Dallas Pulse and LOVB Salt Lake Start 2026 Strong. What Happened to LOVB Houston?

Volley Talk with Sarah Pavan

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!

Instagram: https://instagram.com/volleytalk_podcast

YouTube: http://youtube.com/@SarahPavanVolleyball

2026-01-27 68 min Transcript 7 chapters

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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
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or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much
for joining us and we'll be back next week.