Poland Tops Week 1 Men's VNL Rankings Among League Parity, Young Athletes Show Up Big

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. So week one of the men's VNL is over. And
we saw, honestly, a lot of parody across the
board. An absurd amount of five set matches.
Which is why we weren't able to watch as many
matches as we did last week, because literally
every match, it seemed, was going five. It was
wild. It was an investment of time. It really
was. We do have a couple of teams that have separated
themselves early, but... I mean, we said it last
week with the women, but it's even more so this
week with the men. Things are very much still
up for grabs from top to bottom. So nobody's
out of it yet. Nobody's safe yet. Which, honestly,
you'll love to see it, really. I think the heartbreak
of the week goes to Germany, though. Oh my gosh,
poor guys. They lost a lot of five -setters.
They won their last one, though. They did, and
I was happy to see that. But up until that point,
it was, man, you're almost there, and you're
just losing in three. Like, crazy. Yeah, it was
tough. But we are going to take a look at what
happened in that competition, share a little
bit of news from the women's side as we head
into week two. As always, we're very excited
to talk volleyball with you, so let's get started.
Let's just go through a few weekly highlights,
shall we? Of course, we always have to report
on the love signings. So we've got a few this
week. First one is Alexis Hart. She was originally
supposed to play season one of Love, but suffered
a really tough knee injury. So she is back. She's
ready to play season two. She played at the University
of Minnesota. And has played pro in Finland and
Germany. So she is joining. Isabella Bergmark.
She played at Texas. I want to say in 2022. Three
-ish. She played pro in France. Is she getting
an invite to the national team? Only if she plays
for Austin. And a huge one here. Chinese opposite
and captain Gong Xiong Yu. Signed. Oh, that is
a big signing. That's massive. So they have collected
a few big names so far. Do you know how old that
Chinese player is? I want to say she's only like
26, 27. When I played in China, she was playing
for the same team, Jiangsu. I want to say she
was only like 17 at that time. Little baby. she's
probably around 26 27 at this point so yes some
big names they are making it happen so let's
see what other players they're able to collect
heading into this season women's vnl week two
is coming up and i'm not gonna lie to you i didn't
dive deep into which teams are bringing who.
Well, not all the rosters are out yet because
I did look and they're sporadically posted. It's
hard to find them. It's hard to find them unless
the countries are very media forward. Into their
social media. So these are the things that kind
of came across my feed in my less than diligent.
diving into this, I'm not going to lie. So Italy
this week is leaving Oro, Silla, and Antropova
at home, but that's it. They're still coming
with Anna Danesi, Sarah Farr, Paola Egonu, Moki
Dagenaro. They're still moving and shaking. So
they're rotating players through to give them
a break while still wanting to win. Exactly.
Yeah. I mean, I appreciate that. They're not
doing wholesale changes. They're letting players
rest bit by bit. I'm guessing Carlotta Camby
will be setting. So, I mean, they've got the
right side, the middle, Libero. I mean, Camby's
a competent setter. Locked down. We'll see how
the outsides do. But I think, I mean, they'll
probably be fine. In Canadian news. I'm not sure
if anybody saw the final match that Canada played
against Serbia last week, but right near the
end when Canada was making their comeback in
set five, Brie O 'Reilly went up for a solo stuff
block, came down, looked like she had really
hurt her ankle, was taken off the court for the
last few points. Turns out she is out for the
rest of the summer. Not great. Well, it gets
worse. Word on the street is that Kira van Rijk
will not be playing for the rest of VNL either.
Death blow. Yeah. If losing Brie O 'Reilly was
bad, losing Kira van Rijk is tragic. I mean,
without her, O 'Reilly, and Alexa Gray, that's
essentially your best three players. Without
a doubt. So instead of taking the Italian model...
Of being competitive. They're just getting rid
of all of their top players. And we're just going
to see what happens. Now, I don't know exactly
what the deal is with Van Rijk. I have heard
rumors off the record. Which, out of respect
for those people, I will not share that. But,
yeah. Riley is an injury. Van Rijk up in the
air. They're in trouble. Period. It's not going
to be pretty. They're not going to be able to
score points. But you know what I think a positive
is? And I never look at the positives, you guys,
so remember this moment. At least some other
players are going to have to figure out how to
score. Because they rely so heavily on Kira Van
Ryk to score points. She's like the only one.
That now, if they want to hit double digits,
you know, somebody's going to have to figure
it out. Guidetti is going to get a really good
hold on people's... personality, grit, what they're
willing to do, what they're capable of. I mean,
you never want to see this, but if it was going
to happen year one after the Olympics for the
VNL is kind of the best timing for an unfortunate
situation. And you know what? Maybe those two
will be back for Worlds, and then by that point,
the other players will have had time to develop
literally being thrown into the fire. I mean,
you're at a fork in the road in the program.
The V &L is either going to be an absolute disaster
for them the rest of the way, or they're going
to figure it out and a couple people are going
to step up and kind of earn a spot. Well, let's
see what they're made of. So the U .S., being
a big volleyball country, is social media forward
and did post their roster online for who's going
to week two of V &L. The Americans love the social
media. So what are we looking at here? Changes
at libero. Changes at middle. And then concerns
about setters and outsides from yours truly.
So as we predicted, Zoe Jarvis sent home. Lexi
Rodriguez is replacing her. We, as we predicted
also, Anna Dodson, Serena Gray being left home.
They are being replaced by Breon Butler and Dana
Redkey. Totally fine with that. Now, I heard.
So we have the same setters as week one. Rachel
Fairbanks is going as an alternate. Instead of
Jordan Poulter. I heard that Poulter and Gray
are not at 100%. Who knows? But if you're wondering
why the setter situation is what it is, that
is what I heard. I mean, Poulter didn't play
anyway. You're just missing a little... Well,
you're missing the only coach, maybe, for the
team that was there in the last round. You're
not wrong. And... Okay. So that's the deal with
the setters. The outsides, we are looking at
the same four. Skinner, Ronnie Jones -Perry,
Logan Eggleston, Sarah Franklin. Do we have any
update on Avery Skinner? I don't know where she
is. I don't know why she's not going. I don't
know why Lanier's not going. I don't know where
Mackenzie Adams is. No idea. Same opposites,
Babcock and Lednicki. I mean, I'm fine with that.
You want to give Babcock another shot. Lednicki
was fine. You know, see if she can get a little
more comfortable. I thought she was okay last
time. I want to see her take a few more risks.
I think she needs to be a little more terminal
if she wants that spot. But yeah, the outsides.
Who's going to pass? Yeah, I thought you needed
to make a change there. I said it last week,
Skinner and Eggleston can't be on the court at
the same time. Can they be on the roster at the
same time is also a question. Like, where are
these other players? Anyway, that is what's happening.
I had a lot of questions when I saw that roster.
Honestly, given the injury situation that I've
heard about and the changes they made, I'm fine.
I can understand everything except the outside
position. Yeah, I thought you needed to change.
Now, if they're not available, they're not available.
But one of those other three, you need it to
bring, in my opinion. Change something. Because
you can't go one for three this week and expect
to make it to playoffs. And their pool is no
cakewalk. I mean, they have Canada now, who doesn't
have any players going. Oh, they already played
Korea. I think Korea's going. Belgium's there.
regardless, nothing's a gimme. Yeah. So we had
a bunch of questions kind of asking us where
we put our focus in our episodes and why we talk
about what we talk about. So I know that we've
done a lot of talk about the US and Canadian
rosters. And that's because the majority of the
questions that we get via Instagram or on YouTube
are about those teams. And we have a whole bunch
of American listeners. Now, I will say that there
were a lot of Turkish fans who posted questions
and asked, why are we not covering that team
a little bit more? Fair. Yeah, we are more than
happy to talk about every team. It's just like
the feedback we get and the questions we get,
that's kind of what directs our attention because
that's the engagement. So keep the questions
coming. We're open to talk about absolutely everything.
Those were the happenings this week. It'll be
interesting to see. which rosters from other
countries show up at the Women's VNL Week 2.
I'm expecting to see a few more complete rosters.
The players have had two weeks at home. I'm expecting
to see a few more rosters that we might see at
Worlds or more players. Or a few more players.
Again, you're not complete. You're going to rest
some players, but I'm expecting a little more
competition from the top rosters. Okay, so as
we mentioned at the top of the episode, this
was, or last week was, week one on the men's
side of BNL. So as a little recap, Poland is
currently the only undefeated team. Is there
any shock there? Well, and we'll get into roster
construction a little bit later, but they've
done that with none of their Olympians from Paris,
which that is... slightly shocking i think japan
brazil italy slovenia they all have three wins
so those teams make up the two through five rankings
japan was in poland's group this past week i
believe poland beat them 3 -1 and then there
are six teams with just one win but serbia is
currently at the bottom of because they have
just a 0 .3 set ratio. So Serbia is currently
on the bottom of both men's and women's. That
was a little surprising to me, given that they
have the second most Olympians on their roster
for this round. Honestly, we can get into it.
I was not impressed. I don't think there were
very many teams that I was. unimpressed with
this week. Like you didn't have teams go over,
you didn't really have, I mean, a ton of blowouts.
Like they were competitive back and forth, teams
winning sets. Like it was, it was a good week.
Yeah. There weren't many moments that I was like,
what is going on here anyway? And I know Serbia
is second last in women. So before you type it
in, don't worry. I know Curry's at the bottom.
So yeah. Again, there is no, there's so much
parity right now. The fact that Poland got off
to the start they did is great. I think, you
know, the teams that are in the three -win column,
I'm not shocked. Poland's starters are sitting
at home with their feet going, attaboy, boys.
We're going to stay home another week. No, they
got to go to Chicago next week and they have
got a gnarly pool there. So we might, who knows
what will happen? I don't know. You can never
predict in these situations, but that is where
we stand after week one. There honestly is just
like a small group at the top and then everybody
else is the same pretty much. Which were the
teams? Again, we have trouble. We didn't watch
many of the games that happened in China. I watched
a couple of them. We didn't get a chance to watch
absolutely every team, so keep that in mind.
If we miss your team or your guy or whatever,
we didn't get a chance to see absolutely everybody,
so we will inevitably miss something. But of
the teams that we were able to watch, who were
you most impressed by and were there any disappointments
team -wise? Okay, so my favorite match that I
watched was the France -Italy match. I thought
that was a spectacular match. I expected Italy
to be good. They have five Olympians from their
other roster. From Paris. From Paris. Yeah, so
when I mention Olympians in this episode, it's
all about athletes who played in Paris. I was
a little curious because France has the youngest
roster of Week 1 in VNL with an average age of
23. They had... Two players under 22 start for
them, including a 19 -year -old setter who I
thought was phenomenal. And they had a 17 -year
-old come off the bench. Yeah, and then Heno
on the left side at 20 I thought also was very
good. My favorite player of the week, Klevno,
was just straight up unbelievable. That guy can
hit two inches of fingers from anywhere on the
court. It's absolutely absurd how efficient he
is. His defensive positioning is out of this
world. He touches everything. He was poetry to
watch on the court. I loved watching that game.
I was surprised by France, just given how young
their roster was. France didn't have all of their
Olympians there, but Klevno was just unbelievable.
That was one positive surprise for me, watching
them play. I thought France was good. I was also
pleasantly surprised by Canada's performance.
I thought, given that Marr wasn't playing, they
have a brand new coach with a brand new system.
Marr, Lepke, Schwartz, Steven Yanko, like literally.
So many. Yeah. And, you know, in fairness, they
had five guys who were at the last Olympics,
but weren't necessarily kind of their main players.
So I expected them to take a step back. And I
was impressed with their focus and discipline.
Now, I know the five set matches they lost in
the fifth set, they weren't close, but they were
better than I expected them to be. So that was
I was pleasantly surprised by them. Yeah, I would
say those were the two. Those are the two big
ones. Okay, we overlapped in one of them. I had
France as a team that I was so impressed by.
I, Klevno, same thing. I'm like, dang. I was
obsessed with him this week. Oh man, it was wild.
He is so good. And I, okay. France has, what,
I think they have like 10 of their... or 11 Olympians
from Paris on their wide roster. But when I saw,
like, they had Teofor there, they had Klevno,
and then very, very young guys. And so I was
not expecting much from them at all, but I loved
watching them play. I thought they were so good.
Their setter, as you mentioned, at 19. Yeah,
France shocked me. And while Four and Klevno
did carry a heavy load, you know, one of their
young guys in Heno got injured. They brought
someone off the bench who did amazing. They ran
their middle well. I just, I loved watching them
play. My second team that surprised me was Bulgaria.
Oh, good pick. Fair. I wasn't expecting much
from them at all. They won two matches. They
pushed teams to the distance. They kind of let
up a little in their last match against Canada,
getting beat three straight. But going into it,
I was like, eh, they'll be okay. But they managed
to put some really good performances together.
And yeah, they were also a pleasant surprise
for me. And while their roster isn't technically
younger, than France's they have four starters
under the age of 22 playing big minutes for them
including like you said their setter so they're
gonna be they're only gonna get better like their
their ceiling is is very high I think were there
any teams that you were less than impressed with
I you know I didn't watch any games where it
was blowouts and I wasn't I was thinking, man,
this is not what I expected. And in fairness,
before we talk about our highlights, I didn't
watch Poland or Japan play. Okay, I watched Japan
play against Serbia, and I watched that game
because I had high hopes for it, and I know that
I can't necessarily make a broad conclusion about
Serbia after watching one game, but I expected
more from them. I understand that the Japanese
style is very different than theirs, and sometimes
the styles just don't mesh well. I don't know
if that was it, but just watching Serbia play,
I was underwhelmed. I will say one other thing
that surprised me was I was expecting the Chinese
men team to be the Korea of the men's side. won
a few matches i didn't think they were going
to i don't think they're generally very good
they won two matches um so i was results wise
i didn't watch them but i was surprised by that
in the standings i thought poland and japan would
come out on top of that group but and i thought
serbia would be better than they they were but
the fact that china came out third of that group
i was surprised yeah good for them you gotta
be who's in front of you Before we go any further,
I wanted to highlight a few other things. I find
the roster construction interesting from week
to week and what countries are doing. So I went
through and looked at almost all the teams are
pretty much the same age. Almost all of them
have an average age of 25. So that's kind of
across the board. And we hinted on France was
young at 23. Bulgaria was young at 24. Iran.
Also 24, so they're pretty young. And then the
oldest team is actually Ukraine at almost 28
average age. Well, I want to say this is like
a Czech women's situation. I'm pretty sure this
is Ukraine's first VNL. So it's like, yes, okay,
we made it. Let's do this. You know what I mean?
So I feel like that's a similar situation to
the Czech women. Fair enough. And Germany's also
24, so they're on the young side, youngish side
of that. So I look at that, and that's interesting.
Which Olympians did they bring? Again, according
to the best I could look at, Brazil had seven.
Serbia, I think, had six. Italy, five. Canada,
five. Argentina, five. So there were legitimate
rosters that showed up there. And were they all
starters or were they Olympian bench players?
It varied. But you still have that experience
and they were good enough to be on that roster
and good team. So you have options. Well, and
Brazil was at home, too. So that's always nice
to draw the crowd, you know? Yeah. One other
thing that I thought was interesting, I looked
at some of the impact that young players had
on programs and what they're bringing. We had
six setters under 22 starting for programs or
playing the majority of time. So you had USA,
that one's a little fuzzy. Rowan was in and out
and he started. a bunch of games, but he was
playing. Turkey had a young setter. Slovenia
had a 19 -year -old setter who I thought was
very good. Iran had a 19 -year -old setter. France,
we talked about their setter, was also young.
And Bulgaria. So there is a crop of really good
young setters coming through a bunch of these
programs, which I thought was really cool. I
absolutely love that. And I know we were talking
about the Chinese setter last week and the women's
side being 16, but the setting position is...
so critical like whenever i think about okay
if you need to bring experience somewhere yeah
i think bring it with your setter but the fact
that these young young athletes are running the
show in arguably the most like critical position
on the court is incredible i love it yeah and
and not only do you have to execute But you also
have to deal with your stud outside hitters who
like, kid, I've been playing pro for a decade.
You better get me the ball and it better be in
this window or we're going to have an issue.
And I'm not saying teams are like that, but there's
that. Oh, there are players that are like that
for sure. Okay. But there's that internal kind
of pressure for yourself. You grew up watching
these guys play for your country and it's like,
I got to get on the ball and you got to make
good decisions. And so it's impressive to see.
Honestly, it is really terrifying playing with
your idols. Yeah. It really is. I've been there.
It's really scary until you get used to it. So
I think this is a good segue talking about the
young players making an impact. Which young players
made the biggest impression on you this week?
Oh, great question. Do you want me to go through
my list or do you want to go one and one? Let's
do one and one. And then if somebody on my list
overlaps with yours, then we can share. Okay.
One of the first ones I have. So the Bulgarian
core four, I'm going to call them the core four.
Oh, wow. I thought were impressive overall, but
Nikolov was, he was good. A little moany. Yeah.
Okay. He was on my list. Okay. I think he started
out a little more timid than we're used to seeing,
which. I can totally respect. You are coming
from college where you are the show, and you
got that swagger. You know what I mean? And so
I can understand being a little more timid in
the international environment at the beginning,
but let me tell you, he got over that after one
match. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he found his stride and
serving well. He started to be much more aggressive
offensively as the matches went on. Yeah, I thought
his set selection got better. I thought his location
was a little off in the first match I watched
him. There were definitely some nerves there,
but he settled in. His choices in the first match,
I'm like, you don't need to make the most spectacular
set every time. Sometimes just like, let's focus
on delivery instead of off actor. Yeah, fair.
I think he settled in, though, for sure. So he
was definitely on my list. Another player, I'm
just going to say both of them, are Slovenian,
the setter, and the opposite. The opposite came
off the bench. He had that flow. You know what
I mean? That man bun hairstyle. Those two, for
me, were very good. Also, super young setter.
Slovenia has some fiery outside hitters. Were
they on your list? They didn't make the cut for
you? Adam's ruthless. Well, I thought they played
well. I had a hard time. Last week you accused
me of having too many players on my list. You
only had every single athlete. I tried to cut
it down. I thought Bergman from Brazil had a
good showing. I'm sorry to say I didn't see Brazil
play, so I didn't. I didn't put that down. Yeah,
21 -year -old outside. I thought he played well.
Julia's brother, perhaps? His numbers were very
good. Poro from Italy. And I also had Sani. You
had both of them? I thought they were very good.
I loved this kid, you guys. I loved him. Yeah.
I thought he was so good. I thought... Until
he got taken out on match point against France
on that serve. Yeah. Yeah, I thought those two.
I watched those two outside hitters for Italy,
and I was like, that's a dangerous combo moving
forward. Like, they're very good. I got two left
on my list. I thought the France setter was unbelievable.
He's on my list. He's on my list. What is it,
Tizzy Wallow? Tizzy Wallow. I loved his name,
too. I mean, the composure. He's big. He's 6
'7", I think, 6 '8". He blocks well. He moves
well. His delivery was good. I really liked the
offense. Not only the middle, but the pipe over
top. Like, he was not making 19 -year -old decisions.
Like, this kid, he's legit. No, and that's why
I want to highlight these players. Because I
know I can be, in our listeners' words, very
harsh. But, like, these kids. And yes, they are
kids to me. He's 19. He's definitely a kid. They
are playing at a very high level. And when I
compare them to what most 19 -year -olds look
like, there's no comparison. So I'm giving some
props today, you guys. Remember this day. So
for me, it's an interesting comparison. Think
about him and Rowan. Because Rowan was also here.
And Rowan's older than he is. And, you know,
I thought Rowan struggled a little bit when he
came in in terms of placement consistency, didn't
love all of his decisions, you know. We said
it last week. I'll say it again. The Americans
are not young. They are very inexperienced. Sure.
But I'm highlighting that to draw the comparison
between, you know, younger and how he played.
And, again, I think Rowan's going to get there.
That was kind of the comparison in my mind when
I was watching those two teams. I actually did
have an American on my list. As did I. Cooper
Robinson. Yeah, I thought he was very good. I
didn't know what we were going to get from him.
I didn't know if he would play, but he stepped
up. He really stepped up, and especially from
the back row. His attacking in the back row was
outstanding. positive was his engagement and
his emotion you don't see that from him at ucla
yeah he's he's california cool at ucla and he
was he was fired up to play and to put the usa
jersey on it was good to see i liked watching
him he was a little out of his depth blocking
sometimes i think understanding what has happened
in the match he was playing a very again college
type of blocking where this is my job I need
to make sure that I do this and then react to
this but when things are moving so much faster
and matches are tight and you have to remember
what has happened up until that point and he
wasn't he was a bit of a liability in tight moments
for me particularly at the end against Slovenia
When he had a front row setter, he was so preoccupied
with him. Because in college, do not let the
front row setter dump on you if you're the left
side. But the right side, they were flinging
the ball back to the back row on the right side
so fast. And he was leaving so much line. It
was impossible. That aside, his serving offensively,
his engagement, I thought was very good. That
was my list. Do you have anyone else? I had one
more. Gomez from Argentina. Oh, yeah, fair. He
only played the first half, and then they used
somebody else. But in the matches that he was
playing, I thought he did very, very well. Yeah,
I thought there were a lot of young players who
played very well. And I'm curious to see how
this merging of some of the rosters comes together.
Do these kids get chances to play week two, week
three playoffs? Are they earning their spot?
because there were a bunch of difference makers
who were playing for rosters, and it'll be interesting
to see how that kind of pans out. So one of the
things we kind of hinted at last week, and there
were lots of comments about this particular topic
left on the YouTube channel, was kind of about
the U .S. women's approach to coaching and what
that looked at. And one of the comments I made
was, I'm curious to see how Karch handles. you
know, a pretty similar situation to the women's
roster on the men's side. And I got to say, it
was night and day different, their approach.
We watched a bunch of the U .S. matches, and
after, I think it was the first match we watched,
the U .S. wasn't very good. And they asked Karch
about, hey, what did you like about that match?
And I believe his answer was, not much. Yeah,
he said nothing. And... I appreciated that, actually.
Yeah, just the frankness in which, and he wasn't
upset. He wasn't angry. It wasn't an emotional
response to their performance. It was a, we're
not there yet. We're not good. I didn't really
like anything, but we're going to work towards
that. And you listened to him in timeouts, and
he was giving feedback. He was telling the players
where they should be, what they were looking
for. teaching i thought he did a great job and
quite frankly the u .s team got better and better
as the tournament went along they made adjustments
they came back and had a reverse sweep well and
they mixed up their rosters similar to the women
too they didn't just stick with one group and
i i mean i have a lot of respect for him on the
coaching side or just in general but i liked
what i heard and saw and i could see the differences
in what they were trying to do and what they
were accomplishing from game to game. And that
makes me feel like, okay, they're going to get
here. There's a plan there, which was very different
from watching kind of the women's experience.
So I'm curious to see how the U .S. women look
this week. Are there going to be some changes
from an execution, from a coaching standpoint?
But that was a very stark contrast to me. Yeah,
I liked that there was information. There was,
this is what they are doing. This is how we will
counteract that. Defensive positioning, let's
go here. Blockers, let's look at this. And even
though he was honest about their lack of performance
early, he also said, like, this is what we're
getting into. This is part of the process of
bringing along new players. And I really appreciate
the honesty. Honestly, listening to all the...
A lot of the timeouts this week, a lot of the
coaches were giving very technical, tactical
feedback, which I appreciated. And, yeah, even
in the women's side last week, you were seeing
the same thing. I think the exceptions to this
are just the American women. Yeah, and we'll
see how that changes, and we'll see how it affects
their performance. But it was a stark difference.
In both genders to those timeouts, in my opinion.
Well, week two for the men is being played in
Belgrade, Chicago, and Burgas, Bulgaria. Ooh,
that's going to be rocking. That being said,
since we're playing in Chicago, I have a suspicion
that we'll see maybe a Micah Ma 'a, Eric Shoji
return. I would say Shoji for sure. He's a fan
favorite. He's been in the program forever. And
they've got a really tough schedule. Yeah, it's
not going to get easy on the men's side in Chicago.
Belgrade, I mean, as you were saying, they brought
a lot of their Olympians. So that will be interesting.
Bulgaria, I don't know. I'm wondering if France
will be satisfied with who they brought. Or maybe
they'll trickle in some more of their veteran
players. I wonder if Italy is happy. I mean,
they won three of their four matches. They brought
a decently mixed roster of experience and youth.
You know, Canada, I'm not really sure how much
stronger that roster can get. Yeah, I'm not sure
either. So, I mean, Poland. I mean, they won
out. Are they going to bring some of their more
big -time names, or are they just going to kind
of... They're in Chicago as well. I don't know.
I'm not quite as familiar with the men's rosters
historically as some of the women, but looking
at kind of who brought which athletes and how
young teams are, I think you'll see potentially
the biggest moves. in Poland and France, depending
on how they're approaching the VNL. You mean
I don't know just what they can. Yeah, what they
can. Like there you have the ability to make
changes. I would imagine Germany's young. They've
got a really good... pro league like they can
probably players they left behind too right so
Germany I think can make some moves with that
I think Argentina Brazil like they're they have
a decent number of players there like I don't
know who's going to come back or what they're
looking at Cuba I don't know Iran if they have
other players that they can that they can move
in well the thing about the men though is it's
so tricky like with women and we we often see
this and we can talk about this in a second but
with women you the women you can see like distinct
groups like the usual suspects are usually the
are the ones performing you know it's just very
differentiated on the men's side there is so
much more parity that it's like I feel almost
riskier to not bring your players because when
it comes down to it it's gonna be you know, a
set ratio or points. Like the records are all
going to be very similar. So it's like, how long
do you want to wait? You know what I mean? Yeah,
fair, fair. Yeah, it's really interesting on
the men's side because you do have some teams
that can make adjustments, but there was nobody
who was out of it this week. There were no gimmies.
There were no teams who you're like, nah, that's
a win. You have to manage it. The drop -off is
not nearly as big. And quite frankly, for some
of these teams who left talent at home, they've
got young kids coming up. They've got players
who are pushing. Like, yeah, I'm subbing this
Olympian for a 22 -year -old, but that 22 -year
-old, he's got that look in his eyes, and he's
coming. Like, it's... Yeah. Yeah. So, since we're
on this track about parity in men, And like kind
of the separation with women. Why do you think
that is? Why do we see the men all like kind
of clumped and like no teams are out of it or
guaranteed anything? Like anybody can be anybody
on any given night. Like why do we see so many
five setters versus the women where it's pretty
predictable for the most part? It's a great question,
and I don't have a statistical answer for you,
but I have... Unacceptable. Maybe a feeling.
I think that there's a little more parity physically
in the men's game. In the women's game, you have
certain players who are just kind of unstoppable,
and they're physically more dominant than...
other players on the women's side if you look
at some of the countries in terms of the athletes
they have in the caliber and I think that because
the physical parity and they jump so high you
have the ability for certain players and teams
to get hot or get into a rhythm you have the
ability for for more men than you do on the women's
side to go back and hit five spin serves that
are just untouchable or to just be on fire I
haven't watched Klevno play that much but he
was I wouldn't be shocked if he hit 900 in VNL.
Do you know what I mean? It was crazy. And so
if you have a player who's doing that and who's
feeling himself in that way, you can't stop him
no matter what you do. There's too much physicality
there. And so I think teams and players or two
players to get hot and... win a set and then
cool off and somebody else does it. There's just
more players, I think, who can have that kind
of terminal impact in the men's game than on
the women's side. What do you think? No, I'm
going to try to clarify what you're saying. So
is it fair to say that women, while their technique
is sound and they're very skilled because of
maybe some of the more physical limitations in
jump height, sheer power, dynamic ability compared
to the men, you don't often see that type of
just sheer domination because the angles that
a woman can hit are not the same. The power that
they can hit with isn't the same. Whereas because
of that physical nature of men, it just like
brings everybody more together. Yeah, I think
there's just more. variability in which men can
go off and win you a match, I think. And, you
know. And we're not sexist here. This is like
just biology. Okay. Yeah, and that's not to say
there aren't women who can dominate a match.
Let me rephrase that. When you watch women's
volleyball, you go, okay, in this match, I can
pick, you know, the potential three difference
makers here. You know. Kira Van Rijk might go
off from the service line, and she can win you
a match. Iganu might have a match of her life,
and she's going to score you points. Even a Gabi
who is solid technically and incredibly good
can win you a match that way. But when you watch
a men's match, the 22 -year -old who came off
the bench for the left side could score eight
points, and that's not unheard of. It's not shocking.
And very rarely does that happen on the women's
side where you're like, man, I never saw that
player coming in here and dominating the match.
And I think whether that's physicality, whether
that's because the women are generally more technical
than the men are, it's that factor. And I think
a lot of that has to do with physicality and
what you can do from player to player. We are
going to be surprised at who shows up, who is
sent. to week two of VNL. Week one was very entertaining.
As we said, so many five -setters. So many. But
it was a lot of good play, lots of fun. It was
very entertaining. Yeah, I'm excited to see who
is sent to these locations, how these matchups
play out, see how things shake down next week.
Okay, let's dive into some listener questions.
So this was a really interesting one that we
got, and I think you might be uniquely qualified
to answer it. So the first question was, why
was Olivia Babcock float serving in the VNL week
one? And the preface here, for those of you who
don't know, is she's got a very good spin serve
that she used very effectively in the NCAA season
this past year. Okay, I don't know for sure if
this is the reason, but... Based on my experience,
serving the FIVB ball after spin serving the
NCAA college ball, it is so challenging. Okay,
the ball that is used in college is so easy to
spin serve. Just the weight of it, the way it
moves through the air, the material of it. And
then to make the switch to the Mikasa that they
use on the FIVB, the ball is so much lighter.
It's got the dimpled skin. Like, it's very unforgiving
if you typically play with a different ball.
That is my guess, is that she just could not
get it to work because as somebody who has had
to make the switch in the past, was very challenging
to serve a Mikasa after serving the other balls.
So they just float. Like if you hit it remotely
wrong, that thing is like in the stands. So that
is my theory. The other thing I thought about
potentially was the coaches just said, hey, you
know, we're going to get you comfortable. You
haven't played before. Focus on your attacking
and your blocking. I will say if you're a spin
server though, like... And for me, when I was
playing, spin serving was like my security blanket.
If you're a spin server and you don't typically
float serve, I would say it's more uncomfortable
to switch and go to a jump float. And she didn't
look comfortable. Yeah, jump float wasn't great,
but I was wondering if that was potentially part
of it too. It also helps with attack rhythm when
you're in opposite to just keep it going. But
anyway, question two. When a video review is
called for a block or net touch, does the suspected
person usually tell their team whether they touched
the net or not? Yeah. 100 % yes. Yeah, definitely.
Well, and now with the challenge system, I believe
there's like a kitty or a pool at the end of
the VNL for the team that calls their own touch
on a challenge so that they can save time. So
there's a little monetary incentive, I believe,
to being honest. But no, when they don't admit
it, When you go into the huddle, your team is
100 % like, did you touch it? And you're like,
yeah. Definitely, definitely. Question three,
what is the impact when a coach uses a timeout
too early or too late in a set? Because sometimes
you see coaches call a timeout at like 3 -0.
You know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean.
I don't have an issue with that, to be honest.
You're a coach and you're expecting something
and it doesn't happen and you know your team
is out to lunch or they need to be, you know,
refocused or whatever. I mean, if you do it and
it doesn't work or you don't need it, like, yeah,
that's not the best, but it's all a feel thing
to me. Volleyball is very much a game of momentum.
You're either trying to keep it or you're trying
to get it back. So I personally... I'm not a
huge fan of the super early game timeout. I can
understand not wanting a team to get too far
ahead. There are situations, and you have to
know your team and the makeup of your team too,
but if you're up by four points and then teams
are getting a couple, you want to stop that.
You don't want to wait until a team ties you
to call a timeout. You want to kill their momentum
before they get to you. Yeah. So like in that
situation too early, my thought is, you know,
you lost, maybe you lost the second set, you
know, in overtime 26 -24, you're down 2 -0. You
go out into the third set, you're down 4 -0 at
the beginning and your team is just heartbroken
over that second set loss. I'm using the time
out there because if that set gets away from
you early, the game's over. Well, I wonder if
the coach calls it like 2 -0. I'm like, really?
Well, yeah. I'm like, dang, now you're only one
left. Yeah. Or you're going to have to call bogus
challenges to try to get more timeouts. Okay,
our last question of the day. As the leagues
in the U .S. develop, do you think we will get
future stars for going collegiate careers to
start pro careers young? Do you think North Americans
are attached to the idea of college and universities?
Because it seems like both USA Volleyball and
Volleyball Canada favor athletes that go to college.
There's many things to consider in this. It's
a great question, actually. One is I don't think
a lot of North American families look at women's
volleyball as a viable way to make a career.
And so because of that, you always, volleyball
in North America is generally looked at as a
means to get a scholarship, especially in the
U .S. Because education is so expensive in the
U .S. Right. And education, you know, allows
you to make money after. volleyball. Whereas
in other parts of the world, it's like, no, if
I'm good at volleyball, I'm going to be all right.
So there's a mindset shift that will have to
happen. The second one is now with the NIL, you're
going to see until North American League can
pay athletes more than they'll make at college,
which have huge booster programs. And I mean,
rumor has it, Tory Stafford signed a half a million
deal for one year. She didn't take that one.
She got offered that. She didn't take that. She
took less. Right, but that's the kind of money
that we're talking about. And again, the landscape
may change. Rules may come in, whatever else
happens. But nobody at Love is making that much
money. So until that changes, your college education
plus what you can make at NIL outweighs going
to play pro. And so, you know. Very few families,
I would say, realize a female athlete can make
over a million dollars playing pro in Europe,
in Brazil, in China. So it's just not on the
radar as a viable career path for the average
family, I would say. Yeah, it's just a lack of
education in North America, I would say. And
I can get behind the American idea more than
I can get behind the Canadian one because Canadian
education is pretty cheap. Comparatively. Comparatively,
and the level on the women's side is not very
good. I will say Kira Van Ryk actually did this.
She only played one year of university in Canada
at UBC, and then she just left and went to play
pro, starting when she was, like, what, 19, I
guess? And she's doing all right. So she is actually
one of the very few that did choose a pro career
over university. I played with another girl.
Tiffany Dodds, who only did, I want to say, two
years of university, and then she left to go
play pro, too. So it's still very rare, but the
only people that I know that have done it are
Canadian. As you're a kid growing up in the U
.S., it's like, become really good at volleyball
so we don't have to pay for education and go
into debt forever. But I personally chose...
to go into the NCAA system because I valued education.
I was raised with the understanding that an athletic
career is short. Your lifespan as an athlete
is short, so you don't want to have nothing afterward.
And my family was more savvy about volleyball
than most, but I don't even think that they understood.
the earning potential that was available to me.
So that was a big reason why I chose to go to
the NCAA. It's because my family valued education
so much and was like, you're not going to play
forever, so get a good education. I don't regret
it, but yeah. I don't know if it'll change, honestly.
Well, that's it for this week. I felt like it
was really good to get our feet wet on the men's
side. And while we haven't been doing game breakdowns,
it's been good to kind of see the level and get
familiar with some of the teams. And it was a
good learning week, I would say. There's just
so many games happening that I'm like, it's hard
to pick just one, you know? Yeah, and even trying
to figure out which matches are going to be competitive.
I'll pop open the app and look at the score and
be like, oh man, this one's 25 -23, 27 -25, 24
-26, and they're going the distance and you throw
it on and you watch the last because it's a battle.
That happened to me at least three or four times
this week. And so it's been good to see. I'm
hoping or I'm assuming we're going to see a little
more settling in in week two. And that'll be
good to see. But as for the coming week, matches
this week on the women's side are being played
in Belgrade, Hong Kong, and Istanbul. Expecting
to see more of a full roster or true roster from
Turkey. So that'll be fun. We're definitely going
to be looking at that. If you're looking for
specific matches, Wednesday, 2 p .m. Eastern,
USA versus Serbia. Also expecting to see a few
more Serbia studs in the lineup. That will be
interesting. Friday, 8 .30 a .m. Eastern, Japan
versus Italy. I think that's going to be a great
match. I will probably get up early to watch
that one. That's 5 .30 our time, so I hope he's
not up that early. That's just me. And then the
other one I think will be great is Sunday at
12 .30 Eastern, Turkey versus Brazil. And again,
I'm expecting... More full rosters. That one's
going to be a showdown, I think. Gabi and Rosamaria
are with Brazil now. So they've added a couple
pieces already. And you've got to think that
Turkey A is going to want to put on a show at
home. And that the fans are probably going to
accept nothing less, given what I know about...
The passion. Yes. So I think those are all going
to be great games. That's what I would pay attention
to 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
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