Jordan Larson's Playing Career Officially Comes to an End, Houston Wins LOVB Regular 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. We had a lot of feedback last week about
us sitting on the wrong... side or opposite sides
that we normally do. Surprise and sorry for throwing
everybody for a real loop. If you watch this
on YouTube, we're going to keep it while we're
here. The thing is, is last week when we started
recording, I told him that we were sitting on
the wrong side and this man said, who cares?
Let me tell you, a lot of people care. Lots of
comments. I'm glad people are paying attention.
So we're really sorry again for throwing you
off, but here we are. More leagues are wrapping
up. The love playoffs are determined. We are
heading into crunch time in NCAA men's finals
playoffs left and right. So we also have a lot
to talk about off of results. There was a lot
going on. The volley talk sleuths were out in
full force this week, everybody. Okay, so we've
got some stuff to talk about. And in full transparency,
obviously it was Easter weekend. We had a lot
of family stuff going on, so we didn't watch
a ton of volleyball. So we're going to cover
more listener questions, a lot of wrapping up
the leagues, and we'll see where it goes from
there. But we'll be back to game analysis next
week. But we wanted to make sure to give you
guys some volleyball content to listen to this
week. So hopefully you'll enjoy this. We're excited
regardless, so let's get started. A fun fact
about our guy Adam here is that when he was breaking
into the coaching world, he was coaching club
volleyball and was actually doing personal training
on the side. You know, volleyball coaches, newly
graduated or retired athletes, people looking
to make a career transition, etc. From what we've
seen for many volleyball coaches and players,
the sport is a huge passion with not a ton of
compensation. And if you've ever been in that
position, you know how real that tension can
be. Being so passionate about something, but
not knowing if it can fully support your life.
That's where today's video sponsor, ISSA, the
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in. With ISSA, you can continue to pursue your
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today's video. Was your volley fantasy league
a highlight or a happening? It was a highlight
this week because I hit my goal. I got over 400
points, so I was happy. Was your goal over 400
or 450? 400. I was setting a realistic goal because
I had not had a couple good weeks. Okay. Who
was your heavy hitter this week that got you
all those points? I had Grace Loberg and Anna
DeBeer who had like 78 and 80 points respectively.
So good outside day week for me. So I was happy
with that. I can end the season on somewhat of
a high note even though I'm not doing so well.
So we're not talking about your global ranking
anymore? No. My week off killed me. Okay. Well.
It's not great. My global ranking is climbing.
I'm 84th in the league. I scored almost 455 points
last week. It was a big week. I'm not going to
lie. I was kind of upset when she told me that.
I thought I was going to beat you this week.
You want to know who my heavy hitter was? Your
girl Natalie Foster got me over 100 points. I
like her. Crazy. You know who did better than
both of us? Big Paul. Crazy. I think he finished
11th on the week, which is insane. I had to bring
in three benchers. Never great. It's pretty par
for the course for me, if I'm being honest, which
is maybe why I'm 84th, instead of in first place
like Badger Cardinal. You know, it's just rolling
the dice these days, everybody, to see who's
going to be in the lead any given week. We're
getting close, though. Prizes are on the line.
We're getting close. We've got three weeks left
of the regular season. You know, you could still
join and pass Adam. In the global ranking. All
right, let's get to the weekly highlights. Okay.
But if you feel like joining, I know we're getting
to the end. Go to playvolley .com slash volley
talk. Playvolley .com slash volley talk. Join
us. I finished first in one of the daily grids.
Somebody's probably beaten me since then. But
the last time I looked, I was pretty proud of
myself. And a lot of people are submitting their
own daily grids now. You can see who is the author.
shall we say, of these daily grids. So keep it
up. I'm participating. I'm filling out every
single one. Some of you are really stumping me,
which is upsetting, but I'm also very excited
because, wow. She loves a good crossword or game
of this type. Yeah. So it keeps my brain functioning.
You know what I mean? Keep it up. We are excited
to see how things wrap up here in the next few
weeks, but join our team and hopefully you're
having a better week than Adam. All right. Weekly
highlights and happenings. The list is long.
NCAA men. Noteworthy results. Number 16, Lewis
beat number 11, Lindenwood, three straight. Lewis
is heating up at the right time of the season.
They are. Don't sleep on Meva, everybody. That
conference is insane. Yeah. Lindenwood dropped
to Loyola Chicago, too. It was a rough week for
them. But like I said, they're all beating each
other. This conference is nuts. I feel like a
lot of people don't appreciate Miva as much as
they should because they don't have a UCLA or
a Hawaii, you know? But that's a hard conference
to win. Speaking of Hawaii, Hawaii had a series
with UC Irvine this week. They swept them both
matches. Well, not swept them. They swept the
series. They won the first match in five, and
then they won three straight. I'm not shocked
about that. No, they're a better team than UC
Irvine, I think. Good match to go to five for
UC Irvine. I don't think there's anything wrong
with that result. I mean, obviously they want
to win, but I think Hawaii is just a better team.
I mean, I expected it to be close. The first
match obviously was, and then getting into it
pretty straight. Yeah, I'm not shocked, like
I said. The thing that Adam was hoping would
happen, however, happened, everyone. Number six,
Pepperdine, handed number one UCLA their first
loss of the season. And now I think they'll win
nationals. Up until now, Adam was like, they're
not going to win. And now they've been handed
a bit of adversity and Adam has faith in UCLA
now. So they lost at Pepperdine in five and then
they went back to Westwood and UCLA won that
match in four, which is a good bounce back. But
nobody is unbeaten anymore. Honestly, I'm going
to watch that game. Yes, I need to. But like
we said, family plans. It was a crazy weekend.
got us a little off track. Yeah. I think that
the pressure of an undefeated season, it just,
it adds and it adds and it adds. And I think
we saw that with the Nebraska women. And honestly,
now you see, there's not going to be any chatter
around them having a perfect season. There's
not, it just, it lets a little air out of the
tire. So you can just kind of breathe for a second
before going into playoffs and nationals. And
I think if you haven't coached or played or been
in that situation, it's hard to understand why
losing that one match can be important. But I
truly believe this is probably the best thing
for them. Okay. Speaking of personal experience,
the year that my team won the national championship,
we lost to Colorado. I think I've spoken about
this in the past. This game is the bane of Sarah's
existence. No, but it's literally like that is
the only match we lost all season. And when I
look back at that season, do I think, oh, man,
it would have been so much sweeter if we hadn't
lost to Colorado? No. I don't even, like, obviously
I joke about it now, but, like, I don't think
about that when I think about that championship
season. It's a literal blip on the radar of something
that was much more important. Is it cool to be
able to say, like, oh, undefeated season? Sure.
But, like, winning the whole thing I think is
way more important than that. Totally. But I
think it helps with the headspace. So I'm excited
to see that down the stretch for them. In MLV,
Carter Booth has signed to the Dallas Pulse.
I love that signing for them. They just got better.
Well, okay, because that's a huge pickup for
them. Massive. Because Lane Van Buskirk was signed
to the Injury Reserve. like season ending injury
reserve list. So they had like Kelsey Payne playing
middle one match because they were just, they
had nobody to do it. And so that is a huge pickup
for them. Her season ending in Busto. You know
what? Why not make a little more money, you know,
finish off the season. I think they have a real
shot to win on. Honestly, Carter booth going
overseas to San Diego this week. I know, but
they're looking towards the playoffs now. That's
there. not moving up or down. It doesn't matter
how they finish to the rest of the season. Guaranteed
their coaching staff is already looking to matchups,
making sure people are rested. I mean, that is
a very well -run team. And I think this is a
huge ad, even just given her swagger that we
saw in NCAA. And then she went overseas, played
in Italy, coming back. I think this is huge for
them. Inject a little bit of new life. It's big.
As I said, Lane Van Buskirk was put on the season
-ending injury reserve. Heredia Colon was also
put on the season -ending injury reserve. So
that is no good. We have got the same situation
at the top of the league. Indy and Dallas both
have 16 wins, but Indy has two games in hand
with two fewer losses currently than Dallas.
San Diego has moved into fourth. They have pushed.
both Orlando and Atlanta into fifth and sixth
respectively. Who would have thought that Atlanta
would be fighting for their lives? That's nuts.
Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, San Diego had a
good week. They beat Columbus and Dallas this
week. Indy got payback on Omaha. They beat them
three straight. We've got three weeks left in
the regular season. Honestly, that middle is
messy. The messy middle. It always happens. Third
place is 10 and 10. I believe fourth place is
like 11 and 11. It's weird because they haven't
played the same amount of games. Something crazy.
It's like super close. I honestly feel like it's
still very up in the air. Completely. For the
third and fourth spot. One and two are locked.
It'll be very interesting, as Adam likes to call
it, to see what happens in pucker time. That's
where we're at. Who is going to show up and perform?
We'll see who makes the playoffs. I love the
format when it's like this. We are going to skip
love for a second. I know love usually comes
after MLV, but there is a lot happening in that
league that we need to discuss. OK, so we might
just put like what the heck is happening in love
as its own segment this week. Italian playoffs.
For the men's semifinals, we've had one match.
Perugia beat Piacenza 3 -1 and Verona took down
Civita Nova 3 -0. Those semifinals are underway.
Champions League men's final four is set. The
quarterfinals away matches happened this week.
So Lublin beat Warsaw in five. But going back
to the week before, they lost in four. So once
Warsaw won two sets, they were safe. So Warsaw
moves on. Perugia beat Las Palmas in three. Zawierce
beat Chibitanova in three. And Ankara beat Sheshov
in three. Pretty decisive. So the final four
is happening May 16th. And we're going to see
Warsaw take on Perugia and Ankara play Zawierce.
Two Polish teams, Turkey and Italy. Exciting
stuff. Let's dive into what the heck is happening
in love. So Houston clinched the regular season
title. Yeah. Now, apparently there was money
being given for the regular season winners this
year. I like that because it makes you the teams
want to win. So I was scouring the website. I
couldn't find anything about how much. They don't
give you any information. So if anybody knows
how much the regular season winners get for love,
let me know. I'm very curious. So Houston clinched
the regular season title, and now the playoffs
are set. The other teams are Atlanta, Austin,
and Salt Lake. Those playoffs are happening in
Louisville. If you recall the last few episodes,
We have been talking about the eventuality or
the potential for Austin, a .k .a. USA national
team, to not make the Love playoffs. We got a
bunch of messages about this situation to kind
of set the stage. Nebraska had their last regular
season match. It was a home match. If we recall,
it is Jordan Larson's final season. Obviously,
everybody was aware of the eventuality of the
match. They were playing Austin, being Jordan's
final match ever, which is huge. It's the end
of an era. Obviously, Nebraska was in third place
heading into this week, but you always want to
be prepared because you never know. They play.
Austin wins in five. This is after Nebraska beats
Houston. Earlier in the week, Austin beat Salt
Lake, I believe, or something like that. It ends
with three teams with a 10 -10 record. And what
happens? Nebraska's out. I don't know what to
say here. So, I mean, I'm not surprised. Love
has posted on their website. How do we determine
the standings? Because I'm sure they have gotten...
A ton of feedback. And from what I've heard,
people are up in arms that Love didn't allow
Jordan a chance to win a championship, that Jordan
Larson's career is ending like this. I understand
from a fan's perspective not wanting to see your
favorite athlete or an athlete you respect so
much have their career end like that. I get it.
Been there. Trust me. Not ideal. I'm not so upset
about that because I don't think any individual
is entitled to anything. No, at the end of the
day, you have to win to make playoffs. 100%.
I don't have an, like, it's unfortunate. You
want to have a fairytale ending. The percentage
of athletes that do are, is minuscule. So this
is not unheard of. I am just really confused
about how this happened. What do you think of
this tiebreak procedure? So rankings with love
will be the simplest to measure. Because it's
the best league in the world. Win percentage.
Winning the highest percentage of matches throughout
the season will move teams up and down the ranking.
Okay. Easy peasy. Two teams are tied. They do
head -to -head match record. If you're still
tied, head -to -head sets won divided by the
total head -to -head sets played. If you're still
tied, total points. If you're still tied, your
season total sets won against all the teams.
And then if you're still tied, season total points.
However, we had a three -way tie. So this moves
into your match winning percentage of all the
tied teams. Then if you're still tied, your set
winning percentage of all sets played among the
tied teams. Then if you're still tied, it goes
to points of the tied teams. And then... If a
team is eliminated, breaking the title proceed
with a two -team process. This, let's go back
to step one. This is not the simplest. This is
not the simplest way to measure it. What is the
simplest way to measure it? The way that we've
talked about for every single league we cover
pretty much, which is? Three points for a win
in three or four sets, two points for a win in
five sets, and one point for a loss in five sets.
I, it's the standard. It is the standard across
the board here, everybody. That is the simplest
way. And honestly, when you have teams that have
the similar number of wins, the odds of that
point structure, that point system still creating
ties is very small. Yeah. And it rewards you
for winning matches in three and four and pushing
like, so if you're Again, we're three, four,
five here. If you're pushing teams one and two
to five, you're getting points. You're getting
rewarded for good performances. I much prefer
this way. It makes so much sense. It just takes
out the guesswork. And then you've got coaches
trying to do math and blah, blah, blah. No, just
play. Win in three and four. Easy peasy. You're
smooth sailing. You know what I mean? This is.
way more complicated than it has to be so we
decided to run the numbers of what would have
happened if love would run their league the way
that anybody else in the world does i will also
say love does really love the fact that all of
their games go to five they're very proud of
that fact that also complicates things even more
but anyway here we go austin only won four matches
in three and four sets. They won six matches
in five sets, and they lost two in five sets
for a total of 26 points. Salt Lake won seven
matches in three or four. Remember, they got
off to a really hot start. Won three matches
in five and lost one in five for 28 points. And
Nebraska won six matches in three and four, won
four matches in five, and lost four matches in
five for a total of 30 points. Nebraska was only
beaten six times all season in under five sets.
So they extended matches. They played well. If
they ran the system or the point system that
literally all the top leagues in the world run,
which we know Love wants to be a top league in
the world, Nebraska would have finished third,
Salt Lake fourth, Austin out. But now, the way
that Love's system is, Austin is third, Salt
Lake finished fourth, Nebraska out. I personally
don't love that in a three -way tie, it's only
the competing teams. Because you're not taking
the season into account. I get head -to -head.
If it's two teams, you have a head -to -head
tiebreak. It's clean. With three teams... Now
you're looking at almost half the teams in the
league. You know we saw a ton of streaks. So
what happens, you know, Salt Lake started super
hot. What if their random schedule had Austin
and Nebraska like six times while they were hot?
I just, I don't personally love that you're not
taking all of the season records into place.
And I also don't love that once you've broken
it down and one team is eliminated, then you
go head to head. You should rank them with all
three teams and leave it that way when you find
your tiebreaker. It's messier than it needs to
be, and I don't think it takes into account the
totality of the season. And I don't have any
favorites. I don't personally care whether Jordan
plays in the playoffs or not. Getting eliminated
from the playoffs in this way doesn't make a
lot of sense to me. I don't love it. Honestly,
so if we look at it, and when we look at the
three -way tie, Austin was 5 -3 against Salt
Lake and Nebraska. Salt Lake was 4 -4, and then
Nebraska was 3 -5. They basically just had to
do the point number one to break the tie. But
then if you look at it, Nebraska, by virtue of
the standings, beat more better teams than those
two teams did. Well, yeah, so who beat Atlanta
and Houston more? I understand that now we're
nitpicking. I get it. I am going to stand by
the fact that the way that the top leagues in
the world run their point system just makes sense.
Is it disappointing that... you know, one of
the best to play the game ends her career like
this. Absolutely. Nobody wants to see that happen,
but if it is written in the rules, that's what
the rules are. Do you know what I mean? It's
like, it's unfortunate. I think it could be definitely
done better. I want to know, I would be curious
why they did it this way and why they like, was
it just to be different? Was it just to have
your own? It's just, it's crazy to me because
champions league is this way. Italian league
is this way. International is this way. It's
the most comprehensive way to score. Beating
an opponent in three or four is the most valuable.
Going to five gets... It just intuitively makes
sense. This seems like beach calculations to
me. No, I'm having literal PTSD because the number
of times in beach where a team... Like, well,
if you had scored one more point... You would
have made it. And it's like, you're kidding me,
right? One more point. You should have been fighting
harder every single point. It's like, give me
a break. And honestly, quite frankly, Nebraska
was playing the best at the end of the season.
If we're being realistic about what's going on.
And I mean, I think it's easy to say like, well,
you should have just been better. I agree. That
is usually my stance. But like, if you look at
Salt Lake, them and Nebraska flip -flopped. Nebraska
started poorly, came on strong. Salt Lake started
great and just completely fizzled. Austin, I
feel like was kind of on a roller coaster. So
if we're talking consistency here, none of the
teams were consistent. So I think it's easy to
be like, well, Nebraska, you should have had
it together earlier. Well, it's easy to look
back and say that now, because then if Salt Lake
had been in that position, it was like, well,
you shouldn't have sucked at the tail end of
the season. So, I mean, you can spin it any way
you want. it seems like it's one more thing that
they're trying to do to differentiate themselves
and it doesn't work. Okay. We could talk about
this and go in circles forever. Our opinion on
the matter is clear, I think, but I mean, I think
it's worth acknowledging the career that Jordan
had, the difference that she made, not just for
volleyball in her home state of Nebraska, but
for the entire, united states and around the
world like just an incredible career and the
sport will definitely miss her she's had a tremendous
impact on the game there was a lot happening
i love you guys so the san francisco ownership
group was announced and when i say group i'm
like fill a classroom here okay let me pull up
the list that has been posted we already mentioned
some of the owners including kelsey robinson
cook But the team is expanding. The Kerr family,
as in Steve Kerr, Margot Kerr, his wife, who's
a philanthropist, his daughter, Maddie Kerr -Hyde,
who played at Cal Berkeley. Kim Young -kyung.
Yes. I'm confused about this one. Holly Rowe,
the ESPN sideline reporter. Julie Fowdy. Former
U .S. women's national soccer player. Joan Jett.
I have no words. Lexi Hull, who is a professional
basketball player. Chelsea Poppins, who used
to be a professional basketball player. This
screams to me that they couldn't find somebody
who wanted to own the team individually. And
I'm very curious to see and to know, and we probably
never will, how are they making decisions? How
are they hiring a staff? What is the breakdown?
Well, we know who the coach is. Or do you mean
a broader organizational staff? A broader organizational
staff. Who has final say over how this goes?
Because Love is keeping control of the league,
I think, for at least a season or two more as
they put ownership groups in. Don't quote me
on that. I'm not sure. Eventually, they're going
to hand over running each of the teams to the
ownership groups. Who has the majority ownership
in this? Who is making... How are they picking,
you know, all of that stuff? I love the idea
that they're trying to get, it seems like, mostly
women who are coming in to support the sport.
I love that. But I don't think they've done this
in any other of the teams, which means... Because
Alexis Ohanian's company or group is the majority
stakeholder in Love LA, right? I believe so.
Okay. You know, having two or three owners...
Totally fine. You know, you get in, you make
a decision. But this is, it just seems messy
to me. It seems like they couldn't find one person
who wanted to do it. And so they tried to aggregate
all of these people. It just doesn't feel synergistic
to me. I'm curious how the heck you get Kim Jong
-un to join. Jump on board. I'm not sure. If
anybody has any insight, hit us up. Because seeing
all these people, I'm like, oof. Joan Jett. What?
Yeah. I, I'm curious to see how this goes just
from, uh, I bet you they're going to continue
to look for one owner to buy out the other ones.
And eventually it just, it works better when
there's a clean ownership group. I think you
want to know why your girl, if Anna Cossack,
Paul is not playing, I would like to know the
injury report has now been renamed the roster
report. I mean, you know, I love a good alliteration.
If Fennec Cossack Paul and Skylar Fields have
been suspended by the league. By the league or
by the team? It says league. Now, we had a question.
What does a player have to do to get suspended?
Honestly, no. In leagues around the world. The
first thing that comes to mind, and I know nothing
about this. This is the first I'm hearing about
them being suspended, but it's drug testing.
But does love strike you as a type of league
that does drug tests? I don't know, but no. Would
it surprise me if they did it behind the scenes
and nobody knew? I don't know. Okay, so reasons
that I have heard people get suspended. Failing
a drug test. Poor behavior we saw with Cooper
Robinson in Japan this year. His demeanor toward
the other team was not... league standard so
he got suspended often you could get suspended
by your team for failing to being suspended by
your team makes more sense to me than league
suspension show up on time you miss you know
i don't know if your team has like a sponsor
event or you're consistently late or you show
up hungover or something to a practice like your
team can suspend you for stuff like that because
you're not fulfilling your contractual obligations
but for a league to suspend you you're either
defaming the league yeah you're saying bad things
about the league you're publicly saying bad things
about your organization because they are still
associated with the broader love league right
now or yes drug tests or something I'm wondering
if because the contracts are with the league,
it was actually Salt Lake who said, hey, these
people are not following our team policy. You
need to suspend them because they own the contract.
So even though it's a league suspension, it still
could have been initiated by the team. We don't
really understand what that relationship looks
like because the contracts are with the league.
So it could have been, you know, as minor as
missing a team dinner or showing up late and
the team was like, hey. You know, we have to
disclose people who aren't playing. Is Salt Lake
still owned by the league? The league is still
signing the players and is still running everything.
And they are assigning players to teams. So I
wouldn't be surprised if this actually comes
from Salt Lake but has to go through the league.
And because they're disclosing, like I'm assuming
they want to eventually get into betting since
they're disclosing injuries. So if a player is
not going to play. you have to show that they
won't be playing if you're going to make a bet.
So this is probably all trying to become compliant
with becoming a bettable league. And I'm guessing
it was through Salt Lake. If I had to guess or
bet, I would say they violated the team policy
and the team went to the league and said, this
is what's happening. And they needed to quote
unquote report it so that it's there. That would
be probably the most likely scenario. Here we
have people calling for her to play left and
right. She's sitting on the bench all season.
She's like, dang, what the heck? I'm going to
sleep in. And then she goes and gets suspended
by the league. She's like, dang it. I should
have gone to Europe. I wouldn't be shocked if
it was 10 minutes late for a meeting. It looks
bad when you have a league suspension. I hear
something like that. And my first instinct is
like failed drug test. But then like. I don't
see love being the type of league that like does
surprise drug tests. But even with that, let's
take integrity out of it. It doesn't look good
if you suspend your own athletes. Like that would
be dealt with internally. If you were trying
to build a brand and a league based on the values
of building the league, holistic women's sport.
You don't want to disclose to somebody. No. It's
failing drug tests. So I. Which I. Appreciate
the transparency. Should that be the case? I'm
not saying it is. I appreciate the accountability.
But I understand what you're saying. Yeah. If
I had to bet, I'm guessing they either A, went
out too late somewhere. Missed a team curfew
on an away trip or something. Let's be honest.
They're in Salt Lake. Maybe they went somewhere
on the road and didn't come back. And if I'm
guessing, probably something like that. Well,
that's where she is. Okay. Our last little subplot
in what the heck's going on in love. Several
people sent me screenshots of this post that
Serena Gray made. Adam has no idea what I'm about
to show him. So here's the post. So basically
she made this. Instagram story about highlighting
this place where something went down between
her and Russ Rose and basically sewering him
and saying that she's going to do a tell -all
about Penn State through Katie Schumacher Colley's
name out there. Honestly, what are you doing?
What are you doing? This does not look good for
you. Okay? Russ Rose is a legend in the game.
You making a comment or saying whatever you need
to say about your beef with him, it's not going
to change that. And it just makes you look really
bad. Apparently the post was deleted soon after,
so hopefully somebody talked some sense into
her because this looks really bad. My question
is just, what are you trying to accomplish? Let's
be honest. Things like this happen all over the
place. Oh my gosh. Talk to any girl, any woman
who played top level D1 volleyball, and I'm sure
every single one of them has got a story or two
that will surprise people. Guaranteed. And let's
clarify, that doesn't make it right. And it doesn't
make it okay. And, you know, if she needs to
tell her piece to make herself feel better, I
guess the thing for me is what are you trying
to accomplish? Are you trying to sell a book?
Are you trying to get... Are you trying to make
people hate Russ Rose? Are you trying to make
people hate Katie Schumacher Collie, the Penn
State program? You are one person out of thousands
who've gone through that place. A, why would
people listen to you or believe you? I understand
she's probably harboring a lot of hurt from her
time there, as many athletes do at various programs
and points in their career. I mean, you can speak
personally to a situation like this. It just,
yeah, it's not. It's not good. The other thing
I will say, just if you take the post at face
value, I've coached athletes who are playing
through injury, through pain, you know, part
of there's two sides to every story. And part
of your job as a coach is to push athletes out
of their comfort zone and to push them to play.
And let me tell you, you don't always get it
right. And it's impossible to know. Obviously,
if you look at medical advice and you've gotten
the same thing from multiple doctors, like there,
there are some black and white scenarios, but
there are also so many gray scenarios where it's
like, as an athlete, you play through being injured
and your coach is there to push you. And again,
I'm not saying you're making this very specific
against about this one exact issue at hand. I
think the broader thing of what she's doing,
is just inappropriate. Like, why do we have to
go back in time? Like, what are you trying to
do? Yeah. Well, I think that that's, that's the
first question I I'm saying this makes him seem
incredibly malicious. I'm saying as a coach,
sometimes it's really hard to know like when
to push and when to back off. And it's not always
black and white. I don't disagree with you. And
I think for the majority of people, there are
exceptions, but I think for the majority, like
People are trying their best. And I think people
make mistakes. And I think it's something very
important to be able to look back on your mistakes
and like maybe have conversations privately about
things that you've done wrong or wish that you
could change. I mean, at the end of the day,
I think this post is a bad look. I think she
realized her mistake, if that's what she thinks
it is, like too late. Because once you put something
out there, it is out there. I don't know. You
have to be so careful about what you post online.
It's always there. It's there forever. If you
want to do it, that's totally your call. If you're
doing it as part of a healing process, I mean,
you do what you want. But like you said, in these
situations, emotions are high. You're fighting
for something. There's two sides to every story.
In my experience, these things are always better
dealt with. That is what we have in love. It
was a lot this week. We'll see what happens with
the playoffs. We're close to the end of the season.
And now it's just volleyball. Be curious to see
how long the suspension is. We'll see what happens.
All right. It is time for some listener questions.
We've got quite the lineup this week. Question
one is in the podcast, you mentioned that some
USA setters cannot run an international offense.
What is an international offense? I would say
there's two parts to this. There's more than
two parts, but we'll try and keep it relatively
straightforward. So the first one is the ability
to run speed to the different hitters in a consistent
tempo and location from multiple places. You're
delivering a ball into a smaller, quicker area,
and you can do it off multiple types of passes
in multiple situations. So a lot of setters are
capable of doing this on a perfect pass, but
you see top international setters are able to
do this from behind the attack line, from further
off the net, when they're pulled forward, pulled
backward. So they're able to run with precision
and speed from all areas of the court. And I
would say the next piece of the puzzle is you
can do it while reading a defense. Not only do
you, A, have to be able to deliver that ball
in multiple situations, you want to be able to
understand and see what the defense is giving
you and know, am I going to set the middle? Do
I run the pipe over top? Do I run the middle
and overload to the left side or am I going to
spread to the right side? A lot of times you
can run a fast offense in isolation and then
once you add decision making into it, it becomes
even more challenging. And I think that's where
you start to see the differentiation between
international setters and setters who are trying
to make it. Question two, what are your favorite
matchups to watch in MLV and Love and why? I
have a two -part answer. Okay. My first favorite
type of matches are pucker matches. No, what
are your matchups? Like the teams? Yeah. So any
matchup where there is something on the line,
we'll start to see we have Orlando, we have Omaha,
and we have San Diego all in contention for those
last spots. And that, I want to see them play
each other. And because now you have massive
swings, like a win and a loss of a team you're
competing with. Those are my favorite types of
matches to watch. And then I love watching the
top teams play because there's always a little
bit of swagger in there. You're playing for pride,
like a Dallas and an Indy or Houston. I was going
to say Salt Lake, but that's not the case anymore.
Atlanta. I do like watching Houston -Austin because
as we saw in a recent matchup they had. You have
an opposite who has been the American opposite
for a while and a young one who like from what
I've heard from some podcasts or like is a little
outspoken sometimes and like is the up and comer.
Just like the push and pull of that of like I'm
going to dethrone you. No, you're not. Like I
love those kind of matchups too. So that's why
I like Houston Austin. But I agree with Adam
on the MLB front like an Indy Dallas matchup.
Yes, because they're both well coached. They
are the most consistent teams. They're a well
-rounded group, so it's fun to see teams like
that that are pretty structurally sound and coached
well go head -to -head. And give me a rivalry
match. We don't have those yet in MLV and Love.
I think they will come with time, but anytime
you get rivals playing, it's fun because the
temperature is just dialed up a little bit more
and it's more intense. Question three, does playing
for Eric Sullivan and potentially not winning
the league waver any of the confidence the players
would have in him? I don't think so because club
and national team are two different things. You
don't have your full team. You don't have your
full roster. I mean, we don't know what the relationship
with Eric Sullivan and his players currently
is. I would say if you were to. look at this
scenario for anybody other than him, it wouldn't
be an issue. Like it wouldn't erode any confidence
or technically they finished third in the league.
It is what it is. I would say for him, he's proving
himself to his players on the international scene
and love is a job. It's a developmental league.
You know, you can look at it as the B team. I
don't think it has much factor in that. This
year in VNL will. Be more of a, are we in or
are we out for the players? I think then how
he finished in love. Question four, Sarah, you
are a fierce competitor. And whenever you stepped
on the court, you meant business. What players
professionally have you played with and against
that match that ferocity? One player that comes
to mind for me is Shayla from Brazil. Okay. You
can probably help with this because. you watched
like all the games. True. So if I'm speaking
generally, when I played with Serbian athletes,
they were fierce. Or Turkish athletes were always
fierce. So a couple that come to mind, Jovana
Bracocevic, I played with her when I was real,
real young. She was very intense. And then on
the Turkish side, Just going into like Fenerbahce
or Azibashi and playing against the players there,
like they were all out for blood. Let's see.
One of the Brazilian players that comes to mind
for me was Thaisa. I was thinking Thaisa, Giacolini
were both very intense. Fabi was intense. She
was a libero. I think she fulfilled her role
really well in China and Korea. It's not so much
the culture to be like in your face like that.
I was trying to think of when you played in Italy.
You have a special relationship. I always thought
Macari Wilson was pretty intense when she played.
Logan Tom, you know who I was really scared of
when I was really young? Robin Amo Santos was
the setter of the U .S. national team when I
started with the senior national team. And I
was like a baby. I thought she was going to like,
like. Kill me in a black alley somewhere. Yomilka
Ruiz. I was terrified of her. Who was? The Dominican.
Any Dominican? Milagros Cabral. I'm going way
back because I was so young when I played against
those women. And I was just like, I mean, the
Russians were always like, they seemed fierce
because they're always so serious. But like a
Sokolova. you know, a gum over type were always
fierce in just like the quiet. Well, it's so
funny. I'm going to tear you apart. Just looking
at you kind of way. I was going to say, you see
two different types of intensity. I think you
see the people who are loud and in your face
at the net. And then you see the players who
you think would knife you in a dark alley. That's
like, that's you kind of dangerous. Yes. I don't
know. It's fun to see those different types of
competitiveness come out in those players. And
then again, like you said, you have different
nationalities kind of tend towards different
types of competitiveness. That's a great question.
That's a great question. And man, going back,
I'm like, dang, I played against some good players.
You definitely did. Okay, question five. With
both U .S. leagues expanding and a ton of contracts
expiring, next year's free agency feels like
it could get messy. Agreed. Who are some of the
big names you actually see jumping from MLV to
love, assuming that's where the players want
to be? The one that comes to mind for me is Mimi
Collier. That was my first thought. I think that
she is love material. I think I could see Madison
potentially picking her up. I think that she
could make the jump. I was having a conversation
with somebody and they were saying, oh, Carter
Booth for sure. I think she's going to go back
overseas. She's not a love vibe to me. She is
more of an MLV vibe to me. Or what do you agree
or not? Yeah, I don't know. I think she's an
overseas vibe. Like if I had to pick one of the
three, I agree with you that I don't think she
kind of fits the love vibe. I would be shocked
if she doesn't go back overseas. I think. Elena
Scott could be a love libero. Yep. I think that's
a good choice. I think if Morgan hence continues
to be part of the conversation with the U S national
team, I think she could be a love conversation,
a love player because like, I'm confused how
she's in the pipeline and how she's like traveling
for VNL and worlds and all of this. And she's
playing MLV. Like maybe she had an extended contract
and I'm not to take anything away from MLV, but
like I could see her going. I'm trying to think
of any no setters. I don't think. I don't think
any of the opposites. I'm trying to think of,
are there any middles who could potentially make
the jump? I mean, would you, this isn't a middle,
but what would you classify Maldonado Diaz as?
She's a tweener for me. I don't, maybe. I definitely,
I think she's more of a... mlv player but i think
it's also going to be curious as to which americans
retire how many foreigners sign there again as
to who they end up trying to pick up like i will
be curious to see how many spots are available
when that comes to fruition because i i do think
a lot of the draw for foreign athletes was they
recognized a lot of the american names who were
still playing but now again Jordan's retiring.
What's going to happen to Kelsey Robinson -Cook?
Is she going to come back? You are potentially
going to roll over your U .S. legends out of
the league from a playing standpoint, and does
that affect the draw from other international
players? So do you have more American openings?
It'll be curious. I'm honestly not sure there's
many, though. Not if the international level
of players coming in stays the same. Question
six. I'm curious your thoughts on Jordan Larson
saying that love is the most difficult league
she's ever played in. From an outsider's perspective,
I would disagree. As a player, are there other
aspects playing that make it more intense or
difficult or is she placating because it's the
league she's playing in and wants to support
it? She's an owner in the league. Period. Period.
I've been thinking about this question and I
feel like the only way that she could be sincere
about this, and maybe I'm missing a reason, is
that it's just the parody from top to bottom.
That is literally the only thing I can think
of because she played in Russia, in Turkey, in
Italy, and there is no comparison as far as level,
but... If we're looking at the disparity perhaps
between the top, top teams and the bottom teams
in those overseas leagues. You have a couple
nights off. Yeah, you have a couple nights off.
And Jordan played for the top teams in those
leagues. So I can see that being the reason she
said that. I think I watched the interview where
she said that. And I believe she followed that
comment up with, again, you don't get any nights
off in love. Like you have to play. Fair enough.
Again, the parody is, as you saw, we had three
teams tied for third, fourth and fifth. I mean,
you can justify that, but don't kid yourself.
Part of being an athlete in a league and for
a team is to promote that league. Like you are
supposed to be an ambassador for where you're
playing because you want fans to show up. And
she's an owner, which means she wants people
to show up. And quite frankly, probably a lot
of the American viewers don't pay attention to
international volleyball or to overseas football.
club leagues so you can say that and you can
justify it and people will come and they will
watch and i don't have a problem with her saying
that you need to put it in context so i i think
like if you took the top six teams in russia
turkey and italy the competitiveness of those
leagues would blow love out of the water 100
but those leagues are also like 12 to 18 teams
yeah deep you know what i'm saying it's like
you can't compare really which is like any other
pro sport in the u .s like you look at the big
four you got nights off there are terrible teams
you play the washington wizards how many times
like they can't win it is what it is okay question
seven do teams in college and pro keep extra
stats on top of the standard ones for example
serves that generate an overpass that turns into
a kill or attacks that generate a free ball that
directly ends in a point If they don't keep track
of these stats, why not? It seems like these
would be really valuable pieces of information
to have in addition to regular stats. If you
are serious about your craft, you are 100 % taking
those stats. The reason you wouldn't do it is
because it's incredibly time consuming to build
those and to go through and to stat all of the
contacts as a positive or a negative. these types
of things. Cause you want to understand fully
what the impact, what the true impact your players
are having on the match are and who you want
to start over other players. And not only that,
you're looking at matchups between specific players
and subsets of stats to figure out where you
can get an advantage. Like I would be shocked.
I think if all of the pro teams weren't doing
that, at least they should be. And like, that's
kind of, Calls back to what we've talked about
in the past about stats that are shared on broadcasts
and on maybe a box score. Don't really tell the
full story. 100%. Because if you're an athlete
that's going up and consistently getting teams
out of system with your serve, you're not getting
credit for an ace, but you're putting your team
in such a critical place to be successful and
transition and turn those points. You aren't
getting credit for that on the stat sheet. Or
if you're a player who is very low error, but
every time you go up to hit, the team is sending
a free ball back. That is incredibly useful to
your team, even though you're not getting credit.
And even though maybe your attack efficiency
isn't, you know, reflecting the impact that you're
making. I'm not sure so much at the college level,
to be honest, if they're diving that deep, but
I. Would hope for a lot of the pro teams they
are. Question eight. If coaches change the starting
rotations for matchup purposes, what happens
if both teams do that? Do changes get submitted
at the same time or does a coach have a chance
to change once they see what the other team's
starting rotation is? This is kind of the fun
part about being a coach is that little chess
match of who's going to adjust and what you're
going to do because you have to submit your lineup.
blind you submit them essentially at the same
time because you can't see what the other team
is doing and then you go and see what happens
I think more often than not the team that wins
usually doesn't change the rotation and then
the other team will make an adjustment you know
forward or back a couple rotations and then the
other team will make an adjustment and you go
from there but yeah you could have it where both
teams change the rotations and then you have
no idea what's going to happen until you get
on the court question nine viewer question for
Adam When building a staff, what roles would
you prioritize? I know all roles on a staff are
important, but what would be your most valued
or high budgeted to least? Let's say indoor staff
for NCAA or for international. Adam gets put
on the spot today, everybody. Okay, so I'm going
to assume that I'm not coaching and that I'm
more of a GM for that. Sure. I would say head
coach is probably the most important because
they're setting the tone for everything that
you're going to do. When you have a really good
staff, your head coach is setting the expectations.
They're generally creating the culture. They're
kind of managing all the people around there.
So I think having the right person in that role
would be the most important. I would say your
next most important hire would be your assistant
coach because what were you going to say? Exactly
what you guys would expect. We're going top to
bottom. Your head coach can't do everything and
no head coach is great at everything. So the
synergy between the head coach and the assistant
coach, I think is just, it's an incredibly important
dynamic and every team that I've seen that's
successful. Those two pieces work incredibly
well together. So I would say those two probably
first. Next, I'm going to go with your medical
staff. I'm surprised that you have not drafted
a scout man yet. I'm going to get to that. If
your players aren't healthy, you're screwed.
And so I think over the longevity of a season,
having somebody who your players trust. to keep
them healthy, to keep them on the court, to keep
them strong is super important. I know I'm going
against the grain and I'm shooting the stats
person in the foot, but then I think you get
the stats person after that because the reality
of it is the stats people are important, but
a lot of the time they're doing data entry and
the head coaches and assistant coaches can take
that information and make decisions and they've
played the game long enough. They've probably
gone through. Being an assistant coach, if you
have the data, you can make the decisions. I
think having a great scout person obviously brings
benefit, but I think if you're prioritizing them,
I would go probably that person last. The assistant
and head coaches can kind of fill that role if
need be. Am I missing any positions? I mean,
you're filling that out, then you'd have a recruiting
coordinator or depending on the league, your
scouting staff. Could be very important. So you're
bringing talent into the organization. But again,
I think those three pieces, if you have a really
good head coach and assistant coach and somebody
to keep the players healthy, you can feel the
competitive team. And then you're adding those,
you know, one to 5 % advantages after that. Okay.
Our last question of the day. We had a lot of
good ones this week. What is it like playing
for and or coaching as someone without ever having
had playing experience? At a high level. From
a trust perspective, from knowledge, ability
to make adjustments, etc. So some people that
this person highlighted were John Cook, Russ
Rose, Gaspari, who coaches Scandici. I'm not
sure if he played or not. Or Lorenzetti, etc.
You want to go or you want me to go? In my experience.
Coaches who have not had playing experience at
a high level. Hopefully they are aware and they
surround themselves with people who have. Well,
this goes back to the last question about the
head coach, assistant coach relationship. If
you've played the game at a high level, sometimes
like you understand oftentimes what is. possible
and what's not I think of some people I've played
for who maybe didn't play at the highest level
and sometimes the expectations weren't really
aligned with reality as far as like why didn't
you dig that or why couldn't you score that ball
and it's like well if you played you would know
you know what i mean yeah so i think the ones
that have that self -awareness and have surrounded
themselves with people who have played at a high
level that's a huge step it's like anything your
experience gives you the ability to communicate
with your players on a different level that's
true for any case like if you've played college
but you haven't played international there's
a gap there You know, if you were an amazing
player and then you have to coach somebody who's
not an amazing player, there's a gap there because
you intuitively see things that they don't. Like
lots of outstanding players make awful coaches
because they can't communicate what you should
do. It's like, well, why didn't you just do that?
Because that's what comes naturally to you. So
I've coached with people who have zero volleyball
experience. And like you said, they're very good
teachers, communicators. good at setting expectations
really good at empowering people around them
it can work you just have to understand what
your limitations are but i don't think that's
limited to not playing volleyball it's limited
to like who you are as a person and what your
strengths are and who you surround yourself with
you have to work a little harder to have credibility
with your players if you haven't played but i
don't think it's an insurmountable deficiency
is not the right word but No, it's not insurmountable
because I do think a lot, a big part of coaching
is relationship. If we're getting into the nitty
gritty, I have seen coaches with no playing experience,
like not know how to get out of situations. Like
how, after like there's been like a line, a lineup
error. Do you know what I mean? Can we talk about
the Italy match? there's been a lineup error
and the coach who's never played before is like,
well, what do we do now? You know what I mean?
And I've, so I've seen that happen and, or, you
know, certain adjustments or on the fly, like
a lot of coaches that I've seen who maybe don't
have that high level playing experience, they
rely very heavily on watching video. And so they're
not really able to make those in game adjustments,
like live in the moment, because that's something
that is learned through experience. And so I
have found that coaches in that situation, they
kind of get stuck if things are going sideways
in the moment, but they have to watch things
back because they can replay it over and over.
The processing speed isn't quite as fast. Yeah.
Yeah, that's actually a really, really good point.
We had just a ton of great questions this week.
Thank you for sending those in. As always, this
is our favorite segment of the show, so hopefully
those answers are what you were looking for.
All right. We got lots of great matches coming
up. So here's what you should be looking out
for this week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday,
Sunday, matches two and three of the Italy A1
men's semifinals are happening. Thursday and
Saturday are NCAA men's MIVA. We've talked about
that being super competitive. Just MIVA. Because
there are so many matchups that I think would
be really good. Yeah. That is going to be top
to bottom the most competitive conference tournament,
I think. Friday and Saturday at 9 p .m. Eastern,
NCAA men's USC versus BYU. Friday through Sunday,
love playoffs in Louisville. And you can find
those on, I'm going to take a breath here, Victory
Plus, ESPN Plus, and YouTube. Saturday at 2 .30
p .m. Eastern, match one of the Italy A1 women's
finals, and that's Cunigliano versus Milano are
happening. And then Saturday at 9 p .m. Eastern,
MLV San Diego versus Orlando pucker match. Adam's
favorite. Must watch TV. 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
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Thanks so much for joining us, and we'll be back
next week.