New Rules in VNL 2026, An Interesting MLV Trade, and Blocking Strategy 201

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. Okay, first things first, full disclosure
here. We... We're out of town this week, visiting
family. So we did not watch games, but that did
not stop us because we still have a lot that
we can talk about. Might not be your typical
hour, hour and a half episode, but we are hitting
up, of course, those listener questions, a segment
that... a listener created. I think it was a
question, but we made it into a segment and there
have been some happening. So even though we won't
be talking about specific games and we are very
sorry about that, we're still going to have some
fun. Okay. We are pumped. We always love doing
this with you guys. So let's get started. All
right. You know what I'm going to ask you. Was,
I know the answer to this already. Was your volley
fantasy a highlight or a happening? Neither.
It was awful. It was in the basement. I was packing
on Monday. We traveled all day Tuesday. And the
place we arrived at had no internet or cell service.
And so by the time. No, we are not the Griswolds,
everybody. We went to a national park, which
technically could make us the Griswold. But you
get the idea. It was an exceptional week. It
was amazing. We had a ton of fun. But Adam's
fantasy did not have a ton of fun. And I had
four contracts lapse this week. So I only had
two players and no bench players selected. What
he's saying is he did not. fill his roster. He
did not sign his players. He's probably still
ranked higher than me. What are you ranked? I
am currently sitting at 181st. You know what?
I've been ranked that when I have had all my
contracts. I'm going to need to pull off something
special here to get back into double digits.
We'll see. What's your salary cap at? I got $113
,000. He's not doing that bad. I did not expect
to not be able to get onto my phone. We're planning
on my part, but what can you do? How are you
doing? Thank you for asking. I am currently sitting
in the mid -60s. Congrats. I've gained about
20 places. This is a big week for Sarah. She's
ahead of me by default. You know what? You don't
have to clarify it like that. It's not my fault
that you were thinking ahead. That's true. Charity
Looper really screwed me over. And you know who
my bench player was who did really terrible?
Might as well have also done zero. Reagan Cooper.
I had three bench players have to sub in. Because
the players I picked were that bad. That's not
great. You know who was a star? Well, started
out as a star, but then kind of became average.
So it wasn't really a star on a bonjo. You know
who was my best player, though? I had a couple.
Hit me. Raina Terry killed it for me this week.
And Elena Ogilvie. We're going to talk about
her later. Don't you worry. I've got a lot of
work to do still. It would really be helpful
if everybody else would forget to sign their
contracts. So feel free to do that so I can gain
some more ground. Sarah wants to win by default.
That's that. They've made a lot of updates. It's
looking real snazzy. Yeah, they've done a really
nice job with it. A lot cleaner look this week,
I thought. I love that we're getting to play
and see it evolve in real time. They're taking
feedback. They're making updates. It's been a
ton of fun. So many people are posting their
roster choices on YouTube. It's fun to look at
and see what people are thinking. Different strategies.
Honestly, I don't have a strategy. Well, that's
a problem. Wait, what's yours? Not to sign contracts.
I'm not throwing my strategy out there mid -season.
Okay, I don't know if I have a strategy. I'm
just kind of like looking at how everybody's
doing, trying to make it fit in my budget, you
know, just keeping it basic. Just fulfilling
the bare minimum requirements. It has made MLV
much more interesting, which has been a lot of
fun. I will say my phone did work, and that is
the only thing I was checking. Notice she didn't
offer to let me do my roster. I didn't think
that you would forget. We almost had 400 teams
in our league. I love seeing that. Join. Talk
on the chat. Give me your strategy on the chat.
Am I the only one without a strategy here? I
can't be. Please make me feel better about this.
Join our league at playvolley .com slash volley
talk. That is playvolley .com slash volley talk.
Not too late to join everybody. You'll join right
in the middle and you'll be around where Adam
is right now. So come join the gang. It's a ton
of fun. NCAA men. You were right, Adam. Lindenwood
jumped. Let's go. To the position you predicted.
Number 13. They jumped from number 18 to 13 after
their stellar performance the week before. Kind
of putting Adam down with his volley fantasy
league stuff. So I wanted to build him up a little
bit with that. So great prediction. Try to use
that for your league this week. A good series
that we missed out on. But it looked great. USC,
UC Irvine. USC won the first match in five. UC
Irvine won the second match in four. I might
have to do some. That was a 4 -5. Volleyball
catch up this week. You say that every week.
And I do watch a lot of the games afterwards.
I have a lot of work meetings where there might
be some volleyball in the background. Always
on. On the other monitor. Purdue Fort Wayne beat
number 12 McKendree in five. That'll hurt. Yeah.
That'll hurt them. And Queens, North Carolina
beat Ohio State in five. That will also hurt.
That will also hurt. But Ohio State beat them
the day before. But it doesn't matter. Because
they still lost to a team lower than them. So
that's going to screw them over. Yeah. Yeah,
probably. Beating teams you're expected to beat
and losing to teams you're expected to beat is
not. Equal when it comes to rankings and things
like that. Other than those interesting series
there in Southern California and then a couple
upsets, things were pretty smooth sailing. All
right. MLV. Indy. Still at the top. Playing real
well. Followed by Dallas, Omaha, Orlando. I didn't
see. I knew Dallas was going to be good and competitive.
I didn't see them being this good this quick.
Adam. No. We had Atlanta and Dallas in reverse
spots when we did our preseason prediction. Atlanta's
in fifth. That's where we had Dallas and we had
Atlanta being second. No, I know. But we said
that we thought they were going to push teams.
And we said we thought it would take Shannon
a little bit of time to get her team going and
that we thought they would be better by the end
of the season. I think that's what we had talked
about. I will say we have been pretty close with
the rest of them, though. Yeah. Atlanta being
this bad is a little surprising. They can't get
it together. No. And Dallas, I really like their
roster composition. I think Shannon has hit the
ground running with her team. They're playing
really well. I've been impressed so far. San
Diego is in sixth right now. They beat Indy in
four and Grand Rapids in five this week. Good
week. They've already doubled their total, and
they only did it in one week for them from the
whole season. Also not great. And then Omaha
lost to Dallas in five and Orlando in three.
That was a tough week from a competition perspective,
but they lost both of them, so that's no good.
Well, the expectations are super high. I mean,
I think they're expecting to win the league.
Well, yeah, you have a higher budget than everybody,
I think. You're the driving force behind creating
MLV. You signed and poached all the quote -unquote
top players. Yes, I would say expectations are
high. Columbus isn't last. I'm a little disappointed.
I thought they were going, I had higher hopes
for them. Me too, me too. We did have some news
though. Okay, first of all, before we get to
the news, I want you to explain this to me. I
was looking at the transactions list. Mac Pedraza,
she was waived by Atlanta before the season started.
In favor of Maddie Wack, who then Atlanta waived.
Try to figure that one out. On January 30th,
Mac Pedraza signed with Orlando. On February
2nd, she was waived. And then she signed with
them again February 9th. Like, how does that
happen? Like, legit, genuine question. Contract
dispute, maybe? What are we, the NHL? That seems
really strange. Somebody get hurt? No, it makes
no sense to me. hey, we're going to sign a contract
with you, then we're going to cut you three days
later, but no, come back a week later. The MLV
is taking these transactions to the extreme.
They are waiving players left and right. I wonder
if there was some loophole or legality that was
wrong with the first contract and they had to
put her on waivers to sign her again. I bet you
it has to do with some rules in how the league
is operated with who you can waive. Because I
know in some leagues, if you're going to pick
up a waived player, if another team... wants
that player but they're ranked lower than you
they get priority so maybe they had i don't know
there's usually a bunch of technicalities around
wave players and who can sign them so i wonder
if they just jump the gun or they needed to wait
a little bit longer to give another team a chance
to see if they wanted her something along those
lines that would be my best guess okay because
that made absolutely no sense to me The rules
are off. But my thing is, why would you sign
a player if you're just going to waive them again
tomorrow? Because Dallas did the same thing with
Claire Amaral. They signed her, and then the
week later, they waived her. What is happening?
Salary caps, constraints, or injury reports,
or I don't know. Okay, I thought you would have
the answer for me. If somebody has the answer,
please let me know. But the news of the week
that so many people... messaged us about. Morgan
Hentz was traded to Grand Rapids for Elena Ogilvie
and a first round draft pick. I think Omaha did
better in this deal. Omaha! Thank you for saying
that. Omaha rushed this trade. Grand Rapids,
what are you thinking? Have you not been following
how things are going this year? I'm sorry to
say. Morgan Hentz has not been very good this
season. No. And we had her on our list for potential
roster for USA. It's because we couldn't think
of anybody better. Yeah. So just keep that in
mind, okay? We had the libero position as our
weakest position, so come on. Grand Rapids is
going to finish close to the bottom, so that's
a very high pick. That's what I'm saying. And
you're doing it for a libero? You are giving
up a first -round draft pick for somebody who
doesn't even score you any points. I'm sorry.
I know liberos are important, but no team is
a libero away from being a contender. No, thank
you. I mean, sorry. Love liberos. Keep the ball
off the ground. Absolutely. You're great if you
know how to set, but you're not winning. No offense.
Liberos, put your keyboard fingers away. You're
not winning championships by giving up. Yeah.
Anyway. And Elena Ogilvie is having a great season.
So not only did you give up a LeBaron who's having
a great season in favor of one who's not, but
you gave away a good opportunity to make your
team better. Next year. And give away somebody
who's helping you this year. Omaha was spic and
span slick Rick on this deal. This seems like
a. Somebody got somebody else drunk. I was just,
I was going to say this happened in a cocktail
party where they slipped the contract to the
GM. They were like, Morgan heads, you guys, best
libero in the league. Come on. Yes. And she has
been the last two years, but hello, who's making
these decisions? But Omaha clearly wanted to
get rid of her. That's the thing is like Grand
Rapids should have been like, okay, we'll take
her. We'll swap you liberos. You can get out
from your salary. Yeah, but give us a second
round draft pick. Instead of giving up a... Ridiculous.
This, I've said this a few times, it's a fireable
offense. Fireable offense. I was just thinking
that. I wasn't going to say it so succinctly.
I was going to say, whoever made this decision
needs to be fired. No, there are just certain
things that are fireable offenses. You know what?
They need to consult with us. I mean, as with
all trades. Time will tell. I'm curious who they
get with that draft pick, but this trade isn't
going to age well. I'm sorry. For future reference,
in case anybody out there is listening and cares
about my opinion, probably not, but I'm going
to say it anyway. You do not trade a first -round
draft pick for a libero. First -round draft picks
are for opposites and P1s. Or a very, very good
setter. Maybe. Maybe. I'm disappointed. That's
ridiculous. Anyway, that was the big news out
of the MLB this week. Excuse me while I recover.
Love Salt Lake. Brushing it. I love that team.
They're 8 -1. Followed by Houston, who's at 6
-3. And then everybody else is very mad. Houston
with the 360. 360. They have not lost a game
since their own three start. You know who's really
sucking, though? Nebraska and Madison. Madison
tricked everybody early in the season. They're
like, you know what? Us in Houston were flip
-flopping from last season. And then they couldn't
keep up the farce any longer, and they're like,
we're going to be back to where we were last
year. Both Madison and Nebraska have lost at
least four matches in a row. They are playing
each other soon, though. Do you think this is
a coaching issue or a roster issue? There are
a lot of injuries on Madison. Didn't they have
a lot of injuries last year? There's a lot of
injuries on every team, I feel like. Jekima,
the setter for Nebraska, was out with a, I'm
assuming a concussion. I haven't watched, as
we said, we didn't watch. So they probably had
to play Gabby Blossom. Not an ideal front row
option. So there's that. Opening the door for
Bergen -Wrightley. Do I think it's a coaching
issue? Well, I kind of feel like... Jordan Larson
should basically be a player coach at this point.
Fair. Because you've got Susie Fritz, whose experience
extends to K -State. And Matt Furbringer was
an assistant on the men's team and has coached
club, I believe. I mean, Madison has Gong, who
is arguably the best player in the league. He's
outstanding. Or should be the best player in
the league. They've got Carlini, who... Last
year was a great setter. I haven't seen them
play much this year, only a couple games. We'll
need to watch a few more games in the next couple
of weeks. But when I saw that roster, I thought,
okay, they're going to be good this year. And
it just hasn't happened. Now, I feel like Madison
went on an obscene losing streak last year and
then played better down the stretch. So I don't
know if Furbringers got some... more complicated
schemes and things like that he's trying to implement
with the team. And it's just taking a little
bit of time to gel or we'll see, but I think
they should be better than they are record wise.
One of them is going to snap their losing streak
because they do play each other soon. Well, that's
not what you're looking for. Finally, we got
some rule changes that are going to be tested
in VNL 2026. This is not the full list. There
are some more. But thanks to Avid Volley's Instagram
post, here are the highlights. This is not the
extensive list, but teams may adjust their service
-y positioning after the referee's whistle but
before serve contact. I don't like this rule.
I feel like they were doing this last year. The
Chinese men were doing it. No, no. Last year
it was like you can move after the serve toss.
Yes. Now it's even longer. No, I hate this one.
Now that I've thought about it a little closer,
I don't like it. You should have to pass in the
position you're supposed to be in. That makes
volleyball volleyball. Yeah, it forces you to
be skilled. It forces you to work on seams and
communication between players. I understand wanting
to make the game have longer rallies, make it
more skilled. But as a server, you're going up
and you're trying to pick seams. I don't want
people running around at the back of the court.
I don't even care about it as a server. It's
just like the essence of volleyball is the fact
that the rotations exist. Yeah, I don't like
this rule. I hope it dies on the vine this year.
Everybody better give it negative reviews. The
arena ceiling may be treated as part of the playing
area, allowing rallies to continue after ball
-to -ceiling contact in certain situations. Whatever.
I feel like this won't even come into play because
they play in such high places. Like, they're
not playing at... University of Miami. Yeah.
This is a nothing rule. If this actually comes
into, like somebody's going to break their arms,
like trying to hit the roof. This is very strange
circumstances that it will happen. Teams may
no longer call an immediate timeout following
a challenge. Good. The challenge system should
be revamped in general. We've talked about this
in past episodes. Adam wants them to crack that
whip, be aggressive and penalize people. for
calling challenges at the end of sets, for being
petty. He wants punishment. Okay, liberos may
serve in place of one designated player. Fine.
I mean, I'm not a huge fan of it, but... But
it doesn't change the essence of the game, and
it's whatever. The whole reason I love international
volleyball is because it forces players to be
full players. Now, they're starting to trickle
it out, and it's just like, oh, you're a middle,
now you don't have to serve. This is why I love
international volleyball. How many liberals are
going to be great servers? Maybe a bunch. I still
think if you have to use this rule, it's probably
hurting you. You know how many middles, though,
are kind of bad servers? I know I just said it
makes them you be a full player. They'll work
on your serving. This to me is whatever. Try
it. See what happens. I don't hate it. I don't
really feel a particular way about it. I don't
hate it as much as this next rule. Are you ready?
Liberos may execute overhand sets inside the
three -meter line without restriction. This is
absolutely absurd. I think what they're trying
to accomplish with this rule is fine, but I think
this rule... What are they trying to accomplish
with this rule? What they're trying to get rid
of is a really good dig by the setter that's
like a meter in front of the attack line and
the libero can't set it and run a good offense
because it's a little further. I don't care.
That's volleyball. Yeah, but the libero... Maybe
your middle should learn how to set with their
hands. I mean, fine. If the rule was strictly...
Maybe your libero should learn how to bump set.
But you're not bump setting tempo. And a lot
of these liberos are good enough to do that.
So dig a better ball. I think that this is absolutely
ridiculous. Well, you didn't let me finish. No,
I was too passionate. I believe the essence of
the rule when they came up with it is pertaining
to that situation. But I think this rule could
have massive unintended consequences where you
now have five hitters on the floor and a libero
who is actually a setter who can be back row
all the time. You know what team I'm thinking
about with this rule? Argentina men. Yeah. They're
a setter. Sanchez is so undersized. You know
what you could do? Just make Sanchez your libero.
And then you could run your libero from position
one. He never has to block. He never has to be
a liability at the net. He can set from wherever
he wants. Dig balls. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.
The only issue with that is you'd need a passing
right side. Because you'd still need another
passer. Okay. Yeah. This rule to me is similar
to the jump setting handset in beach volleyball
where you had two guys from Sweden come out and
do it and they ended up winning and dominating
and it changed the game forever. You're going
to have one team who figures out how to run this
libero setter combination with five hitters all
the time. coming at you. You could literally
have two back row attackers and three front row
attackers at all times. Yeah. This opens the
door for things I don't think they believe will
happen. And again, they're testing out rules.
That's fine. But this rule could have massive
unintended consequences. And like a lot of teams
and most teams probably won't exploit it in that
way. And not for a year. Like that rule would
need to stay in place. But there are certain
teams who, you know, maybe have a huge hole when
their setters front row who might want to use
it. Yeah. I mean, look at, I mean, Micah Christensen
is a pretty good blocker, but can you imagine
you, he could set five hitters all the time.
That would be wild. I mean, this is, this is
the worst role of all time. Like, why do we have
to change stuff? I know I'm a volleyball purist,
but this one is. Who was sitting in that room,
A, who proposed this, and then who were the people
who looked around and were like, oh, yeah, I
love that. Well, I guarantee some of these are
stat -driven. It's like, here's how many balls
the barrel bumps set in front of the attack line.
You know what? Let's just let them hand set.
Too bad. Well. That's your position. I'm not
sure they thought through what the unintended
consequences could be, but I think. You would
think that they did, though. And they were probably
like, baha. Nobody's going to do it. You wait.
Somebody will do it. I really hope somebody does
it. The substitution limit will increase from
six to eight. Don't love it. I don't love it
either. That's another reason I love international
volleyball. Play a full game. Coaches may mark
specific moments during rallies for potential
review and select one moment to challenge after
the rally concludes. I like that. Your challenges
should be specific, not I'm looking through the
whole rally to try and score a point. Do you
think that's what it is? That's how I interpreted
the rule. They've got a library of moments after
each play and then they're like, let's pick this
one. No, but you go, hey, I'm going to choose,
look for this moment, a net touch anywhere. And
then you have to watch the whole rally. And then
give me the point because the ball was in. Yeah.
You want to challenge a call, you should know
what you're challenging. Final one that we were
going to talk about. Challenges may now include
verifying ball touches during reception or defensive
plays. I think that's fine. I'm unwell with some
of these, though. I mean, most of them are whatever.
I think the libero rule, if it stays in place,
could have far -reaching effects. I'm a volleyball
curmudgeon. Don't change it. It's not broken.
Even though we weren't able to watch, I would
say that a lot happened. A lot was going on.
No shortage of stuff to talk about. Biggest happening,
biggest highlight, I'm ahead of Adam in our fantasy
league. And I'm mad about rule changes. So we'll
be back with some volleyball specific stuff for
matches we watch week. Okay. So we're going to
continue with the listener suggested segments.
And this one is going to be about blocking. So
we had somebody write in and they had a whole
bunch of questions. So we're going to tackle
them kind of one at a time. before we go over
the whole thing. So the first one is, can you
explain the strengths and weaknesses of different
blocking schemes such as bunch, read, and spread?
And I think it's helpful to clarify a couple
of these things. So bunch and spread are lineups
of where you start your block when the ball is
on the other side of the net. And if you look
at read, and the other option for that would
be a commit block, those are more decisions that
you're making. as the play's developing. I would
say more middle focused. Correct. You could be
running a read bunch block or a commit spread
block. So those things generally pair together.
Why don't you walk us through the difference
between bunch and spread blocking and where you
would use them? Because I think some people have
the opinion of one is better than the other,
but they're just situationally useful against
different teams. You feel free to fill in the
gaps. Sure. Bunch blocking is, so if you think
of the net in three segments, the outside blockers
or the wing blockers are much closer to their
border with the middle segment, I would say.
They're all like squeezed together at the net.
Whereas a spread block, you see the two outside
blockers standing closer to the antennas. So
the three blockers are very spread apart. That's
the name. For a bunch block, I would say if you
have a team who runs a lot of combo plays, who
really moves their middle around. And the middle
is a really effective attacker who's there incorporating
a lot of effective back row attacks. Basically,
high level volleyball, I would say. That's where
a bunch block is useful. If you're in a lower
level, I would say a bunch block could also be
useful against a really slow offense. When the
middle's moving around, you want your big outside
blockers to help. Ideally, you want two or three
people blocking every single attack. And in order
to do that, your right side blocker will have
to help if the middle runs a gap attack. You
want your right side to help on a pipe attack.
You want your left side to help if the middle
runs a quick behind. Things like that are better
accomplished in a bunch block formation. For
spread blocking, if an offense is really fast
to the point that a bunch block is just not going
to take anything away, a spread block might be
more effective to at least get one blocker up
because one is better than zero. If a team doesn't
really incorporate a back row attack or runs
very basic with their middles, a spread blocking
scheme is more useful because You're not going
to get the most use out of your wing blockers
in scenarios like that. You don't want to waste
the personnel that you have if your opponents
aren't going to make them useful. What did I
miss? No, I don't think you missed anything.
I would just add to that, like you said, I think
most teams start bunch blocking if we're talking
about high -level volleyball because... the middles
move around the pipes so effective you want to
have as many blockers involved as possible and
you see teams move to a spread if they're getting
beat by a super fast offense or a hitter who
really likes to hit down the line you can block
cross -court on a bunch block because you don't
have to get as far you know so you're you can
also run a hybrid your middle and your left side
could bunch block and your right side blocker
could take a step outside so it's More about
where you're starting to make sure your blockers
are in a position to do the job and the responsibility
of the game plan. Yeah, I mean, for example,
like if I as a right side blocker, if I saw the
middle running a quick attack behind the setter.
and they were overloading the left side with
a right side attack or two, I always started
in a bunch formation, but I would take a step
to my right because now I don't need to worry
about helping on a quick attack. The middle's
out of my zone. So the only options left to me
are my left side and my pipe attack. And I'm
long enough that taking that one step out is
not going to take me out of blocking either one.
So it's also about seeing how the play develops
and making adjustments on the fly as well. But
what we are seeing a lot of is people are trying
to do a bunch block and counterattack the speed
by having their outside blockers completely turn
their hips and have their first step done of
their swing block already. This is probably a
hot take. I think that's completely pointless.
Because how the heck do you think you're going
to adequately help anybody on the block when
your hips are pointing the wrong way? It completely
defeats the purpose of bunch blocking. You might
as well just be in a spread block. You're not
going to be an effective help if your hips are
completely turned to the direction you're not
going to be helping. Totally. Just get out there
in that case. Yeah, it makes zero sense. I don't
like... Every college team does it. Team USA
does it. It just makes absolutely no sense to
me. I agree with you. So those are your starting
positions with the bunch or the spread blocking.
And then the next part of the question was about
read blocking. Now, read blocking works along
with commit blocking. And again, as Sarah mentioned,
is normally a middle. commit. You don't generally
have outsides committing. And what that means
is as the play's developing, you're making slight
adjustments to your positioning based on what
you're reading as the play develops. Good pass,
bad pass, the routes of the hitters, are they
moving around? Is the ball off the net at the
attack line? Did the pass remove any options?
And you go and you work to maximize your position
for your responsibility as the play develops.
That's what read blocking is. And then you're
waiting for the setter to actually deliver the
ball. And then you're moving to block that hitter.
So that's read blocking in a nutshell. Now commit
blocking is when let's say the opposing team
has a very good middle. And we as a defending
team might decide every time there's a really
good pass, our middle blocker is going to jump
with their middle attacker just so that he's
in the air so that he can take up that space.
And you generally only do that on a middle and
you're making sure that he is not beating, he
or she is not beating you with that quick attack.
And that's really the difference between the
read and the commit block. The pros of the commit
block is you're in that hitter's face and you're
letting the setter and the hitter know that you're
there and you're prepared for that attack. So
that's a pro, especially if a team likes to run
the middle. Or if you've identified they like
to run it in certain situations, you know, maybe
rotation two on good passes or after a timeout
or after a bad pass. You know, if you have a
read on when the setter is going to run the middle,
you can use a commit. The cons of the commit
block is that if they don't set the middle. you're
in the air the chances of you closing that block
to the outside are very slim unless it's a super
high set which doesn't generally happen you're
gonna be one -on -one at the pins now the pros
with the reed blocking is that you're constantly
moving and shifting your position so ideally
you're in the best spot to do your specific job
the cons of that is you might give up the really
quick attack in the middle because you're not
in the air and sometimes it happens so fast that
you can't Make that block once you see what's
happening. So again, it's situational based off
what your opponent likes to do and the quality
of the pass. What's your favorite blocking scheme?
The one that works. Give me a bunch read all
day, baby. Yeah, you want to start with a bunch
read because it gives you the most flexibility.
And then depending on what your opponent's strengths
are, you make adjustments from there. If you're
fast enough to bunch read against a team. That's
your best option. The follow -up parts to this
question slash segment is, in your opinion, is
bad blocking technique the reason that we've
seen an increase in double sub usage across all
of women's volleyball, or is it just a simple
desire to have more height in the front row?
This is interesting because I think a lot of
coaches do equate. more height with better blocking
false which is not true I give me a tall blocker
all day who just throws their hands in the air
so easy to tool good blocking is about taking
space around your shoulders and how far over
the net you're able to go to cut down on angles
available to the hitter it doesn't matter how
high your hands are above the net and I think
that so many coaches make those subs when if
you just train your setters or smaller hitters
to get their hands just over the net fast, they
could be very good blockers. Agreed. And I also
think the double sub is more often used for offensive
weapons than blocking subs. But you often do
see like a straight up blocker come in for the
setter, no setter on the court, come right off
again. Maybe the setter is a terrible blocker.
Who knows? Maybe the person coming in is a really
good blocker. If that is the case, do it all
day. If you're just trying to put up some big
sticks up there, not always the smartest option,
I don't think. No, I totally agree with that.
Blocking is a lot about timing, technique, and
discipline, more so than just being tall. But
I think, in general, the double sub is more of
an offensive choice than a defensive one. The
last thing... I will say, since we're talking
about blocking and you know, this person alluded
to bad blocking technique and I figured we would
highlight a few things here that blockers often
get wrong. And I would say the first kind of
mindset piece that blockers do is they try and
get blocks and they move their hands if they
see something. Your goal is to work in tandem
with your defenders. So you need to take away
your responsibility. you know you if you're an
outside hitter in your middle need to create
a wall essentially of court that can't be hit
so your defenders can slide and play around you
you're not necessarily looking to score a point
you're looking to get a transition opportunity
so bad hand position in my opinion is one of
the most critical errors blockers make and it's
usually they're trying to reach for the ball
or a spot and they're opening up seams or exposing
their elbows and shoulders to get hit by the
hitter so I think that's One of the main deficiencies
I see with blockers. I often see people go up
and then over instead of like penetrating the
plane of the net as soon as they're above the
net. You often see hitter blockers like try to
time the press of their block by doing an up
to down motion. Not great. And I mean, when you're
blocking like the hitter. in most scenarios has
the advantage. You need to be disciplined because
you're already at a disadvantage. And then if
you're doing all this extraneous stuff, you're
putting yourself at a greater disadvantage. So
like the more little movement possible, the better.
And I will say for coaches teaching kids, often
we want to go right into a swing block, but you
should be working footwork, positioning and hands
over the net before you go to a full swing block.
Those things will allow you to be disciplined
on your block. They will allow your players to
learn and they don't have to worry so much about
timing and finishing the block at the correct
time. You should be teaching blocking sequentially
with those being the foundation and then moving
into a swing block when those things in the eye
work is down pat. I'm not going to lie to you.
I never swing blocked. You don't need to. I'm
not saying it's right. I'm not saying that it
was the best choice. But like for me, with the
blocking responsibilities I had indoor, I found
it easier to be able to execute those responsibilities
by doing like the side shuffle step. Yeah. And
I think that's probably the case. Call me a dinosaur.
I don't care. It is effective a lot of the time.
If you're fundamentally sound blocker, because
people swing block because it gets you quote
unquote higher, which we've talked about. But
most of the time, if you're a disciplined blocker,
people aren't going over top of you. But you
don't need those three inches. You need to be
disciplined with your hands in the right place.
Well, I think the thing with swing blocking for
me is I always found that it created too much
movement for me, like with my arms. bringing
my arms up and around, I felt like it created
too much movement that way. And then I was able
to create a more stable foundation to set the
block for my middle when I use the shuffle step
instead of like potentially like drifting. Do
you know what I mean? Totally. Again, swing blocking
is a very high level skill and you need to have
your blocking fundamentals in place and you didn't
need to get any higher. If you were disciplined
and your hands were in the right place. nobody
was going over top of you no over top was not
the issue and i wouldn't even say that i was
like that good of a blocker indoor i would say
i became a much better blocker as i started playing
beach well i hope that was informative if there's
any other questions about blocking feel free
to send us a message email instagram youtube
we love talking about the technical stuff so
i hope you found that helpful blocking 101 i
think this is 201 201 All right, let's dive in
to our listener questions for the week. Question
one is, how much do you think removing the double
contact rules has impacted the development of
setters? Honestly, I don't think very much at
all. I believe the double rule is still in place
for youth, at least in some places. This person
alluded, I wasn't going to include this part
just to put it out there. I was not going to
include this part of the question. Made me clarify.
The follow -up part of the question is, I saw
a take that said Swindle's growth as a setter
was hindered by her not being penalized for doubles.
I wanted to leave it out. I don't know all of
the Federation's rules for youth volleyball at
this point, but let's assume that double contacts
are taken out of youth setting. I still don't
know. If it makes that much of a difference from
a development standpoint, because the coaches
who are going to teach setting correctly are
still going to do it. And the ones who weren't
going to teach it correctly are still not going
to do it. Like, I don't think taking that rule
out will fundamentally change how setters are
trained, you know, and I don't think. that it
makes any difference in competition to whistle
a set down. I just don't think that's the defining
rule change that's going to make or break setters
at a young age. Well, at the end of the day,
if a setter is doubling balls that badly, their
location is probably terrible. They're not getting
recruited. The reality of it is it's in your
best interest to not double the ball. Now, whether
you do that because you have lazy feet or you
get around the ball or you do things quote unquote
properly. None of that is hindered on that piece
of the end result of the set. Those who are going
to do it right will still do it right. And those
who aren't going to do it right still won't.
Question two. I'm not sure if you guys have any
insider knowledge on this or not, but I was wondering
the ins and outs of love recruiting players.
For example, I would have expected Mimi Collier
and or Heredia Cologne to play for love and not
MLV, but maybe every love team already had their
roster full of outsides. Or would there be a
reason a player would want to play MLV instead
of love? Okay, so when you are a foreign athlete,
you are from a different country and you don't
play professionally in your own country, you
have to pay a transfer fee. So like the club
that takes you or the country that takes you
has to pay a fee to your National Volleyball
Federation for like borrowing you for the club
season. transfer fee is so high so maybe like
it's a question of love didn't want to deal with
that but mlv was like okay sure that makes sense
or maybe they made got a higher offer salary
wise than they did in love maybe love had the
athletes that they had sponsored as love athletes
in college already and there might be a contractual
thing with them that we don't know about? It's
an interesting question because you don't have
one general manager looking for a player for
their team. I don't know this for sure, but I
would imagine that there is probably a committee
at Love who is looking at the teams going, okay,
this athlete's a good fit here. We can market
this person here. Don't kid yourself. They're
still trying to build a league. So there's a
volleyball aspect to it, but there's also a marketing
and eyeballs. to it as well, which is why you
see all of the Texas players playing in Texas.
Also, one of our listeners did some research.
All of Love's teams now have private ownership
groups except Salt Lake, Atlanta, Madison. All
the other ones are privately owned now. But I'm
not sure they've taken over running the teams
yet. Love is working to find those ownership
groups and to turn it into like, okay, now you're
running operations. But I think until... it's
been established there's a handoff period so
they're still handling you know the volleyball
the contracts and those kind of things and I
would imagine they won't move out of that until
all teams have ownership groups because you can't
I don't think you can run a league with half
the teams being privately owned and half being
loved so I think that's the end goal but that's
not currently where it's at Long answer to say
we don't have insider knowledge. We're just as
perplexed as everybody else because some of the
people they pick for love, like this Bailey Miller,
I had to look up where she even went to college.
Yes, I 100 % agree that Mimi Collier should be
playing love. It's also positionally dependent,
right? What foreigners do you have signed? Who
needs what? Where you need to go? Which ones?
Like, where does Mimi fit in the left side? There
were two left sides that were taken for love
this year. Three. No, Julie Hanson, Eva Hudson,
and is that Miller girl an outside too? I don't
know about that one, but yeah, they had a couple.
I think Mimi's better than Hanson. Agreed. No,
we don't know, but those are a few reasons why
they would have gone to MLB instead. We're also
assuming that all athletes want to go to love
over MLB, which probably. Also isn't the case.
Yeah. You know, you want to play with certain
people. You like a coach. You didn't like the
contract stipulations. Yeah. That's also potentially
in the cards of that. I'd rather play in another
league. Question three. Sarah, I watched Love
Atlanta versus Austin last night and saw how
the Atlanta coach, Paolo Coco, tries to will
his players to a win. I loved how animated his
coaching was and how vocal he gets. Huge contrast
to Sullivan. As a player, what is it like playing
for a foreign coach, specifically a Brazilian
coach? How was your experience playing for the
great Bernardo Resende in Brazil? I will start
this with I played in the era in North America,
like college and club, where like coaches were
mean. Coaches are so nice now overall. So like
I've played for animated coaches most of my life.
In a professional setting, however, you guys
are all getting paid. There's that. If you have
a problem, you can leave. We won't pay you. But
like I agree, there is in certain cultures, there
is a lot more passion and it is acceptable. You
know, in Brazil, that is one of the countries
where it is acceptable. Playing for Bernardo
was like, first of all, one of the greatest experiences
of my life, of my career. I learned so much from
him. Being in the gym, he offered me new ways
of thinking about things. Just the quality of
reps, the number of reps I got with him was insane.
It was amazing. The passion piece, it is cultural,
but I think it is also an individual thing because
Bernardo wants to win so badly that he can't
help himself, basically. How he acts in games,
is not the person that he is in practice or in
life he is just very level -headed and calm and
soft -spoken and thoughtful and kind and just
articulate generous you name it that is him in
real life but like when the whistle blows to
start a game that's exactly what he does he becomes
a completely different person because he wants
to win so badly to the point where it's like
he legit thinks that you should win every single
point like another the other team will go up
and do something amazing and he'll be so annoyed
with our side of the net because well why didn't
we do this and it's like well that was a great
swing it's like no but like why wasn't the block
here and the defender slide like So on one side,
I like love the passion because I'm a very intense
person, too. But sometimes it was challenging
because like sometimes there's just nothing you
can do about a play. And I think that I am like
in the extreme of like, no, we could have been
better. But he took it to like the next level.
It's not for everybody. The passion and the intensity
and excitement is not for everybody. If you have
a filter and you listen to. The information that's
being delivered instead of how it's delivered
is easier to digest sometimes. But again, it's
not for everyone. I personally had no problem
playing for him and I liked it because I understood
the opportunity that was in front of me. So let
me ask you this. And I will say Bernardo has
had the single biggest influence in my volleyball
coaching career out of anybody. I have the utmost.
respect and I think he's just he's an amazing
human being but I think having watched many of
your matches that come game time you guys as
a team managed him like in timeouts Bafal would
kind of talk to you guys afterwards like it was
almost get through Bernardo's emotion and passion
and then like you guys as a team would separate
it seemed to me like sometimes it was a hindrance
to you guys being focused on what you were trying
to do sometimes I was not saying all the time
but it almost seemed like he couldn't pick his
moments to be intense it was just always yeah
but that's the thing is like you know that that's
what you're getting with him totally you know
what I mean so like his he balances himself out
by selecting assistants who are very calm and
collected during matches. Yeah. And we all have
to coach within our own personality. I'm not
faulting him for that, but I'm saying if you
were going to build the best coach on the planet,
like prototypical, and you could pick pieces
from different ones, I think that would be the
area where you would go, okay, maybe we want
to dial that back a little bit. Yeah. I mean,
again, like the Brazilian players, they had played
for him forever. They knew what they were getting.
The foreign players that I played with. really
struggled so like the first year I played with
Logan Tom there the second year I played with
Brankica Mihailovic and both of them just literally
had to like walk away during timeouts because
they could not do it yeah I think it just depends
on like at the end of the day you love playing
for a coach who has that kind of passion though
I do, yeah. Okay, question four. Do you guys
think that this year's VNL is going to be easier
because there are some competitions available
where you can earn a berth to go to the Olympics,
the continental tournaments? So maybe the teams
will bring their 100 % rosters. This person said
the Italians and Brazil said that they are going
to bring their best rosters. So do you think
it's going to be more straightforward for the
top teams to move through VNL? Because they are
preparing to earn a berth through the continental
tournaments. I mean, I think the top teams all
did pretty well in the last VNL. I don't think
there were many marquee players missing in week
three and then the finals. I think you'll still
see top teams resting their best players who
are coming off long seasons, Champions League.
We probably won't see Gabi until week three.
We probably won't see some of the Italian players
until weeks two or three, or they'll work them
in and out. Honestly, I don't think it'll be
much different. You might see them bring players
one week early, but I can't see it being much
different. Question five. Catherine Plummer was
originally an opposite. In my opinion, she's
physically what a lot of professional opposites
look like and play like. I think USA needs to
move her back. She subbed in for her club team
the other day and rattled off three to four points
in a row in all different placements and speeds.
What do you think about her playing opposite
for USA and do you think she could be successful
in that role? I haven't seen her pass in quite
some time. She barely plays for her club team.
Right. I don't think she's playing as high above
the net as the world's top opposites, personally.
Fair. I know she's tall, but she's not... She's
not a prolific jumper. But the question is not
necessarily, is she competing with... Is she
just better? She's not Iganu or Hawk or Vargas.
You can go down that list. But is she a better
option than USA currently has? I mean, to me,
that's the question. Let me roll the tape of
her playing. I need to watch it. We watched a
little bit. Did she come in against Milano on
the right side? Yeah. Plummer's interesting in
that she's coming off an injury and, you know,
something very emotional in her life. We haven't
seen her play a ton. Do I think she possibly
has a spot on the roster? I think she's fighting
for a spot if she wants it. I don't think it's
going to be on the left side just because I haven't
seen her pass a ton. And I think that that's,
you know. She was the left side on the last Olympic
roster. Yeah, but she didn't play. You can't
have Plummer and Franklin on the floor at the
same time. So it's going to be, as the left sides,
it's going to be Franklin or Plummer. Okay, do
you think Plummer is a better option than Maddie
Skinner or Olivia Babcock? Or Jordan Thompson?
I think it's a roll the dice at this point. Like,
I don't think any of them are currently far enough
ahead to go to say no. So you think it's an attractive
option, potentially? I think it's definitely
something they should be exploring if that's
what she wants to do. Like I've said before on
this podcast, the USA opposite position is there
for someone to take. Like, why can't it be Plummer?
Like, multiple people sent in from, like... variations
of this question yeah question six i'm a little
confused with the italian league both the men
and the women had the italian cup but they can't
they keep playing how does that work okay so
the coppa italia is completely separate from
the league basically in the strongest european
leagues like turkey or poland or italy i think
germany is and france also fit into this To qualify
for Champions League, if you win the league,
you get a berth. But also the winner of the Coppa
Italia or the country's cup gets a berth to Champions
League. So the Coppa Italia was a completely
separate tournament. And the winner gets a berth
to Champions League. Now, if the exact same team.
wins both then they take the second place team
from one of them they keep rolling through their
league they keep playing the league like nothing
happened pretty much and then the Coppa Italia
fits in separately as its own event and they
happen at the same time like league happens so
you could have one league game and one cup Italian
game in the same week yeah and so they're scored
completely different But then, like, in Italy's
case, like, they'll have something called the
Super Coppa. So you'll have the team that won
the league the year before play against the team
that won the Coppa Italia the year before just
as, like, an extra little thing. So, like, different
milestones throughout the season just to, like,
evaluate your team's performance and, like, bragging
rights in some. Some of them offer like bonus
money for coaches and players if they win them.
And then there's the Champions League implications.
Question seven. As a former club coach, one of
the biggest pillars of success for us was helping
athletes identify what's open on the court. Tips,
roll shots, seams, etc. At the international
and pro levels, how much of that kind of micro
adjustment is coming from the bench? Are coaches
giving specific direction? Like telling a gonu
where to swing? Or is there more trust in elite
players to read and score on their own? In my
experience, when you are doing your game prep
and film sessions in the days leading up to the
match, you do watch the team's defensive schemes
and defensive systems. And if it's the second
time you've played them in a season, you pull
up their defensive schemes against you and assume
that they will do something similar. So you do
prepare for that in practice. In matches, you
often get that kind of feedback from your teammates
who are able to see the other side of the court
and they will potentially tell you during the
match or after a swing, like what you have open.
And it might be discussed in timeouts, but there
are, I mean, generally speaking, the players
see, well, they've done their preparation. That
it's not a constant thing. Yeah. The game happens
so fast and there's adjustments that the hitters
are tasked with scoring. That's your job. As
a coaching staff, you might have, I know we pick
on this player, but I'm going to go back to it.
If you're in trouble, tip to Stasiak. Like that
might be the team game plan, right? So you're
taking the opposite out. She doesn't move very
well. So it's like, okay, if you can't see anything
and you're in trouble, this is the shot we want
to do. And then as coaches, we might say, hey,
in general, they're lining up in your angle,
look for the line swing, or they're playing you
defensively this way. Here are a couple options,
but very rarely are you telling hitters specifically
what to do. You're trying to provide them with
information so that they can make better decisions
in real time. Okay, our last question of the
day. When watching Love, Austin, I've noticed
that during timeouts, it sometimes appears that
Eric Sullivan doesn't say much. Really? I'm curious
about your take on that. Is that a strategic
choice? Are assistants leading those conversations?
Or is it more about empowering players to take
ownership in those moments rather than heavy
sideline instruction? Did you watch V &L or World
Championships? I think it is an Eric Sullivan.
Yeah, I mean, there's a couple ways you can look
at this. One is you often have an offensive and
a defensive coach, and he may be saying, okay,
you're always going to get this information from
them. This is their expertise. We want to keep
it the same. So that's one possibility. You know,
another possibility is he just doesn't like those
situations, and he's going to go, players can
do this. You know, maybe he'll bring something
in at the end. Sometimes what I see, and again,
I'm not saying this is Sullivan, but if you haven't
trained yourself as a coach to watch and know
what adjustments to look for or are really into
the stats and able to see micro adjustments,
you may not know what to say without going to
the stats person or another coach. And instead
of saying, you never want to give bad information.
It's better to say nothing than to say the quote
unquote wrong thing. So there could be any number
of reasons why that is happening. And unless
you're... in those huddles it's really hard to
know but those are kind of three that i would
say are possibilities thanks again to everybody
who's submitting questions we love reading them
my favorite part of the day is the youtube comments
going through them seeing what people are saying
so again we appreciate you guys listening and
sending in the questions and we hope they keep
on coming all right looking forward to this week
thursday at 8 p .m eastern we have mlv indie
versus dallas that's on victory plus that'll
be a really good game Friday at 10 p .m. Eastern,
NCAA men's UCLA versus Long Beach State. The
rematch. Let's go. This time at Pauley Pavilion.
So we'll see what happens there. I'll be watching
that one for sure. Saturday, 8 p .m. Eastern,
Love Houston versus Salt Lake, also on Victory
Plus. Two teams who are currently real hot in
love. And then Saturday at 2 .30 p .m. Eastern,
we have two games. Scandici versus Milano and
Perugia versus Verona. Great matches. That's
a 2 -3 on the women's side and a 1 -2 on the
men's side. FYI. You got two TVs, TV and a computer.
Put them on. Those are both going to be unbelievable
matches. And that's what you guys should be watching
this week. That concludes this week's episode
of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking
in the volleyball world and we hope you enjoyed
this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so
you don't miss any updates and we'd be so grateful
if you'd leave us a five -star review. You can
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discuss, you can reach out on Instagram or at
info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining
us and we'll be back next week.