Dallas Pulse and LOVB Salt Lake Start 2026 Strong. What Happened to LOVB Houston?
In this episode of Volley Talk, we talk about our favorite and least favorite matches of the week. We also discuss the Omaha Supernovas and their uncharacteristic 3-3 start to the season. Will they bounce back and make a push for the top as expected, or does this team just not have it?
Pavan's Percentages makes a comeback, and we talk about teams that have gotten off to a good start in 2026 and others that have us scratching our heads, wondering what is going on.
Join our MLV fantasy league for the 2026 season!! Go to playvoli.com/volleytalk to participate. Download the app on iOS or Android to get in on the action!
If you have questions for us or topics you would like us to explore, drop us a line on Instagram or email us at info@sarahpavan.com!
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Transcript
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. There's a lot of volleyball happening. There is not enough time in a week to watch everything that I want to watch. It's wild. It's tough to keep up. That's for sure. So we watch what we can. We watch what seems interesting. We get the juice and the gossip and all that from our listeners who like to write in, which we love. We love. But yeah, all over the place. MLV, love. And say it with amen. overseas you name it it's wild we had some matches get canceled this week snowstorm major snowstorm matches that i was actually really excited about but whatever so we'll dive in we'll talk about the matches we watched some things have been going on some insights just this episode might be all over the place so buckle up we don't even know what's coming so let's get started Alright, first things first. Is your volley fantasy a highlight or just a happening this week? No, it's a highlight. Of course it is. Dang it. As of this week, I'm 39th in the pool, which is good. I was as high as 26 at one point. And I would be absolutely killing it if Mia Tueninga was not terrible. This man is cursing me a tuaniga every single day. Listen, she has cost me right now seven grand. Well, better than last week. She lost you eight grand last week. I've got her for one more week. She needs to have the best week of her career and I'll be in a good place. Mine started out being a highlight. I think I climbed up to in the 40s. And then, you know what happened? One of the games that had three players of mine playing got canceled. Too bad. So I am so upset. That was such a great opportunity for me to gain serious traction because one of my players underperformed in the first game of the week and I was like, okay, she can make up for it. I'm going to gain traction. Who was it? Raven Colvin. And then their game was canceled. I had three players participating in that match. Okay, so I'm upset. I think I'm in the high 70s. Shout out to NoDiggity, who is still leading the charge at number one. Dropped to number four for a hot second, but they're back. Maybe we'll have to get that person on the pod at some point and talk about the strategy. I clearly need some help. But we had somebody reach out on the chat feature in the Volley app asking if we could do a prize for the winner. Sure. It was not no diggity who asked in case anybody's wondering. No diggity's like, I'm killing it right now. Could I get a prize? It was not them. But the person requested that the winner of the fantasy league on volley gets assigned volleyball. So that will be the prize. And you know what? If we can cook up something else, we'll do that too. I love it. Great idea. Not a great incentive, you know. But if you're interested, there you go. A prize for the winner. Yeah, we have like 340 teams or something. Yeah, it's amazing. And again, I know we say this every week, but if you're just hearing about this for the first time or you're tuning in or you still want to play, you can join all season long. You come in halfway through the pack, you've got points, so you still have a chance to win. And I saw that there were some questions and some issues, but you can use the chat function The developer helps very quickly. Very quickly. And so anytime there's a question, they are on it. And let me tell you, I'm still so excited. I am refreshing my points. True story. All the time. I wake up and Sarah's on her phone looking at it. He just made that up. He's completely making that up. He's lying. But while my teams are playing, I am refreshing. Probably not going to catch the winners at this point, but I have faith. that I'm going to make some big moves. Shout out to Mimi Collier earning me some money. Having a good week. If you want to join and you haven't already, head to playvolley .com slash volley talk. That's playvolley .com slash volley talk to join our league. Jump on the chat. I check it every now and then. If I have insight or something that I can say, I do it. But really take a peek at if your players have been on the bench or not, because some players, they look good in theory, and then you look at their stats, and they haven't played for a bit. Not the best. Just a heads up. It didn't happen to me. I know I'm making it sound like it happened to me. It didn't. But it is a lot of fun, so please be sure to join, and we will see you over on the Volley app probably tomorrow. Okay, some noteworthy results in NCAA men. Number 17, UC Santa Barbara. And number 14, Stanford split their games. That is not like huge news. Like 17 -14 is pretty close. It is close, but you feel like Stanford should have won both of those. I mean, Stanford, they had a bad week last week too. No, I know. And we have to reset to the new norm of what they actually are. But I think expectations coming into the season were high. If you would have asked me. Four weeks ago, if they were going to win that home -and -home with UCSB, I would have said yes. Yeah, UC Santa Barbara was pretty bad last year. I watched a few of their games and called a couple. The way Stanford was talking and looking at the beginning of the season, I thought that they would be better. They're going to need to make some moves if they want to qualify for the tournament, which I have to assume is their goal. I think that's a tall order, but we'll see. Number five, UC Irvine beat number eight BYU in five in both of their matches. Those are big wins for them. Big wins. And that's a solid matchup too. So UC Irvine is still rolling after their big win against Pepperdine the week before. Will they crack a little higher than number five? We'll find out. Yeah, I'm not sure. That's tough. Number 15, McKendree swept number 10, Penn State in their series 3 -0 and 3 -1. I take back everything I said about Penn State being like, oh my gosh, they're doing so much better than they did. They are doing better than they did last season because they started 0 -8. The low bar. But the McKendree boys coming back after their West Coast road trip had another week under their belts and they're like, you know what? Let's slap Penn State around. Congrats, gents. There we go. So those are the big news in NCAA men's volleyball. In MLV, Dallas has jumped to the top of the standings with Indy. They had huge wins over Atlanta and Orlando this week. I thought the Orlando game was outstanding. It was a ton of fun to watch. They're good. Last year, Indy was the expansion team. They made the final this year. Dallas is the expansion team. They're legit. I like them. We'll talk about that match a little bit later on, but Dallas is going to be a force this year in MLB, I think. There are no more unbeaten teams in MLB because Indy lost in four to Omaha. Omaha snapped a three -game losing streak. They needed that badly. And, of course, Adam's star player on his fantasy team, Mia Tuoniga, led the way for Indy. No comment. There's some unhittable balls. Let's just put it that way. Somehow I think she's getting minus 50 for all of those unhittable balls. That's why she's dropping in value. I want to know what the modifiers and stuff are on the specific skills so I can read these stat sheets and really understand where my players are doing well and poorly. No unbeaten teams. That was not a fun match to watch. No, the volleyball wasn't good in my opinion. I didn't think Omaha was great, but they were better. I expected, that was my first time watching Indy who was 3 -0. I was expecting things to be humming and I don't. really think anybody played well. Anna DeBeer didn't play well. Alayna Scott didn't play well. I thought Lecter at Member Meadow was probably one of their better players, but I've seen her play much better. Yeah, it just wasn't cohesive on either side. She has. I expected more from that match. I was excited to watch that match, and it was a bit of a letdown. Reagan Cooper got in for Omaha after the press conference where the coach, Adam's favorite guy, was like, yeah. You know what? Reagan Cooper's a good attacker, but in volleyball, you need to serve and pass and have ball control and make some digs when people hit the ball at you. And all of our other outsides are better than her. That was a scathing message from a coach. He's like, you know what? In volleyball, you need to do anything. I thought she actually turned the match around for them. Well, you said that during the match. You're like, well, guess Sarah Parsons is never going to see the court again because Reagan Cooper, who couldn't do anything but hit, is playing well. According to the coach, we didn't say that. I was impressed with how she managed to come in and turn things around. It was good for her. And I think the current situation that is probably most surprising, question mark? I don't know. You guys tell me. Atlanta's currently in sixth. Out of eight. I can't say I saw that coming. They started well, and the wheels have been falling off. I can't quite put my finger on what's going sideways there. I need to watch a few more matches, but I expected them to be better. I mean, obviously, that was our prediction at the beginning of the season. There's still time to turn it around, obviously. We're early in the season, but this was not what I was expecting. Okay, on the love front, Salt Lake is leading the way right now. They're 3 -1. They look good. They look real good. I watched a couple of their matches this week. I agree. Houston got their first win of the season. They dominated Austin three straight. I didn't get a chance to watch that game. I think the time was posted wrong on the place I looked. I went to watch it, and it was already over. What happened? Yes. It was like 14 -21 -14. How do you not win a match and then come out and smack Austin? That's so confusing to me because I watched them play Salt Lake and then I was like, wow, they look real bad. And then the next day I'm like, and they slapped Austin. If somebody watched that match, send us a message. I'm curious what happened. Did Houston just show up finally? I don't know. Give us your notes, everybody, because we missed that one. Some additional love news. Are you ready for this? I'm ready for this. This involves your favorite person. Do you know who it is? Yes. Okay, dang it. Okay, for Love San Francisco, they recently announced their head coach, and guess who got the job? Adam's favorite college coach, Alfie Reft from UCLA. He left UCLA and is going to take over that job. Tell us your thoughts. I'm not sure. he would have still been around much longer given his record at UCLA. So I think this is a good move for him. They just keep posting how he took UCLA to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2021. Great. That should not be the standard at UCLA. I'm sorry. That roster underperformed with him as the coach consistently. I don't know if the roster underperformed, but I just don't understand how UCLA can't recruit better. They used to be so good. Fair or not fair. And maybe I was missing the boat. But when I watched his teams play, I was never quite sure what they were trying to do with their system, with their team, what the goal was. I never saw any adjustments. That's obviously just my opinion. I'm sure he was prepared. He has national team experience, but I could never figure it out. I don't think that was a good fit. My thing is I feel like they always had a good plan to start. we talked yes we've talked we could identify what they were trying to do at the start of the game but then once their opponent made an adjustment then it stopped what i was saying more was were they trying to run the middle were they trying to run a fast offense what was their defensive systems like it never It always seemed like there was something different they were trying to do each match for their opponent, but they weren't trained or skilled or prepared enough to execute that well. This is as mean as Adam will ever get. No, no, no. They were not skilled enough or trained well enough. My point was you do that with a national team, right? Like when you have the best of the best, you can put a different game plan together for each game and your players will execute. But in college. You have to build those adjustments into practice, into the athletes. They don't have that experience. And it almost seemed like they were trying to do something different every match. And it just never felt cohesive. I actually think this will be a better fit for him as a coach. And it will be curious to see if his style and experience meshes better in a professional environment than it did in college. Let's see. I knew Adam would be thrilled to hear this news. I'm very curious to see who's coaching UCLA, though. That is the big question mark. Okay, after the Kelly Sheffield episode, I got a lot of messages about Kim Drevniok and her association and ties with the Elite Volley Agency, which is the agency that Sheffield was referring to in his rant. In his tell -all. So many people sent me screenshots, et cetera, of Kimberly Drevniok, who is the right -side attacker for Love Nebraska. It says on her profile, elite volley manager. So everybody was like, oh my gosh, this girl plays for Love and she's working for them. Like, how is she preying on these student athletes? Blah, blah, blah. I didn't know if it meant that she was like... an agent for them or if like elite volley was her agent so i did some digging shockingly this agency does not list any of their athletes on their website which i think is a huge red flag because on almost every reputable agent's website it has headshots and career data on all of their athletes at least the good ones the ones that they want to put out there this has nobody so i don't know if they are her but she is employed by them as a mentor. She runs the elite volley sort of mentorship program. I think they kind of do client acquisition. So I'm, I'm saying this because the impression I get is that she is not involved in like the NIL, like agent stuff. but she is involved more in the mentorship side. So if that makes you guys like her a little more again, I hope so. And finally, Conigliano's back on top. They won the Coppa Italia this past weekend. It was their eighth Coppa Italia victory, their seventh in a row. They beat Scandici, who beat them in the final of Club World Championships in December. They beat them three straight. Never twice. But listen to the scores. 31 -29, 26 -24, 27 -25. That game, I believe, happened today or on Sunday, so we haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but that is going to be, as there's no volleyball on Monday or Tuesdays, and it would be way better if there was. I'm going to watch that match tomorrow or Tuesday because it seems like it was really, really good. I feel like, okay, you hear three straight, and you're like, wow, that's terrible, but the scores, it could not have been closer. Yeah, that's going to be my Monday treat. Well, Monica D 'Anginaro has been a part of all eight. That's crazy. Crazy. And Gabi recently signed with them, re -signed with them for the next three seasons. Dang. Good for her. So that is what's up. That was our biggest weekly highlights for a while. There was a lot cooking this week. So much going on. So, yeah, exciting stuff. Let us know your thoughts, especially if you saw the Houston -Austin game. We need to hear about it. Okay. As we talked about, we are all over the place with the matches. We are able to watch coherent enough to watch, you know, baby girl takes up a lot of time. So whenever we can sneak a match in, we are doing it. But of the matches you watched this week, what was your favorite match you watched and what was your least favorite match you watched? So I've got. Two favorite matches. That was not the rule, but sure. Okay. I'm not going to talk about the one, but I watched the... Well, tell us what the one is that you're not going to talk about. I watched Trentino Perugia. I just got... First of all, Semenyuk was playing, who I love watching. I think he's so good. So that was a highlight to begin with. But it just got me excited for VNL and Worlds and watching all of these guys play. I mean, there's so many good players on those teams. The volleyball... level was so high there was chirping and Great athletic plays that it was just a really really high level match even though two of the sets were blowouts It was so much fun to watch and I just we've watched a lot of NCAA Women's and women's pro it was it just hit me in the right place watching some high -level men's He's like, we're not going to talk about this. I'm not going to talk about this match at all, but let me go off on it. Actually, we can talk about it because that was my favorite match of the week for me. Okay, go ahead. That one was my favorite. Since you got the ball rolling, why not just continue? Outstanding. We're talking like national team stars. It's basically like we watched Scandiccio Navarro last week. You're taking top talent from everywhere and putting them together on the same court. I just have to say Janelle needs to figure his look out. Okay. He had like the side swipe over comb situation with a full mustache in the summer. And now he's rocking like the man bun clean shaven. Which look do you like? I prefer the mustache look. I feel like I don't recognize him anymore. I honestly didn't recognize him. I read the name and I was like, what? So, yeah, he needs to figure that out. I will say Semenyuk is my low -key favorite player. 100%. He's so good. I know this term gets thrown around way too much if you watch volleyball in the U .S. But his volleyball IQ is off the charts. I cannot believe you just said volleyball IQ. I just want to run away. I'm kind of making fun of everybody. But it's true. His ability to see and make decisions is unparalleled. He's a very intelligent player. Yes. This match, they owe for the French right side hitter. In the first set, I think he served like 15 balls in a row. It was unbelievable. That's a slight exaggeration. It was probably like 12. It was insane. And he was. beating the crap out of these serves and he was not missing and then these guys were getting blocked like crazy but then like these guys were in the middle and it's just like they're hitting their heads off the ceiling and just hitting the ball straight down and then the two setters going at it and like the talent on the court I wish Ishikawa coming off the bench Ishikawa coming off the bench Ishikawa his sister coming off the bench for Navarro we didn't even bring that up last week I was like how is this happening Gabby Garcia coming off the bench for Trentino like you name it these It was just such a high -level volleyball. Perugia held on to the first place with that. The one middle for Trentino, what was his name? Bartha. Bartha. His little celebration. He's got the big beard underneath. I saw him do that. That had to be one of the best things I ever seen. This man, he's massive. Bald head. He looks like... someone you don't want to see in a dark alley. And he gets this block and he comes down and looks at his teammates. And I was killing myself laughing. I loved watching it every time he did it. And let me tell you, he got a ton of blocks in the first set. So we saw a whole bunch. It was just an entertaining volleyball match to watch. Just so skilled, so high level. We're going to watch the Coppa Italia Monday, Tuesday. If you are looking for something Monday, Tuesday, watch. the Trentino -Pereja match because it was great. And like you said, even though two of the sets were complete blowouts. But I mean, they were blowouts because the execution from certain players was so high, like far serving that many balls. If you're hitting that many serves in a row with that kind of pace, that in and of itself is just statistically impressive to watch how consistent you can be with that. It's incredible. So that was my favorite match of the week. I think my... Second favorite or favorite, take your pick, was the Dallas -Orlando MLV match. It was a reverse sweep by Dallas. I thought the volleyball was really good. Again, we're not talking Navarro -Scandici, but I've been thoroughly impressed with how much better MLV is this year compared to last year. They've added some key athletes who make a difference. Yeah. The starting lineups are respectable now. And the volleyball is good. The passion is good. I thought Dallas did a really good job running the middle. I really like their one -two punch with Ben Buskirk and Savage. I think it's really – that's going to be a tough duo to manage. Collier is playing well. She is. Payne on the right side played well for them. I really like their team. They have some grit. You can kind of see what they're trying to do. They were running the middle off the net. Valentin Anderson did a really good job running the offense. I think right now she's setting better than anybody else in MLB. They're good. And Orlando started strong. You know, they took the two sets at home off Dallas. Dallas fought back. Well, your girl isn't starting for them anymore. Natalie Foster. I know. I mean, but their middles are also very good, so we'll see. She came in and served really well. She had a bunch of serves in a row. Brie Kelly took her spot. Yeah. We'll see where that ends up. I mean, they've lost. I mean, they're not losing, but they lost now. We'll see if they make any roster changes. Well, Charity Luper did pretty well. She did well. I mean, again, I thought it was an entertaining match. Well, you have both of their left sides that aren't even playing. from last season that are on the bench this season. Looper and then Maddox came in from Vegas and they snagged their spot. I'm really impressed with Maddox. Last year in Vegas, she was almost unserviceable, but she couldn't pass. If Lucas from Omaha was going to critique a player on ball control, it was going to be Maddox. She's got a live arm. She hits well. There were some matches she came in and played really well, but it was a roller coaster. You never knew what you were going to get. And she has clearly put some work in around the ball control. It's not... great yet but it's getting better so i've been impressed with her she's my most improved player so far in mlv for me well and i feel like abercrombie is kind of taking a bit of a dip there i think there are are you setting people up to not pick her for for fantasy and then you're gonna pick her no okay um don't trust anything adam's 100 untrustworthy i was gonna say i think there are a couple players who did really well in mlv last year who Are not going to have as good seasons. Because the caliber of the league has improved. And I think she's going to be one of them. She's still going to score. But she's not going to be as dominant this year. As she was last year. What was your least favorite match of the week? Indy Omaha. Where you kind of hinted at why. Yeah it was. I had high expectations. Indy coming in 3 -0. Omaha needing a win. I was expecting. Kind of a fight. And it was low execution. One of the things that really bothered me about that match was they only set the middle on perfect passes. Both sides? Both sides. And so every time there was a perfect pass, the middles would commit. They didn't score. It was very basic in terms of how the offenses were being run. I didn't think the execution was very good. It wasn't clean. It wasn't a fun match for me to watch. especially given I think I had pretty high expectations about what that was going to be. That was probably the match I had circled of being my most wanted to watch match this week, and it was kind of disappointing. What about you? What was your least favorite match? My least favorite match was Love Houston versus Salt Lake. I was kind of in and out on that one. Houston looks terrible. I said that and then they turned around and crushed Austin. So whatever. I was curious about Salt Lake because they got off to a pretty good start. So I wanted to check things out. Serena Gray is playing really, really well. Hedy Casanova is playing better than she did last season. The two left sides in Ronnie Jones -Perry and Danny Drews, I was not a fan of last year. And they are not on the court. Being replaced by Claire Hoffman and Alexa Gray, who are doing... Way better job. Kojima, I think she's got it. So watching them, I was like, okay, the pieces are there for sure. Houston, however, like, I'm sorry, you are second, alternating between first and second, all regular season last year. You basically return your entire roster, and it's just bad. It looks so uninspired. I'm like, did any of you train in the offseason, like, at all? Do you want to be there? It was just really disappointing to see a team that's almost intact come back and just go through the motions, I guess. And I wonder like how much of it is like player driven in that they just feel comfortable in the love situation and maybe weren't preparing, you know, hard to come in for the season. How much of it is coaching? with, you know, losing Barbellini and bringing in Sonja Tomasovic. I don't know, but it was just not good. My question for you is, with the change to some of the outside hitters, and Serena for that matter at Salt Lake City, do you think they're that much better than the players they replaced, or do you think they're a better fit with the type of offense that Poulter runs, or both? And for those of you who aren't familiar with what I'm referencing, Poulter generally runs a very quick offense, and I think sometimes last year watching Ronnie Jones -Perry try to hit some of those fast sets, it just wasn't necessarily a good fit, I didn't think. So I was curious, are they just better period in your opinion, or are they a better fit given the setter? Well, I mean, Alexa Gray has been hitting with Brie O 'Reilly for years, and she... runs a pretty fast offense too so she's well equipped to deal with that maybe yeah i mean danny drews is left -handed and left -handed left side with a fast offense is like really tough to manage so maybe but as far as casanova and like the middles they were there last year true casanova looks In better shape. Yeah, she looks like she put some work in in the offseason to come back with a point to prove. I think she looks really good this year. I've been impressed. Yeah, so that one was just disappointing. Okay, so Sarah and I have been watching some different volleyball. You know, we kind of always have it on, but we follow some different things. And one of the things I found interesting was Omaha's... latest stretch, and we talked about the coach interviews. He's had a couple more, which I think are interesting. And I've watched more or less their last four games. More importantly, he's been watching the post -game press conferences. His stock has risen a little in my book. Wait, really? Yeah, I liked his last presser against. I think they played Valkyries last, Orlando. They lost. They played Indy. Today. I haven't seen that press conference. It wasn't up yet. But I think they played Orlando. He was like making excuses about having to travel. Yeah, I didn't love that part. But throwing the roster under the bus I thought was kind of funny. He's like, oh, I saw this roster. I was like, don't think we're going to win. Don't think we're going to just walk through the league with this roster. I was like, whoa. So we'll talk about that. And then I have some thoughts about Omaha in general and roster construction, which I think. will be an interesting conversation and i i'm curious if you will agree with me or not hit me okay as of right now omaha won their last match against indy i didn't think it was a very good match personally and i didn't think indy was very good no mind you i was in and out of the match adam paid more attention than i did i didn't think indy was very good now i hadn't seen them play yet so i was excited and they were three and oh my instinct was omaha has Too many of the same type of players. Now, let me expand here. And before you get upset at me, listen to the whole take. Put those typing fingers away. Put your fingers away. For a second. Turn the volume up. Put on your listening ears, everybody, okay? Omaha, to me, is similar to a Nebraska team. You are incredibly skilled. The athletes are very polished. And they're very proper. You have this... feeling of kind of everybody gets along i mean like media trained media trained but like on the court it's really even you don't see any outbursts there's competitiveness but it's not it's not aggressive you can get a long way with having the most skilled players i think omaha can you think of any female teams like just off the top of your head that you would identify as aggressive pit was an aggressive team like you have babcock you have oh like swagger yeah like you've got You've got a little sandpaper on the team. You can have, I don't know how to say it other than you need a dog. And I know that I shouldn't be saying that. I know it doesn't come out properly. And I think Nunniveller has that personality. I think the league has caught up to her. She refuses to lose. She's aggressive. She plays good defense. She's tenacious. And I think that she's been one of the more physical players in the past in MLB. But you've added players like Heredia Colon. You've added Mimi Collier. You've added a bunch of kind of younger, more physical athletes. I don't think it's quite as easy for her to score. And so when Omaha needs a point, and this is what I saw prior to the Indy match, they don't have players who are getting it done. And they don't have anybody who's really sinking their teeth in and fighting. And I think you saw that in the finals in the playoffs last year. And I just think whoever's crafting those teams, and maybe it's the identity of kind of Nebraska volleyball, but you need somebody to get in a player's face. You need different personalities. And it's all a little vanilla to me when I watch them play. And we've talked about that kind of being the same thing on Nebraska in the past. I know Rebecca Alec was a little bit of that, but in general, that type of player seems to fit in Nebraska volleyball. What are your thoughts on that? Just don't make any waves. Be a nice girl. Kind of. Yeah. I mean, I can see it. Yeah. I see. I think none of Miller has it in her. And I agree with that. But I don't think she can put the same power and kill percentage on the floor this year as she has in other year. Because I think the league is better this year. I really do. I'm just thinking. I feel like the Omaha Middles are young. And then, yeah, they play. They rely on their skill. I mean, I can't disagree with what you're saying. I can understand what you're saying. You learn a lot about players when you watch them in the press conference and things like that. And again, I liked Beeson's answer after that first loss. I need to swing high. I need to stay aggressive. I need to... Said all of the right things. You didn't see her come out in the next match on fire with a... well hey she didn't get the start but when she did come in right you like when that happens you need to see the reaction you need to see the fire in the eyes you can tell when like you're just itching to go and it might not go your way but there's an attitude about players like that and i don't i don't see that from nebraska like even watching the indie match Lector, remember Mena, like they were losing. Indy did not play well, but she was, there was an intensity there even when it wasn't going right. And I don't see that from a lot of Omaha players other than none of other, but you need somebody else besides her in order to be successful. I think. I mean, it's tough because I think a lot of people don't know. And a lot of female athletes don't necessarily know how to respond to athletes like that. And I'm thinking one athlete that, is coming to mind watching MLV right now is Yovana Brokacevich for San Diego. She is, she is past her prime for sure, but she still has that dog mentality and she is intense. She's in your face and you can kind of see some of the girls on her team, like kind of laughing when she's like that, but it's like, no, you need an athlete like that because those are the ones that, pull the team along with them. Yeah. You know what I mean? And like, we can't all just be nice and be like, Oh, whatever happens happens. We tried our best. It's like, no, there's teams like that. And then there's teams who refuse to lose. And it's usually driven by one or two athletes who will pull everybody with them and be that special kind of crazy. Eva Hudson comes to mind. Yeah. She was acting. She was for sure like that, especially at Kentucky. But Brachowicz was that for San Diego and granted San Diego sucks. Nunavut does have it. I feel like everybody else is just very, we're going to try hard and whatever happens happens. Yeah. You need different personalities on a team, even if it's uncomfortable. And it seems like MLV Omaha and Nebraska to a certain extent standpoint tends to attract a similar type of player. Well, I mean, just say what you're saying. What I'm understanding you're saying is like, it's a very, I feel like you're implying that this is a John Cook thing. I don't know if he's had his hands on the roster for MLV yet. He's the GM, so maybe, but I get the impression that he likes that type of personality and he likes his teams to be cohesive. And I think sometimes you need somebody to walk into the locker room and kick the garbage can over. And I don't care if you're an a -hole, if you can go out and win. That's part of professional sports. That was an observation from watching this last four -game stretch. And I think the coach kind of said that without saying it. Or maybe Adam's just listening in and doing, like, I really hope this is what he means. Well, again. I think if you look at their roster on paper, they're the most skilled team in MLB. 100%. Okay. So for the coach to come out and say, everybody here expected us to walk through this season and dominate. And I don't think we're that good. That is essentially what he said in that interview. I don't think it's about the volleyball. I think he's looking at that and going, we don't have... that dogged mentality that it takes to be at the top it's different to get to the top and it's different to stay at the top and from coach speak that's what i read from those comments and i thought that was a ballsy comment from him i mean they had lost three games in a row but you're kind of throwing your team under the bus a little bit to make a point, and I can respect that. He made a whole lot of excuses around that and weather and whatever else and winning the stats battle and not winning the match, but that comment in particular I thought was very interesting. Do you think that Omaha, do you think you can learn that? Do you think that he can impart that on this team, and where do you see them kind of going now? Is this a wake -up call? Oh man, I don't know. I, I'm not sure that kind of attitude and mentality can be taught. I don't think it can be faked because like, especially at this point in people's careers, like if you're trying to put that on, like you're faking it at the beginning until it feels okay. But I don't think that you can just, I feel like you're either like that or you're not. And especially in women's sports, it's very difficult to be the person that's like that. It's not. Nice. And people like to be liked. Yeah. And I think there's immense amount of pressure for that team to be at the top of the standings. Oh, yeah. So I'm very curious to watch the Omaha experiment for the rest of the season. All right. It's game time. I think the game helps address a couple different aspects of volleyball because there's so much going on. Adam's like, this game is addressing all the things that I want to talk about, but I'm too nice. So I'm going to make Sarah say it. So once again, Sarah has no idea what's coming, which is the fun of this. So we're going to play Pavin's percentages. So I'm going to make a statement and you are going to pick the percent chance you think it will happen and give, you know, a little reason for your percentage. A little thought. Okay. So question one is Brittany Abercrombie won MVP of the league last year. This year, what do you think the chances one of the rookies, probably Heredia Colon or Mimi Collier, will be in the running for MVP of the league? Oh my goodness. Well, I think it all depends on how those teams do. So I'm going to say 30%. I don't think Columbus... Columbus is doing a lot better than last year. They're still in second last. So I don't think that they're going to make a push to win it all. Dallas... Dallas is my favorite MLB team right now. I really like them. I think they could make a push. If they do, Collier has started out really well. But that's the big if. So that's why I'm saying 30. Okay. All right, question two. Omaha will finish the regular season with the best record. 25%. I don't think they will. That was higher than I would have gone. Really? Yeah. What would you have done? 10%. Oh, baby. I don't know because I'm waffling between, okay, they had a reality check. They lost three in a row. Are they inspired and extra focused now to come back and not allow that to happen again? Or have other teams leveled up more, which is ironic that I'm saying that because Omaha picked up Hilly, Henson, like all these people from other teams. So like, okay. But like just, yeah, have other teams kind of caught up to them. So that's why I said 25 % is like there is the chance that like they could be like, okay, no more. But I don't think they're going to finish at the top of the league. Yeah, I think that their roster as they have it currently set would not be able to do that. I liked what Reagan Cooper came in and did. So if they're willing to move some pieces around and somebody comes in and plays well, maybe. But, you know, we talked about this already. The roster construction. I'm not sure is fantastic the way it is, the way the personalities fit. So yeah, I'm low on that. Question three, at least two players from MLV will make the VNL roster or a VNL roster for the U .S. national team. Now, it's safe to say, hence, we'll probably make one. So that's kind of my one nod. Yes, she's going to be there. Do you think any of the other MLB players will make the U S VNL roster? I'll say 15%. Okay. If someone was going to make it, who do you think it would be? Probably Collier, but I think her playing style is too similar to Sarah Franklin's who is improving or like, yeah, I think it's a stretch. And here's the other reason why I think it's a stretch is because Eric Sullivan in coaching love. is not able to scout athletes in MLV now. Whereas last season we saw him attend several MLV matches, scouting players. He can't do that now. And like, while Elena Scott should be considered, I heard that she said no last year. I don't know if there's any truth to that. So everybody who's like, what about Elena Scott? I heard that she said no. So that's why I took her off the list. Question four. Salt Lake from love finishes the season at the top of the pile, given their hot start. I'm going to say 50%. Oh, that's the number I would have picked. I think Salt Lake didn't do so hot last year, but so they've got that like working in their favor to like make that push. But I think you also have athletes there. Like Serena Gray has something to prove. Like, she, yes, was on the wide roster for VNL, traveled, I think, to one tournament. But, like, I get the impression that, like, she wants to make sure that she's in the discussion. Alexa Gray coming in in her first year in the league, I think, you know, wants to play well. Kojima, I feel like, has that mentality just from observing of, like, no, you get your job done. And I don't necessarily get that same feeling. from teams across the board, I think they have the pieces to be able to do it if they can stay consistent. They seem the most motivated and driven out of all of the love teams that I've watched this season. So I like your prediction. I think that's very astute. Okay, here's a spicy one. Fabulous. Sonja Tomasovic. will be the coach of Houston next season. See, this is what happens. Adam has, like, a spicy take, and he makes me, he sewers me in talking about it, and then everybody gets mad at me. Sonja Tomasovic will be the coach next year. Well, okay, without knowing details of her contract, so let's, like, maybe she signed a multi -year deal. This will be merit -based. Merit -based. I mean, we're really early in the season, but I'll say... 20%. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have the exact same roster and just be so bad. Well, and this is another case. I don't know what the numbers are off the top of my head, but she coached in college, and I do not think she had a great record. She coached at Arizona State. They were no good. Then she went, I think she was coaching in Turkey for a while. Maybe I think she was the assistant of Vacafe. And then she was somewhere else and then got the call back to love. I don't know. We'll have to see if she can get it back on the rails here, but it didn't start well. Not a great start. No. And obviously we didn't see the Austin game, but I'll be curious to keep my eye on that because she stepped into some pretty big shoes. I love that you made me say that after they've played like three games. Well, you know what? It was something that I was looking at the roster and I was looking at. you know, possible reasons for changes in performance. Like why is Salt Lake doing better? Why is Houston doing worse? You know, we looking at Dallas. So, I mean, the coach was the biggest change on that roster. So I was just curious. It's an early season prediction. We're not holding you to anything. I got two more here. We're going to move into men's NCAA. What do you think the chance is that we see an NCAA final rematch of Long Beach State versus UCLA this year? Oh, dear. Full disclosure, I haven't seen Long Beach State play yet this season. I haven't seen Hawaii play. But I'm going to say 60%. Oh, wow. Big number. Both teams seem to be dominating right now. I mean, Hawaii had that hiccup against. Who was it? They lost a match or something. Was it Loyola Chicago? I don't remember. I need to see the Big West teams play. I've only seen UC Irvine so far. But from what I saw of UCLA, they were looking so good. Heberdyne wasn't looking as strong as I expected. I have to check out USC still. But I feel like it could happen. Okay. And my last question, moving to international here, is... The Champions League winners on both the men and the women's side will both be from Italy. I'll say 60 again. Okay. Because on the women's side, you've got Conigliano, Scandici, Milano, like, Novar. Like, there's a good crop of women's teams there. Totally. And I think it's realistic that one of them could win. And then on the men's side, you've got Perugia. I think Trentino's in it. So the men I'm a little more iffy about, but yeah, I think it's a decent chance. So there you have it. Sarah's early season takes. Oh my gosh. Spicy and all on Paven's percentages. Okay, let's dive into some listener questions. Let's go. Question one. The difference in growth between Sarah Franklin and Jess Merzik is extraordinary. Merzik seems to not have improved at all. Shouldn't off -season practice and development have helped her passing and hitting game? Franklin, on the other hand, is making a statement overseas in one of the matches I saw. What should Merzik do to even hope for a U .S. team spot? Same for Jordan Thompson. I haven't seen much improvement this year. Other than Serena Gray, Love doesn't seem to be developing players. What has to change? Is international the only option? So a multifaceted question here. It's a great question and something that... We actually were talking about while we were watching Houston play. My unfortunate opinion is I think the ship for her on the national team has sailed. I don't think it's coming back. That's the thing. Not every player wants to play national team. True. So she might not want to, which, okay, case closed. Hypothetically, let's talk about if she did want to play. I think the ship has sailed. I mean, the reality of it is it started when she took a season off after college. I think, did she not decline to play for the national team or try out for, again, she cited mental health reasons, which is totally, she has the ability to do that and you have to take care of yourself 100%. But while you're doing that, the people you are competing with a spot for, and that's Sarah Franklin, that's Skinner, that's everybody, they're still training and playing and getting experience and going to play in VNL. And I didn't think she looked very good. No. Jess Merzik, she has not improved at all. I think it just shows the different goals that these athletes probably have in that Sarah Franklin chose to play. national team all summer chose to go to Italy where it can be uncomfortable and and sit on the bench on the bench to get better a lot of matches but you in the match that this person saw like clearly noticed improvements yeah that's not by accident so what can she do she can go overseas I don't know if she'll get a chance again to go to USA but if you're given the opportunity you have to take it Or you just like work your ass off in the offseason by yourself. Yeah. The one thing I will say is we're not yet comparing apples to apples, right? People who went overseas are in mid -season competition form and love is just starting. Let's be honest, Houston stunk for their first many games other than the one this weekend. But you have to also, like Jordan Thompson, for example, played the AU pro volleyball. And several of... The love players did. Micah Hancock played. A handful of those athletes played AU in the fall, so they aren't just starting up. Fair. I would argue that playing AU is different than competing in Europe and being in mid -season form. I'm saying, you're saying they're not mid -season form. You've been playing for several months at this point. Yeah, fair. You're seeing better competition in Europe, in Italy specifically. day in and day out. And in my opinion, that's the best way to get better, even if you're not playing. Sarah Franklin's training environment is probably unparalleled at this point. There's very few places you could go to get that kind of experience and play against those kind of hitters, even if you're on the B side. Are you even getting the impression that Love cares about developing players? I don't get that impression. No, it's not their mandate. They want a place. They're trying. Love is trying to grow a league and make money in the U .S. Don't kid yourself. That is the primary goal. Developing players and national team, if those incentives align, they will help, but they're not going to compromise their product for national team players. No. So, like, the part two of this question, I don't think Love cares to develop players. Serena Gray has improved a lot. I will attribute that to... For someone with a national team and training in that environment, I know we have been critical. But, like, she was in that environment. You know, she traveled to V &L stop. She has improved. Your perspective changes when you compete in V &L. You understand what is required. And you can see the fire in Amber IG. Like, I'm not talking across the board. But like you can see some players who got a taste of the international stuff and they're coming back with renewed energy and focus and other players just haven't. Listen, there's no better motivator than thinking you're good and having your rear handed to you, which I quite frankly think the U .S. did on several occasions in VNL. So you go out there, you are one of the top players in the U .S. And you're looking across the net at these other middles and they are owning you. You better believe that if you're competitive, you're coming back with a fire to get stronger, to get better. You understood. You watched video. You know what they did to you and what you need to do to get better. And for the players with the national team aspirations, yes, I totally see that. But I think for the players who don't, love is a very easy way to be comfortable, to be safe. Play volleyball, say you're a professional athlete, make decent money, I'm assuming. I don't know specifics. And just coast, honestly. Question two. Sarah Franklin's the star of our questions today. Is there any concern that Skinner, Avery Skinner, and Sarah Franklin mostly get in -system sets in Scandicci, and we know that that is not what they will get with Team USA, and Tropova gets most of the difficult balls? I think it's good that they're getting these. in system sets from Maya Onyanovich with Scandici because I feel like Onyanovich's style of setting is one of the closer ones we will see to Jordan Poulter. As far as speed, we know Avery Skinner loves to hit that speed ball from Poulter. You know, Sarah Franklin and some of the Texas athletes were not as comfortable with those. So I think for the transition back to Poulter with the national team, that is good. As far as the question at hand, I'm assuming this person's alluding to the U .S.'s passing is not great. Well, there's two things for that. You just need an opposite. I think it highlights the fact that they need an opposite. Well, I think two things. One, ideally Skinner and Franklin, if they're playing, will become better passers in Italy. So hopefully they'll be a little more in system than they were this summer. The second piece is it may not be happening in the match, but you better believe they're hitting out -of -system balls in practice. They're taking rips against Entropova. They're getting against good blocks. They're in those situations in practice. So even if you're not seeing it in match, they are still practicing. I guarantee you they have at least one out -of -system. Practice or segment. You know every week. So it's a fair point. And it's quite intuitive. No it's a fair point totally. Because the US doesn't have an opposite. That they can give those garbage balls to. They're going to those outsides. I agree but. I think it's also different to do it in a game situation. Fair. Rather than a controlled environment. They will become better out of system hitters. This year. Just from being in that environment. It may not be perfect. but they will get better. Question three. If Eric Sullivan has brought in basically the entire USA coaching staff, should there be consequences if the Austin team doesn't win the Love League in tournament or at least be second? I think hiring a head coach for the national team who has no true professional club or international head coach experience is still questionable a year later. I thought this was a lose -lose situation for him when I heard he took the gig. It's... Well, yeah, you're like... The head coach of the national team coaching love. You've got a handful of your national team players on your team. Like if you win, it's like, yeah, you should win. You have all these players that you've taken to the national team. And if you lose, it's like, what's wrong with you? It's not a great position. Yeah, he's in tough. And you bring all the national team coaches with you. I totally agree. Now, from his point of view, if he doesn't care. about what people say or the perception him and his staff are getting closer they have eyes on their athletes that they want on the national team you're getting the chance to coach them professionally in a lower stakes environment like there are lots of positives but consequences he's gonna take strays if they don't do well love i don't think love cares no love love doesn't care consequences as far as what him getting fired no i don't that'll happen no you'll get fired if they don't have a good season this year. From the national team? Yeah, it doesn't. Even if Austin finishes last in love, he's not losing his national team job because of that. Oh, no. Love has nothing to do with it. I just think, I love this question. I think it's great. No, it's totally a lose -lose for him. I was shaking my head, but better that he's coaching than not. And he's not going to get hired overseas. I mean, we were talking about this when he got hired. We're like, he has literally been an assistant coach in college. This is probably a good learning experience for him as well. Heading into the LA Olympics. Great learning experience. A few years still. Question four. Why is USA's tempo slower? What advantage do we get out of having a slower tempo? I know the camera angle doesn't show the pace very well, but when you compare it to top teams like Italy, they run a faster and more productive offense. And when we play teams like that, our defense is awful. What is USA's playing style and what advantages does it give? No, I was just going to say, I think the USA runs a slower pace. They have been known for running a faster pace with the personnel they had in like Tokyo and stuff like that. So they have been known for running a faster pace. I think this group that we saw this past summer is running a slower tempo because the athletes they have on the outsides aren't capable of hitting the fast offense yet, other than Avery Skinner. They are still playing a very slow college style of volleyball. And I think that that's why the pace is slower. Totally agree. They are making baby steps to speeding it up, but they're just not. there yet and you have different jumpers in this round of olympics than you had in other rounds of olympics and that i know it sounds funny to say that somebody's a different jumper but when you get off the ground faster and you're higher and you the ball needs to be in a different place and if you're not used to it it takes some time to figure out and to develop that chemistry and I think they will ultimately try and move in that direction. But there's passing issues. Everybody's young. There's all kinds of things we saw this past summer that need to be addressed before you can speed up the offense comfortably. Well, and I think that also translates to the defensive side. Like when you've seen a certain pace forever, it takes a second to adjust. through the pace, even on a defensive side. And I will say it is challenging. It's difficult to set a higher ball with pace. When you have players who are contacting the ball at a high point, which the U .S. currently has, there are very few setters who are capable of setting that high contact point with pace. So I think we will hopefully see an evolution there. And there's one other thing to consider is arm speed through the ball. So if you are higher and your arm is slow or slower, your window to actually hit that fast set is much smaller. If you have a really quick arm, you can fix more sets. And I think they'll see a few of the outsides speed up their arm. I'm thinking about Franklin specifically. You know, she's big. She's heavy. But she needs a little more speed on the arm to get herself out of some of those situations. I think he means she hits a heavy ball. Yeah, that's what I meant. What did I say? She's happy. Oh. There's improvements to be made and adjustments to be made to get the tempo up, and they're working on it. Okay, so USA of generations past has been very good ball control, run a very fast offense, middle dominant. What do you think this new USA generation's identity is? I don't think they have one yet. And I'm not sure what it's going to be. I don't think, I honestly don't know what to say. You had some tremendous middles, both blocking -wise and offensively in the past. I think there's some potential on the US team to replace those. But you also don't have Jordan Larson passing. Right. And that, to me, The U .S. will not be able to establish an identity until they can pass the ball and be in system. I don't think they're more physical than other teams. I don't think they have better ball control. I don't think they're specifically better servers. They're playing catch -up, and they're going to have to find an identity, and it's probably going to have to be we're really gritty or we're scrappy or we're really good defensively. You're not going to find an Iganu. You're not going to compete in that way. The order for them to medal at the Olympics, it's a tall order right now. Last question of the day. What should a good or even very good player, the ones who aren't super obviously going to go have a stellar pro career, national team career, like a Mimi Collier or Bergen Riley, what should they be doing in their final years of college or early post -college to develop into high caliber professional players? I'm asking because I remember last year you guys talking about Lexi Rodriguez's stint as a backup to Justine in love as potentially damaging for her development. And I'm thinking about like Avery Skinner, who is good but not a huge standout in college, becoming a starting left side for the U .S. national team. How does this happen? So is the question, what can you do while you're still in college to prepare? What can a player who's like good, like very good. but maybe not like an obvious choice to be a starting national team player. What can they be doing in their later college years, early post -college years to really make that jump? My answer for all of these questions always comes back to the same thing. You have to put yourself in the most competitive atmosphere that you can find and you have to learn to hang. All of these players know how to play volleyball. All of these players have played in one way or another. You have to go get accustomed to new speed. You have to learn how to be uncomfortable. You have to understand how to be on a flight for 15 hours, don't like the food, can't sleep, and then show up and play. When the chips are down, all of those things you don't experience in college because it's pretty cushy. Well, like Kami Minor. She's going, she went to play for Milano. Is she a starter in some games? Yes, but for the most part, she is not touching the floor. But every single practice, she is digging Paola Egonu. She is, you know, running an offense against international style players. And she's probably having to mimic other offenses, which is also challenging. So the reason that I would say that that is a good choice versus Rodriguez playing a backup in love is not, is because, like, as a backup in love and on the team that she was on, like, you're playing every day against players who are, like, slightly past their prime. Do you know what I'm saying? Jekima, Jordan Larson, like, those players were outstanding at one point. They're at the end of their career. They're not Ogonu. They're not Paola Ogonu today. Yeah. And other players that, you know, like maybe early in their career, like she's not getting the same reps being a backup for Love Nebraska that Kami Miner would get being the backup at Milano, if that makes sense. Totally. You always want to be one of the worst players in the gym if you're trying to develop. 100%. That's how you get better. Yeah. Go in the gym. Have people be like, who the heck is this person? Are they even good enough to be on this team? And then work your butt off every single day to be like, no, I belong here and I'm going to show you that I do. That's it for questions today. It's been a little slow. We get our most questions during the summer and the fall. Winter's a little slower. If you have anything, shoot it our way. Just even random stuff. We love it. But we do still have a bunch in the bank. So don't worry. We're not going to run out or anything. But yes, winter does tend to be a little slower. All right. As per usual, there's way too much volleyball on and not enough time to watch it. But here are the things that you can watch this week if you have time and if you're interested on a given day. Thursday at 10 p .m. Eastern, Ohio State versus UCLA. And that will be on the Big Ten Network. Thursday at 9 p .m. Eastern, Love Austin versus Salt Lake. Austin got kicked this week. Top two teams, though. And Salt Lake is humming. So I think that will be a very good game. Friday at 10 p .m. Eastern, Pepperdine versus Long Beach State. Do not miss that one. That is going to be a great game. Saturday at 7 p .m. Eastern, MLV Dallas versus Indy. That one's on YouTube. I'm expecting a bounce back from Indy. Top two teams again. And then moving internationally, Sunday at 12 p .m. Eastern, we have Italian A1 men's Verona versus Civitinova. And then Sunday at 11 a .m. Eastern, A1 women's is Scandici versus Chieri. Now, I had a couple requests for the SV League. So I'm probably going to tune in this week now. Yeah, we're going to try and get to that. I know I made an error on the YouTube comments. That's my bad. Sleep deprived. But we do want to watch some of that. So we're going to try and fit that in over the next couple of weeks because we know a couple people asked for it. But those are the games that you should look out for this week. That concludes this week's episode of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking in the volleyball world and we hope you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss any updates and we'd be so grateful if you'd leave us a five -star review. You can also find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore podcast. If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, you can reach out on Instagram or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much for joining us and we'll be back next week.