LOVB Finals and an Analysis of the Inaugural Season

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. The first season of love is in the books,
everybody. And we are dedicating this episode
not only to unpacking the final weekend that
just happened, but also to analyzing all things
love after their inaugural season, what we thought
went well, what we would change, just a full...
rundown. We do have a few updates from the rest
of the volleyball world but overall this is going
to be a love season recap so buckle up because
we're about to get started. NCAA women's volleyball.
Still making headlines. The Creighton head coach,
Kirsten Bernthal Booth, stepped away from the
program after leading it for 22 years. So her
assistant, Brian Rosen, is going to replace her
as the head coach. But she is actually going
to be taking on an administrative role within
Love in Omaha. I feel like that is a bold move
when you're the head coach of a top 10 program,
you've built the program, and then you're going
to leave to go be an admin in love. That's, wow.
I wonder, I mean, 22 years as a head coach of
a program is a lot of time, energy, effort, love
that goes into doing that. You're on the roads.
I'm wondering if this is a way to be. in the
sport and wind down a little bit because that's
a long time I mean good for her she seems excited
about it I was just shocked when I saw the news
because I was like dang they had a really good
season last year they've been getting better
and better but best of luck to her and to Creighton
as they move forward The Italian League playoffs,
as you know, still happening. So, Conigliano
beat Novara in four matches. Milano took down
Scandici 3 -0. So, those two teams are meeting
up in the finals. That starts this week. And
then, on the men's side, Trentino is up 2 -0
on Piacenza. And Perugia is up 2 -0 on Civitanova.
So, match three. which could potentially be the
last set of matches for the men's semis, is also
happening on Wednesday. So we are winding down
seasons left and right here. Speaking of that,
NCAA men, it wasn't as wacky a week as last week.
Holy. But Lewis beat Loyola Chicago 3 -0. So
they actually took them down in both of their
matches this season in MIVA. UCLA beat BYU in
both of their matches. They won in four and in
five. USC got taken down twice by Stanford in
four and five. That is the upset of the week.
And, you know, just after we thought Stanford
had hit the pause button on their season because
they weren't playing well. You know what? I think
we should start collecting royalties from NCAA
men's programs. We'll talk about them playing
poorly. And then they'll come back the next week,
and they will be great opponents. So I think
we should start a fund for that. For sure. It's
actually uncanny at this point how often it's
been happening. And then they go back down to
earth the next week. Oh, yeah. But anyway, was
not expecting that. Long Beach State and Hawaii
split. Long Beach took the first in four, and
then Hawaii won the second in five. We were ultra
-focused on Love this weekend, so we didn't watch.
We will probably touch on some of these matches
in our next episode because... I'm watching those
two. There's just too much to cover with Love
finishing up this week. We wanted to put a nice
bow on it, but that is a big match, set of big
matches. Unfortunately... I don't think it even
matters because now Hawaii and Long Beach State
have both lost two matches in the Big West. So,
you know, Hawaii had their chance last week against
CSUN. If they had managed to leave that series
with two wins, they very likely would have gone
into the Big West tournament as number one. But
now I think it's going to go to Long Beach State
probably. Interesting that they split. figuring
that there's at least a decent likelihood they
meet in the final. So both teams are leaving
feeling optimistic with their chances, I think,
after that. It'll be a very interesting playoff
time. Speaking of that, the Meva playoff bracket
is set. So Loyola Chicago actually took the one
seed, followed by McKendree, Ohio State, Lewis,
and Ball State. Ball State and Lewis are facing
off in the quarters, which leaves, if Lewis wins,
they're going to be facing Loyola Chicago in
the semi, and Lewis has beaten Loyola Chicago
in both of their MIVA matches this year. That
one's going to be interesting to follow to see
if Loyola Chicago, whether they knew this match
didn't mean much to them in the standings, whether
they're going to be ready to go, can you flick
the switch? That is also one that I'm curious
to watch come playoff time. And McKendree, that's
their best finish in MIVA ever. So I'm curious.
Congrats to McKendree for a great regular season.
Are they going to be able to keep the pedal to
the metal in playoff time? They've got a tough
opponent in the potential semi if they advance
in Ohio State. So things are going to get spicy
once the semifinals roll around in MIVA. And
the only other conference whose sort of conference
tournament bracket has come out is Conference
Carolinas. So Mount Olive and Belmont Abbey have
the top two seeds there. So it is likely that
one of those two teams are going to be in the
tournament as well. Looking to the PVF this week,
Atlanta took care of business again, beating
San Diego and Orlando. Vegas. Back to not being
able to buy a win. They lost both their games,
one to Omaha and one to Columbus. Grand Rapids
surprised Indian five. And as overall standings
go, Vegas has now dropped to seventh. And they're
only one game up on Columbus. Now, I will say
that I picked Columbus to not finish last. But
I didn't think at the time that it would be Vegas
that fell below them. That is a fall from grace,
quite frankly. Like, literally from top to bottom.
Yeah, that's hard to do. And that game against
Columbus was clearly important. Definitely. Now
we see how important it was, how close they are
in the standings. They're only a game up on Columbus,
and Columbus beat them. Well, now I wonder if
they're trying to tank on purpose for the draft.
But, I mean, I have to think as a head coach,
you're also fighting for your job. At that point,
because, yeah, it's a mess. So we'll see how
they play out at the end of the season and what
happens there. But if we look at the standings
for the PVF, again, the top four teams go on
to the playoffs. This is looking kind of set
at this point. I think we would have to see a
spectacular run or a pretty big fall off. But
the rankings are Omaha 1, then Atlanta, Orlando,
and Indy. So Orlando jumped up a spot. They were
hanging out in fourth. Indy probably wants that
game back from Grand Rapids. Yeah, definitely.
And there's still room for a little bit of jockeying.
But in terms of going to the playoffs, I think
that those teams are kind of shoe -ins unless
there's a catastrophe. That might be our quickest
weekly highlights in recent memory, ladies and
gentlemen. We flew through that because... We've
got a lot to take care of on the love front.
Honestly, it was a slow week overall in volleyball.
Love definitely took the focus. Things are, like
we said, kind of winding down here. NCAA men
are going to have their conference tournament
soon. PVF only has a few matches left, and then
we're going to get into international season.
So just kept it snip -snap, you know, nice and
quick this week. Still some interesting stuff
nonetheless. All right, everybody, let's dive
in to the Love Finals. As you know, the season
-ending tournament playoff battle happened this
week in Louisville in conjunction with the JVA
World Challenge. youth event that was happening
there. So we had two quarters followed by two
semis with the grand finale on Sunday. In the
strangest turn of events that ever could have
happened. I don't even know where to begin with
this whole weekend. Well, the word of the weekend
was upset. Literally from start to finish. Okay,
so quarterfinal one, Salt Lake versus Austin.
Reverse sweep. Austin wins. Very close match,
though. All sets were a difference of two points.
Entertaining match. Salt Lake had no business
losing that. They were up 14 -10 in the fifth.
Yeah. I'm sorry. Are you kidding me? They could
not close it out. How do you lose that? I definitely
have some strong thoughts about that last run
of points, but... Do tell. Okay. If you insist.
Ronnie Jones -Perry imploded. I understand that
Skylar Fields couldn't score. I understand that
they had trouble putting the ball on the ground.
There were a couple very diggable balls, and
there were a couple lollipop serves. All to Ronnie
Jones Perry, who didn't dig anything and got
aced, passed backwards. It's in the details here,
people. I understand, put a ball on the ground,
I get it. Somebody had to finish. But there were
a couple very straightforward plays, and she
was at the center of all of them. So my question
for you is, what... Aside from the meltdown at
the end, what do you attribute the turnaround
in that match to? Because Salt Lake was up two
sets to zero, and then abracadabra. I thought
that Austin was able to run their middles, and
their middles dominated that match, in my opinion.
They both played phenomenal. In fact, Molly McCage
had... maybe the best weekend of her life. She
was unbelievable. So, I mean, Maddie Skinner
was also good. Give her props where prop is due.
She held her own, scored a lot of points, wasn't
the most efficient attacker, but she scored big
points for them. But for me, it was Molly and
Chiaka. Molly hit 476 on 21 attempts and had
six blocks. She scored 20 points alone, which
was the second highest on the team. As a middle,
that's wild. But follow that up by Chiaka, who
also had 15 points and seven blocks. She didn't
attack as efficient as Molly did, but those two
were able to kind of hold the middle of the court
and be difference makers. And I, yeah, to me,
that was the difference. And we can talk about...
Salt Lake serving, maybe letting off a little
pressure or Austin passing a little better or
finding their rhythm. But for me overall, the
middles were golden in this match. The other
thing I will say about this match is Salt Lake
outdug Austin 82 to 68. They had multiple opportunities
and their pin hitters could not find ways to
score in key moments. I think that was... Honestly,
the biggest difference. That was the start of
the absolute mind meld that happened in Louisville
this weekend. Just, I can't, I still am having
trouble processing everything that I witnessed.
But in the second quarterfinal, Omaha beat Madison
in four. And last week, if you remember, Adam
was 100 % sure. I sure was. That Madison was
going to dominate that match. I think we all
were pretty confident. I thought Salt Lake was
going to win the other one. I mean, Omaha came
together. Everything came together for them.
It was actually crazy to watch. And, you know,
they had three matches, and we'll talk about
it. But the combination of Sammy Francis and
Lauren Stiverins being in that match, were huge
difference makers overall in the whole weekend.
Not necessarily, not quite as much in this match
specifically. In this match, Maddie Kubik -Banks
played incredibly well. Very good. She was unbelievable.
And, I mean, I don't think we should be surprised,
but Jordan Larson had a very good weekend for
her team. She just had a different attitude about
her, I thought, compared to what we've seen for
the rest of the season. you could tell she really
wanted to win this weekend. And it was a pleasure
getting to watch her play like that. Before,
and I don't, what I'm assuming will be a retirement,
I don't know. But it was really great to see
that kind of fire and execution again. She decided
that this mattered to her. Yes. And she was willing
to put the effort in, and it showed. In all of
the matches. She led that team and that intensity
and those intangibles along with playing well.
And Justine Wongarantes was unreal. So good.
Her defense is so good. And we've gotten so many
questions. Why isn't Lexi playing? Why isn't
Lexi playing? Because Justine is just better.
I'm sorry. She is so good defensively. outstanding
setter like her passing is solid there is a reason
why she is the starting libero and Lexi isn't
and I know Lexi's got a lot of fans but like
she put on a show and some of the balls that
she picked up I was like wow yeah totally agree
and then on the flip side Sarah Franklin struggled
that was for me I thought she was going to be
a difference maker in these playoffs. I thought
she was going to elevate the same way we've seen
her elevate in the past. I thought that she was
finding her rhythm, both passing and attacking
wise, coming into this. I know it was a bit of
a roller coaster season for her. I expected her
to have a good match and, you know, she really
didn't. They kind of stopped setting her. She
only got 23 sets and she hit 087. She only scored
eight points. She was a bit of a passing liability.
you know, on top of everything else. They needed
her to be able to score points. And she just
didn't rise to the occasion on this particular
day. And they brought Shausean for her eventually.
Who played well. I mean, she only got 17 sets,
but she hit 353. Like she did what she could
do in a given situation. But you needed Sarah
Franklin to be the Sarah Franklin we've seen,
you know, throughout her career. I think we've
talked about this before with Madison. They set.
annie drew schumacher so much 52 times it's too
much well the next closest person got 30 you
just know where the ball's going well and the
thing is is like definitely she carried madison
through that win streak that they went through
at the end of the season but when it mattered
she didn't show up They fed her so many balls
at the end of set three and four in that quarterfinal,
and she couldn't score. And again, she did a
great job helping Madison and leading Madison
to the position they ended up in in the regular
season. But when the regular season doesn't really
matter, that match mattered. And they just kept
feeding her the ball, and she was just not putting
it away. A lot of the stats were pretty similar
in terms of the serving and the blocking, but
the big differentiator was defensively, no surprise,
with Jordan and Justine in the back row. They
had 71 digs to Madison's 56, and they've dug
well all season, but their hitters scored in
these matches. All of their hitters hit over
200. Most of them hit over 300. As a team, They
were incredibly efficient, and they hit .353
in this match as a team. If you're going to dig
that many balls inside out like that, you're
going to win matches. And they just executed.
Okay, let's move on to the semifinals. This is
the point in the tournament where I started being
like, there is a conspiracy going on. There,
I'm sorry, there was no reason. Atlanta and Houston
were by far the best two teams in this league.
The fact that both of them lost to the bottom
two seeded teams, I was like, the league wanted
this to happen. They wanted the markets of Austin
and Omaha to make it to that final. And then...
to build off of their narrative about how much
parity there is in the league and how many five
setters the league has had this season. Like,
come on. You cannot tell me that two reverse
sweeps in the semifinals to get those two markets
into the final. I was so, I'm not saying this
actually happened, but I was so convinced that
there was some sort of love conspiracy going
on. I could not believe what I was watching.
Again. For Austin, to me, the story for them
was they ran their middles consistently. I'm
looking at my notes from this match, and set
one, Austin running the middle. Set two, Austin
still running the middle. They were able, and
that matters in those five -set matches. When
your middles are a threat all throughout the
match, that opens up your outside hitters when
it counts. And again, let's look at this. Now,
Matty Skinner, again. She was phenomenal. She
had 29 points. She hit 364 on 55 attacks. She
was very good. But your next two best players,
Chiaka and Molly, hitting 238 for Chiaka, which
was better than the match before, but she had
four blocks, and Molly hitting 625. They both
had 13 points. That makes a difference. Very
good. And on the flip side for Atlanta, I thought
Coutinho played well, 20 points, hit .364. Mackenzie
Adams played very well in the first two sets.
She was .229 on the match, but much higher in
those first two sets. And I thought Tia Jimerson
played pretty well. Austin showed that if they
were passing well and in system, they just had
too many weapons. And I don't think it had all
come together for Austin at any point in this
season, but it all just clicked this weekend.
Their passing has not been a strength all season.
Their setting was a liability. All season. Carly
Lloyd just hanging out and waiting to rocket
in the final. They couldn't figure out which
setter was going to be consistent at any given
time. So that was rough. The passing, that libero
switch they made when they had the coaching change,
I think that was a big plus. Because Inoue, I
think she is very good. And as we were saying
the entire season, get Chiaka involved. as much
as possible. And to their credit, in the matches
that they won, which were all of them, they got
good passing teams in trouble. They upped their
service pressure, their passing improved, and
they ran their middles so much more consistently
than they have been. And it came together right
when it had to, like you said. I have a question
for you. Do you prefer Madison Skinner out of
the front row or the back row? She's 100 % a
better hitter from the back row. My second question
is, I mean, she's always going to be on the radar
because of her physicality, but do you think
that this performance this weekend raises her
stock for Team USA as a right side? I mean, we
knew she would be in the conversation. The question...
I still don't think she hits angles. I still
think she hits very straight the majority of
the time. I think she definitely needs to become
a little more creative. I think from the back
row, she's outstanding. As I said, I prefer her
as a back row hitter than front row hitter. Her
blocking on the right side has improved. Do I
think that she can compete right now with the
likes of the Isabel Hawks? Boscovich, the Vargas,
the Eganu, no. I think their angles are better.
They're hitting the ball harder. They have much
more experience. I think she'll be in the conversation,
and I think it just depends who else they bring
and how bad Jordan Thompson wants to hold on
to her spot. Okay, part two of my semifinal conspiracy
theory was Houston versus Omaha. This to me was
the biggest upset of the weekend. And you look
at Austin and the other semifinal, you always
knew they had a ton of really good athletes and
they just couldn't seem to figure out how to
put all the pieces together. But this one, I
just never saw this coming. Well, I think a huge...
Shock to me. Maddie Kubik -Banks got absolutely
demolished in the face in the quarter. That's
one of my top five packs in the face I've ever
seen. Oh, man, and she was in six back, too.
That's the craziest part. Anyway, got concussed,
was in concussion protocol. I thought the loss
of her was going to be the beginning of the end
for Omaha. I didn't think that it was a good
matchup for them. to begin with and then seeing
how Maddie has kind of really come into her own
over the in the last chunk of the season and
losing her after a great performance the night
before I was like okay they're in trouble yeah
I I thought the same thing because I didn't think
Winters would be able to hang and like you said
I don't think Winters was planning on playing
Kubik was playing well like it's a blow to kind
of the team's success at that point, after a
big win in the quarterfinals. To me, the story
of this match was the three middles. And I know
that Lauren Stiffens is on the right side, but
she's still a middle in my books. And the head
of that, Sammy Francis, was unconscious in this
match. She played so well, and I know she only
hit... 222 but she got set 27 times in some tough
situations she scored the second most points
on the team at 16 and had six blocks she was
a force out there and coming in having not practiced
with the team on an emergency call -up or whatever
the protocol was from there she was outstanding
i like her She has got a little bit of swagger.
She's not in your face about it, but, oh, man,
you can tell. The way she looks through the net,
sometimes I'm like, okay. She's a girl after
her own heart. Yeah. And she just hits. She's
a similar size to a lot of middles. She's 6 '6",
so she is big. But she's not hitting sharp angles.
She's hitting high and deep to the corners, which
is. So different than what we typically see from
middles. And it's very effective. I really like
the way she hits the ball. Yeah. And so between
Sammy Francis, 16 points. Emily Thader, 14 points.
Lauren Stivrens, 12 points. Coming in on the
double sub. That's where most of their points
came from. Because the outside hitting core for
Omaha struggled in this match. You had... Drevniak
hit 179, Jordan Larson hit 116, and Jayla Winters
hit 063. Those three players were, to me, the
only reason they won that match. And it was really
cool to see because middles always affect whether
you win or lose, but very... They get no love.
Yeah, very rarely do you see the core of them
taking over a match and the reason you won. And
I don't mean to cut... Wonga Rontas out because
she was very good in this match. Again. Yeah,
she was. Houston, however, Raphael Foley finally
getting the respect she deserves. She played
very well. She had eight blocks in that match.
Yeah. Rischel is always steady. She's there predominantly,
as we have said, for her ball control, her defense.
Hit 204. You can't ask anything else from her.
That's like her job. Merzik, as much as Maddie
Skinner has elevated her performance in the last
little while, I would say Franklin and Merzik
went in the opposite direction. She did nothing.
She hit 0 -50 on 40 sets. Couldn't pass, missed
serves, couldn't score. Like, I was disappointed.
I would agree because I think these are the moments
where... You know, as Merzik, Franklin, you want
to be able to elevate. And those teams are reliant
on you. And it just didn't happen for them. And
I was having a hard time reading Merzik's body
language. She almost seemed aloof. Resigned to
their fate. Yeah. Like it wasn't, you didn't
see that fight that you saw when she was in college.
It was smile, hug your teammate, you know, come
back in. And that's. fine if that's who you are
like the fire i saw from jordan larson is what
i expected from merzik like you're in the beginning
of your career you had better be showing up because
like people are watching your crew like you're
just at the beginning you're still trying to
make an impression meanwhile jordan larson's
at the end and she is coming with more fight
and more fire and more like gumption than you
like That's a problem. And Jordan calling the
ball. She didn't have a great night, but when
the sets were on the line, she was calling for
the ball. She was making digs. She was taking
swings. Yes. She made plays down the stretch
because there were a couple really tight sets
that she found ways to score. I don't know. Okay.
What do you think about... Houston's double sub
because it was being criticized left right and
center all match about what a terrible choice
it was um what do you think about the frequency
at which they were doing the double sub and taking
Hancock and Thompson out I didn't really have
a problem with it I thought the other players
came in did what they needed to do I mean they've
been successful for a long time they've used
that double sub throughout the season as far
as I'm aware you know it's not like Jordan Thompson
was unconscious in that match. Like, she played
well, but she wasn't scoring on everything she
touched. And, I mean, Micah Hancock is obviously
very good. And also credit to her, she served
unbelievably well in this match. Oh my gosh,
I think she must have won the whole match. Yeah,
and she was the reason, quite frankly, they won
the first two sets. She had serving runs. One
of them was in the double digits, I believe.
Crazy. And I think it was the first set. She
was so good. In that regard. But you know what?
I didn't have a problem with it. It is something
that they've relied on all season. They were
number two in the league. They've had a lot of
success. For all intents and purposes, it should
still be going. And I understand that Grace Froehling
hasn't played for a little while. But it hasn't
been criticized up until this point. And just
because they were getting into some run issues,
all of a sudden it was because of the double
sub. And I was like, wait, what? But they don't
make many other subs, so you have them sitting
there. And if you need to use it, you use it.
And if it doesn't work, you can take it out.
I didn't think it was a coaching error in any
way, shape, or form. And like you said, I feel
like it was kind of a similar situation to the
Andy Drew Schumacher where Jordan Thompson was
quite dominant in the second part of the season.
And I don't think... She was okay, but I don't
think she was playing at the level that we are
used to seeing her play at in that match. Well,
again, she played well in the first two sets.
The sets they won. Yeah. And then she had a little
trouble scoring. And again, she had trouble scoring
after 20. And we have mentioned that before because
you know where the ball is going. At that point,
Mirzik's not playing particularly well. Point
is on the line. Everybody knows it's going to
Jordan Thompson. They're putting up a good block.
They're playing defense around them. You have
Jordan Larson and Juan Garantes digging you.
You have a decent -sized block up there when
you're doing the Stiverins substitution and Sammy
Francis is up there. They managed to apply a
lot of pressure to Thompson at the end of those
sets, and she didn't score, and Jordan did. Friday
night, I just sat after the games and I was like,
I don't know what I just saw. Like, what is happening?
Sammy Francis coming to the team and Lauren Stiverance
coming back from injury injected new life to
them. And maybe there's something to be said
for not having video on them, for not seeing
them before, because you saw all of these other
players, you know, seven times throughout the
season. But those two found a way to make a difference
and it was fun to watch. And now the final. Unfortunately,
the most straightforward of all the matches.
You would hope that the final would be the most
exciting, but this one was pretty cut and dry.
A dominant performance by Austin. They just weren't
going to lose. No. Omaha is known for their passing
and defense. Austin found a way to break down
their serve -receive. They were also in system.
which has been their weakness. So they had all
options available all the time, and they blocked
like crazy. 16 blocks to three on the match.
That's insane. Insane. Omaha's passing struggled,
so their offense was quite slow, and with a blocking
core like Austin has. You can't run it that slow
because they were just camped out. They knew
where the ball was going at all time. And honestly,
they didn't even have to read or do any planning.
It was just like, wait for the set, close the
block. It was like very volleyball 101. I mean,
Austin's middles were good again. But the story
of this match was Logan Eggleston and Maddie
Skinner. I have to read you their stat line because
it's... off the hook. Logan hit 469 on 32 attempts,
and she had five blocks for 22 points on the
match in three sets. She was amazing. And Skinner
followed up right behind, 21 points, hit 308
on 39 sets, hit some ridiculous shots coming
out of the back row. It was... Amazing to watch.
She also had four blocks and five digs. Those
two players showed up to play in the final and
were untouchable. Well, we have to give credit
to Ogbalgu and McKage too because they were so
good in the first two matches that Omaha knew
if Austin is in system, we need to stick with
their middles. And I'm not saying that Eggleston
and Skinner had like no block up. They definitely
did. But the way, the power of the middle when
it is working and it was working really well
in the two matches leading up to that, it makes
your outside's lives so much easier. Like there
were definitely some seams available. There were
some angles available that probably wouldn't
normally be if A, they weren't passing so well
and B, the middles hadn't just. dominated in
the matches prior i kept saying all match omaha
needs to just like unload on their serves because
they have no chance they're just austin was in
system all the time i mean omaha didn't take
enough chances from the service line they had
two aces and two heirs they needed to go back
and bomb serves at the passers and it's one other
interesting thing you talk about the middles
not being able to close and leaving some seams,
what that does is it allows the hitters to stay
away from Justine. It gives you options to not
have to go to where they're setting up their
defense. And that also renders her more ineffective
than she was against the other matches. And I
thought that was a huge, they managed to take
her out of the game a little bit. Yeah. Well,
we saw Dikema did not play good defense. The
outsides for Austin had their way hitting the
ball at her. She was not picking anything up.
And they were hammering balls in the seam. Like
there were balls that landed in the middle of
the court between the block. Like you're not
going to stop that. And so it was disappointing
not to see Omaha make the serving adjustment
and just go for it because I think that is a
huge reason for Austin's success over the weekend
is their service pressure definitely increased.
And they missed a bunch out the baseline in all
matches we watched. But they just kept going
and it allowed their block to come into it, which
is their strength. Well, they made life for Jalen
Winters miserable. Winters was absolutely atrocious.
I'm sorry. She hit negative 0 -3 on 31 sets.
She was not. She had trouble passing. She offensively
was. A liability. Omaha in general struggled
passing, but they targeted her the most. Yeah,
and I mean, Sammy Francis and Emily Thader still
had pretty good matches. They were able to score
when they got chances. Stiverins and Blossom
struggled to connect in this match, which we
hadn't seen up until that point. Stiffens was
kind of held off the score sheet. She hit zero
on 14 sets, and she was able to generate some
offense in the other matches. I thought Jordan
was steady. She hit almost 300 on 24 sets. She
was trying to will that team to keep going, but
Winters was just not able to hang. And Jordan's
not attacking out of the back row, so it just
kind of exposes her even more. I mean, Austin
deserved to win that match. They had the best
weekend. The weekend that they put together was
what they needed. They were outstanding. As we
were saying, they got their serving dial in.
Most importantly, got their passing sorted out.
Every one of their hitters was able to have an
impact and put up some great numbers. They are
the team that looked the best this weekend. put
it all together in the three matches that it
mattered for. And not surprisingly, given her
weekend, Maddie Skinner was MVP of the finals.
She should be. She elevated. It was really cool
to see. And you could see she was gaining confidence
like every swing she took. And, yeah, so congrats
to Austin, the inaugural love champions. getting
their names all over that Tiffany trophy we heard
so much about. It was a fun weekend of volleyball
for the most part. It looked like good competition.
Teams were out there playing hard back and forth.
It was enjoyable. All right. With the season
officially wrapped, we wanted to go over a bit
of an analysis on the league. Talk about some
things they did well, things that maybe we would
hope to see look different moving forward, things
like that. So we're breaking it down into different
categories and we're just going to kind of discuss
our thoughts as we go. So to start, love's mission.
What are your thoughts on their mission and what
they're about? So I love the idea of it being
from the grassroots to the pro level. I think
that that is a great vision and mission for how
sports should be done. I like that they spent
time, you know, as far as we're aware, giving
back to clubs in the cities that they were being
accessible to the young female athletes. I think
for those athletes having a role model, being
in the gym, seeing that. I think it's fantastic.
So what they're trying to do and how they're
taking a holistic approach to it, also in terms
of the maternity leave and how they structure
those things around the athletes, I'm 100 % on
board. I agree. I am all about what they're trying
to do. I think especially as a young female athlete,
having examples. That you can look up to in your
own country, potentially in your own city, your
own training gym. That will keep girls in sport
longer. And I think it's necessary because girls
drop out of sport so quickly once they reach
about 13 years old. So I think their mission
for female athletics, female volleyball, is amazing.
Creating that pathway from youth to college to
the pro level. I am all about what they are trying
to do from a mission perspective for sure. What
are your thoughts on the volleyball that you
saw this season? The level of volleyball is good.
I think it's the best level that we see in North
America right now. I think as far as like...
the enthusiasm, the passion, the drive that I
saw in the finals, that is kind of what I would
expect from professional athletes from start
to finish. And I didn't really see that push
and that drive and that outward desire to win
so much as I did. In the last weekend. I think
there were spurts throughout the season. A match
would get heated in a fifth set or there would
be, you know, a close set. And after 15 back
and forth, you would see glimpses of it. But
I agree for the most part. I think that weekend
was much more intense and less friendly. than
the season. Yeah. And like for the whole season,
you could tell that the majority of athletes,
particularly the Americans, were happy to be
there. They were happy to be playing at home,
not having to live overseas for, you know, whatever
number of years they've been playing. It almost
seems like, we've said this before, some of the
matches just seemed like scrimmages. where they're
there they're having a good time oh national
team teammates we're all good this is fun I don't
know I I like that when something is on the line
you see people get like maybe a little more aggressive
some stares through the net it's exciting as
a fan and as a viewer to to see that enthusiasm
to see the passion to see how fired up they get
when they score that tight point. And I wish
that that had been there the whole season. I
mean, I think case in point was Jordan Larson.
You saw a different Jordan Larson in those three
matches than you did all season, in my opinion.
And I'm singling her out because her team kind
of went from the bottom to the finals, and her
specific performance was very marked. It happened
with a bunch of other athletes as well. I would
say, looking at the league as a whole, I think
the setting was pretty strong. I would say the
libero position was reasonably strong. I think
they're lacking the most on the outside. Middles,
I feel like it was 50 -50. You had some middles
that I was like... okay, this is really good.
And then some where the level kind of dropped.
But I think the biggest gap skill -wise in Love
right now is on the outside because the libero
in setting positions, I don't know if you agree
with this or not, I thought they were solid.
Yeah, I agree. The offenses were good. The decision
-making was good. The liberos passed well and,
for the most part, found a way to make a difference
on defense. Yeah, you don't see any of those.
big outside players that you are seeing in some
of the other leagues. So I think that's a fair
assessment. Where would you rank this league
from a volleyball level perspective compared
to other leagues that we have watched or been
exposed to? I think it slots kind of in that
second tier. You know, if you look at Germany
or a France or a Poland you know again there's
only six teams in love and they managed to divide
the teams up so that there's a relative amount
of parity so I think that you know they would
probably beat the lower ranked teams in those
divisions and would you know struggle maybe with
the top two teams from the other leagues and
have really good games with the middle top like
i think in and around there i think they would
probably be competitive for sure in the germany
or france situation and i know so many of you
who listen to the podcast think that the german
and french leagues are just terrible but i would
encourage you to think like think about how many
teams are in those leagues you know like love
has just six teams and they deliberately set
out to try to make them as even as possible you
don't get that in other leagues where presidents
and management are buying players from around
the world yeah when you're looking at a roster
of teams with like 12 or more in a league like
sure the bottom teams might not be great but
there's like a promotion and demotion thing happening
like the top teams are doing decently and advancing
decently well in champions league so We need
to think about that. I mean, Justine Wong -Arantes,
I think you told me, and if I'm not mistaken,
played in the German leagues leading up to the
Olympics. She has made her career in Germany
up until this point. So if she's able to prepare
for the Olympics to play on the highest level,
there is good volleyball happening there. Yeah,
I would agree. I would kind of slot it in as
a second -tier league right now. And the thing
is, you're seeing so many experienced players
in this league. the majority of the athletes
have been around yeah you know it's not like
a lot of the top leagues where you've got like
20 year old prodigies and the 24 year old like
current national team stars like no the majority
of the athletes here are seasoned veterans they're
on their way out they've played at a high level
for a very long time it's just a very different
structure. So I think that lent itself to a good
level of volleyball because of the experience,
but it wasn't quite there compared to some other
ones, obviously. Well, and in this league, you
have experience where it matters, right? A good
libero and a good setter, you have somebody who
can... quarterback the defense and make sure
things are coming up make sure you can consolidate
the passing and then you have a setter who understands
the flow of the game can maybe fix some things
run an offense find players like having experience
in those two positions specifically allow the
rest of the athletes to kind of fill in and maybe
make up for again the love six who don't have
any professional experience so I don't think
the way they did it was, it was smart, right?
You brought an experience in key positions to
kind of help everyone else around you. What are
your thoughts on the league branding? This kind
of ties into a question that we received. This
person asked, can you tell me your thoughts on
the love marketing, the scribbles that represent
the team? With the small VB letters is really
hard to understand. How is this promoting the
league? That's what this person asked. I personally
am not a fan of the branding. For me, because
we don't have a team in our city, I want to pick
a team to follow and to like. And I found that.
very hard to do with love there's just no differentiation
and I understand that that is the way the league
is set up you are a love volleyball fan but I
think that there's something special about having
a team and and following that team and being
invested I found it hard to go oh I really want
to watch this team it was more oh, I think that
that could be a good match. I think that these
two players against each other will be interesting
to watch. And even when you watch them on the
court, it all kind of looks the same to you other
than two different colors. The jerseys are the
same, the navy. I like the feeling of home and
away. I like knowing you're in somebody's gym,
your home gym. It just, again, for me, I... wish
I could have identified and picked a team that
I liked and just have them stand out but I think
that that was very intentional by the love squad
so I would say mission accomplished for what
they wanted but if I found it hard to resonate
with personally yeah and I personally did was
not a fan of their team marketing either you
could kind of pick out the city names in those
designs, but were they clear and distinct? Absolutely
not. And your only differentiator is that little
scribble and a color. Like I wasn't a fan of
that at all. So I doubt they'll change it. They'll
probably keep it as it's going and keep everything
under the love umbrella, but their branding,
not the best in my opinion. Let's talk about
the format of the season. What were your thoughts?
I have a few thoughts. First of all, I think
it got stale for me, like really fast. The way
that they had just a head -to -head match and
then everybody else goes to one location, it
gets kind of boring when you're seeing the same
matchup. Over and over and over again. Like even
with six teams. I would have loved to see just
a traditional. Everybody kind of has a matchup
for the weekend. You play at one team's home
gym. You go through those. You go home away.
However many times you feel is necessary. But
it just I stopped looking forward to watching.
Because it just felt stale. For me, I had two
thoughts. One is I wish the playoffs would have
been best of three series. I wish we could have
seen some rivalries. Don't get me wrong. The
weekend was intense. There was some good volleyball.
There were some unexpected results. But a championship
should be hard to win. Who cares if you win two
matches? Do you know what I mean? You had that.
middle of the season tournament which I thought
was fine breaks it up a little bit you have an
opportunity to do that but for me I want to see
you work for a championship if you're Omaha and
you finish last in the league you should have
to grind an extra series you should have to come
back I didn't feel like there was any value in
the regular season and you saw that in the performance
of the athletes and in how they cared I think
they have to find a way to make more of the matches
meaningful. And my other piece was when you run
the weekends back -to -back like this and you
have a team that plays Saturday, Sunday, you
do a disservice to the preparation and to playing
your starting athletes. You don't generally play
back -to -back. There's not a chance to recover.
There's not a chance to really prepare to play
the other teams. You don't necessarily see as
much strategy, in my opinion, as when you watched
a Champions League where they play every three
days or twice a week, and you can tell that there's
preparation and thought that goes into that.
A schedule like this is kind of made for the
fans or to be in one location, again, which is
fine, but it detracts from the overall performance,
in my opinion. Well, and to build on that, they
kept talking about how the top two seeds, had
a benefit of not having to play the quarterfinal,
I would argue that not playing that quarterfinal
is actually a detriment to those teams because
the other teams that they're playing against
had a chance to compete in that environment,
in that arena. They got to get their rhythm down.
And so I think that missing out on that first
match, that first day, hurt and obviously they
lost hurt the number one and two teams because
they didn't have the same opportunity to get
into that rhythm so I agree I I just hate how
the regular season meant nothing like you can
and as you were saying you could kind of tell
in the players attitudes all season and how they
changed in the last weekend kind of not not across
the board but generally speaking It just doesn't
matter. You can be terrible all season, and we
saw the bottom two teams were in the final. That
shouldn't happen. And I think, again, anybody
can win a one -off match. That is the beauty
of sport. One -off matches are up for anybody
to take. I think in a setting like this, It needs
to be a best of three or a best of five series
because then you will truly see which team is
better. Like Adam said, which team is able to
make the adjustments, which teams can sustain
performance and be consistent because for me,
that's what it means to be a professional. Anybody
can have an upset on any given day. Yeah, it
was the combination of it being stale in the
regular season. to the regular season means nothing
to what we saw happen with the bottom two teams
who, quite frankly, did not deserve to be in
the final after the way they performed all season.
Being rewarded like that, it just, I didn't like
it. I mean, obviously, the decisions that Love
made were to get these women in front of as many
youth athletes as possible. So I'm just wondering,
do you think there's a way to take their mission
of being visible to young volleyball players,
combining that with what we just talked about,
about what would be an ideal structure? Yeah,
and again, let me be clear. This is year one
of a long plan that they've put together. Not
everything is going to go well. You had your
first season. I think overall it was a success.
How do you go back and look at your season and
decide how it lines up and make changes to make
it even better next year? That to me will be
the mark of whether it was truly successful or
not is what lessons they learned and went. But
I do think that you can do that. Even if you
have a one -off match or a schedule that happens
in one location, you could play. those four teams
that go to that location just play one match
that weekend. So they all go there. You have
two days to maybe interact with athletes. Just
take one match away and play four in one location
if being in that city and doing that activation
is important. No, they played the finals in conjunction
with a huge youth tournament. So if they want
to continue to do that, they're not going to
be able to have a multi -match series. So then
do... Do the quarterfinals, best two of three.
Do the semifinals, best two of three. And make
the finals a one -off match so that you can hit
your date. But to get to the final should cost
you something. You should have to earn that,
in my opinion. Okay, the last kind of piece that
we wanted to touch on in our love analysis was
the television slash presentation of the league.
How did you feel about that? was the most disappointing
thing for me. I didn't realize how much the presentation
of a sporting event could affect your experience.
And I've almost come to realize it's like a good
libero. You just don't notice them. And quite
frankly, I watched several love matches on mute
this season and enjoyed the volleyball. Much
better than I did when I listened to the commentary.
And, you know, we've talked about this. I think
people know how I feel. But there were two things
that really bothered me watching the finals specifically.
One is the announcers went out of their way to
put down other leagues around the world. And
for me, when your mission is to elevate volleyball
and support athletes, you don't have to go out
of your way. to bash the German and the French
leagues from what players have apparently said.
You don't have to put up graphics talking about
how you're better than the Turkish and the Italian
league. They actively went out of their way to
kind of make those comparisons, and that, for
me, didn't sit well. I didn't necessarily agree
with all of the Olympian talk that happened throughout
the season. I get it. You want to highlight the
players. build up your players in a way that
doesn't just talk about that and my last piece
was they very rarely spent time talking about
the actual volleyball during the matches something
great would happen and all that would be said
was hey that was amazing she's a blah blah blah
blah blah instead of talking about why it was
a good play what happened it always seemed to
come back to things that were irrelevant to the
match about how great of a job love as a whole
did. And for me, that detracted from the actual
watching experience of the volleyball itself.
Yeah, I got really frustrated watching the games.
Having them on mute was enjoyable. I understand,
you know, kind of educating your viewers because
the American audience. hasn't really been exposed
to a professional volleyball league like this
before. So I understand in the first few weeks,
kind of really hitting home on Love's mission,
what kind of athletes are in the league, their
history, where they came from, just as an education
piece. But it doesn't need to continue all season.
And the same messaging. of so -and -so's the
best in the world. This is the best in the world.
Love is the best in the world. Like, look at
how many, look at all the parody we have. Like,
we go five sets all the time. This player said
the French league's no good. Like, and constantly
feeding bio information that in a lot of cases
wasn't necessarily relevant anymore. It got incredibly
frustrating, and I would say that this is true
for the announcers that we heard almost across
the board. I don't know if they were told what
messaging to push, but it was pretty consistent.
And when I'm watching volleyball, and maybe this
is a personal preference, I don't know if our
listeners enjoyed what they were delivering from
a presentation perspective. But as a volleyball
watcher, I like to hear about the strategy. What
did the players see in this situation? Why did
they make that choice? And I don't know if the
announcers were just not experienced enough in
the actual game to be able to deliver that type
of information. But it was just a consistent
delivery of why is this league so good? look
at all the amazing players we have and here's
their bio. And a lot of the times, things that
the announcers would say were just blatantly
untrue. But it was also on repeat. Like, if you're
watching a five -set match with Jordan Larson,
it is cool to bring up some of the things that
she's done. A hundred percent. But if I have
to hear one more time that Sammy Francis was
five years old when Jordan Larson started her
pro career, like, one time is enough. Yeah, there
wasn't a variety of information. The same things
came up over and over and over again. And that's
why I feel like you need to have an understanding
of high -level volleyball and be educated. My
thing is if you're going to talk about the other
leagues in the world, have a real understanding
of them. Don't just make statements about these
leagues when it is very clear that you have no
idea what you're talking about. Just don't bring
them up at all if that's the case. Talk about
the volleyball. If biographical information is
relevant to forward what you're trying to say
in educating the viewers about high -level volleyball,
by all means add it. But to constantly say the
same things. It almost seemed like they couldn't
get behind their own product in terms of the
level. at which it was being executed. They wanted
to talk about either other things or just love
in and of itself besides the match that we were
watching. We could go on about this forever.
We'll stop there. I'm actually very curious to
know. I mean, you and I are obviously very entrenched
in volleyball. We've spent a lot of our lives
doing it. We're very deep within it. I'm curious
what the average... viewer thought about the
presentation and that's the thing is they are
feeding them misinformation that's the thing
that bothers me is you you want to say all these
things about your league but in the process you
are misinforming the viewer about what is out
there and what the other leagues are actually
like like that is something that I take issue
with It's like you are, as an announcer, your
job is to educate the viewer and to feed them
false information is just doing a disservice
to everybody. So I don't know. I'm clearly very
passionate about this. But, and as I said, we
could talk about this forever. But putting that
aside, I would say if I was just looking at the
volleyball, I think it was a successful first
year. I like what they stand for. I, for the
most part, enjoyed watching the games. Yeah,
I'm curious to see if they're going to make any
adjustments next year. But just taking it for
what it is and watching the volleyball, I thought
it was good. Yeah, you always have to start somewhere.
And I thought... The product they put on the
floor, you could tell they put a lot of effort
into it. You could tell the players were excited
to be in the US, which I think was important
to a lot of people and was a benchmark for this
happening. And again, to me, it's about how you
evolve and how you move forward. So I'm very
curious to see what they keep for next year and
how it goes. I hope they continue to evolve.
All right. We have been sitting on a few, extra
love questions in our inbox. So now that love
is wrapped up, all of our listener questions
have to do with love. So we can really put a
bow on this season and wait for the next one.
So our first question is Maddie Cubic Banks or
Jaylee Winters? I think she answered the question
this weekend. Maddie Cubic Banks. Next. No, we
got this question very early in the season. And
at that point, Maddie Kubik hadn't been playing
much. So we kind of held on to it. As Maddie
got some matches under her belt and we were able
to really compare, I don't think it's even close.
I would agree. Question number two. Do you think
Love and the PVF would ever play one another
as preseason matches or do their own version
of a Champions League? Not in the next five years.
I think that everybody has their own vision of
what volleyball should be. I think everybody's
very focused internally on putting together their
best product. And I don't think we've come to
a point where cooperation is in the cards. I
think it's still too much of a competition. I
think that both sides would look at it as a lose
-lose. If you're Love and you lose to a PVF team,
you're fostering the narrative that you're the
best league here and then your team loses. And
the same for PVF. It's like you're trying to
build that and then you go and you lose. Then
you have a definitive marker of what league is
better than the other league. I don't think at
this point cooperation is in the air. So this
is a bit of a long one. Will Love be able to
maintain their current status as the top American
league in the future? Love started recruiting
players at least one year earlier, so most were
locked in before the PVF started. Salary scales
are about the same. Both leagues are well short
of the top European leagues. It seems to me that
with one league owner, Love will struggle to
keep the top talent home in the long run unless
they add additional investors. It also seems
like the schedule wouldn't work well for a significant
TV contract. What are your thoughts? Well, if
MLV has anything to say about it, they won't
be taught for long. I'm just kidding. Okay. I
think we've kind of touched on their schedule
and how just to maintain interest, it kind of...
should change but I think and going to that one
match head -to -head format would definitely
be more conducive to solid TV contracts I mean
Love is still recruiting early they have you
know sophomores and juniors in big programs that
have committed to the league so they are well
in advance of PVF on that front With the new
news that PVF is increasing some of their salaries,
I don't know what that comparison is going to
look like in the future. But I think given Love's
recruiting strategy, I think that they will be
able to maintain that status for a little while.
Do I think they'll be able to keep the young
in their prime talent at home for long? No. Not
with the strength of the other leagues that are
out there in the world. And, I mean, it depends
on players' national team aspirations, their
own professional aspirations. But I think, despite
that, they will maintain their status. I have
two thoughts on this. One, if they got a legitimate
TV contract, they would be open to modifying
their schedule. So I don't think that that is
necessarily an issue. I think that the current
schedule falls in line with their mission and
with the ability to kind of travel everybody
to one location. I think it probably ends up
saving them money. But with an investment for
TV, I don't think they'd have an issue changing
it. Two, I'm curious to see when these top founding
athletes stop playing, what the recruiting looks
like. Because right now, to stand on a court
with your founding athletes, with Jordan Larson,
with Jordan Thompson, with some of the setters
and liberos. That's a draw. Those are icons for
some of those kids playing and coming through
college right now. When they retire, I'm curious
to see if the league has the same draw. So that's
something that I've thought about. Fair point,
fair point. Our final question is another long
one, but I find it very interesting. And it is
kind of in reference to Rachel Fairbanks. So
how would you feel about never crossing the finish
line? The finish line is referring to a specific
hurdle. Maybe it's a quarterfinal, a semi, always
coming second. How would you feel about never
overcoming that particular hurdle? When we see
Rachel Fairbanks. Her team, Atlanta's semifinal
loss in love makes her 0 -5 in semifinal matches
because she was 0 -4 in the final four with Pitt.
And now this. Is this something that would affect
you down the road? Is this something that you
would think about when you reach future semifinal
matches? And at what point do you think those
hurdles and losses affect your belief to go beyond
that threshold? This question. It's so good.
Well, I think it definitely affects you. You
can't help but think about it. And quite frankly,
anybody who does media for sports loves bringing
this stuff up. So you can't get away from it.
It's definitely a thing. Even when coaching,
you have teams that, you know, you can't get
across the line. And I think you have to acknowledge
it. You have to have a plan with. dealing with
it and whether that's with your teammates or
whether that's maybe with a coach or a sports
psych if you pretend it doesn't exist or it's
not there it will come back and it will haunt
you you need to understand it you need to understand
why and then you need to prepare to overcome
it and I don't think there's any other way to
do it I definitely think it's in Rachel Fairbank's
mind for sure and now Having this streak extended
into her pro career, she 100 % will be thinking
about it every time she makes a semifinal. I
think the beauty of volleyball is that it's such
a big sport that you're constantly changing teammates.
So while it may be in the back of your mind,
it's not necessarily a team identity. I understand
for Pitt and in her situation at Pitt, yes, it
was. Maybe it is. I think as she enters the pro
environment, it's not so much a team identity
thing. I think it's just, it is there and it's
something that she's going to have to overcome.
And I find it interesting because every time
that she got subbed in for that double sub, her
first set was unhittable. Not good. So that is
something that she is going to have to address
with a sports psych for sure. Have you ever been
in a situation like that? When I played in university,
we... made the final like two years in a row
in our conference championships and we lost both
times in the final match and as a team so we
had all graduated after our fourth year but in
Canada you can play a fifth year all of us except
two guys decided to come back because we just
weren't happy with how that ended for us and
we wanted to win and everybody was committed
and worked hard and came back and we were able
to win the next year but Yeah, I've definitely
been there. I think for me, it was probably when
I started playing beach. That hurdle was going
from the quarterfinals to the semis. And I think
for my first two seasons on the beach, we came
fifth several times, but we could not make that
flip to get into the semis. And then we finally
did, and then we're able to medal several times.
I can't even tell you what it was that kind of
made that jump, though. Well, I think your partner
had a little more baggage than you in that regard
because she had been playing beach for longer
than you and hadn't necessarily kind of gotten
to that point. But it was preparation. It was
looking for the team you were playing. getting
that break where you had a few plays go your
way. And it was, to me, it was about belief and
being able to do it. I don't think it, it didn't
affect me mentally. Like I knew it was happening
and I would tell myself like, we need, like we
need, once we get past this match, we're going
to medal for sure. It's just getting past this
match, but. In the moment, I don't recall it
being necessarily like a mental block. It was
always just like after. It was a belief that
it was like once we can just overcome this hurdle,
we will get there. It definitely messes with
you. I really like that question. Great question.
So now that love is over and there's no more
love to watch, here's what we think you should
be watching this week. So the men's Italian League
semifinals, Wednesday on Volleyball TV. Women's
Italian League finals, Wednesday on Volleyball
TV. And those are three out of five, everybody,
okay? I would encourage you, if you're a fan
of women's volleyball, to watch those women's
Italian League final matches. They are a ton
of fun. There's firepower everywhere. It is intense.
You will not be disappointed. And Volleyball
TV, you can kind of go back and watch it whenever
you want. So even if the timing's not great,
check it out. In NCAA men's action, USC and UCLA
have their series this week. That's going to
be a ton of fun. Should be a great game. I want
to see USC's response to getting swept by Stanford.
Those are Thursday at 10 p .m. Eastern and Saturday
at 8 p .m. Eastern on the Big Ten Plus. Pepperdine
plays BYU Friday and Saturday. Both of those
are at 9 p .m. Eastern on Big Ten Plus. So these
are very important matches. Very important. Because
these are the top four teams in the MPSF. And
with USC falling, dropping two matches, they
split with Pepperdine. This weekend, it's all
going to shake out as to what the standings are,
and USC is trying to desperately not finish fourth
because that means they match up with UCLA in
the semi. Yep. So that will be must -see TV for
volleyball fans. For the PDF, San Diego plays
Columbus on Wednesday at 7 p .m. Eastern, and
Atlanta plays Omaha. on Saturday at 7 p .m. Eastern,
and that one's on Roku. For those of you who
are not familiar with Roku, I was actually able
to download the free version of Roku and find
the matches, so it's not necessarily a paid service,
although they do have those options, but for
anybody who's wondering, you can still access
those matches for free. 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 want us to discuss, be sure to let us know
by reaching out to us on Instagram or at info
at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining
us and we'll be back. In two weeks. Not next
week. In two weeks. Because we are traveling.
So there will not be an episode next week. So
we'll see you in two weeks. Bye.