The Coaches Group Chat

S3E1: NCAA Women's Volleyball Vibe Check

• Matthew Houlihan, Arielle Houlihan, Chad Gordon • Season 3 • Episode 1

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We return with a pop-up episode to track the surge in women’s volleyball—national TV windows, marquee kickoff events, and a top tier led by Nebraska and Texas—while naming sleepers that no one wants in a Sweet 16 draw. We also break down Milan’s move to UCLA and grade USA men’s first season of a youth-forward reset.

• AVCA First Serve impact, ESPN and Fox spotlight
• Nebraska and Texas separating, context on early undefeateds
• UCLA’s transfer haul and the Penn State win
• Texas practice insights, talent depth, and scheduling
• Top 10 snapshot with ASU, TCU, SMU storylines
• Sleeper teams that create matchup nightmares
• Men’s update: Milan to UCLA and visa questions
• USA men graded A- for youth and identity
• Plans for an AVCA live lobby show

Please let us know if you would like us to keep giving our thoughts on women (volleyball).


Chad Gordon:

It helped me out that I was in the gym like the week after you posted that. They were like, oh yeah, that's the guy who is on a podcast with that other guy.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah. I was like, the two guys that sit next to Ariel. Yeah, yeah, the one who's famous.

Chad Gordon:

Oh man.

Arielle Houlihan:

Uh we're back for a pop-up episode, potentially a new season.

Chad Gordon:

Potentially. Let's not commit too early.

Arielle Houlihan:

Honestly, this is for this is we do this for the fans.

Matt Houlihan:

I do this for me. I also do it for me. It's purely for my own self-entertainment.

Arielle Houlihan:

I I uh am doing this for the fans.

Chad Gordon:

My mom doesn't even watch this anymore, I don't think. She gave up halfway through season one. Yeah, she was over it.

Arielle Houlihan:

We know we have one listener because we uh had one fan say it to us at a tournament that uh we were trying to say that we were gonna introduce them to Chad.

Matt Houlihan:

Can I tell the story? Actually, I'm sorry, wait, what? We were at a we haven't told you this yet. You're gonna love this. This is really funny. Oh, sure. 12 and under WCVBA tournament. And uh we go over Mark Baus, who coached for Beta Bay, played with me in college. He's coaching a team in the East Bay. And on that team, he also has there's a couple like coaches' kids, and then one of them is Rob Ray, who uh was was the literal he was the director who was the assistant director of Beta Bay that we inherited with the club.

Arielle Houlihan:

It was like Rob was our babysitter.

Matt Houlihan:

Rob was our babysitter our babysitter when we took over the club.

Arielle Houlihan:

We were 21 and 22, and Rob like came with the club and was like, I will help you guys transition. I'm only gonna do this for a year, and then you guys are off on your own. We were like, okay, great, we're gonna we'll pay you to be an assistant director, and like he was with us.

Matt Houlihan:

We walk up to the court and Rob is like he's loving it, but he's taking stats for this 12 and under game. Yeah, and so we go give him a hug. We haven't seen him in a decade. And we're talking, and I was like, hey, like, you're breaking down stats for the 12 rooms. He's like, Yeah, I gotta do something. Like, I can't just sit here and not have anything. I was like, my friend has a guy, an AI startup that will break down everything for you. I was like, Do you know Chad Gordon?

Arielle Houlihan:

And he looks at us, he looks at us with this like sheepish smile, like he's kind of he freaking better. Well, it's not just the fact that he like probably knows you from when you played, but he looks at us and he goes, I listened to the podcast. Shout out to Peter like yes, we have one listener.

Matt Houlihan:

This one this episode and nobody else.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, so it was very cute.

Matt Houlihan:

That is the reason why we're back for the women. Usually we're we're just a men's season uh show, but now we're back for the women.

Arielle Houlihan:

So we were like, listen, this is a show for the men.

Chad Gordon:

Obviously.

Arielle Houlihan:

And uh we support what men's volleyball. And so the best thing that we could do is like also support women because if it's good for women's volleyball, it's gonna help men's volleyball. Right. And so we decided that we were going to expand into uh both.

Matt Houlihan:

Math is mathing. Yeah. Yeah. Put a toe in the water.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um, so we're gonna give our uneducated thoughts, or maybe very educated. That's maybe our opinion is the only one that matters. We'll see.

Chad Gordon:

I haven't found that to be the case, but yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

Could be.

Chad Gordon:

Okay. I'm always right. About everything. We'll get you a hat.

Arielle Houlihan:

Uh we're gonna give some our thoughts on like the beginning of conferences is just uh starting, if not about to start, for most conferences. So we've gone through the first like four or five weeks of the season of collegiate women's volleyball. And so we've had a couple weekends of like turn Hulu on on a Friday night, and there are 57 games playing, which is actually just a vibe. It's so nice.

Matt Houlihan:

Um, so Chad's actually been on the road, though.

Arielle Houlihan:

And Chad's been a little bit on the road.

Matt Houlihan:

So he's been in person. Can you can you set the groundwork for us of of first point collegiate, not first point challenge? We had the kickoff ABCAA first serve.

Chad Gordon:

The ABCA first serve was in Lincoln and then up in Sioux Falls. Um yeah, uh Stanford, Pitt, Florida, Nebraska, and then up in Sioux Falls, Minnesota, Penn State, a couple other teams. Like it's it was really good volleyball. Like, as it's supposed to be kind of that first weekend when college football is yet to take over the airwaves, right? And so, I mean, Nebraska, Stanford, I think, was like on ESPN like one, yeah, the UNO. Not the Ocho, no, no, no, it's the Uno, right? So, and then man, the the pit, I think Pit Nebraska was like Fox. Like it, these were like big time things, right? So, so Jamie Gordon did a great job like putting all that together and getting a lot of eyeballs on that. That was super cool. Um Sioux Falls a little bit smaller event, but still like really good volleyball. Uh, you know, Penn State going up there, like that was that was nice to see. And then yeah, I think a lot of these, a lot of the conferences really did a nice job trying to put on like kickoff events, like these like SEC challenges or like the bricktown battle, like all these things that like brought top 10 teams into I think it was like Nashville played, you know, great volleyball on you know the second weekend. Finally, something worth kind of watching in these first weekends rather than like, hey, we're playing kind of the little sisters of the poor, you know, our non-conscious schedule.

Matt Houlihan:

It was it was awesome. Yeah. Well, yeah, there was some good, I mean, just good marquee style events, right? Playing in big venues, on TV, sold-out crowds. Uh, you had the Vanderbilt game, right? Where they're you know, doing something creative on the quad, outside, doing a really nice job of kind of their their return to to be in a program. I thought that was a super creative uh avenue that they took, obviously, of just uh the content that they were able to create around it, I think had some some pretty cool buzz. So a nice kickoff weekend to start for sure for women's volleyball. And I feel like that Halo effect has kind of carried through for the past couple weeks. There's been some good matches and parity's been pretty good in terms of the level of teams and and seeing some quote unquote upsets that you know you wouldn't typically see in years past that have been a little bit more lopsided.

unknown:

I can tell you the three teams that are still in detail. Three. Okay. As of September 10th. It's Nebraska who Texas.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yep.

unknown:

Oh, okay, and West Virginia. Ah Nebraska's 11 0, Texas is 10 0, West Virginia is 12 0.

Arielle Houlihan:

I saw a video of them getting like throwing water everywhere in the the West Virginia kids throwing water everywhere in their locker room.

Chad Gordon:

But this is what of just top X teams, or is this everybody? This is everybody. Uh Mississippi State's undefeated too.

Arielle Houlihan:

NCAA D1. Mississippi State Massa was this week.

unknown:

I mean Google.

Arielle Houlihan:

Mississippi State just beat Florida. Yeah. Yes. Uh this is their big win. See, this is the type what I'm saying talking about. Like, I do know what's kind of what's happening, but I legitimately don't know what's happening.

Chad Gordon:

They beat him in five, and and we were having some beers, and I was like, wait, like Mississippi State's still in defense.

Arielle Houlihan:

They were they were they were down too, and then they came back in one.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a it was a great one. So it's a hot it's a hot start.

Matt Houlihan:

SEC, the new Big Ten.

Chad Gordon:

Uh you could you could say that, but then you look at like some of these schedules, you're like, oh, they haven't like yeah, they're 11 and 0, but like nine of those are the first week.

Matt Houlihan:

The Boston College undefeated to start.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah. Like, how how are they on a 15-match you know heater? It's like, oh, because 14 of them guys, you know, come on, like it's which is what you're supposed to be doing. You gotta get the W's. I get it.

unknown:

Mississippi State lost to Auburn today. Oh today. Oh in three.

Matt Houlihan:

Man.

Arielle Houlihan:

Wow.

Matt Houlihan:

SEC's in the Big Ten. I'm I'm calling it right now.

unknown:

Man.

Arielle Houlihan:

You're just trying to get clickbait.

Matt Houlihan:

No, I'm not. I think the SEC just has Mo money. They got Mo money into women's volleyball right now, and that'll trick us down from football. And then the Big Ten will catch up again.

Arielle Houlihan:

Even though the best players from the SEC left and went to the Big Ten this year? Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah, sure. No problem.

Chad Gordon:

A little bit of a little bit of all that. But yeah, I think that happened everywhere. I think kids were leaving all of them. I'm pretty sure Tori Stafford wasn't playing at the Big Ten last year.

Arielle Houlihan:

I want to talk about UCLA really quick.

Chad Gordon:

Absolutely.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um UCLA finally gets the win that they're looking for.

Chad Gordon:

Oh, I thought you were gonna talk about Milan joining the men. And I was like, we're here to talk about women.

Arielle Houlihan:

We'll talk about that later.

Chad Gordon:

All right, fine.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um I think UCLA beating Penn State is a just finally the game that But isn't this classic UCLA? Like what do you mean classic UCLA?

Matt Houlihan:

Let me tell you exactly what I mean by classic UCLA underperform yet over. Everyone, like coming into the season, everyone's like, UCLA is everything. They got they swept the portal, they're gonna crush it, and then they start off this year specifically.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's not every year.

Matt Houlihan:

I feel like that's the last four years. They're gonna this is it's the turning point, this is it, and then they have a horrible start, and then everyone's like, they're done. UCLA's done, they're cooked, never gonna see them again. Fire everybody. I don't think that's a good thing. And then they get a murky win, they're like, they're so back, baby. UCLA's back. Penn State doesn't have a Sutter. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm beating Penn State right after they lose Izzy Stark. Okay.

Chad Gordon:

Obviously, you have a Sutter, sorry, but like, you know, it's different than returning your national team, I guess.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, I know what you mean. I I um I still think that this year is different because of the like marquee kids that they got. Like they won the portal this year and like they haven't won the portal since Alfie has taken over. They legitimately won the portal this year. They not swept the portal, but they they got besides the Kennedy Martin one, like they they did a great job at getting kids to come there.

Matt Houlihan:

Draft ranking A plus.

Arielle Houlihan:

I think that they are like they finally got the win that they were looking for with the kid. It and it takes a little bit of time for those kids to like get used to playing with each other and figuring it out. So I I don't mind the like up and down of them at the beginning. I don't think it that it's a historical that they like have swept the portal.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah. No, I'm not saying it's historical that they swept, I'm just saying it's classic UCLA of like hype flounder, someone they pull up a huge win.

Arielle Houlihan:

I think UCLA has legitimately struggled for the last 10 years.

Matt Houlihan:

That's it's been very up and down.

Arielle Houlihan:

Like not even. I think was the last time that they were good.

Chad Gordon:

I mean, yeah, they won. They won it in 11.

Arielle Houlihan:

13 or 11.

Chad Gordon:

They won in 11.

Arielle Houlihan:

11. So it's been a really long time since they were at the place that they expect to be at. And so this is way too much time talking about UCLA. Good for them. Shout out to Nick Vogel. He looks handsome as always.

Chad Gordon:

Good to see, good to see Vogel and Norkal the other day. That's all you need. A little bit of mustache from Vogel.

Arielle Houlihan:

Who else? Let's talk about Texas.

Chad Gordon:

Texas also won the portal.

Arielle Houlihan:

Texas always wins the portal. That's a team that always wins the portal.

Chad Gordon:

Torres Stafford, Ramsey Gary. Sure.

Arielle Houlihan:

These are household names that became.

Chad Gordon:

Ramsey fucking Gary, please get her name right. Yeah. You got you got a shout-out in practice. They were like, oh yeah, floatser of Jesus, Ramsey. It's like, wait, people listen to Matt? Like, this is amazing. Like, this is like in the wild this is happening.

Matt Houlihan:

So there was some floats of Jesus love. Hunt Hunt loves loves a good fifth step breakdown. So you knew you knew the second they had a good one, I was I was putting one together for them.

Chad Gordon:

It helped me out that I was in the gym like the week after you posted that. They were like, oh yeah, that's a guy who like is on a podcast with that other guy.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah. I was like, the two guys that sit next to Aaron. Yeah, yeah, the one who's famous. Oh man. Dope. Rob Ray knows us though, so it's fine. Love you, Rob. Uh, you were also just in the Texas gym. Yeah, can we get a little? I mean, obviously don't spill the secret sauce.

Chad Gordon:

Alright, so all the secrets are they have really, really good players. Uh I mean no, I mean they have like some of the top kids, you know, coming coming into the coming into the gym just as freshmen, right? Car Spears, Abby Van Vanderwall, like these are just like elite arms. The other kids that they're playing against the practice are also elite arms. Like the sound that when they hit the ball, you're like, oh, I get it. This is this is gonna work. Yep. Um and then, yeah, of course, Tori, Ramsey, Emma, like these are this is a really talented team. And then to get in there and watch David and Ben, you know, kind of run that gym with Jared, you know, kind of giving his GM, you know, wisdom here and there. I was like, oh, these guys, they have it together. It's a really good, really good squad, and I'm I'm excited to see them play and appreciate them.

Matt Houlihan:

Top down hang out. Yeah, top-down, high-level pieces, it's so it seems. Yeah, I mean, they had some gutsy performances thus far. That that Stanford game was very, very entertaining to watch.

Chad Gordon:

Stanford was yeah, it was great. I mean, they've they've played a tough kind of non-conference season uh so far, which is which is great. I mean, you want to kind of get battle tested early. I think you know, teams like Nebraska, Stanford, Wisconsin have done a good job of that, um, Texas included. And then, yeah, you know, played played Vandy on Wednesday and then didn't play super well against Mizzou uh honestly Friday night, but like got the win. They were down like most of the second or third or whatever that was. And but you know, it helps when you got a lot of blue chip kids that you can set eyeballs to. So yeah, I like I like the rods moving forward.

Arielle Houlihan:

Let's talk about the top ten really quick. Sponsored by Harmless Harvest. Everybody loves the coconut coconut water. Uh I like the one with the aloe in it more or the coconut pieces in it.

Chad Gordon:

Is there a one that comes with aloe on the side? Uh not yet.

Matt Houlihan:

This is an opportunity. Take a chance, Harmless Harvest.

Arielle Houlihan:

Uh but it's sponsored by that because our post-it note is on the back of the thing I'm drinking. Uh Nebraska at one, Texas at two, Kentucky three, Stanford four.

Chad Gordon:

I think they're tied at three. Sorry, that's all.

Arielle Houlihan:

Sure. Pitt five, Louisville six, Wisconsin seven, ASU, then TCU, then Purdue. That's the top ten. With SMU right outside.

Chad Gordon:

So this is this is last week's. We're this is a Sunday night, so this will change tomorrow. Like TCU will drop because they just lost to Baylor in five. Yep. I'm assuming Purdue would beat Illinois today. But yeah. I'm surprised SMU sound a little bit higher. Yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah. I I would put SMU. Who did SMU play? They played Pitt.

Chad Gordon:

They lost to Pitt again. Yeah, they played Wednesday and then again today.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yep. Um for me, like ASU being in here is such a testament to JJ. I think that that's such a cool what a turnaround program. He's he's crazy. ASU has been a black hole of absolute misery for the last 25 years. And this program is like a legitimate, like has legitimate players at this school now.

Matt Houlihan:

Oh, I love their Appo. Their opera is so funny. Transfer Transfer from Oregon, she is she is, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

I think that that's such a cool thing to see that that team in this group. I think TCU also being in this group is is great. They've over the past like five years have had a kid every now and again that is good. Who's the kid that they had that was oh the Texas transfer?

Chad Gordon:

Melanie. Yeah, she was great.

Arielle Houlihan:

Like and and they've had like a kid every now and again, but right this year I think that they're like a little bit more well-rounded.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, Par was unreal. Like she was carrying those guys for 30, 60 swings a night. But yeah, you're totally right. JJ's crushing at ASU. I mean, they had a couple years with uh Jason Watson a few years ago. It's like Macy Gardner and like that crowd. Yep. But like to now they're consistently playing in these big matches. Yeah, I mean, and like look who's surrounded. It's like, yeah, they're behind Wisconsin. Right. Right? Who, you know, just snatched Mimi Collier, and like that's they're in they're in big boy conversations sometimes, which is really cool.

Matt Houlihan:

Who's the team you don't want to see come the come playoff time? Like, who do you not want in your sweet 16? Who's your sleep who's your sleeper?

Arielle Houlihan:

Your ten, your top 10. I think it's Texas and Nebraska that are elite above everybody else right now. And then there's like there's tier A1 and then there's everybody else of where they're at. Um So I think that I need to look at the 10 through 20 to see who I don't want to.

Matt Houlihan:

I think I mean SMU's my like immediate. Obviously, they're they're knocking on the door right now. Probably get into the top 10 now after this weekend would be my guess. And also it's it's a heavy transfer team, right?

Chad Gordon:

So it's one of those like, hey, if you give them 30 days to mesh, like more time is tired out. Yeah, there's there's a lot of talent on that squad.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, Avery is great. Yeah, favor is great. Yeah, like they're in Colorado State. They're a superstar team.

Chad Gordon:

She's from Sacramento. Hell yeah. Yeah, Sacramento girl.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, they're they're a stud team.

Chad Gordon:

I wouldn't want to see SMU. I wouldn't, uh I mean, Minnesota's struggling with all those injuries, so I feel bad for Keegan. Texas AMU getting to watch them, Logan's great, like that team out of the middle. Like if they can pass the rock, those those kids are tough to stop out of the middle of the court. Like, I wouldn't want to see Texas AM.

Matt Houlihan:

I wouldn't want I mean, obviously, I just wouldn't want to see Pitt just because they have player of the year, right? She goes, she goes off. It's like it's like watching Alex Nikolov against USA in the quarters. Like, can't be stopped, doesn't matter what you do, yeah. Level of player. Like you I wouldn't want to see that mat I would not want to to be doing the scattering report against that. Yeah.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, those like three through eights are just all like somebody just gets hot on the night.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's just I haven't seen Purdue play enough, but I have seen the kids that that transferred from Purdue play a bunch, and those kids are out of control right now.

Chad Gordon:

You see that Kentucky and Louisville are above Purdue, right?

Arielle Houlihan:

But hey, Kentucky and Louisville both have got a Purdue kid on their team that is a legitimate player.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we just booked our AVCA tickets, and now we're talking about the championship here. I think can we just put in the atmosphere that we might need to do a at the AVCA recording of the coach's group chat? Sure. Post post-party uh hungover with the. Yeah, let's do it's like a Wednesday afternoon, but like before it gets weird.

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, yeah. It can't be like before 9 a.m.

unknown:

Yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's it has to be like we start drinking at like 11 at that time.

Matt Houlihan:

That's great. So let's have a beer, let's put it in the back. We post we post up in the lobby and we're recording, we just start pulling people in. Yeah, you know, start start snagging them.

Arielle Houlihan:

Maybe we can find somebody a funny idea because we were very much posted up at that, those polar bears at the Bobby's laughing over there.

Chad Gordon:

I think maybe if we can find somebody who you know dabbles in shooty hoops who could come up with the colour. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

I know he's the college coach now. He can't be he can't be associated with yeah, yeah, yeah. What if we just start doing a live show in the in the lobby and just like put our phones out to record? Hopefully we know how to set it up and then we just like see who sits down.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

And we live stream.

Chad Gordon:

I like it.

Arielle Houlihan:

On Twitch.

Matt Houlihan:

This is dangerous.

Arielle Houlihan:

Well, okay, potentially an idea.

Matt Houlihan:

If anyone wants to sponsor this idea, we accept dollars and coconuts. And coconuts. Halo on the outside.

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, men's volleyball update.

Chad Gordon:

Yes.

Arielle Houlihan:

The number one, the biggest news in men's volleyball is Milan is out of Hawaii. Milan is at UCLA now.

Matt Houlihan:

Nice job, Hawks.

Arielle Houlihan:

Hawks for GM of the year.

Matt Houlihan:

We had some former Hawaii players voicing their comments about Milan leaving. Uh I didn't hear this. Yeah, you know, there was uh one Keone saying that the quote real coach is leaving, departing Hawaii. Um, a little bit of stirring of the pot was uh was going down. Uh but yeah, it should be. I mean, that's gonna be the the conversation, right? Is can can Charlie do it without Milan? Can Milan do it without Hawaii, etc. etc. So it'll be uh it'll be an interesting dynamic there.

Chad Gordon:

I I I mean I think it's a great idea. Like obviously Charlie had taken more of a GM kind of role, right? And Milan's super, super vocal. I think it's a super intelligent play by Hawks, right? As he needs to maybe think about going into more of a GM role and like, hey, look, like Milan can help run the gym and and bring some of that technical training. And then great, we're gonna get some of the best kids every single year at UCLA. I mean, it the stars aligned, that makes total sense to me. So I do think it's international parts.

Arielle Houlihan:

I do think it's gonna take a little bit of time for everybody to get settled in like this is going to be a different environment at UCLA. This is going to be a different thing, but it was going to be different anyways, and so I'm I'm a big fan of what they're doing.

Matt Houlihan:

I'm interested. Um this is completely un un not off-topic, but it is unsubstantiated in sense. I don't know how it's gonna affect. But you see the right the Trump news about the hundred thousand dollars for the H1B visas. Is that the visa that Milan is on?

Arielle Houlihan:

You say this, but it's so funny because Matt came in and told me this. You came in the room and told me this, and then like you started talking about. I'm talking about tech jobs, yeah. You were like automatically on the tech jobs and like engineers and all these people, and I automatically go, what about Milan?

Matt Houlihan:

Like such a good point.

Arielle Houlihan:

Screw tech. What about volleyball? Like, what about like people in like does that mean that that's a problem?

Chad Gordon:

Is UCLA gonna pay 100k for Milan? I have no idea. My gut would say that if you're coaching volleyball, you're probably not on an H1B. Like, these are supposed to be like exceptional skills.

Matt Houlihan:

I mean, he's got exceptional skills.

Chad Gordon:

I I understand, but like maybe not in the eyes of the US government. Yeah. Um I I have no idea. And I mean, we'll we'll see. I might be adding, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

That obviously I do not know what his visa situation is, but I we heard that, thought of it, and we're like, well, it was that was the that was the joke, but then it was like, wait, is that is that is there anybody in our industry or in the industry of sport that is on visas like this? And does that affect there must be somewhere? There must be, right?

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, Javier Weber, like scene American.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, sure.

Matt Houlihan:

Argentina. Yeah, exactly. Those are all good questions. I have no idea.

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, cool. That's what the coaches group chat is for, to ask questions that we don't have to answer to.

Matt Houlihan:

ChatGPT, can you uh help us out here?

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

So we got Bobby working really, really hard on ChatGPT.

Chad Gordon:

B-O-B-G-P-T.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um, what else? What other men's volleyball news? Any other men's volleyball news?

Chad Gordon:

World Champs in the Uh, yeah, we lost to Bulgaria.

Arielle Houlihan:

We lost to the to the US trained.

Chad Gordon:

We USA lost to Long Beach. USA, yeah. USA.

Arielle Houlihan:

USA trained for six months.

Matt Houlihan:

It's strong. It's more of a took a vacation.

Chad Gordon:

Usa to showcase.

Arielle Houlihan:

We we accepted them on a not the H1 visa.

Chad Gordon:

Italy dominates both finals. They went on the men and the women's side. Must be doing something right over there. Something in the olive oil. Coach's group chat offsite. I'm down. Sold. All right. See everybody in six months.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um okay, so the US lost. Uh, how do we feel about the carches run so far?

Matt Houlihan:

A-I give them an A minus. A it would have been an A if they would have gone to metal round in my eyes, but I thought everything we would have wanted and more out of this year in terms of what for USA would be considered a young team, right? In comparison, like age-wise, sure. Other countries still are younger, but right, no TJ playing, Averill really didn't play anything until the world champs, and they didn't even really use them that much, right?

Chad Gordon:

A lot of your alternate, I think, for some of that stuff.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, you had my you had Micah joining for World Champs, right? So you got all your young guys in for the VNL. Um, obviously didn't make the uh the VNL championship, but from a uh world champs perspective, which is kind of the bigger, bigger deal of the bunch in my eyes, that was a really good, a really good, strong showing um and showcase kind of what we've what we've got uh to come. I thought Gabby was was pretty darn good throughout the course of the tournament that he wasn't as good against Bulgaria, but man, he was really impressive in some of the other matches, specifically from the service line. So seeing that and having a little bit of a glimmer of like, okay, there's something there besides Matty Anderson uh if need be. Uh and then yeah, you like just just seeing the we it definitely is a a team in transition in terms of we have some really veteran guys that are studs uh that we're gonna need to replace after LA for sure. Uh and then you've got a lot of up-and-coming talent to figure out where they're gonna kind of fit and and be in. So it was it was definitely an interesting one to watch those those two dynamics apply.

Arielle Houlihan:

There is a point at which Matt was talking there, I was just like, I don't know what's the next item on the ball.

Chad Gordon:

I don't know what's going on. No, I mean I'd I I'd give I'd give Karst the A minus as well.

Arielle Houlihan:

Um I gotta give him a different grade then C plus. This will give you a minute to think about it.

Chad Gordon:

Um I think I think to an outsider, I mean it's easy to look at like the results and say, like, okay, like we made kind of maybe the round that we should have, given the talent and this kind of stuff. And you kind of get into this like resulting mindset of like, you know, if they win, oh he did a great job, and if they blow it, then he sucks. Sure. But I I like that he he went young. I think if you if you're being objective, like we need some youth in that pipeline. Everybody's starting to like be late 30s, and then he stuck with it. And what I liked was he kind of let them be who they were, like Eward and and Champ are playing like really fast, right? Because they're not the I'm gonna go up and over you kind of guys. Um getting some younger middles out there, right? Like uh getting McHenry like that slower ball, it makes a ton of sense. He was scoring, just throwing balls into the corners, and then Gabby, right? Like, hey, like just go bang your serve, it'll come. And he had what, like six aces or nine, like it was like a shitload of aces and seven against um it was a lot, right? And like that's what he needs to be out there doing if some of these other guys are gonna go more off speed. Um so I I like to see that all come together. Obviously, yeah, you'd like to get that Bulgaria one up, you know, being up to oh, like probably want that one, but other than that, like there's some good pieces, and and so you gotta applaud him sticking with it. And you know, it's just your it's your one, right? We got plenty of time. Yeah, so yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

I thought game game theory checked out for me for sure.

Chad Gordon:

C plus.

Arielle Houlihan:

I just really would like there to be a foreign transplant. I want somebody to denounce their country, come to ours, and then like become part of our team.

Matt Houlihan:

Technically speaking, Gabby kind of did that.

Arielle Houlihan:

Sure. Yeah, but I want another one. I want another one. You want to have a better one.

Matt Houlihan:

You want a Leon?

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah. I want a better one.

Matt Houlihan:

You want Alex Nikolaff? We can read between the lines. Yeah, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

I want a good one. I like that one.

Matt Houlihan:

You want Alexander to start start spelling his name A-L-E-X.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, I just want like something to like rock the I want cards to come in and be like boom, boom, boom. Uh any last thoughts for uh women and men? That's what we talked about.

Matt Houlihan:

Thank you.

Arielle Houlihan:

To all the women and men listening.

Matt Houlihan:

To all the women and men, specifically Rob Ray, for your service to this podcast.

Arielle Houlihan:

Uh please let us know if you would like us to keep giving our thoughts on women.

Chad Gordon:

And if you want fewer thoughts, let us know.

Arielle Houlihan:

And if you have fewer thoughts on that, that's fine. Like we don't have to talk about this, but we are going to talk about it amongst ourselves anyways. And so we decided that we would let everybody else in on that as well.

Chad Gordon:

Absolutely. I love that. And if you have any complaints or you want, you know, any suggestions, you can uh write bobby at tccgc at gmail.com.

Arielle Houlihan:

And that email gets forwarded to Matt at B2B volleyball.com. And his uh cousin James will be answering that email. Tigers