Episode 159: CVW, Men's Top 15, New Faces in New Places - John Hawks; 10/12/2022

After almost a 2-month hiatus, the Viral Volley Podcast is BACK!!! The next few episodes of College Volleyball Weekly, Men's D1-2 Top 15 will be exploring the FOUR NCAA D1-2 Men's Volleyball teams with head coach changes. From former UCLA Assistant to Loyola Head Coach John Hawks, former women's Fresno St. Head Coach to now-Head Coach at Pepperdine, Jon Winder, to former Grand View Head Coach to current-Head Coach at Ball State, Donan Cruz, and finally to former Vanguard Head Coach to now-Head Coach at UCSD, Brad Rostratter.

John Hawks of Loyola discusses the process of coming to apply for the Loyola positiion, the impact of current-UCLA & USA Men's National Team Head Coach, John Speraw and others like Dr. Andrea Becker, and former UCLA Assistant, Spencer McLachlin. We'll talk about his journey throughout the MPSF (pre-Big West), going out to Ohio, coming back to UCLA, then accepting his current position at Loyola. John then gives us a preview of his team, talks about Men's volleyball across the nation and upcoming fall competition. Podcast available wherever you get your podcasts!

Episode 158, College Volleyball Weekly, Men's Top 15; Alex Nikolov, Long Beach St., 8/17/22

Rob-on-the-Mic sits down with the reigning AVCA AND Big West Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, Alex Nikolov. In recent weeks, Alex announced his departure from Long Beach St., but not before garnering multiple awards from the Big West AND AVCA. With Alex, "The Beach" finished the season 21-6, and played in the NCAA D1-2 Championship match.

Alex takes the time to discuss his transition to Long Beach, CA, the new culture and his new teammates, battling through the NCAA Tournament, then unexpectedly playing in Volleyball Nations League for Bulgaria. The "unexpected" continued as he signed with AS Lube in Italy to play professional indoor volleyball, his childhood dream!

Episode 157: CVW, Beach Top 20, Hailey Harward, USC: 8/15/22

Hailey Harward closed out her collegiate beach volleyball career with 2 National Championships, AVCA and Pac-12 Pair of the Year awards and has also garnered numerous All-Pac-12 Conference awards. Hear Hailey reflect on the 2022 Collegiate Beach season, the USC Beach team's culture and leadership and playing for Head Coach, Dain Blanton.

As we step into the last few weeks of life, Hailey and Tina Graudina did something remarkable in their 1st AVP Pro Beach event together-- win a championship in Ft. Lauderdale-- against roommate and USC teammate, Julia Scoles (playing with fellow USC alumna, Geena Urango). Hailey shares how it was like advancing to the championship match, playing against Julia/Geena, and coming to their shared home from an East Coast swing with TWO AVP Championships (with Julia winning in Atlanta)!

Episode 156: CA-TX Transfers, Jordan Larson & David Hunt, 8-11-22, Part 2

Recorded mid-July, I had the opportunity to virtually sit down with former-Pepperdine Men's Coach/current Texas Longhorn Associate Head Coach, David Hunt, and his wife, 3x Olympic Medalist (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and Longhorn Volunteer Coach, Jordan Larson. They had a huge year with a lot of transition as a first-year married couple, so we delve on career changes, life and coaching.

In Part 2, they mainly discuss coaching, influences and player-training dynamics.

Episode 155: CA-TX Transfers, Jordan Larson & David Hunt, 8-11-22, Part 1

Recorded mid-July, I wanted to virtually sit down with former-Pepperdine Men's Coach/current Texas Longhorn Associate Head Coach, David Hunt, and his wife, 3x Olympic Medalist (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and Longhorn Volunteer Coach, Jordan Larson.

They had a huge year with a lot of transition as a first-year married couple, so we delve on career changes, life and coaching. I still have some content to sift through in our interview so there will most likely be a Part 2.

Episode 154: College Volleyball Weekly, Beach Top 20, Season Recap 7-5-22

SECOND of two episodes this week! Check out Episode 152 where Mads talks about her personal journey this last 2 seasons. It's a good one! It took a couple of months but we were able to get together for the 2022 NCAA Collegiate Beach Season and Gulf Shores recap! Charlie Ekstrom of Stanford, Mads Fitzpatrick of Florida St., and Alana Rennie of Arizona jump on to the CVW Collegiate Beach Finale to talk about news, teams and athletes during the 2022 season.

Closing out the finale the players chat about the the NCAA Collegiate Beach Championships in Gulf Shores and some of their "Players' Choice" awards!

Episode 153: College Volleyball Weekly, FSU’s Mads Fitzpatrick 6-30-22

In the "Mega Mads" episode of College Volleyball Weekly, Rob has a familiar face on: CVW Beach Top-20's Mads Fitzpatrick of Florida St. Mads talks about coming back from COVID to compete in 2021 only to have a shortened season due to injury. Mads was on a mission to "make things right" as she entered the 2022 season with one of the hottest winning streaks in the nation! Mads then shares about her 2022 NCAA Collegiate Beach Volleyball experience in Gulf Shores.

From almost being eliminated in the 1st Round, to the grinding battle with UCLA to advance into the Championships match. Mads then shares her thoughts on winning her final match vs. USC in the National Championship match.

Episode 152: College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s D1-2 Top 20 - NCAA Finale, 5/9/22

In this mega-episode finale, the CVW Crew takes on the PTI (CRS) format to discuss the happenings of the last 2 weeks in Conference Tournaments and the NCAA D1-2 Championships. Additionally the guys talk about a recurring phenomenon: Top quality Coaches and Assistants leaving the Men's game to pursue more beneficial circumstances of highly touted Women's programs.