don't always
have a ton of options. So when the block is solid,
it makes it really tough. I really liked Texas'
game plan against them. I thought they executed
it well, and Indiana didn't really have any adjustments.
I honestly expected this to be a better match
than it was. I thought Indiana was going to push
it to four at least. But Texas looked, like you
said, just very prepared. I thought Tori Stafford
was outstanding. Unconscious she was good. Outstanding.
And Whitney Lonstein played really well. Like
for having played so minimally all season, I
thought she came in and did a really good job.
They were just better. I think this is the furthest
Indiana's ever been. Great season for them. We
talked about Steve Aird being, you know, potentially
coach of the year with what they've done. The
problem with their offense is if people are prepared
for it and ready to block and they make adjustments,
you also have to be able to adjust. And I think
they worked so hard to find that speed and find
that rhythm that they didn't have an adjustment
when that's what Texas did to them. Like they
didn't have the firepower to beat them up the
middle and force them to readjust. They just
kept trying to... run what had made them successful
all year, which, again, it happens. What they
do is very challenging to execute. Yeah, they
were just unprepared to make the adjustments
based on what Texas was doing, and I thought
that they executed a flawless game plan. These
three seeds, baby. If you were a two seed, that
was the curse of the tournament this year. And
let me tell you, Purdue upsetting SMU and Wisconsin
beating Stanford really, really messed me up.
You and everybody else. Well, I don't know. You
stayed pretty solid after the round of 16. Like,
you stayed pretty much close to where you were.
I plummeted. And we picked the same team. You
only saved yourself because you got, like, a
set score better than me. Yeah, I got a couple
set scores. My pick of Stanford over Wisconsin
is going to end up really royally screwing me.
Man, oh, man. Yeah, overall, I thought the round
was a little blah. To be honest. Yeah, not the
best. A lot of the matches. And the games that
I had really high hopes for didn't execute. Yeah.
I'm talking about Wisconsin -Stanford, you guys.
I thought the SMU -Purdue game was fun. Yeah,
a couple of those were shellackings. But it'll
be, what I'm most curious about is those young
teams that had experience. What does that do
for them next year? Yeah, let's get our crystal
ball out and just see what happens next. All
right, coming up next, round of eight. All right,
we are going to... dive into the match and the
upset that everybody is talking about. We're
just going to get this one out of the way first
because this is probably the one that people
want to hear about most. Okay, how... Can you
guess what match it was? How do you want to do
this? Because there are conversations about the
game. There are conversations about the team
in general, how it happened. Do you want to focus
on Nebraska and then go to Texas or... How do
you want to do this? This is raw. We are recording
this pretty much right after we watched the match.
So we haven't really had a chance to talk about
it or think about it. This is going to be the
raw, unfiltered take. I think we just kind of
go how we're feeling like from the beginning.
I have something I need to say right off the
hop. Go for it. You guys know I played for Nebraska.
You know I want them to do well. You also know.
I never cheer for an underdog. Ever. Okay? And
I picked Nebraska to make the final. So there
were a lot of things that were like, I'm cheering
for Nebraska. You know what I mean? Very early
in the set, or in the match, I changed my mind.
I was like, you know what? Sacrifice my bracket.
Sacrifice my feelings about underdogs winning.
Sacrifice it all. I wanted Texas A &M to win.
Why? I just... I was not... I was very off -put
by the attitude on the court from Nebraska. Two
players in particular. Harper Murray and Andy
Jackson. Very early on, it was like not even
celebrating with teammates. swaggering around
the court like you think you're way better than
this team. It just didn't seem like a team cohesive
what I have come to expect from regional final
type moment. It was very much the impression
I was getting watching the match early was very
much we deserve to go to the final four. I'm
a star. Especially after The way the match started.
Because I think they were up 10 -3. In set one.
And you could see. They believed. And I think
staff included. That they were going to win this
match in three. And that Texas A &M was going
to roll over. After they kicked them in the teeth.
At the beginning of that set. Like as soon as
a Fennec Cossack Paula. Went back to serve. And
started turning points. And making it a set.
I started cheering for A &M. Because I hated.
So deeply how it was like Harper Murray would
score a point and just like go walk by herself,
like over to the scores table. You know what
I mean? I'm like, this is not the college regional
final team feel that it should be. And it just
disgusted me. And so then I went against everything
of like me and I wanted A &M to like win. This
kind of played out exactly how we talked about
beating Nebraska. Why don't you hit the highlights
of what we have said of how to beat Nebraska?
In my mind, the game plan against Nebraska was
always find a way to neutralize their middles
and make their outsides beat you. Rebecca Alec
played very well. Rebecca Alec played very well
in the third set moving forward. I thought she
was a little invisible. In the first two sets.
She is maybe my favorite player. After that match.
I have so much. Respect. For how she conducted
herself. For how she rose. A few lingering stare
downs. And I'm fine with that. I don't mind.
I mean, I'm fine. She cheers with her team. You
see her on the bench cheering for points. She
came out and was fired up and was making plays.
She's got some swagger, and she'll let you know
it. But she's a team girl. She's a team girl,
A. But if you're going to do that, you need to
perform. And in my opinion, she was the best
Nebraska player out there, and she was, quite
frankly, the only one who performed. Adriano
did better than she has. I mean, the bar was
low. Yeah, that's fine. She was neither here
nor there. She made some plays. She got some
kills. They didn't win or lose because of her.
Now, I've talked about this before. And I've
had so many people come at me about Harper -Murray's
stats and how good she is. And I don't disagree
with that. But there was one situation in particular
that we talked about where she struggles. And
I statted this during this match. I statted.
How she swung against two -man blocks. And Texas
A &M chased Andy Jackson from the match. They
had a freshman come in and play. And quite frankly,
the freshman was fantastic. I thought she did
a really good job. Way better than Jackson. But
hold on. Before you get on your keyboard and
start going crazy, like, look at the stats. Harper
Murray had 24 kills. Listen, I don't care. Okay?
Because anybody can have 24 kills when you're
hitting against one block. Okay, and let's think
about when she got most of those kills. One -on
-one out of the back row. And then guess what?
When it mattered, she was one -on -one out of
the back row and was making errors. So yes, I
don't care. What are the stats of Harper -Murray
hitting against a double block? So if we look
at Harper -Murray against a double block during
that match, she had 30 total attempts. She had
10 kills and 8 errors, including times that she
was blocked. And I will say, in the second and
third set, she was better against the double
block, but she was non -existent in the first,
fourth, and fifth sets against the double block.
They needed somebody on the outside who was going
to be able to score points against the solid
block. I don't think Adriano is that player yet.
I think she will be. What was that hitting percentage?
It was 067. How many balls did she tip? She either
tipped or roll swung on 14 of those balls. Half.
Everybody. Okay. We actually might know what
we're talking about here. I'm just saying. And
this to me was, this was the story of the match.
This was all season. This is her whole career.
And because they're in system so frequently and
their middles are so dominant. All the outside
hitters get one -on -ones, but that wasn't going
to be the case for the entirety of the tournament.
And when it came down to it, Nebraska couldn't
score in those situations. And their passing
wasn't good in the first two sets, and it got
better after that. Choboy was terrible in the
first set, but to her credit, her passing improved
after set one. Yeah, and I thought that everybody
continued to get better as the match went on,
except for... Harper Murray and Andy Jackson.
She wasn't so swaggy and smug either as the match
continued. She started to look a little... Pouty.
Pouty. You know, Andy Jackson kept getting opportunity
after opportunity to find her game. They started
her every single set. She was given opportunity
after opportunity to find her rhythm, and she
didn't. No. She was chased from the match every
single set. And we received some messages about,
how dare she be taken off, blah, blah, blah.
She's the best hitter in the country. No, she
wasn't. She was terrible. And she deserved to
be taken off. And honestly, she got more opportunities
to stay in than she deserved. Nobody is entitled
to be on the court. And you know what? I think
Harper Murray should have been taken out of the
front row sometimes too. But she wasn't. I also
didn't think that Nebraska served particularly
well. I don't think it's their strength. It hasn't
been their strength. They don't make errors,
but they're not an aggressive serving team. From
the coaching standpoint, I had a few things that
I kind of thought of. One, towards the end of
the match, Dani looked like she was a deer in
headlights. They panned to her with a camera.
And it's one shot. I get that. But she looked
in disbelief as to what was happening. I didn't
think they did a good job defending Lednicki
or Stowers. The things that the hitters were
trying to do. They gave them very obvious from
set one. Like let Nikki scores in the sharp angle.
Nikki hits 90 % of the balls to the same spot.
Double up at the angle. You guys even like block
the line on her and give her the angle and double
it up. Like do something. Leave her a truckload
of line. That's the only shot she was hitting.
Yeah. No adjustments. And then for stores, they
were giving her so much line. From a blocking
standpoint, and she was just tipping the ball
down in front of the defender. Which, as we talked
about in our defensive class, if the line is
left open, position one needs to dig the hard
-driven ball unless you want to take it in the
face. Totally makes sense. But when she's tipping
the ball straight down the line, shut down the
line. Like, switch your defensive position. She's
6 '5". If she's in front of her, she's not going
to score on that tip. And make her do something.
I didn't think they made adjustments on the two
major hitters. And to Texas A &M's credit, Nebraska's
strength is up the middle of the court. And Texas's
middles were better. Oh, baby. Okay. We need
to talk about Texas A &M. They deserve credit.
100%. Yes, Nebraska, we said what we had to say.
Those middles were outstanding. Outstanding.
Now, you know who? wasn't outstanding for Texas
A &M was their setter who tried real hard to
give that match away. They up 19 -14 in the fourth
set and you go and lose that? You guys. Kendall
Storrs started the match on fire. She was unconscious.
She started slowing down. You are telling me,
Maddie Wack, that you are going to continually
set Storrs who is having trouble scoring when
Lednicki is in the front row with her? Why are
you not giving the ball to Logan one time? Well,
the other thing is she totally stopped running
the middles in the third and fourth set. They
were so effective in the first two sets. Your
middles are so good. It was like all of a sudden
she saw Stowers just hammering the ball and she's
like, okay, that's the only person I'm going
to set. You're up 19 -14 in the fourth set. You
know what you do? You run the middle three times
to keep Nebraska honest about that because you've
got points to give. Jorge. Just set the ball
back once. She literally set every single ball
to Stowers. I was like, this is a joke. If Texas
A &M would have lost that match, I would have
pretty much sat here and said, that's on the
setter. That it was the decision -making, any
kind of thought. And I thought she started setting
the match really well in terms of balancing the
offense. It completely went out the window. One
other thing I wanted to say going back to Nebraska
that this reminded me of was... I thought Bergen
-Riley did an outstanding job at the beginning
of the match, messing with what their strengths
were. She didn't go to the middle. She went to
the outside. She established them. She made Texas
A &M think about a couple different things because
they normally run the middle, and she had set
outside so much. I thought her decision -making,
specifically in the first set, was very good.
I mean, yeah, she's a good setter for sure, but
when you're... Left side's not scoring. And then
your main middle is also not scoring. It's like,
now what? Yeah. And okay. So my question is,
why did they continually insist on running Jackson
behind the setter when she was clearing the net
by a whole like centimeter and getting blocked
or getting huge touches or getting dug? Like
they didn't try to mix up her route at all. And
you could have thrown the back row attack. On
the right side for a couple rotations to mix
it up because Andy Jackson is capable of hitting
in front of the setter really well. Well, not
only that, they did run like a 61, a modified
short back set, and she scored. Like you could
have done other things. And we talked about this
going in was that Nebraska hasn't had to make
any adjustments all year because they've just
been so dominant against everybody they played.
And when they needed to make adjustments, and
I don't know whether it was coaching staff or
players. But they weren't capable, or at least
they didn't, in my opinion, from what I could
see. Before you tell me, oh, Bergen -Riley was
sick. If you can play the match, you can play
the match. If you can set a slide, you can set
a quick in front of the setter. So I don't want
to hear that excuse. Well, listen, Bergen -Riley
is not the reason they lost that match. She was
fine. No. Totally fine. And even if she wasn't
fine, she played fine. Yeah. Again, I don't think
we're giving Texas A &M enough credit. I think...
Well, I was going to go back there. This is just,
like, so... I don't think anybody saw this coming.
So, yes, talking about what Nebraska did wrong
is, like, the easiest place to start. But I,
like we said, Texas A &M, if they had run their
middles more, I think the game would have been
over in four, for sure. Kostikpala, outstanding
serve. Literally the best blocker. In the world.
According to her coach. And is so good offensively.
And add to that Morgan Perkins offensive ability.
Like, these middles are so good. Under the radar.
And the libero was much improved from Friday,
I thought. Like, Nebraska tried serving her every
ball, and I think she did a lot better than she
did in the match on Friday. Honestly, this is
the second match in a row that they've gone to
five, but they've been the better team for the
whole match. Again, they had no business going
five with Louisville and they had no business
going five in Nebraska. They were the better
team in both of those matches, in my opinion.
What were your thoughts on Lydnicki in this match?
You know what? To her credit, she scored when
everybody knew where the ball was going and they
needed to put the game away. When I thought I
knew where the ball was going, I didn't. Like
in set four, in the second half of the set. That
wasn't her match. They're going to need her to
come up with a great performance down the road.
But that match for me was about Stowers and the
two middles. I thought they were outstanding.
I mean, again, Lednicki scored her points. She
was fine, but she wasn't the reason they won,
you know, minus the last kill. I love they put
together two outstanding game plans all over
this weekend. And as a team, they did really
well. I'll stand by what I said about Lednicki,
I think. I expect more from her, honestly. I
don't think Whack likes to set back. I think
she's very uncomfortable with the back set. I
agree. There is no other explanation to me as
why she makes the decisions she does. Anytime
she has to move off the net, I think it's a very
uncomfortable set for her. And that is potentially
going to be an issue next week. That could kill
them. Yeah, agreed. In the final four. It almost
killed them in this round. Yeah, we'll see what
happens with that. What did you think of the
press conference? Hold on. Before we get to the
press conference, I want to talk about set four.
So set four got to 37 -35. And this is a prime
example of why you need to train all of your
athletes to do all of the skills. Because once
they couldn't sub people on and off the floor
anymore, the game was ugly. It became the grossest
volleyball. People looking terrified to serve.
People not even being able to hit a serve. Free
balls coming in and out. Holy moly, it was gross.
I'm like, everybody, this is why we train everybody
to do all those skills, okay? And I thought that
that actually played into Texas A &M's favor
because you have, you know, Nebraska does a lot
of subbing in terms of bringing their DSs in.
So does Texas A &M, but their players were, I
think, a little more prepared for that, it seemed
like anyway. I ripped on Nebraska a whole bunch.
To their credit, they went down 0 -2. Their backs,
for all intents and purposes, they were about
to lose in four. They found a way. They came
back after set two. They had gotten it together,
played very well, won 25 -19 or something in
the third. Backs against the wall, season almost
done. They found a way to win set four. There
were obviously a lot of factors involved in that,
but I think it goes... We need to acknowledge
the fact that they did not back down and they
kept fighting and trying to like find ways to
ship away. Sure. But they were down in set four
and five, you know, in those situations. So you,
I mean, it's great that you can fight in those
situations, but you can't put yourself in those
places continually and expect to come out. You
know what I mean? I felt like I needed to like
balance it out just a little bit because I could
have just left it where I left it. Like, let
me. Try to be a little bit nice. Now the press
conference. I have some thoughts. Yeah, me too.
They're not going to be favorable ones. And I'm
going to take some flack. So I'm going to say
this ahead of time. I don't know any of these
players personally. So these opinions are based
solely on media that has been put out there that
I have watched. And for all of you who are about
to be like, Sarah, you hate Nebraska. I went
there. You guys. Okay. If anybody loves Nebraska,
it's me. Okay, I love Nebraska. I just think
it's worth being real and not being clouded by
your love of a program. I will start with the
positive. And I said this when we started the
segment. Rebecca Alec earned so many points in
my book. She's a senior. I thought she led by
example. She was the person who came out there
cheering for her teammates and backing it up
with an outstanding. performance I am heartbroken
that her season ended this way as as a senior
but I hope that when she has a chance to reflect
she can look at that match and say I left absolutely
everything out on the floor because that was
the impression that I got watching that match
so you know what kudos to her I'm sure she's
not going to see this but and she's real yep
totally like I understand everybody's processes
losses differently and she had no shame in just
being so and openly brokenhearted. And I think
I have a lot of respect for that. I don't know
the condition of Bergen -Riley. Apparently she
was sick. I have a ton of respect for showing
up when you're sick and playing. I don't think
that she was the reason that they weren't successful.
I quite frankly, without looking at her based
on her play alone, would not have been able to
tell that she was not feeling herself. To listen
to Dani talk about that in the press conference
about how hard done by they were with this week.
It falls flat for me. You are good enough or
the issues that you had were not Bergen Riley
issues. Well, then they alluded to the fact that
like Allie check or whatever, stepping on a ball
was another huge issue for them. Like this girl
barely plays. No, that's you can't hang your
hat on those two things. Talk about how your
bench could win the big 10. Like this sounded
like a lot of excuses to me personally. Yeah.
And the last one. And I will fully admit that
my opinion is slightly jaded because I was watching
some content and interviews and things before
we watched that match. Shout out to the person
who sent me this video. If you are going to go
on media that will be consumed and refer to yourself
as an icon in the sport, you had best show up.
Or have done something. And be a stud. And you
know what? For me, your numbers are... don't
count in that it's about the performance that
you put on the floor in the big moments and I
understand that I'm literally cringing inside
right now I can't you know I understand that
these are young women and they're navigating
their way through these challenging situations
my impression of Harper Murray is that she's
always trying to say the right thing and that
she doesn't know who she is as an athlete yet.
I think that there's so much pressure at Nebraska
and I think that she goes from interview to interview
to interview and is trying to please everybody
and what I saw today and you can kind of see
this in the past is that she plays for herself
but she wants to be a good teammate but she doesn't
hate losing. The way that you worded it earlier
was It appears that she likes the attention that
comes with being a Nebraska volleyball player,
but she doesn't hate losing. Yes. I said it much
better before. We're about to get just incinerated.
But I'm sorry. This is a pattern now. You build
a team that has that team first philosophy and
you're good all the time. You are going to come
up against adversity and you either step up and
you don't. And in my opinion. She's the player
who needed to step up. If she would have been
able to score out of system, they would have
won that match. That's how I see it. Yes, Andy
Jackson could have played better, but you know
what? Her replacement came in and did fine. That
match was about scoring against a two -man block
in different situations, and it wasn't just attacking.
She got aced. She did a couple other things that
she was giving up points. We have seen her not
rise to the occasion. And you can tell that she
tries to play it off nonchalantly on the court,
and that eats at you. She just hasn't proven,
at least to me, that she's a big game player,
that she can rise to the occasion and lead her
team to victory. Rebecca Alec is that player.
Unfortunately, you need somebody on the pins
to do it. I thought it was Andy Jackson, honestly,
but she disappeared. And I understand that players
have bad games. I get it. But she almost looked
relieved to be on the bench. I have only been
to Nebraska once, and it was for your Hall of
Fame induction, and I was blown away at the attention
and the media and everything that happens in
Nebraska. I am fully aware of the pressures that
come. But when you go there, you know what you're
getting into. With the attention, with the notoriety,
with the fame, with the NIL deals, with this,
with that, with your platform comes pressure.
And if you get to enjoy all of the perks of those
things, you are expected to perform and to win.
You are an 18, 19, 20 -year -old kid who is being
held up on this incredible pedestal. And if you
want the attention, you're going to get the scrutiny
too. I will be curious, you know, Harper specifically,
but the rest of those athletes, this is two years
in a row. This is three years in a row. They
couldn't figure it out. With John at the helm,
right? Like they didn't make the adjustments.
Now with Danny at the helm, after they have a
chance to look at it and kind of figure it out,
I'm curious to see, can they change their personalities
or can they change their attitude towards pressure
and big moments and a winning mentality after
learning these lessons when you have so much
success during the regular season? Don't get
me wrong. They like to win. And they're good
at winning. But there's a difference between
doing that. But this is a pattern now. Yes. You
are great all season and you continually come
up short. Like what needs to change? Well, and
this is very short. But you're not losing. There
was no reason this team should not have been
in the national championship match. They had
on paper the best team to win. And I think that
that was a fair expectation. I think the only
team that would have given them a good match
right now is Kentucky. I mean, what a match.
I was on the edge of my seat. I can't even tell
you what was going on with me in that match.
I was furious. I was excited. I had goosebumps.
I had chills. I was happy. I was sad. I was angry.
It was not okay. It was. It was an outstanding
volleyball game to watch. Yeah, we will see now
what happens in the semifinal. And I'll say congrats
to Texas A &M. I know we have a lot of Nebraska
listeners. I know we focused a lot on Nebraska.
We tried to give Nebraska or Texas A &M the credit
they deserve. I'm sorry if you don't think it
was enough, but very well done by A &M. We gave
the players that played well their flowers. It's
always easier to talk about the teams that don't
do well or that fell short. But maybe we'll be
talking about Texas A &M again for another week.
So we'll see. Okay, let's talk Pitt -Purdue.
Pitt wins in four. 25 -22, 25 -21, they lost
25 -22, and then they won 25 -17. I don't think
there was any chance that if Babcock played reasonably
well in this match that Purdue was going to be
able to match up with her. And quite frankly...
their middles either. Again, we've talked about
this. I'm a fan of Dave Shondell for Coach of
the Year based on what he put together with the
roster of athletes that he had left and given
what was going on at the beginning of the year.
But they just ran into a team with somebody they
couldn't stop. I listened to Dave Shondell's
mid -match interview and the reporter basically
asked, like, what do you have to do to win a
set to come back out here? And he said, listen.
We need to get our blocking assignments back
in. We need to do a couple things. At the end
of the day, Olivia Babcock is really good, and
she's playing really well. And basically conceding
that in this situation, there's not a whole lot
that we can do. And it wasn't defeatist because
his team fought that whole match. The sets were
close. And they won set three. And they came
out, they made an adjustment, and they won set
three. They just weren't going to beat Pitt if
Pitt was playing well, and he knew it, and that's
fine. They had an amazing season. I don't know
if you have anything else you want to say about
the match. Kenna Waller played really well. I
thought their one middle, Dior, played well.
Very defensive -minded. They had their assignments.
They served well. They did everything they could
do, and they made Pitt beat them, and Pitt beat
them. I mean, I think Kenna Waller is legit.
I think what she did this season and just her
fearlessness and, you know, when the game is
on the line, she keeps taking swings. Like, I
think she played well and in the whole regional
played really well. I appreciate what Shondell
said about Babcock because it's not very often
that you'll have a coach that's able to be honest
about another player's ability. And he straight
up was like. Yeah, Olivia Babcock is just too
good for us. There are athletes out there that
are like that, but it's so hard to get a coach
to actually admit it. And so I had so much respect
for that. And it's true. Like if Olivia Babcock
is on and they are able to get her the ball,
like you're probably not going to win unless
you have an equal number of pieces that are able
to score as well. I mean, I think given the beginning,
where they were with him almost quitting and
stuff, and I know I mentioned this earlier, this
was a huge season. Absolutely. And the fact that
they were able to come back after set two, fight,
grind out, oh, set three, win, says a lot about
their character and their mentality. But they
aren't a final four team. I actually think this
was the best they finished in program history.
How satisfied do you think Shondell is that he
finished better than Louisville where Chacoin
went? Yeah. And better than Minnesota where Meyer
went? Yeah, I think. I think he is probably taking
a lot of satisfaction in that. Well, and the
athletes who were left behind. What a season
for them. And again, like you said, they came
out and made adjustments in set three. They didn't
give up. The athletes executed. That. Purdue
is a team through and through. And in my opinion,
like the essence of college sport. I mean, there's
not a ton to say. I mean, the Nebraska Texas
A &M game was the game that has a ton to talk
about. These other three, like not as much. So
what about Kentucky Creighton? I mean, Kentucky
won in three, 19, 13, and 18. I don't think Creighton
ever believed they had a chance to win this match.
The athletes or their coach, Quite frankly. I
don't know if I got that impression. I just,
it was so one -sided. I honestly don't remember
noticing Ava Martin at all. No. In the whole
match. You know, I thought Jaya Johnson did pretty
well, the Creighton opposite. But I remember
saying to you partway through the match, like,
I haven't noticed Ava Martin do anything. No.
And that's the problem. In their middle either.
Reinhardt. Yeah. Kentucky was in control of that
match from start to finish. From the service
line, passing -wise, block defense, transition.
There was never any question that they were going
to win that match. And you could kind of tell
Creighton had no fight. I wouldn't be surprised
if internally this was a benchmark or a goal
that they were trying to shoot for. I mean, that's
what they got last year. Yeah. I'm not saying
they spoke that out loud to... the players or
whatever. But I mean, if you make it this far
and you're not from one of the big four conferences,
it's a great accomplishment. I wish they would
have fought a little. I wish. I just think Kentucky
was better. And honestly, like the two left sides
did what we've seen them do all season. But the
impressive thing to me is how good Lizzie Carr
has gotten as the season has progressed. Like
she has become legit. I would agree with that.
And I thought Molly, I know I've talked a lot
about Molly Tozzo. Her bump sets were really
good. Still doing that jump set, but whatever.
And like, so as a libero, her past defense was
solid. Her bump sets were really good. But like
for me, the fact that Lizzie Carr has become
as dominant as she has been recently, like. Huge
for them. It's huge because now you have people
coming at you from everywhere. Yeah. And which.
We weren't huge Thigpen fans at the beginning
of the season. The fact that they've got the
middle running now and the left sides, Thigpen
can swing against a one -man block all day. So
as long as she's not a massive liability. She
can score 10 points. Yeah, against a one -man
block for sure. Yeah, she jumps. She's dynamic
enough to do that. Okay, I want to go back and
just kind of ask you about this. To me, I look
at this match, and I think that Creighton and
Purdue are in similar situations in the matches
that they played. I just got a different feeling
on the court from Purdue versus Creighton. I
think that's where it was coming from. I watched
Purdue play and fight and battle, and I didn't
have that same sense of... Well, no, Creighton
got rolled. Yeah. Plain and simple, they got
rolled. That's what I was kind of alluding to.
It felt different on the court. And I think that
those were similar situations. And I actually
think that Creighton had some better athletes
than Purdue. Like Ava Martin, if you're looking
at it, is probably better. But yeah, I mean,
Kentucky is rolling. All of their pieces are
playing well. They're looking real good. Real
good. And now that Nebraska has lost, that's
who I had in my final matchup. I think that they
catapult to the top of team to beat. I think
they have to be favored to win at this point.
All right. And the last match we have to talk
about is Wisconsin, Texas. I am so scared to
even look at what my bracket is doing right now
because it's on fire. It just, it got decimated
this weekend. We normally start with the negative.
So I'm going to start with the positive. Okay.
Wisconsin. I thought you were going to be cheeky
and say like, anyway, Sarah thought I was going
to make a swindle comment is what she thought.
Wisconsin has come together and they are playing.
Like a true team. To her credit, Vajicic is playing
really, really well. And for me, that was the
big question mark. Was what is their P2 going
to do? Both from a passing and from a scoring
standpoint. I thought that was their weakness.
But she has been very good. She was very good
against Texas in this match. I thought. Parker
Booth was really good. Mimi Collier was obviously
good. Grace Egan. is scoring points. Charlie
Furbringer, like I said before, I think is setting
phenomenally well right now. She's got a really
good feel on her opponents and on her own players.
It's impressive to watch given they had some
trouble in the middle of the season. You know,
when Charlie got hurt, I didn't think Vajicic
was playing particularly well. I've been impressed
with how Sheffield has brought this team together.
What was your impression? I mean, I think all
four teams that are in the final four are playing
like units together. What I'm seeing from the
four teams that are on the court is just like,
yeah, the essence of college sports. It's like
the togetherness. And obviously, like, yeah,
everybody loves each other when you're winning.
But I just like I get the feeling that they're
just like in it for each other. Do you know what
I mean? Yeah, you get the it's a team. You listen
to. And there's just like the straight compete
factor. You know what I mean? Like Carter Booth
hates to lose. Maybe call your hates to lose.
You can just tell. Olivia Babcock is like willing
her team to win matches. You see the Kentucky
girls like Eva Hudson. Crazy. She's crazy. Crazy.
In the best way. In the best way. Like she's
so competitive and they are like in it. And then
like Texas A &M, who would have thought like,
you know what I mean? Like. The feeling on the
court of the teams that have made it, I'm like
all in. I think it's going to be a great weekend.
Wisconsin is coming on way better. Like we have
taken our fair amount of heat for not being Wisconsin
fans, but they have gotten so much better and
they are, they deserve to, they put together
a great regional weekend and they broke down
Texas's passing just surgically. To the point
that it was like not a fun match to watch, really.
I thought they played better than they did against
Stanford. I will say, I made that comment about
Coach Sheffield and the rotations the other week.
He has done a good job getting his team as a
unit, as a whole, including players coming off
the bench to his credit. playing in a really
good way. So their staff has done a really good
job preparing them for this weekend. So I did
want to acknowledge that because I thought it
was well done game plan -wise, execution -wise,
pieces -wise, decisions -wise. They had good
plans this week. I thought Kari Spears did pretty
well for Texas. Yeah. I didn't think Tori Stafford
put up the numbers she needed to. What did you
think of our girl, Swindle? When Emma Halter
steps in to take some questionable balls, I'm
like, Okay. Texas's middles were non -factors
in that match. And that's, we talked about them
needing to do that. You have your outside hitters.
You have two freshmen. You got to make their
lives as easy as possible. I like Vanderwall
still. So do I. And I think she's going to be
a star on that team for years to come. I like
the combination of her and Spears. I think it's
a really good. set to work around they need to
get the middles figured out somehow i'm sorry
eight names should not be scoring no points consistent
like they need to get it together with the middles
other than pit the other three teams who qualified
for the regionals have all managed to make their
middles a threat and i don't think that that's
a coincidence that's a very good observation
yes so but brie kelly is a threat if they pass
Yeah, Bree Kelly can be a threat, but I think
out of all four teams that are there, Pitt runs
the middle the least. Fair, yeah. Texas just,
there was some sloppy play. They didn't look
like they had a great defensive game plan in
place. Wisconsin managed to get tons of touches.
They had solid blocks. They just, they beat them
in every facet. Serving, passing, and blocking,
I thought they were just better than Texas. Stafford
needed to have a game, and she didn't. And they
needed to pass, and they didn't. They were out
of system a lot in that match, and they don't
have the hitters yet. I think the other two can
get there, the freshmen, but they're not able
to carry an out -of -system match against a team
like Wisconsin yet. How do you think Tori Stafford
feels leaving Pitt, and they still make the Final
Four, and she doesn't? Well, her bank account
is happy, so I don't know if anything else matters.
Do you think she left because they weren't winning?
Do you think she was coming to Texas? No, they're
making Final Four after Final Four. I don't know
why. I don't want to speculate why she left Pitt.
If it was me and I left a program and I finished
worse than that program, I would be pissed. I
mean, maybe. It gives a message like, yeah, we
don't even need you. Yeah. Which is so satisfying
for Pitt, probably. A hundred percent. It totally
depends on why she went. If she wanted to be,
if she wanted to make a ton of money, which is
totally fair, then she doesn't care. If she wanted
to be the show, she got her wish. She was the
show. If she left to win a national championship.
Not happening this year. Not happening this year.
I think Texas is going to be really good in the
future, but they did not have it against Wisconsin.
All right, we are heading into the final four.
So it begs the question, what are your predictions
for the week? We've got Kentucky versus Wisconsin
and Texas A &M versus Pitt. Seeing how good Wisconsin
is playing right now, I think that match against
Kentucky will be the match of the weekend. Yeah,
I actually think it's going to come down to the
setting. I think if O 'Brien... Can run a balanced
offense. And get Lizzie Carr going. I think Kentucky
will win. If it becomes a. Left side show. I
don't know. I think it'll be very interesting.
To see the two left sides. From either side of
the net. Go at it. I think it'll be like. Is
O 'Brien gonna. Just. go with the safe option
and just go to the left sides all night long?
Or like you said, will she run a balanced offense
to open things up? If O 'Brien is unnoticeable,
and what I mean by that is you can't tell she's
panicking, I think Kentucky has the edge. But
that's a big if because I know the game that
Charlie's going to set. So I think it's going
to be really close. I think it's going to come
down to making a couple plays. And I think it
will come down to Kentucky's ability to contain
Mamie Collier. Well, we've got Collier who's
going to be hitting against either O 'Brien or
Thigpen. Maybe we'll see a daily entrance into
the match. That's what I think is going to happen.
I think they're going to have to find a way to
slow her down. And I don't think either of those
options are good. Like O 'Brien's not small,
but she's not a tremendous blocker. And she's
got a ton to think about trying to run the offense.
So I'm leaning Kentucky just because I think
the duo is better. But if Vajicic is playing
well, this is a really close one to call. Okay,
if you had to pick one right this second. Kentucky.
Me too. Okay. What do you think about the other
one? Ooh, I think if any team is going to cause
Olivia Babcock trouble, it's Texas A &M's block.
Olivia Babcock is an international caliber right
side, but Jamie Morrison has seen a ton of international
volleyball. I think Kossak Paula is an international
caliber middle. I agree. And that to me is going
to be the showdown. Is their libero going to
be able to strap it on and dig some balls is
the question. Yes. I trust Jamie to have a really
good game plan to make Babcock uncomfortable.
Can Kostak Paula take away what she needs to
force Babcock into hitting something she's uncomfortable.
And can pass well enough to get her balls that
are hittable. True. Yeah. I mean, Texas A &M
is serving really well. I think Texas A &M is
more balanced. I think that if they can keep
Olivia Babcock under 25 points, I think they'll
win. And that's the big if. It's a massive if.
I think they could just cause a lot of disruption
from the service line. I think that as well.
If the match ends and Olivia Babcock has 45 points
and Pitt wins, I'm not going to be surprised.
Okay, right off the hop, who are you picking?
Pitt. I'm picking Texas A &M. I mean, we'll see.
We'll see. It's going to be fun regardless. Okay.
We are excited. Our brackets are burning in the
trash can somewhere. So we're just out here to
have a good time at this point. Okay. So we'll
see what happens. Okay. Given who has made the
final four, do your predictions for player of
the year, coach of the year, or freshman of the
year change now? Yes, I think Olivia Babcock
will win Player of the Year now. I think it would
have gone to Bergen -Riley if Nebraska had made
the Final Four. I think Eva Hudson could be in
the discussion. She could be in the discussion.
Now I think Mimi Collier could be in the discussion.
But now we're talking about, so the thing with
Bergen -Riley was her team was hitting at such
an efficient clip. You can't really compare Bergen
to Babcock. No. So you just look at the body
of work as a setter and go, this hasn't been
done. It's unprecedented. The numbers are so
good. We're going to give it to her. Not making
the final four. Yeah, I think to get the set,
they needed to do really, really well. But if
you start comparing hitters to Olivia Babcock,
everybody falls short. I mean, I think if we're
looking straight at numbers, Olivia Babcock,
wow. Mimi and Eva are... great players in their
own right but there's more of a direct comparison
and I'm sorry if you're picking a franchise player
to choose like you're picking Babcock over both
of those players I just don't see how you can
give it to another hitter other than Olivia yeah
I think not making the final four is going to
kill Riley's chances personally coach of the
year I think a case could be made for Shondell
now that they made the elite eight I think Danny's
out of the running Yeah. I think it probably
goes to Craig Skinner. It could go to Jamie,
though. It could go to Jamie, but they pulled
off one massive upset. I mean, two if you want
to talk about Louisville. My instinct is it'll
go to Craig Skinner. That's my instinct as well.
They've been good all year, ranked well. Yeah.
They've won, what, 26 matches in a row now or
something? Yeah. I mean, if I was picking the
award, I would give it to Shondell just based
off expectation versus outcome. Yes. I don't
think it necessarily works that way, so probably
Craig Skinner. I think Shondell deserves it,
personally, for what he put together. Yeah. But
given Kentucky's performance and consistency
over the season and making the Final Four, I
have a feeling it'll go to Skinner. Yeah. Originally,
I thought Suli Davis was going to win freshman
of the year, but I think losing first round took
her out of it for me. I don't think she's going
to get it anymore. I think it could go to Cassie
O 'Brien. Yeah, maybe. Or I think it could go
to Cassie O 'Brien, or I think you could make
a case for Kari Spears. I don't think she deserves
it because I think she took a big dip. So I'm
going to say Cassie O 'Brien right now. Again,
this is another one of those things where...
where your team finishes is important. I think
Alana Clemente, quite frankly, deserves to be
in the conversation, but the team just did nothing.
So she doesn't get to be quite frankly. I think
Spears was the front runner. I agree. She took
a dip. The thing, I don't think O 'Brien was
the best freshman, but I think to lead an offense.
into the final four as a freshman, that doesn't
happen often. Very impressive. But what I was
going to say was, I think she improved the most
as an already good freshman. Like there were
noticeable changes in how she ran her offense.
The composure that she had in terms of, you know,
having two weapons, but banning her game to run
the middle and make different decisions. So I
think she will probably win. That's my guess.
I think you're right. So basically all of our
predictions have changed. I do think that a lot
of these awards, they do look at how well a team
does. Yeah. I mean, unless you have somebody
that's so incredibly dominant that you can't
even deny it, but. Okay. So let me, let me ask
you this. If you take out the, where a team needs
to finish and you had a chance to pick a freshman
to build a team around, who would you pick? I
mean, Cassie O 'Brien is a setter, so that's
a great start. I also really loved Alana Clemente.
And honestly, Suli Davis did great things, but
now she's leaving, so I think she has to prove
herself again wherever she goes. So I will say
Alana Clemente or Cassie O 'Brien. I was going
to say Alana Clemente or Suli Davis. I thought
she was good. Well, here we go. We'll find out
the answers to all of these questions and more
in a few days. So hit us up. Let us know your
thoughts. I'm sure people are very opinionated
about some of our thoughts about these matches,
about our predictions moving forward. So give
it to us. We're ready. So looking ahead. Obviously,
we've got NCAA matches coming up this week. So
semifinals are both on Thursday. And then we
will have the finals on Sunday. I think all of
those have the potential to be great matches.
I'll definitely be tuning in. We also have men's
Club World Championships starting this week.
Those you can find on Volleyball TV. They'll
be listed there. The matches are happening in
Brazil, so the timeframes will actually work
out to watch them live, but all of them will
be recorded there so you can watch them at your
leisure. That concludes this week's episode of
Volley Talk. There's always something shaking
in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed
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