Episode 76: College Volleyball Weekly, 1/25/21

As NCAA Men's D1-2 Volleyball kicks off after 300+ days without competition the "Consortium of Collegiate Coaching Intelligence," aka Pepperdine Head Coach David Hunt, Lewis Head Coach Dan Friend and George Mason Head Coach Jay Hosack discuss the top 15 teams of the NCAA D1-2 Men's Volleyball season.

This week's topics include teams' adaptations to lineups with additions, returning players, absent players and adjustments due to COVID. The crew also discusses the darkhorse "Beast of the East," NJIT and what the status is of the Big West Men's Volleyball season and schedule.

From there we jump into the top matches and performers of Week 2, and what the guys will be watching in Week 3.

iTunes: Coming soon...

Episode 75, CVW: Mark Presho, UCI Men's Volleyball Assistant Coach, 1/19/21: Viral Volley Podcast

After 16 years UC Irvine Assistant Coach Mark Presho is retiring from NCAA Men's Volleyball. In those years UCI has become known as a volleyball powerhouse with 4 National Championships, 24 All-Americans, 35 and All-Conference honorees-- all under Coach Presho's watch. 

In this episode, "Presh" discusses his reason for retiring now, the impacts he has had on the UCI program and his ability to do well in a significantly lesser amount of time from a traditional assistant. Even after a head coaching change in 2012, he stayed on board to add the 4th National Championship in 2013. To close out the episode we look at some of his memorable players,  what others who know "Presh" have said on social media and a mashup of former coaching staff members' well wishes and/or memories with Presh. 

Episode 74: Abby Van Winkle, UCLA Beach, 1/15/21: Viral Volley Podcast

In this episode UCLA Beach and 2019 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honoree Abby Van Winkle joins Rob Espero to discuss her success with her collegiate career partners her first two years, playing at the No. 3 spot behind names like Megan & Nicole McNamara, and Sarah Sponcil & Lily Justine-- along with playing with fiery partner, Zana Muno, while chipping in time in a few duals with long-time friend, Lindsey Sparks.

Abby then talks about hers (and Zana's) part in winning the backend of back-to-back National Championships in Gulf Shores in their dual-clinching match. Also in this episode Abby takes on some Volleytalk fan questions, and takes a stab at an "NCAA Sisters Ranking"-- as she ranks all the sister pairs between the McNamaras, Nourses, Hallgrens and Van Winkles.

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Episode 73: Paige Tapp, Athletes Unlimited/Minnesota/USAV WNT, 1/13/21: Viral Volley Podcast

Paige Tapp joins Rob Espero in a continued conversation from VolleyballMag.com (https://bit.ly/3nKGCFX) to discuss the upcoming oppotunity to compete in the United States in a women's professional league, Athletes Unlimited. Paige discusses the "Minnesota Middle" connection, playing with a high-caliber program, which will result in matchups vs. MANY former Golden Gopher Middles, athletes and friends.

Paige then discusses the scoring methodology and discusses the opportunity to play with and against some some of the top volley-ballers in the the world. She closes out the episode by "drafting" who she would want in Week 1 of the competition (if she was a team captain) and who she would consult to help build her team-- citing that Hugh McCutcheon's and Karch Kiraly's phones would blow up from text messages from former athletes in the competition!

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Episode 72: College Volleyball Weekly, Beach Edition: Coast 2 Coast Report, 1/5/20: The Viral Volley Podcast

On this inaugural episode of College Volleyball Weekly: Coast 2 Coast Collegiate Beach edition, standouts and contributors Charlie Ekstrom of Stanford and Mads Fitzpatrick of Florida St. discuss COVID impacts, 2020 season recaps, 2021 team outlooks and 2021 athlete/team watchlists. In addition, Rob discusses some of the social media tidbits and recent/semi-recent news regarding collegiate beach volleyball.. discuss COVID impacts, 2020 season recaps, 2021 team outlooks and 2021 athlete/team watchlists.

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Episode 71: College Volleyball Weekly 2020-21 Recap and Update, 12-28-20

The CVW crew (aka the Collegiate Consortium of Coaching Intelligence) welcomes aboard Pepperdine Men's Volleyball Head Coach, David Hunt as a contributor to the show! Jay Hosack of George Mason and Dan Friend of Lewis chime in with Rob Espero to discuss some heavy topics that occurred this last year like the cancellation of Stanford Men's Volleyball after the 2021 season, the NCAA FBS minimum sports waiver request, training during COVID, status of the 2021 season, and schedules.

We finish the show on some positive notes with team outlooks, players to watch, and top 2020 moments for each contributor. We also delve into David Hunt's "Knee Injury" in front of USA WNT OH and Team Captain, Jordan Larson. 

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Episode 70: Jordan Larson (USA) & Louisa Lippmann (GER), Shanghai Volleyball Club

Easily the two of the most dominant athletes in the world of women’s volleyball representing the National Teams of the USA and Germany, Jordan Larson, Louisa Lippmann and Rob Espero virtually gather for this week’s Viral Volley chat.

Jordan and Louisa are fresh off of winning the bronze medal in the Chinese Volleyball Association professional league after 22 matches in 35 days. They share how they spent their unplanned time off due to the “p-word or c-word” (I just don’t like typing them out anymore), their journey to playing this year in China and doing so in a time of multiple adaptations due to the “p-word.”

We close out by talking about their performances during the bronze medal round and their reflections during this time in history.

Episode 69: Madison Fitzpatrick, Florida St. Beach

We slowly edge closer to the NCAA Collegiate Beach season—assuming COVID doesn’t wreak any more havoc. In this episode of the Viral Volley Podcast, we bring in College Volleyball Weekly and chat with Seminole Team Captain, Madison “Mads” Fitzpatrick.

Mads talks about the Seminole team that only had one dual loss in the 2020 season— which came in her dual-deciding, barn-burning 13-15 3-set-match thriller vs. USC at the Hilton Head Invitational. Although that loss came early in the season Mads pulled off an excellent season playing in the No. 2 spot with Alice Zeimann and Maddie Anderson before the abbreviated pandemic season.

Mads is an influential leader who works hard, plays hard and embodies the encouraging and mentoring characteristics that Coach Brooke Niles infuses in her program. We close out the episode discussing the Seminoles’ acquisitions of some pretty big “Bigs” in indoor All-American Torrey Van Winden (6’3” Cal Poly) and Sydney Wetterstrom (6’4” Michigan), talented first-years as well as an arsenal of returnees from last season.