Women's 2025 World Championship & NCAA Top 10 Previews

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. Again, there wasn't much volleyball being
played this week, but... Things are about to
kick off and get spicy. So NCAA women's season
has been getting going with inter -squad scrimmages,
alumni matches, exhibition games, things like
that. But games are going to start to count soon
as teams begin their official preseason competitions.
We also have women's world championships starting
up. So get ready to start watching. A ton of
volleyball again. We took a little break. We
rested our eyeballs. Got some sleep. Get ready
to kick it into high gear again, okay? So we're
excited to do some little previews on both the
NCAA and World Championship side. So let's get
started. First things first, we finished up Women's
U21 World Championships this week. I think the
biggest news, other than, you know, the medalists,
is that Vietnam, who we were talking about last
week... They had some surprise results for sure.
...got disqualified. So last week, we were kind
of confused because they... We're at the top
of Pool A. Came out of nowhere. And Pool A wasn't
that strong. Pool A was not strong, but I was
also like, am I missing something? Has Vietnam
been building this program secretly? Where did
this team come from? Turns out a couple days
after we posted our episode, asking those questions,
people also had their own questions. And a couple
players on the Vietnamese team had to undergo
genetic testing. I think, obviously, it was assumed
or suspected that a couple of their athletes
were not biological females. And I believe that
was proven to be correct. Yeah, we didn't get
any official statements that that was the case.
The statement that came out of the FIVB was that
Vietnam had ineligible players. They had violated
Article 12 .2 of the competition regulations.
And, of course, I looked that up. And it was
just an article concerning player eligibility.
So you can look at that two ways. One is they
were not the correct age. But given the fact
that there was genetic testing that was done,
you know, it's a safe assumption. The FIVB refused
to comment further, understandably. So that happened.
But aside from that little... Snafu. Snafu. Great
word. We had Italy take home gold, Japan silver,
Brazil bronze. As we talked about the perennial...
podium contenders, these three teams were all
in the discussion. And no surprise that they're
all countries that have very established pro
leagues where their young players are getting
a chance to play alongside pros in professional
organizations. So, I mean, Italy's having a good
run. Italy is like world domination here. They're
like men's, women's, youth, let's do it. But
in the semis, Italy beat Brazil three straight.
Japan beat Bulgaria three straight. Both matches
were not even close. Also, shout out to Bulgaria.
I feel like they've really invested in their
youth programs lately because their U19 women
won Worlds. And then their U21 women were in
the semis. So they're making some moves. Let's
not sleep on Bulgaria, okay, in the future. In
the bronze, Brazil beat Bulgaria in four. And
then in the gold medal match, Italy beat Japan
in five. So good matches at the finals. I don't
think any surprises other than Bulgaria, who
you shouted out. And congrats to Italy. Italy
is having a great 2025. On the women's side,
it's been extending for a while, but it's been
a good summer for the Italian Volleyball Federation.
Let's just say that. Time to go out and collect
some new sponsorship for the quad. Following
up on our PVF slash MLV discussion last week,
we have seen lots of movement. We saw Atlanta
and San Diego making some big moves. Indy has
added some solid athletes. We saw Dallas. The
new expansion team, they had some players officially
sign. So obviously there was a lot of player
signings that happened this past week, but I
kind of like pulled some of the highlights. Okay,
so if I'm missing your player, I'm sorry, but
these are the ones that jumped out to me. We
had Natalia Valentine Anderson and Kaitlyn Hoard
leave Omaha for Dallas. We also saw Celia Cullen
and Sofia Maldonado -Diaz sign with Dallas. So
Celia Cullen played for SMU, which is in the
Dallas area. Interesting. I'm curious if her
or Valentin Anderson will get the starting setter
job. So that will be interesting. Marley Monserez,
Kayla Caffey, Monserez from Atlanta, Caffey from
Omaha, I played with in my first couple years
of pro. We were both little babies on the team
together. And Taylor Sambothi, who left Love,
are all going to San Diego. But Akoshevich was
a bit of a surprise to me, and then I was thinking
about it a lot harder, and her husband actually
has connections in San Diego and lived there
for a while. So I was like, while it seems random,
she's Serbian, played for the Serbian national
team for a long time, has been playing in Poland,
all over the place. She's in her late 30s. So
I was surprised to see that she was coming to
the U .S. I mean, San Diego is also not a tough
place to live. It's nice. Especially when your
husband has lived there and has connections and
stuff. So that's happening out for San Diego.
And then Indy picked up Cameron Hanna and Elise
McGee, who is going by her married name now,
but was the opposite for Baylor in the NCAA last
season. So on the note with the MLV. there were
a lot of comments about the last episode saying,
you know, why are you guys hating on the merger?
Like let's all be pro women's volleyball, you
know, volleyball revolves around Nebraska in
the U S you know, and all of those things are
somewhat true. And by no means are we hating
on bringing more money to women's volleyball.
That is not the case at all. It's for me personally,
more about, how it's done there's division and
then there's confusion and then there's coming
back and having it run one way for me looking
at some of the rules that have happened you have
an increased salary cap very good for the game
you want to see more money there but there's
also no minimum salary so teams don't have to
spend if they don't want to right which i think
is important which we're still not super clear
on that so don't like right quote us on that
but from from what we've heard and what we understand
and then minimum salaries for players are either
decreasing or going away which again heard but
not confirmed i feel like there is a minimum
but again i don't know what the number is so
so not it's not just about bringing more money
to the game, which is important, but it's about
everybody being able to grow simultaneously and
work as a cohesive team to provide a good product
that's stable long -term. We'll see if these
decisions help with that. And if they do, great.
I'm just a little skeptical to start. Well, when
you're starting something new, you need the interest
to be there. You need the excitement to be there,
the back and forth, like who's going to win,
blah, blah, blah. I also think it's worth saying
that I think it does a disservice to women's
sport, the discussion, whatever, if all you want
is positive commentary. I think speaking about
a game, speaking about leagues, raising awareness,
talking about it, that is part of growing the
sport. But I think insisting on constant positive
feedback doesn't help anybody either. Because
there needs to be, you know, some kind of critique
and criticism in order to grow and improve. So
I kind of disagree with the people who say that
we're hating on women's sport because we're not
being positive all the time. We'll see. Again,
you have the same thing. Love had came out. There
were some things that we disagreed with. We'll
see if they make changes. PVF had a great product
that they put on the floor last year in terms
of viewership and engagement and hopefully...
that stays and they can continue to raise the
profile. We'll see. So based on the new signings
and stuff that we saw happen this week, we saw
some players leave Omaha. Obviously, they kept
their top four athletes or so. But we saw a lot
of commentary about how with this movement, the
league is looking a lot more balanced and less
in Omaha's favor. Fair, amazing, great. I was,
however... informed of a loophole in the salary
negotiation. So this loophole that nobody is
talking about, again, we talked about the $1
.2 million salary cap. This loophole allows teams
to include sponsorship money in their salary
negotiations, which won't count towards the $1
.2 million cap. So again, I feel like for a team
like Omaha, who is stacked with sponsors because
of the attention the sport gets in that state,
they are putting themselves ahead yet again because
now they can bargain and negotiate with players,
including some of that sponsorship surplus they
might have. Say what you want about the players
leaving, moving, whatever. That's great, yeah.
But this loophole allows teams, namely Omaha,
who I know has a ton of sponsorship money, to
bargain even more and add depth to their roster
in the lower paying positions. And I think I'm
a little bit more okay with this because you
see this happen in a lot of leagues. That are
established. And so this is the conversation.
is, you know, you look at other professional
leagues and this happens, teams have different
benefits, no tax states, you know, more sponsorship
dollars, opportunities for other players, and
generally it will balance out. What I'm curious
to see is... are the other owners outside of
those big market or that big market, are they
willing to invest in their team the same way
so that you have at least some competition? You're
always going to have some teams that are better,
some teams that are worse, but is it going to
be one team at the top and then everybody else
playing for second long term? There's some parity
that's happened so far in the league, but what
does that look like down the road when there's
that much of a... discrepancy with spending.
That's what I'm curious to see long term. For
this year, I don't think it's going to be a huge
issue, but when we start talking about the health
of the league in five years, that's where I'm
curious to see where it goes. So just a couple
things to touch on this week, things to think
about, some results. Again, congrats to Italy
on winning the U21 Women's World Championships.
So let's dive in to the meat. of the episode
here so we're going to start out with a bit of
a women's world championship preview to the extent
that we can slash predictions of how we think
things are going to play out so as we said last
week the 14 person rosters for world championships
are not officially due until august 21st which
is thursday competition starts on friday we have
had about 10 teams that I could find submit their
final rosters. Most of these teams are, you know,
the ones that don't have a huge pool of athletes.
So, I mean, it was easy to pick the 14. So the
teams that we do know their roster so far are
Sweden. Of course, noteworthy players are Isabel
and Anna Haak. And if you're familiar with NCAA
volleyball, Maya Tabron. who played for SMU last
year. Those are the big names on that team. France
is sending a very similar roster to VNL. Serbia,
very similar to what we saw in week three of
VNL. Netherlands, same thing. Bulgaria, same
thing. Again, as I said, these are the teams
whose depth of talent. isn't huge so we kind
of saw them show what they had during vnl uh
vazileva elisa vazileva for bulgaria who goes
by a ton of sievich now she is not on the roster
but she also missed the last week of vnl so not
sure they're italy virtually the same but they
they were Stacked for almost all of VNL. Obviously,
Alice Degradi is injured. So we're seeing Loveth
Omorui replacing her. And then Anna Gray, who
is playing middle blocker for VNL. She was on
the bench, obviously. Sartori and Akrari are
attending in her spot. Poland, again, very similar.
However, Grabka. who was setting for them. I
think she was coming in off the bench sometimes,
but mostly the backup setter. She is not attending.
She has been replaced by Kovalevska. But again,
essentially the same. China, the same. So the
only two that have posted their 14 that are like
slightly different or like maybe worth talking
about are Turkey and USA. Well, let's get into
it. Turkey has added Eda Erdem, the legendary
middle blocker. And we saw Simge is not on the
list for libero. Okay, so we had a discussion
a few weeks ago about the two liberos for Turkey.
There's a blonde. There's a brunette. Both are
like, which one's better? So the brunette, Simge,
she is not on the list, which is interesting.
They're bringing five outside hitters instead
of their young opposite who stepped in now and
then for Vargas. I mean, I like what Turkey has
done. I think they're a better team overall.
Now, first, Erdem, we talked about this ad nauseum
about V &L in terms of Turkey's kind of... mental
instability on the court, how they fluctuate
up and down. There wasn't really a true leader
who could kind of come in and settle things down.
And Airdem will do that. She has a presence,
and I know she's getting towards the end of her
career, but she has a presence that will kind
of get everybody in line, I think. So while she
obviously brings experience and she will perform,
but I think more importantly, She is going to
help everybody else on the team stay even keeled,
manage their emotions, find a level of consistency
that I think they were lacking in VNL. So I think
that's a very smart addition to the team. I actually
like bringing five outsides. I think that they're
pretty set in the other positions. You know,
unless there's an injury that happens, you don't
have anybody who's going to push those other
players out of their spots. Left side is where...
It was like a revolving door during VNL. Right.
And so, you know, if the Erdem effect does not
help the left sides having one other option and
trying to figure out who is going to play well
on that day, you have one more choice. If something
happens to Vargas, injury or, you know, whatever,
Karakur can always go play on the right side.
So you have options. Where she's comfortable.
Exactly. So I think I like their moves. as a
team, I think they will be better than they were
in VNO. The only thing that confuses me is why
leave Simge at home to bring Jatkin. You have
two really strong liberos. Unless there's an
injury situation or something happened, I'm confused
about that, but I do really like their other
decisions. I think they make a lot of sense.
Yeah, agreed. USA is the second team that I think
they made some changes. listed Maddie Skinner
as an opposite. Yeah, it took enough time. They
were like, okay, we'll admit that she's an opposite
here. And they added Franti and Ogbagu, who we
didn't see during VNL. So their right sides are
Steph Samity, Maddie Skinner. Their left sides
are Avery Skinner, Franti, Logan Eggleston, Franklin.
And then their middles are Ogbagu, Retke, Ijeed,
Jimmerson. Same liberos as we've seen. Poulter,
Kahina Torres setting. But, yeah, the new faces
are Franti and Ogbagu. Are you surprised that
nobody else came? I was a little surprised. Me
too. I thought we might see Jordan Thompson.
The thing is, they're going back to love. Which
doesn't, they don't even start their preseason
until November. Like, Aguago and Franti are playing
overseas. As soon as World Championships end,
these players need to be, like, in good form
for their pro teams. I think the fact that, like,
a Wongarantes and a Thompson and Cook and whatever
are playing and have a few months left to get
into shape and hang out, I guess, before preseason
starts, maybe they don't feel the same sense
of urgency. Fair. I was surprised, though. I
was thinking they were going to add a little
more firepower to their roster. Four worlds,
I thought it would be a little more of a priority.
I like that Maddie Skinner's finally at opposite.
Or at least that they finally admitted to themselves
that they're only going to use her at opposite.
Yeah, and I think that that makes sense. I like
adding Obagu. I hope that... They continue to
run their middles. They're going to need that.
Move Redke to M2. Let Ogbagu run that slide.
I think that will be an upgrade. Two great blockers
in the middle, though. IG'd solid backup. Jimmerson
did fine in the couple matches she played in
VNL. I think Franti will stabilize the ball control
a little bit. I think that was a really smart
add to kind of sure up. Some of the deficiencies
that they had in VNL. So I'm not sure how much
they moved the needle, but the moves make sense.
Yeah. So I like that for the USA. World championships
are interesting. I personally am never a fan
of how the FIVB runs their world championships
and stuff and how far in advance they announce
the pools. I think. The pools were announced
before VNL even started. So I think that these
rankings and how the numbers were pulled and
stuff is not really indicative of how the season
has gone and how teams are currently playing.
So we have some interesting pools. And the other
thing that really grinds my gears is that they
give the host country the number one seed. What's
pool A in Worlds here? Pool A has Thailand, Sweden.
Netherlands, and I want to say maybe Egypt. Like,
are you kidding me right now? That's, it's just
not, it's not a good look. It's terrible. Like,
Netherlands was awful during VNL. Thailand almost
got relegated. And then obviously Sweden and
Egypt weren't even in it. And like two of those
teams are going to move on to playoffs. Are you
joking me? I like the way they do it in beach
volleyball. I agree. So in beach volleyball,
if you are the host country and you are like,
okay, for example, there's eight pools in world
championships. So as the host country, if you
are ranked in the top eight, you get the one
seed. Okay. Totally fine. If you are ranked outside
or below the top eight, you take the eight seed,
which I think makes so much more sense because.
Thailand being the one seed completely messes
up this bracket. Well, you have the top three
teams from VNL all on the same side of the bracket.
Which I understand part of it is due to rankings
going in, blah, blah, blah. But this should not
be the case. This should not be the case. It's
not representative. You're not going to get the
final that you should. Yeah. I think Thailand
should have gone in as the eighth seed. What
do I know? What do I know? Okay. Adam did some
digging. So essentially what's happening is the
pools are matched up. You have two pools that
are going to play for the quarterfinals. So for
example, if pool A and H are matched up, A1 will
play H2 and A2 will play H1. So eight pools,
two teams make it out? Correct. And so that's
how your kind of half of the bracket works. So
when I looked at the different pools, and we
won't go through all of the different combinations,
but what I think is going to happen is quarterfinal
one, I think is going to be Serbia versus Japan.
Now, Japan. Coming from the same pool. Yes. So
Japan and Serbia, I believe, are in pool H together.
They're going to cross over against pool A. And
I think both of those teams are going to win.
So you're going to see them play in pool play
and then play in quarterfinal one. Quarterfinal
two, I have USA versus Turkey coming in on that
side. Who would they... Who would they potentially
match up with? So you have D1 versus E2 and E1
versus D2 in the round of 16. So in pool D, I
think you're going to see USA finish top of that
pool. They also have Czech, Argentina, and Slovenia.
I think Czech played really well in VNL. I think
it'll be between them and Argentina. for the
second place. And then in Pool E, you have Turkey
versus Canada, Bulgaria, and Spain. So I think
USA and Turkey are both going to finish top of
their pools, and I think they win their crossover
match pretty handily. I think that USA beats
both Canada and Bulgaria, and I think Turkey
beats either Czech or Argentina. So I think you'll
see that in the quarterfinal. I think Turkey
wins that match. Turkey versus USA? Yeah. Yeah,
me too. So on side one of the bracket, I have
Japan and Turkey in the semi. I think with the
upgrades that Turkey has made, I think that Turkey
will be in the final. So you think Japan is going
to beat Serbia in the quarter? Yeah, and I think
Turkey will end up beating Japan. I mean, I think
it depends which Tiana Boscovich shows up. We
three of you know she was not good, but she was
also injured. Yeah, I still think Japan is the
better team. and I think they can defend well
enough. Boscovich is going to score her points,
but I think with the service pressure. They need
her hitting at a system. Yeah, so I think Japan
takes that one, and I think they lose to Turkey.
So that's my prediction on that side. Would Japan
beat Turkey in the NL? They did, and I like the
changes that Turkey made. I think it's going
to be a good game. I think Turkey is going to
come out on top this time. Dang, okay. Okay,
so now we flip to the other side of the bracket.
So for this one, in your round of 16, you have
Pool B versus Pool G. So Pool B, you have Italy,
Belgium, Cuba, Slovakia. I mean, Italy's going
to win first in that pool, hands down, I think.
In Pool G, we have Poland, Germany, Kenya, and
Vietnam, maybe. We'll see if they're allowed
to play or not. See if those U21 girls were allowed
on the senior team. So, I mean, for me, I think
both Italy and Poland are coming out of those
matches pretty handily, regardless of who they
play. I mean, Italy -Germany could be decent,
but Italy's way better. So, Italy -Poland in
that quarterfinal three. I think Italy ends up
winning that. And then in... The last quarterfinal,
you have Pool C and Pool F. So in Pool C, you
have Brazil, Puerto Rico, France, and Greece,
which is actually a relatively tough pool, top
to bottom, I would say. I think Brazil, France
are coming out of that one. Yeah, I would agree
with you. And then in Pool F, we have China,
Dominican, Colombia, and Mexico. I think China
comes out on top with that one. I think probably
Dominican comes out too in that. But I think
Brazil beats Dominican, and I think China beats
France. So you're going to have a Brazil -China
quarterfinal. I think Brazil is going to win.
I think that semifinal of Italy -Brazil is going
to be the match to win the tournament. I think
whoever wins that semifinal. That breaks my heart
that this is how it goes. Like Italy, Poland,
Brazil, China on one side of the bracket. Like
this is ridiculous. So I will give the edge to
Italy. I think Anna -Christina being out is a
huge loss. For Brazil. Except you didn't want
to put her up. I knew that was coming. Let's
go back to last week's episode, top five players.
You didn't want to pick her. I think Italy edges
Brazil in this one, and then I think they beat
Turkey. So I have Italy for winning again. I
am just unwell at the discrepancy in these two
sides of the bracket. Yeah. This is why I hate
that they pick these pools so early. Do you disagree
with any of my thoughts? I don't disagree. I
think the China -France game has the potential
to be better than you're letting on. I think
the Brazil -China match has the potential to
be better than you're letting on. I'm not saying
that you're wrong. I agree with your final result.
But I'm like, maybe something spicy will happen.
There's always a chance that something spicy.
You're playing one match to go on. So you think
Italy -Turkey in the final? I think Italy -Turkey
in the final. Oh, baby. I'll go, just to be different
from you, I'll go Italy -Japan. I mean, I would
say that is the match that I'm kind of the least
sure about. Japan -Turkey? Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay,
heard it here first. Adam's predictions of how
world championships will shake out. I'm sure
you guys have a lot of thoughts. I'm sure you
have a lot of opinions on this. Can't wait to
hear them. Take a look at the rundown, the breakdown,
and let us know who you think are going to be
in the final. Moving on to the NCAA preseason.
Oh, boy. On August 6th, the ABCA announced their
rankings, their preseason rankings. So there's
so much that we could potentially talk about
here. But we're going to go through the top 10.
So Nebraska went in, preseason voted number one.
They were given 40 votes overall by the ABCA
committee. Penn State came in number two with
21 votes. Those two were the only ones who got
votes. Okay, so we got Nebraska, then Penn State,
Pitt, Louisville, Texas, Stanford at six, Kentucky,
Wisconsin. Texas A &M and SMU. We, Adam, took
a look. I say we. It was Adam. Took a look at
all of these top 10 teams. Did a little analysis
on who left the program, whether by graduation,
transfer, whatever. Who they have coming in.
And we have a few thoughts. With a new portal,
there's always lots of movement. Lots of freshmen
coming in. lots of people leaving. So I don't
want to spend two hours going over all of the
roster changes, but for the top 10 programs,
I want to go over, I want to highlight who's
coming in. We'll highlight some of the major
pieces that left, and then we can talk about
whether we think that their team is better or
worse than last year, and then maybe conclude
with a, do we agree with the top 10 ranking?
Okay. Okay, so let's start with Nebraska. And
we'll start with which athletes are no longer
part of the program. We're not going to go over
every single one. We're talking like we're going
to hit the highlights here. Yeah, so out for
Nebraska, you have Lexi Rodriguez. You have Kennedy
Orr. You have Merritt Beeson and Lindsey Krause.
So you lost some starters there. I don't think
they lost. You lost one and a half starters.
Fair. And one and a half, I mean, Rodriguez and
Beeson because Beeson disappeared. Yes. And Krause
was coming off the bench most of the time there.
She started the season and then, yeah. So they
have some very good replacements for Alexi Rodriguez.
So I don't think that drop off is going to be
massive. And they brought in some really good
freshmen. So I think they're going to be just
fine. They have seven freshmen. coming in one
of those is an international player she's an
opposite from italy virginia adriano i think
she's going to be very good they have three freshmen
on the under armor watch list for all americans
all americans and again you don't without putting
eyes on these kids you don't know how good they're
going to be and there's all kinds of polls and
rankings for freshmen so we're not going to highlight
everyone but three off that list and I think
they had 28 athletes total so they got some really
good recruits coming in and they have Ali Shek
who came in from Baylor so I actually think they're
going to be better this year than they were last
year. Well, they definitely upgraded on the right
side with Adriano and Sigler. A little bit of
controversy going on of who's going to play.
Whatever. We'll see how that breaks down. But
they also brought in the Gatorade National Player
of the Year in Campbell Flynn, who's a setter.
So, again, I know you guys have watched the alumni
match. I know you've watched the red -white scrimmage.
I know you've watched a lot of stuff. I wouldn't
be—I haven't, so lay off me if I'm wrong. I wouldn't
be shocked if they run a 6 -2 with these two
opposites and these two really good setters.
So you think Campbell Flynn will attack? No,
I think they're going to have Campbell Flynn
and Bergen -Riley setting, and they're going
to have Adriano and Sigler on the right side
and just run a completely flop 6 -2. I mean,
I don't see a huge drop -off from last year.
Honestly, with Olivia Mouch and Laney Choboy,
I know Lexi Rodriguez is a fan favorite. I know
she was very good, but you're not. The drop -off
isn't as big as people think it is. So I think
that Nebraska got much better. Yeah, I would
agree. What do you think? Is there going to be
a coach bump? Is there going to be transition?
Do you think there's going to, does that make
a difference at all in your mind? I think they'll
be okay. Let's go to Penn State, number two.
And they lost. Everybody. Yes. Painful to look
at this on paper. So out are Taylor Trammell,
Cameron Hanna. Jess Merzik, and Quinn Menger.
Among others, but those are the big ones. Yeah.
You've got a whole outside core to replace on
this team. So coming in, you have five freshmen,
good players, but I wouldn't say standouts from
what I could see on the list. So they're going
to make a difference kind of down the road, but
maybe not impact players right away. Now you
did bring in two really good players in Kennedy
Martin. who will play on the right side, and
Emmy Selman. From Ohio State. From Ohio State.
So you have two players coming in. I really liked
Emmy Selman at Ohio State. I think she has a
good future ahead of her. Kennedy Martin, obviously
very good. But I'm not sure. I think they're
taking a step back here. I mean, Emmy Selman
has potential, but was she amazing last year?
No, I think she definitely needs to improve.
I think offensively, could Kennedy Martin match
Jess Merzik offensively? I think we could definitely
make an argument for that. Emmy Selman, Cameron
Hanna, we'll see how Selman has developed over
the summer and over the offseason, but you're
losing a really good middle. Not sure how that's
going to look. My instinct is that they took
a little step back. I was a little surprised
to see them at two. I'm surprised that they got
a third of the votes for first. The Kennedy -Martin
move? The Kennedy -Martin put them in the conversation
for sure. I think there's going to be some issues
around the ball. That's where they're going to
take their step back. So we'll see. I mean, they
still have Izzy Stark's setting, which I think
is also... she's probably going to be one of
the best setters. But what are you going to do?
Are you going to move Caroline Jurevicius over?
Because you lost both of your left sides. You
replaced one with Selman. Are you going to bring
a bench player? Are you going to slide Jurevicius
over? Because let me tell you, Kennedy Martin's
starting on the right side. Correct. Or like
a fresh, what is happening here? Yeah. So I think
ball control and putting Izzy Stark in a position
where she can be successful. might be a little
bit of an issue, at least at the start before
they get second. Well, they weren't great at
passing last year. Like, Mirzik is not a great
passer. Yeah, she got you out of trouble, though.
Well, that's the thing. Kennedy Martin needs
to be able to score, like, out of system. Yeah.
So I'm curious to see what decisions they make
on the outside and what the ball control looks
like. All right, let's look at Pitt, who also...
lost a ton of players out is valeria vasquez
gomez out is cat flood tory stafford rachel fairbanks
emmy clicker they lost a few other seniors and
players as well but that's i mean you're turning
over almost a roster there you have your middles
and right side yes so they have Four freshmen
coming in. Again, none of them on kind of that
top list. So I'm not sure those freshmen are
stepping in and taking a spot right away. You
have Sophia Gregoire coming in as an outside
hitter from Oregon. And Brooke Mosher, who's
a setter from Illinois. But I just don't, like,
who's replacing Tori Stafford? Who's setting
for you over Rachel Fairbanks? Stafford is a
massive hole to fill. Fairbanks is a massive
hole to fill. Klicka was very good. Yeah, I don't.
I see them taking a step back. I think they're
taking a bigger step back than Penn State. I
would agree with you. There was a swagger to
Pitt with some of their players last year. Well,
I still got those swaggy girls back. Like Bree
Kelly, their middles had some swagger, and I
loved it. Olivia Babcock, Player of the Year
for a reason. An even bigger load. Yeah. Hopefully.
And what does their setting look like? How do
you replace Rachel Fairbanks? That's the big
question mark for me. So we'll see what Pitt
does and how their offense looks without Fairbanks.
All right, moving on to Louisville. Also turning
over pretty much their whole roster. Out is Charity
Looper. Ellie Glock, Sophia Maldonado, PK, Anna
DeBeer, Elena Scott. Like, you lost. Their whole
roster. Talk about losing. All the starters.
Yeah, your identity. That's crazy. So they have
four freshmen coming in. One Under Armour kind
of announced player. Yeah, Chloe Meester has
some hype around her. And then they have a middle
blocker, Kalissa, who's coming in. And she's
got... kind of an aura around her as well. So
she could potentially be good. Now they do have
Chloe Chacon coming in from Purdue. So I think
that's a good addition for them. And they have
Molly Wilson coming in from Washington, which
is... In the setting position? Yeah. So we'll
see. But I don't... I mean, you have two outsides.
If you want to start Meester, Meester Chacon
could be your two outsides. Are we at the same
level as a looper DeBeer? I don't know how fast
Meester will adjust. Chacoin, you can see similarities
between Chacoin and those outsides that Louisville
had last year. But you're missing Pique. I'm
going to guess we're going to see a 5 -1 with
Cabello this year. And last year they ran the
6 -2. Losing Maldonado Diaz. Is huge. Do I think
Reese Robbins is the answer on the right side?
Maybe in the front row. I don't know how effective
she'll be in the back row. No, I'm not sure for
a whole season if she's the focal point. I'm
not convinced. Well, to me, the bigger miss is
you've lost the fabric of this team. With Elena
Scott and Anna DeBeer leaving, your coach leaving,
there's going to be... kind of a hole in terms
of that leadership and so it'll be interesting
to see what the identity of that team is coming
out of those changes honestly though i don't
hate this i mean i don't think that they've taken
as much of a dip as penn state or pit i agree
i agree but you again they were gritty they were
fun to watch i feel like louisville has never
they don't necessarily draw in the blue chip
players. They draw in the players who are solid,
but they build a solid culture and identity around
the 1B recruits. So yeah, I agree with you that
missing those two players who are a foundation
of that culture is... Well, the intangible things
are what are in question for Louisville for me.
Yeah, and I'm curious to see, you know, you lose
your head coach in Danny. Like, how much of that
was driven by her? Do you lose that? You're obviously
going to have, again, maybe a different outlook,
a different focus with a new coach there. Yeah,
I think they can still be very good. I'm curious
to see what the style of play looks like and
if it changes. All right, so let's look at Texas.
You'll have to forgive me. I'm going to need
to scroll up and down my sheet for this one.
We had a ton of players leave Texas. So I'm not
going to go over them all, but the big ones out
are Madison Skinner. Out is Reagan Rutherford.
Out is Mariana Singletary. Keone Akana, out.
Jenna Wennis, out. Avery Carlson, out. That's
a lot of players, and there's still a whole bunch
that we didn't mention. Now, that being said,
Texas had a serious pull in the recruiting class
this year. They always do. So does Nebraska.
They have the benefit of, you know, the ones
who turn out, they'll keep and they'll be very
good, and the other ones will leave because they
want to play. But they pulled in five freshmen
this year. Four of them are on the... Under Armour
list, and they're very, very good. So they've
got an outside hitter, a middle blocker, a libero
DS, and another outside hitter coming in. They
have a libero coming in from Serbia, who's a
junior. They also pulled Torrey Stafford, who
was the biggest off -season acquisition from
Pitt. So, I mean, Texas is always going to have
stud athletes. They come, they go, they're always
going to be physical. I'm curious. You lose Maddie
Skinner. Do you have somebody who's that good?
Tori Stafford? Better passer. Yep, that's fair.
They'll probably run a 5 -1 this year. Well,
Alice Wendell better be better than she was last
year, or this is not going to be good. That is
probably, you know, I'm assuming that out of
all of the players they brought in, they're going
to find some people who settle in and play the
style well. They lost a lot, though. They lost
their two starting outsides, their starting right
side, one of two because they ran that 6 -2 for
a while. One of two opposites, one of their two
middles, like one of their two setters from that
6 -2. So Tori Stafford steps in. Okay, are you
going to – Devin Kahawai, is she your answer
for the whole season? And then, I mean, you brought
in a top -recruited middle. If it breaks down,
it breaks down at the setting. I thought Texas
looked rough last year, honestly. So I'm not,
even though they did lose a big chunk of their
starting lineup, I'm not as worried about them
as I am about Pitt. Yeah, they've got enough
talent that it'll figure itself out. But the
question mark will be. I think how far they go
is going to be based on how their setting is.
I feel like this is another wash situation similar
to Louisville. All right, let's move on to Stanford.
A couple big losses here. Out is Kami Miner,
Elena Ogilvie, and Sammy Francis. Francis and
Miner are massive hits. Yes. They also have a
pretty spectacular recruiting class. So they
did well. They got six freshmen coming in. Three
of them Under Armour -recognized players in a
libero, a middle, and then an opposite setter.
They also have Logan Tushar, who I believe played
beach for them last year as a freshman, who's
coming to play indoor as a setter. It's obviously
clear they don't have a one -to -one replacement
for Kami Miner. So I think... I think Stanford's
going to be fine, but I think it's going to take
them a while to figure out who's going to set
for them. So I can see them dropping early as
they rotate through setters and try and figure
out who's going to play there. And then I think
they'll be good come tournament time. Again,
you are missing Sammy Francis, who I think is
really good. So you're going to need to find
an answer for that. But again, they have some
good players coming in. We'll see who kind of
steps up. Again, I think early drop as they figure
it out, but I think they'll hit the tournament
in stride. Moving to Kentucky, and I actually,
I like their offseason, to be honest. Out is
Megan Wilson, Emma Grom, and Erin Lamb. And in
is three freshmen. Again, all of these players
are good, but nobody like tier one, I don't believe.
Coming in is Eva Hudson from Purdue, Lizzie Carr
from Purdue, and coming in is Molly Berevowitz
from Marquette, who's a DS. I think you're getting
an upgrade off of Lam from Eva Hudson. Again,
it's like the setters, the senior setters that
graduate are leaving holes. Like, are you going
to find a solid replacement for Grom? I think
they are going to be completely fine, but that
is my question for them. Yeah, and obviously
you have setters who are training in practice.
They know your systems, but you're touching the
ball every rally. And how consistent are you
going to be? What are you going to do after 20?
You have to show me what's going to happen for
those players. So, I mean, they're not the only
ones in that situation, and we'll see how the
replacements look. Okay. This. This is maybe
a tire fire. I'm not even sure where to start
here. Okay, let's go down the list of players
who have left Wisconsin. I think it's easier
to say whose state. Well, you know what? I took
the time to write down all the names, so I'm
going to read them off. Players of note. Sage
Damero, out. CeCe Crawford, out. Devin Robinson,
out. Sarah Franklin, out. Anna Smrek, out. Gulce
Guchtikin, out. Julia Orzel, out. Layla Schumacher,
out. I mean, you've turned over. This is just
wild. Them and SMU and Texas just turn style.
You lost your entire roster of players who you
even use, except for Charlie Furbringer and Carter
Booth. They have five freshmen coming in. Two
of them are Under Armour athletes. Another one
was number 17 on the prep volleyball list. So,
again. Wisconsin never lacks for talent and physical
athletes. They're a good enough program that
they can bring people in. They also have Mimi
Collier coming in from Oregon. You have Alicia
Andrew coming in from Baylor. You have Grace
Lopez coming in from Miami. Who's injured and
won't play. Yeah, so that doesn't help you this
year. Grace Egan from Ohio State. So I think
they were really counting on Grace Lopez being
able to play. That was a big pickup, so that's
going to hurt them now. Well, they're looking
at Mimi Collier to be Sarah Franklin's replacement,
for sure. And Egan to be Orzel. You're replacing
a lot of high -level players with players you're
not sure can be those. And we'll see. I mean,
they're pretty confident in their DS. They sent
Lola Schumacher away to play this girl. So they're
pretty confident that their DS is it. I mean,
they had DS issues last year with concussions
and injuries and swapping. Passing. I don't know
what's going to happen here. This might be the
biggest question mark for me. All my thing is,
did you develop any of your bench players? Because
you were starting almost all seniors. I think
Wisconsin is going to struggle this year. I think
massive downgrade. They got way worse. I totally
agree. There's only one team we've gone over
so far that I'm like, they've gotten better.
We have some neutrals. We have some way worse,
but only one. Okay, but we have to go through
two more. Yeah, we'll talk about that at the
end. So Texas A &M, next one on the list. They
didn't lose a ton of players. Out is Ita Lapoyo.
She was an opposite, a registered sophomore.
Molly Brown, middle blocker, also out. They lost
a couple other players who didn't generally play.
So not massive losses for the program. They have
five freshmen. coming in, and Kendall Stowers
from Baylor. They're freshmen, not, you know,
again, top tier, but good players. I'm calling
this a wash. Yeah, they didn't lose a ton. You
kept your stars. Maybe a couple of your freshmen
hit, you know, later on in the season. So totally
fine for them. And then I didn't know where to
go with SMU. I didn't feel like. They only have
three players. Literally the same situation as
Wisconsin where their whole roster was seniors
and they left. Yeah. So I think they have, you
know, we gave SMU a hard time last year for only
bringing in seniors. I think they have like six
freshmen. coming in this year. So it looks like
they're starting to build maybe some of their
own. Well, they got Avery Carlson from Texas.
They did get Avery Carlson from Texas. The only
players returning. And some USC girls. Yes. So
they did bring in some transfers. So the freshmen
don't necessarily have to start right away. Shocker.
That's what SMU does. Right. They bring in transfers.
But the only three players who are back are Casey
Batenhorst, Natalia Newsome, and Gentry Lamiard.
So the only one that really did anything was
Batenhorst, and she came in mostly as a serving
sub. So you're seeing a brand new role. I don't
even know how to look at this team. I don't know
how they got ranked top 10. I mean, I feel like
a lot of these rankings are based on last year's
past performance. Yeah, when you lose your entire
roster, how are you in the top 10? I mean, a
lot of these programs are still going to be competitive
because they have good athletes that are here,
that come in, that have replacements. Nobody
else is taking huge jumps. You're still going
to be competitive, I think. Where are your biggest
misses in the top 10? Who do you think is going
to drop? Where do you think that's going to go?
Okay, so I said this a couple minutes ago. The
only team that I think really did an upgrade
was Nebraska. Come at me. Tell me that it's because
I went to Nebraska. It's not. I'm pretty objective.
I think. The teams that I think stayed neutral
or awash with the potential to improve as their
young players gain experience are Louisville,
Texas, Stanford, Kentucky, A &M, neutrals. And
the ones that I think are going to take a bit
of a hit, I think Penn State fans are going to
be mad at me. But Penn State, Pitt, Wisconsin,
and SMU. I agree with Nebraska being number one.
I think their pickups far outweighed what they
lost. I probably would have put Louisville a
little higher because some of the players they
brought in have experience and the committee
knows them. Probably would have put Kentucky
a little bit higher. I would have dropped Pitt
below three and I would have dropped Wisconsin.
I'm not convinced. Yeah, what do you think? Yeah,
I think Penn State stayed at two in my opinion
because they picked up Kennedy Martin. I think
next to Troy Stafford, she was the biggest. I
don't think they should be two. I think Louisville
deserves to be two. No, I'm saying I think that's
why she was still there. I mean, Kennedy Martin
is a fantastic player. I really like her. But
again, you're moving to a new conference. You
have generally bigger athletes here. I'm curious
to see how that goes for her. You lost your outside
core, you know, so I'm curious how the passing
is going to go. Can I see them? Getting there
and being a top team, absolutely. But I think
they're going to have to settle in. But as a
preseason ranking. Yeah, I agree. You know, I
think Stanford is going to drop out of the top
10 in the preseason. And then I think they'll
work their way back in as the season goes. I
think replacing Kami Miner is going to be really
tough for them. I don't think Wisconsin and SMU,
again, the teams with that much turnover, they're
going to drop. They're going to lose games. But
not like a Texas turnover. Like, Texas turnover
is like, let's just lose half of our players
and bring in everybody else. Yeah, but Texas
pulls different. No, that's what I'm saying.
It's a different type of turnover. Like, Wisconsin
and SMU lost players, and you're like, well,
now what? Yes. But Texas is like, okay, I can
see the vision here. Yeah. And did you lose Maddie
Skinner? Yes. Are you going to find another Maddie
Skinner? No, but you're going to have, it's kind
of like the Lexi Rodriguez drop -off. You have
enough athletes where you're going to, yes, maybe
you lose two or three points a set, but you have
other people who are stepping up and maybe able
to do that. So those would be kind of my initial
thoughts looking at that list. So just quickly,
we'll touch on this. If you are curious about
how some of these top -ranked teams look early
on, AVCA First Serve, which is like the highlight
preseason opening event, is happening this weekend.
We have doubleheaders every night, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, Monday. So good. Lincoln, Nebraska is
hosting Friday through Sunday, and then the Monday
matches are in South Dakota. Why? Beats me. So
the teams that are participating in this tournament
are Nebraska, Pitt, Penn State, Florida, Stanford,
Kansas, Creighton, Minnesota, Texas A &M, and
Vanderbilt. Who are you most curious to see?
Like right off the bat, new roster. Pick three,
because I know who I want to see. Pick three?
I'm very curious to see... Pitt, Penn State,
Stanford. Those are yours? Those are my three.
Okay, so basically what we've got here is we've
got a little bit of a cross -section from the
top four conferences. We've got three from the
Big Ten. We've got, I believe, three from the
ACC, two SEC, one Big 12, one Big East. I think
that's what it is. So you're probably like, why
the heck is Vanderbilt in this tournament? Vanderbilt
is reinstating their volleyball program. This
is the first year that they are kicking things
off again. So I think the NCAA kind of wanted
to highlight them. And then we've got several
teams that we talked about from the top 10. So
basically most teams in that four -day span are
going to be playing two matches. And then we've
got Creighton, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, and Texas
A &M. They're only going to be playing once.
So it really is a showcase. It's not a tournament.
But they did pit some of the top teams just in
a group against each other. I think they tried
to keep it a little balanced so that from a rankings
perspective, the top teams, they don't want to
weaken their schedule. So these teams are always
thinking about these things. Different combinations
of matches. It really is a showcase. So that
is going to be happening this weekend to kick
off NCAA preseason. All right. Those were our
previews for what is upcoming at the end of this
week. I am looking forward to a lot of... opinions
and thoughts about teams for those of you whose
favorite teams we talked about and you guys obviously
know more intimately than we do so let's hear
what your thoughts are about what moves your
teams have made it's time to dig into some listener
questions i think we've got some good ones this
week again so question one You've mentioned a
couple times how you don't think USA slash NCAA
does a good job preparing our athletes for the
international game, and that specifically our
young athletes don't compare to those of other
countries. Overall, I understand and agree with
your reasoning, but then I see our U19, U21 teams
being very successful, and it seems to me that
we do match up well with other countries and
their athletes at the same age. Okay, I understand
what you're saying. U19 women this summer came
second. U21 women came ninth. And I think this
is where you see, in this age range, is where
you see the discrepancy. So, I mean, the U .S.
is a massive country population -wise when it
comes to volleyball -playing nations in general.
And specifically on the women's side, the number
of youth playing the sport is incredible. It's
fantastic. It's competitive. You have lots of
good coaches. There's lots of big physical athletes
based purely on the number of athletes who are
playing the sport. So you can generally bring
together very talented girls who are competing
at a pretty high level with the top teams in
high school. And the Europeans, while they do
train with pro teams in high school, they do
play their age group as an aside as well. Correct.
I think, you know, U17 and U19, where those athletes
are going through high school and playing club,
it's competitive because you have a huge groundswell.
They're playing all the time and they compete
a lot at that age group. So they're able to kind
of keep up in that age range. For me, it's when
the athletes go off to college at kind of that
19 age range. So these athletes go to college,
keep playing with. players of similar talent,
and the top players from the other countries
go and train with pros. So then you have two
years of being in a professional, well, from
19 to 21. So of being in that kind of professional
environment. And I think that's where you see
the gap kind of start to happen at the top, top
level of players. Well, the Europeans are continuing
to train their full game because they're continuing
to play with international rules. They have to
develop a full skill set. The kids who go to
college, they do what they're required to do,
and they stop training half of the skills that
they need for international volleyball, aside
from the odd six rotation outside, which there
aren't many anymore in the NCAA. So yeah, that's
where you kind of see the things break off in
how the two prioritize their skills, and the
college programs want to win, and that's that.
So again, I think that's where you see more of
the deviation and less in the U17, U19. Again,
sheer volume of kids who are playing and physicalness
of the U .S. athletes keeps you competitive to
that range, I think. Question two, I'd love to
hear your thoughts on the Canadian National Team
youth programs and what you think of their summer
performances and whether Canada is progressing.
Personally, I'm concerned that the pipeline requires
families to be able to spend many thousands of
dollars a year, leaving more qualified athletes
with better potential out of the mix. Don't get
me started. Oh, boy. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I don't
know what the American system is. I don't know
if the American national team youth programs
require parents to pay. Somebody tell me. Obviously,
I'm Canadian, so I'm familiar with the Canadian
national team programs. First of all, the performance
of these youth teams was embarrassing. Embarrassing.
Okay. It is unacceptable. The future is not looking
good. Well, except... that we send some athletes
to play in the states except we send our athletes
to play in the states to get trained and then
let's and let's clarify we're talking about women's
because on the men's side they are competitive
not in youth though i was thinking the men's
youth teams too did real bad well i internationally
and on the kind of college comparison okay so
the canadian system pretty much if you are identified
as a top athlete If you want to go to the full
-time training center, you are dropping thousands
of dollars to be able to do that. If you're identified
as youth national team, junior national team,
same thing. You have to pay a lot of money to
be able to play for these teams, which I think
is absolutely ludicrous. I don't think that that
should be the case. I know that there are a lot
of club volleyball programs who subsidize the
cost for some of their athletes who can't afford
it, but I know that that's not the case across
the board. But I'm going to sound like a huge
jerk, which you guys are like, we already know.
But when I was that age and I was asked to play
for these teams and then they were like, to my
parents, they're like, oh, it's going to cost
this much. My parents were like, nah. Seriously,
they were like, absolutely not. We can train
her at home if you want her to play. Like, she's
not paying. Yeah, I mean. Which is maybe a power
move. And like, is it kind of douchey? A hundred
percent. But it's like the principle of it is,
is like, if you want to grow a program, you need
your top, top athletes to go. And you shouldn't
be putting families that could potentially go
into debt over this in order to make it happen.
Because these families are the ones investing
in your program. And then you're hoping to benefit
from them and all of their money later on. Yeah.
Can you tell that I'm passionate about this?
Volleyball Canada has. Less funding than the
U .S. program, for sure. I don't know how it
works in the U .S. for youth, though. I don't
know if the girls have to pay or not. That's
fair. But to me, what it seems like is the youth
programs are about trying to make money for either
the provinces or the national teams. Because
you have Ontario, for example, which is a province,
for those of you who don't pay attention to Canadian
sports, they run like 10 provincial teams. And
everybody has to pay to be a part of them. No,
the provincial teams don't even get me started.
That is like you're not even bringing in the
best athletes. It's like who wants to pay to
be able to say that they are on the provincial
team? It's a joke. And then as far as I'm aware,
for a lot of the national teams, for the youth
national teams, they show up for two weeks before
they play. You know, you can't really train or
develop skills in that time frame. There's no
development. You go, however good you are when
you show up, you go and play. Hopefully you get
all the same page. Like it's not, there's no
pipeline. They don't take it seriously. Yeah,
it's, you know, and whether that's they don't
have the resources, however else you do it, it's
not, you're not getting better being in those
environments. No. You have to invest in your
own development, you know, with your club, with
private lessons, you know, and those kind of
things. It's honestly sad. It's like the families
that can afford it, their kids then go off and
say, I'm on the national team. And the ones who
can't are left behind sometimes unless they're
clubs or they have a community around them who
are able to support them. But I think, yeah,
the fact that these kids have to pay to be able
to label themselves as elite is unacceptable.
Question three, if the U .S. women make it to
the quarters at World Championship but then get
knocked out, is that a good showing or a bad
showing for the USA? Is that our standard now?
Well, they better make it to the quarterfinals.
Given their pool and potential crossover, I think
that is the bare minimum they need to aspire
to. I wouldn't say that it's the standard for
them now because they are still missing some
players that have been successful. I think the
standard in this Worlds in particular, given
your roster, is more about how they play versus
the result, to be honest. I think it's a lot
of, you know, does Maddie Skinner step up being
given kind of a full -time opposite role? How
does she look at Worlds? How does Sarah Franklin
look passing and playing in that tournament?
I know they played VNL, but now you're starting
to solidify your roster a little bit more. and
what does that look like moving forward? So I
think if those athletes have good performances,
and then on top of that you look in system, you're
in matches, you have the chance to win, I think
they'll take that as a win. I think you need
to play better than you played in VNL. I don't
think right now they're particularly result -oriented
or focused. But... If the players that we've
discussed in past episodes are actually done
with national team, I'm not sure that the future
for USA is going to be very metal heavy. It'll
be interesting. But the other piece of this is
their bracket is wide open. They could make the
final. You're talking about having to beat Turkey,
Japan, Serbia. I don't think they're going to
make the final. I think bare minimum they're
in the quarters. 100%. If they don't make the
quarters, that's a failure. Straight up. But
if you're taking two, like if you look at a semifinal,
two teams from the other side of the bracket
are on the podium for sure. Absolutely. 100 %
agree with that. I don't know. I think it all
revolves around who is actually serious about
coming back or not. Yeah, and we don't have that
answer, and that's why I think it's going to
be more process -focused for this Worlds versus
results -focused. I just think other countries,
honestly, are moving ahead. Question four. What
do you think about the U .S. potentially running
a two -libero system for the World Championship?
I think Lexi's strength is usually her service
-y versus Hens, who is a scrappier, faster -reacting
player defensively. Oh, that's interesting. I
don't mind that setup. The only thing that concerns
me is Hentz's out -of -system setting hasn't
been very good from what we've seen in the VNL.
So is she making more digs that you get good
transition opportunities out of versus putting
hitters in a place where they can't score? And
I don't have the numbers to validate that. Yet.
I think that's a good point. If Hens can set,
I like it. If she's costing you transition, good
transition opportunities, I don't think it's
worth it. I agree with that. Question five. Why
does it seem like in the U .S. there's more love
and appreciation for university volleyball than
national teams? I'm not sure that's actually
true. I think it's true. I mean, you obviously
have some programs who have massive following.
Listen to the frickin' VNL commentary. of the
usa women's national team all these commentators
are talking about oh she went to this school
she did this at this school blah blah blah like
even in the international competition you're
tying it back to their college but that's because
that's what they know they're not there's your
answer you know there is there's a huge affiliation
with where you went to school and being tied
to those institutions as a sport franchise so
you you pay attention to that no matter what.
And on top of that, you don't get a ton of opportunity
to watch international volleyball, Team USA,
compete here live in the States. It's just not
as in -your -face. And the pro leagues are so
new. Yes. Versus in European countries and stuff,
the pro leagues kind of are the focus, whereas
in the U .S. for the longest time, all they've
had to watch is NCAA. Yeah. I think you have
probably a bigger aggregate base who follow the
national teams than you do for any one college
program, maybe other than Nebraska. So I think
there is still quite a few people who follow
the international game, who follow VNL, who follow
Worlds. I'm not sure I agree with that. It's
just not as much in your face. I'm not sure I
agree. You have the true diehard volleyball fans
who really follow international. National team
stuff, but you have the casual. If you are a
fan of just a school, you will casually follow
volleyball. And those people who are following
college volleyball because it is associated with
a school that they either attended or have a
tradition with, they're not watching international.
Okay, let me ask you this. You survey 10 Nebraska
volleyball fans. How many of those fans do you
think can name eight international players on
the national team and know kind of where U .S.
stands? I think Nebraska volleyball fans follow
Nebraska volleyball players. They'll be able
to tell you Jordan Larson, Kelsey Cook, Justine
Wong -Arantes, Lexi Rodriguez, and because they
went to the school that they care about. But
then by association, they're following the national
team. No, you don't think so? No. I don't think
you're giving the fans enough credit. I think
there are some that are really into it, but I
think there are some whose sole focus is on the
school that they care about. And I really do
think that it ties into the fact that that is
visible and international volleyball is like
an Olympic sport that has rarely been played
in North America. The teams go away to play.
I'm not hating on the fans. I'm just like...
I mean, you would have a better feel for it than
I would. But like in the pro leagues in Europe,
they're bringing all the international players
there. True. True. Who do you think has a better
rivalry? Pitt and Louisville or Wisconsin and
Nebraska? That was our next question. I wanted
you to answer that one. I would say Wisconsin
and Nebraska. Because I think Wisconsin and Nebraska,
their fan bases are... much larger, just period.
But I also think Nebraska and Wisconsin have
been at the top longer. So there's just that
history of the programs being successful, but
also the number of eyeballs. There's so much
going on in Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh, that
the entire focus of the state is not on Pitt.
Whereas like Nebraska is the focal point of that
state. University of Wisconsin is a huge focal
point of that state. Louisville is also in the
same state as the University of Kentucky. So
there's just like those inherent things that
I think just make the Wisconsin -Nebraska rivalry
like bigger. Question seven. I feel like this
is a good one for you to answer. Your comment
about Turkey being very inconsistent and volatile
is 100 % correct. What should Turkey do to overcome
this, both in the short term until World Championships
and long term? So I think in the short term they've
done it. Oh, sorry. They said that this could
apply to not just Turkey, but any team that struggles
with that. Yeah, I think in the short term they've
done everything they can to try and overcome
the issues they saw in VNL. Bringing Erdem back
is... probably your quickest method to kind of
balancing out what is happening there and hopefully
she leans into that role and she can do that
so i think that's a great quick fix and then
bringing a couple other left sides because those
are your volatile players in general and having
options to kind of bring them in and out and
try and find that combination that works in the
short term i think is probably the only things
you could do given the time frame long term It's
athlete development. It's mental stability. Sports
psychology. Yeah, all of those things in terms
of how you're approaching that, how you manage
mistakes, how your teammates are affected by
the emotion on the court. Kara Kurt gets a lot
of the blame for this because she's so emotional
and emotive and expressive. If she was the only
player going up and down, it wouldn't be as big
of an issue. But they're all affected. So it's
not only Karakurt who needs to kind of maybe
make some adjustments in how she approaches those
things, but also her teammates can prop her up
and let her do her thing and find her own rhythm
and still be able to perform themselves. So there's
just some... maturation or emotional management
I think that you kind of work on long term again
with your sports psych or how you manage those
inter -team dynamics. It's definitely not easy
and it's not a straightforward solution. Thank
you so much for everybody who submits questions.
We have got so many on the roster here. Almost
triple digits now. We are pulling several every
week but we love them so please keep them coming.
All right, so now that we have some more volleyball
to watch, here are some of the things that you
guys should be looking forward to this week.
Men's U21 World Champs start this week in China.
You can check that out on FIVB TV. Women's World
Champs are starting on Friday. Sometimes these
first round matchups can be a little lopsided.
So here are some of the ones that we think will
be good games. Friday, 6 a .m. Eastern, Netherlands
versus Sweden should be pretty competitive. Saturday
at 5 a .m. Eastern, Canada versus Bulgaria. That
one could also be pretty good. We're still unsure
of what the Canadian roster is going to be. So
it'll be interesting to see who they send. I
heard Kira Van Rijk did not travel for their
pre -tournament stuff. Hopefully she's on a private
jet on her way over. Get that girl over there.
Sunday at 8 .30 a .m. Eastern, you have Brazil
versus France. So we'll see how those teams look.
And then locally, NCAA preseason is starting.
If you want to watch any of the NCAA this week,
you can tune in to the AVCA First Serve. Friday
matches are on Fox, and those are starting at
7 p .m. Eastern. Saturday, starting at 3 p .m.
Eastern on Fox Sports 1. Sunday, starting at
1 p .m. on ESPN. And Monday at 6 .30 p .m. Eastern
on BTN. Just mixing it up to keep it very straightforward
and easy for people to figure out. I hope you've
got your comprehensive sports package dialed
in if you want to watch that volleyball. Also,
if a day should arise, maybe next Monday, maybe
the Monday after, where you are waiting for a
podcast to drop and it just doesn't, it is because
I'm giving birth. Something else has dropped.
Literally, out of my body. We are missing sometime
a week somewhere around now. That is why. We
will get back as soon as we can be. But yeah,
we're just waiting at this point. Yeah, so just
a heads up. 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
also find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore
podcast. If you have a topic that you'd like
us to discuss, reach out to us on Instagram or
at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for
joining us and we'll be back next week. Maybe.