WEBVTT - Lance McAlister with Josh Hamer -- 11/14/25

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<v Speaker 1>The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, Yon, we go our number two, seven h

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<v Speaker 2>seven on seven hundred WLW back on RNL Carrier Sports

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<v Speaker 2>Talk presented by Kelsey Chervale. I'm lancemcalister. Thanks for hanging

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<v Speaker 2>out on a Friday night. Stick Around Xavier basketball plays here.

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<v Speaker 2>Joe and Byron set it up bottom of the hour.

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<v Speaker 2>I like cool stories. This is a really cool story.

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<v Speaker 2>This past Sunday, you see Claremont College volleyball won the

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<v Speaker 2>USCAA Division two National championship in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It's the

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<v Speaker 2>program's second national championship since twenty twenty one. You see

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<v Speaker 2>Clarmont College located in Batavia. I said, I need to

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<v Speaker 2>know more about this, so lo and behold.

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<v Speaker 3>We're going to the phones.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's welcome in the head coach of the Division two

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<v Speaker 2>national champs. That would be Josh Hammer. Coach Lance Bacallister.

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<v Speaker 2>How are you?

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<v Speaker 4>I'm doing well? Lance? How are you?

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<v Speaker 2>I'm fantastic? How does it feel what I say? Division

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<v Speaker 2>two national champions? Oh?

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<v Speaker 4>Man, you can't say it enough. It's great feeling for sure.

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<v Speaker 2>How second title in five years? I mean that's dynasty stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>How did Batavia become the epicenter of Division two volleyball.

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<v Speaker 4>Well, I don't know. I like to think I had

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<v Speaker 4>a little something to do with that. I took over

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<v Speaker 4>the program back in twenty fifteen, and I guess since

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<v Speaker 4>twenty seventeen was the first year we made the tournament,

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<v Speaker 4>and we've made the tournament every year since then. Wow,

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<v Speaker 4>we won in twenty one. We got a couple third

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<v Speaker 4>places in there as well, which I don't like to

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<v Speaker 4>talk about those. But and then this year was just,

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<v Speaker 4>you know, this year was just it's probably the best

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<v Speaker 4>team we've ever had, and it was just a really

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<v Speaker 4>great year.

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<v Speaker 2>Well that was going to be. That's a good segue

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<v Speaker 2>to my next question, because I was going to mention

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<v Speaker 2>you entered the bracket as the top seed. I think

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<v Speaker 2>you were twenty and two during the season. So the

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<v Speaker 2>preseason thought was you had a national champion caliber roster.

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<v Speaker 2>Is that true?

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<v Speaker 4>That's true.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, You've got a couple of seniors I'd love to

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<v Speaker 2>ask you about. One was your the tournament MVP and

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<v Speaker 2>now a three time All American. Tell me about Caitlyn Finnegan.

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<v Speaker 4>Caitlyn's a great player. She played middle forest. She like

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<v Speaker 4>you said, she's a first team All American Player of

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<v Speaker 4>the Year. I refer to her as a unicorn, and

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<v Speaker 4>she came into our program. She's got, you know, top

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<v Speaker 4>tier talent, top tier attitude. She's a great leader. She's

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<v Speaker 4>a big part of what we've done here in the

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<v Speaker 4>past couple of years.

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<v Speaker 2>Tell me about another local product. She also from Turpin

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<v Speaker 2>High School. She was a tournament team performer. Tell me

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<v Speaker 2>about Ashley Kaminski.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, Ashley, And it's funny, Ashley actually brought Caitlin to

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<v Speaker 4>our program after her freshman year. Yeah, Caitlyn had they

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<v Speaker 4>played together in high school and Katelyn had gone off

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<v Speaker 4>to Akron College and didn't like it. Came back home

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<v Speaker 4>and Ashley said, Hey, I got this friend, like to

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<v Speaker 4>put her on the team. What do you think, I said, Well,

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<v Speaker 4>tell me about her. Oh well, she's six foot one

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<v Speaker 4>place middle, she's pretty good. I said, yeah, bring her on.

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<v Speaker 4>And yeah, the rest is history.

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<v Speaker 2>I mentioned both are from Turp And you also have

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<v Speaker 2>a Milford grat Hanna Daniels, who made the All Tournament team.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, the quality of high school volleyball around the area,

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<v Speaker 2>Tell me about it, because it's got to make for

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<v Speaker 2>a nice pipeline of talent, doesn't it.

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<v Speaker 3>It really does.

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<v Speaker 4>The Tri State area is really really loaded with volleyball

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<v Speaker 4>talent for sure. That doesn't mean I mean it's a

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<v Speaker 4>nice pipe line, yes, but it's also very competitive to

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<v Speaker 4>get these players.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, tell me on this level, kind of explain to

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<v Speaker 2>the average listener right now. May not know the workings

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<v Speaker 2>of it in terms of recruiting or scholarships or how

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<v Speaker 2>does any of that work in assembling a team.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so we don't have athletic scholarships. You see, Claremont

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<v Speaker 4>College is a great value. Our average tuition is six

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<v Speaker 4>thousand dollars a year, and then all students, not just athletes,

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<v Speaker 4>but they can get merit scholarships their first two years

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<v Speaker 4>as well, and pretty much if they get any fasts

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<v Speaker 4>at all, they get their their tuition paid for. But

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<v Speaker 4>you know that's my that's kind of my recruiting spiels. Hey,

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<v Speaker 4>great education, very low cost, you know, great athletic program,

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<v Speaker 4>a chance to play for a national championship.

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<v Speaker 2>You mentioned, I believe it was twenty fifteen you arrived

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<v Speaker 2>at you see Claremont. Kind of trace the path. How

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<v Speaker 2>what's the journey been like for you to get to this.

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<v Speaker 4>Point, Well, in twenty fifteen I took over. They had

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<v Speaker 4>a couple players graduating, a couple of players that didn't

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<v Speaker 4>want to come back because they would they were attached

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<v Speaker 4>to their old coach and you know, they didn't want

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<v Speaker 4>to spend their last year with a new coach and

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<v Speaker 4>all that kind of thing. I only had eight players

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<v Speaker 4>when I walked into the gym, and I did a

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<v Speaker 4>lot of recruiting, called some tryouts. Wound up getting like

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<v Speaker 4>fifteen players my first year. But you know, the difference

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<v Speaker 4>in the player talent then versus now is a lot different, obviously,

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<v Speaker 4>So it took about three or four years to kind

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<v Speaker 4>of get the word out about, you know, a great program,

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<v Speaker 4>a great experience. But you know, after that, it's been

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<v Speaker 4>it's been a lot easier obviously.

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<v Speaker 2>Josh Head, have you did you? Are you from the area?

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<v Speaker 2>Had you been around here in various coaching capacities to

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<v Speaker 2>ultimately get to UC Claremont. What was that like?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah? Yeah, I grew up in northern Kentucky and you know,

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<v Speaker 4>just started coaching a couple of my nieces in a

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<v Speaker 4>recreation volleyball and that led to middle school, that led

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<v Speaker 4>to high school, that led to college. My first college

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<v Speaker 4>job was Cincinnati State, which no longer has athletics, but

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<v Speaker 4>I was there for two years, and then I coached

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<v Speaker 4>Xavier's men's club team for a season, and then I

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<v Speaker 4>got the job in twenty fifteen at U see Claremont.

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<v Speaker 4>But I've been coaching for twenty eight years AAU club volleyball,

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<v Speaker 4>so I've been in it for a while.

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<v Speaker 2>Man, it is so great catching up with you tonight.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm thinking two titles in five years. I

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<v Speaker 2>think maybe, what do you think? Lifetime contracting your own

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<v Speaker 2>parking spot? How does that sound?

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<v Speaker 4>That sounds good? That sounds good.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, congratulations on this. It's so cool. I was able

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<v Speaker 2>to track you down and you were willing to come on.

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<v Speaker 2>Congrats on the success, not just this year and what

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<v Speaker 2>you've built. Best of luck, keeping it rolling and enjoy

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<v Speaker 2>all this all right?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I will thank you. Thanks for having me on.

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<v Speaker 2>You got to take care coach, all right, there you go,

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<v Speaker 2>Josh Hammer. Two times, two national championships in five years.

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<v Speaker 2>You see. Claremont College volleyball located in Batavia. Every time

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<v Speaker 2>I think of Batavia as a kid, my grandma lived

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<v Speaker 2>in Batavia, so when we were kids, and we would

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<v Speaker 2>visit Grandma.

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<v Speaker 4>One.

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<v Speaker 2>She was the manager of it's no longer around the

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<v Speaker 2>Green Valley in Batavia, and it was always a big

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<v Speaker 2>deal when we were kids and we visited, spent the

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<v Speaker 2>weekend with Grandma. We would go to Moonlight Chili. Oh,

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<v Speaker 2>I remember how cool it was. We were living large

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<v Speaker 2>going to Moonlight Chili. I haven't been. We were in

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<v Speaker 2>Batavia a couple of months ago, because they've got a

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<v Speaker 2>really cool coffee shop right on the corner of Bean

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<v Speaker 2>and Brew when you come into town, and it is

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<v Speaker 2>directly across the street from where the old Green Valley

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<v Speaker 2>used to be. That my grandma was the manager years ago.

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<v Speaker 2>So congratulations to UC Clermont College Volleyball, the Division two

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<v Speaker 2>national champs for the second time since twenty twenty one.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, good, that was fun. Let's head down the stretch.

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<v Speaker 2>Got some college football to squeeze in, some college basketball

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<v Speaker 2>to squeeze in. I gotta do all that before Joe

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<v Speaker 2>and Byron. They are warming up and they'll deliver Xavier

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<v Speaker 2>pregame before the Musketeers and the Hawkeyes that coming up

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<v Speaker 2>at seven point thirty. We continue for now with Rnel

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<v Speaker 2>Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevelet seven hundred ww EAS.

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