Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinski and I'm Cappo, and this is
Speaker 1: serving pancakes with League one Volleyball. You know, your love
Speaker 1: season is finally here. Each episode will be going over
Speaker 1: the matches from the week to keep you up to
Speaker 1: date on everything League one Volleyball. Then stick around after
Speaker 1: the analysis for interviews with some amazing people in and
Speaker 1: around the sport. For today's episode, we're just going to
Speaker 1: break down week eight and look ahead to week nine.
Speaker 1: So how you doing today, Kat?
Speaker 2: Doing good? Long travel day?
Speaker 3: You know, we were Madison this past weekend and got
Speaker 3: back around nine amt backandalla, so.
Speaker 2: Travel light day was kind of long, but feeling good,
Speaker 2: feeling really good.
Speaker 1: All right, well you ready get into it.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's do it all right, Let's start with Love Houston's
Speaker 1: homecoming that was spoiled thanks to a sweep by Love
Speaker 1: salt Lake twenty five seventeen twenty five one twenty five
Speaker 1: twenty one. Houston had been on the road for six weeks,
Speaker 1: so I'm pretty sure this is probably not how they
Speaker 1: wanted to come out on the court. Now they were
Speaker 1: without their opposites, Jordan Thompson, who has been absolutely on
Speaker 1: fire lately and Grace Frowling as well as middle Raphael
Speaker 1: fully Now, missing key players like that can throw a
Speaker 1: game play off. But you know, everyone's practicing together, they're
Speaker 1: in the same gym, they have the same coach. So
Speaker 1: what was Houston unable to do Thursday night that they
Speaker 1: have been able to do previously.
Speaker 3: I think, like like all games, salt Lake and other
Speaker 3: teams are just starting to mesh well right now. You know,
Speaker 3: we're coming towards end of the season and towards that
Speaker 3: big major tournament. So I think Houston without JT she's
Speaker 3: a strong part that's missing, but they have so many
Speaker 3: different competitors on their team they can absolutely withstand that storm.
Speaker 2: But Salt Lake just came out on fire that night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of the things that they did really
Speaker 1: well was block, and they out blocked Houston twelve to four,
Speaker 1: middle Tory Dixon leading the team with five. So talk
Speaker 1: to me for a second about some technical stuff. How
Speaker 1: are you reading the setters and hitters to make sure
Speaker 1: that you're in proper position to block and get those blocks?
Speaker 3: Well, that depends on like who you're reading, like Lauren
Speaker 3: Carly and he's hard to read michah Hancofs was also
Speaker 3: kind of card to read reading just kind of happens
Speaker 3: amongst the floor where the ball is. Talk about zones,
Speaker 3: you know, as an opposite hitter, if the middle is
Speaker 3: anywhere between you know, a push one and the three
Speaker 3: or the gap we like to call it, that's kind
Speaker 3: of my zone and enough to take care of either
Speaker 3: her or the outside hitter in front of me. But
Speaker 3: once that middle's out of my zone, my only focuses
Speaker 3: my player in front of me, and that's that. I
Speaker 3: think it kind of goes on both pins, depending on
Speaker 3: what's happening. But even right right now, as you can
Speaker 3: tell last like last night, Mattison was running a few
Speaker 3: inside rip balls on us, so you can quickly lose
Speaker 3: track of that pin hitter when that middle will still
Speaker 3: ality up your zone.
Speaker 2: So keeping your head on the swivel for sure, all.
Speaker 1: Right, talk to me about outside Ronnie Jones Perry. She
Speaker 1: earned Player of the Match honors thanks for her twelve kills,
Speaker 1: eight digs, one block and an ace. We've heard her
Speaker 1: name throughout the season, So what did she do in
Speaker 1: this match to help salt Lake with the suite?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 3: Being Ronnie all these games coming up. We've been on
Speaker 3: freaking fire, you know. So being consistent and being that
Speaker 3: go to player for her team has been a strong
Speaker 3: advantage for Salt Lake and then just combining with her
Speaker 3: like Ronnie has been a force we reckon.
Speaker 1: With for sure, and she's got amazing arms.
Speaker 2: Yeah shot, what about.
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Like that?
Speaker 1: Let's move on to Omaha Madison. It was six weeks
Speaker 1: since Houston played at home and Friday marked six weeks
Speaker 1: since Loved Madison last one to match, but that all
Speaker 1: changed after they beat Omaha in four sets eighteen twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty five, twenty two, twenty five, sixteen, twenty five, twenty one,
Speaker 1: and the win was led by a two time Olympic
Speaker 1: medalist opposite Annie Drew Schumacher. She had twenty three kills,
Speaker 1: three aces, two blocks, six digs, easily her best match
Speaker 1: all season so far. Where has this South Pap been?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 3: No, Annie was saying she's having some shoulder issues, but
Speaker 3: whatever she's doing, it's working, Like she came out swinging
Speaker 3: two nights ago, so you know. Also, I think Madison's
Speaker 3: finding a great balance within the team. Jennifer Genetski, She's
Speaker 3: doing a great job for them. Just being consistent as
Speaker 3: well as.
Speaker 2: Well as another setter, Lauren Carlyne.
Speaker 3: You have Lauren carly you can pretty much do anything,
Speaker 3: but haven't any as additioned to that is definitely a
Speaker 3: game changer.
Speaker 1: Now, this match saw some ridiculous rallies. You know, I
Speaker 1: actually was looking. I was like, I wish love had
Speaker 1: stats for the length of rallies because I would love
Speaker 1: to see where the best ones and the longest ones are.
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, this is what makes volleyball
Speaker 1: so much fun.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to play in long rallies,
Speaker 1: but the level of play that I'm doing is much
Speaker 1: lower than the professional level that you ladies are playing.
Speaker 1: So talk to me about what it's like during and
Speaker 1: after those rallies.
Speaker 3: You know, a rally can go for a short period
Speaker 3: of time hardcore volleyball, or a long period of time
Speaker 3: even more hard volleyball.
Speaker 2: It's just a marathon you really can't prepare for.
Speaker 3: You don't know how long it's going to be for
Speaker 3: you just know those few births of moments of space
Speaker 3: and time it as hard as you can and just
Speaker 3: hope to win that point.
Speaker 2: So being in those rallies are very very tough for sure,
Speaker 2: very tough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then there was that one rally in this
Speaker 1: match with Lexi Rodriguez getting four digs in the whole
Speaker 1: thing and Omaha ending up getting the point. It was
Speaker 1: just absolutely insane. Lexi is so fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Yeah, everywhere I saw her middle back, scoop and ball,
Speaker 3: She's like again, talk about reading, reading the block, getting
Speaker 3: seen behind the block, and being a very very good
Speaker 3: addition to them as well last night the other night.
Speaker 1: Man all right, I also want to give a shout
Speaker 1: out to Cedar Lauren Carlini, who turned thirty that same
Speaker 1: day that they got there. Let's go. She had fifty assists,
Speaker 1: two blocks, twelve digs. So you know, do you think
Speaker 1: that the birthday kind of helped fire them up a
Speaker 1: little bit?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Your special day is just for you. You know,
Speaker 3: you wake up with a different kind of swagger on
Speaker 3: your chest. Even for myself. You know what I wake
Speaker 3: on my birthday, I just feel great. So if it's
Speaker 3: a game day, I'm know I'm trying to get you one.
Speaker 3: If it's an early birthday present I can give myself,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go out there and do that.
Speaker 2: So that birthday day was definitely helping her out for sure.
Speaker 1: All Right, moving to Saturday's doubleheader, We'll start with love
Speaker 1: Atlanta's five set reverse sweep over Omaha twenty one, twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty five, twenty seven, twenty five, nineteen, twenty five, twenty three,
Speaker 1: fifteen twelve. Great turnaround for Atlanta to come back and
Speaker 1: show why they're at the top of the standings right now.
Speaker 1: What did they do to turn it around after that
Speaker 1: second set?
Speaker 3: I think just using their bench. You know, Jessica Rivere
Speaker 3: came in and did some good things for them. Gia
Speaker 3: came into some good things for them. Atlanta's going to
Speaker 3: be Atlanta like always. I think they really good job
Speaker 3: as far as like flustering Omaha. You know, there were
Speaker 3: some broken plays between Jordan and the bro kind of
Speaker 3: just being going into a little bit miscommunication plays. I
Speaker 3: feel like even in Ata system, they felt like they
Speaker 3: were in system. They were getting a lot of googballs,
Speaker 3: touches off the block and keep an offense going.
Speaker 2: So it was a really fun game to watch and
Speaker 2: to see them come back and win.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about Gia Day for a second. She
Speaker 1: came in off the bench after those first two sets,
Speaker 1: really helped Atlanta. She actually led the team with fifteen
Speaker 1: kills after she got in. What does Gia bring to
Speaker 1: the court.
Speaker 2: I am a Gada fan like Jia is. I'm a
Speaker 2: Korean beat both getting Korea. She's a Kareem vet.
Speaker 3: And it's a certain type of grit you have to
Speaker 3: have to be able to come off the bench and
Speaker 3: do what you're supposed to do, create longevity and points
Speaker 3: and be able to out there and make a difference.
Speaker 3: So being in Korea, you get a lot of practice
Speaker 3: of doing that, and I'm so happy to see her
Speaker 3: bring that part of her game into love actually love it.
Speaker 1: Magda Helloava made a name for herself in this match.
Speaker 1: Nine blocks for the middle from Checchia, more than double
Speaker 1: actually what she's accumulated all season so far. She also
Speaker 1: had a season high twelve kills while hitting for seventy four.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about Magda and what she did in
Speaker 1: this match.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Mac does not getting the get the
Speaker 2: love she should be getting.
Speaker 3: You know, you hear a lot about the office of
Speaker 3: the middle blockers some around the league, and Mac doesn't
Speaker 3: have the name you hear most often. But she's definitely
Speaker 3: a player to be on the lookout for. She's been
Speaker 3: playing a lot of good games coming up. She's got
Speaker 3: a lot of good stretching amongst the games that have
Speaker 3: been in her pocket so far. And yeah, coming up
Speaker 3: with twelve blocks and being a big part of the
Speaker 3: defense's that's huge.
Speaker 2: So shout out to her for sure.
Speaker 1: And the last match of the weekend Love Madison must
Speaker 1: have been riding high after their win on Friday because
Speaker 1: they swept your team, Love Austin every week every week
Speaker 1: twenty five, twenty two, twenty five, twenty one, twenty five, seventeen.
Speaker 1: So what was Madison doing right in that match?
Speaker 3: Everything, you know, being on the receiving end of that.
Speaker 3: But whoop in let's just look at the look at
Speaker 3: what's in front of us. You have Andie Drews is
Speaker 3: going off, you have Stevie who's going off in the middle,
Speaker 3: you have Jennifer going off, is going on the outside,
Speaker 3: And like you.
Speaker 2: Know, as a blocker, and I was a defensive team, you.
Speaker 3: Want to be able to slow down someone, and being
Speaker 3: able to slow down Andy Drews is very very difficult,
Speaker 3: almost near impossible, you know. So you have to take
Speaker 3: your losses where they are and have to you know,
Speaker 3: focus more on people. You can kind of slow down,
Speaker 3: and I don't think we did a good job trying
Speaker 3: to touch a lot of balls and slow down, you know,
Speaker 3: other positions. So with that off balance, you get a
Speaker 3: lot of success attacking watched from the other team, and
Speaker 3: that's definitely got us in the long run for sure.
Speaker 1: What are you guys looking to do to improve into
Speaker 1: next week?
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's honestly almost as like we're starting over.
Speaker 3: You know, we have kind of a new staff coming
Speaker 3: in right now, and this is the first week of practice.
Speaker 3: We've got a little bit of beneficial things going on,
Speaker 3: and training wise and skill wise.
Speaker 2: It's almost like we're back at the drawing right now.
Speaker 3: While everyone is kind of meshing well together and finding
Speaker 3: their rhythm, it's like we're back at kind of square one.
Speaker 3: So just trying to get back in the gym and
Speaker 3: finding us and trying to find the character of our
Speaker 3: team and trying to produce something in this next few
Speaker 3: in the next few weeks coming up.
Speaker 1: Speaking of staff, new staff, I saw on the sideline
Speaker 1: Penn State legend Nicole Fawcett. Was she helping you guys
Speaker 1: out on the team?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's she is such a gym to have in
Speaker 3: our gym right now. Nicole has such a great eye
Speaker 3: for the game at this level. She's played at the
Speaker 3: highest level ever, as well as on the national's team
Speaker 3: in the Olympian She has just such an experience and
Speaker 3: just being able to go out and coach and learn
Speaker 3: the things she's doing coaching and now she kind of
Speaker 3: explained the game to us from her perspective.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: That's one thing I've been telling Madison Skinner and the
Speaker 3: girls who are not really much aware of her our team, like,
Speaker 3: do your research, Like what she says is law, Like, Maddie,
Speaker 3: you should be asking a cool about everything.
Speaker 2: You know, you've a question, don't be afraid to ask.
Speaker 3: It's just having her jam and just having like her
Speaker 3: be able to coach us every day and just helping
Speaker 3: us out with the little things has been very special.
Speaker 2: So we're very, very very grateful to have her.
Speaker 1: That's so cool to have someone like her helping me out.
Speaker 2: I kind of banger every day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, going back to Madison, you know, this team had
Speaker 1: a slightly different lineup out there on Saturday night. We're
Speaker 1: used to seeing Sarah Franklin on the outside. But Saturday,
Speaker 1: Jennifer Yanniska got the nod. She finished with five kills,
Speaker 1: three blocks, two aces and eight digs. So how did
Speaker 1: she help change the dynamic of that team?
Speaker 2: I think just.
Speaker 3: Playing against us also able to see just her consistency,
Speaker 3: Like she is leveled throughout the entire match.
Speaker 2: Basically what you see, what you get.
Speaker 3: And she's going to terminate when she can, and she's
Speaker 3: going to give you a good pass. You're going to
Speaker 3: keep you in system much she can, and she's a
Speaker 3: hard target to not keep the ball off of.
Speaker 2: That makes sense. So she preferred well this weekend, I think,
Speaker 2: and and like props to her.
Speaker 1: Honestly, we mentioned Lauren Carlini a bunch of times already,
Speaker 1: but the newly thirty year old was named player of
Speaker 1: the match. She had forty assists, nine digs and an
Speaker 1: ace and a dig kill off of her head.
Speaker 3: We were yelling, not at her, but like as she's
Speaker 3: like going for the ball, We're like, honestly, if it's
Speaker 3: like that close the perimeter, you just play it because
Speaker 3: you know you don't want to risk just that small chance.
Speaker 3: We're just like, go, go go, And I think she
Speaker 3: thought that it was out and it was right here
Speaker 3: inside the.
Speaker 1: Line, so it was really close.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it was also cool play. It was a
Speaker 3: really cool play. I didn't even see what happened until
Speaker 3: it was happening in real time, so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw a replay. I think it was the
Speaker 1: Love cameras, And after Maddie hit the ball in her head,
Speaker 1: Lauren just immediately was like, it's.
Speaker 3: Up and up.
Speaker 2: Look around.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a little cat. Yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had a ball hit you in the
Speaker 1: head or in the face.
Speaker 2: I've been hitting the face. But it wasn't a point.
Speaker 2: It was up.
Speaker 3: It was playable, you know, it was it counts the
Speaker 3: defensive to but no point.
Speaker 2: So that was definitely very well done to her.
Speaker 1: All Right, well, we're done with the recaps, but we
Speaker 1: want to look ahead to week nine as well, So
Speaker 1: let's take a look at the games that are going
Speaker 1: to be happening in which one you are most excited
Speaker 1: to watch. So Thursday night we got Omaha hosting Salt Lake,
Speaker 1: Omaha coming off a five match losing streak. Friday Night
Speaker 1: kicks off the weekend with Love in Atlanta with Atlanta
Speaker 1: playing Houston. Then Saturday's doubleheader begins with the hottest team
Speaker 1: in the league, I would say Madison versus Houston, and
Speaker 1: then we finished with your team love Austin facing Atlanta.
Speaker 1: So which match are you excited about?
Speaker 3: See before, I was thinking I was really excited about
Speaker 3: the Atlanta versus Houston rematch.
Speaker 2: You know, us off of the Kansas City matches.
Speaker 3: Step was so fun to watch, so I'm sure that
Speaker 3: Atlanta has an edge going into that match, So that's
Speaker 3: gonna be a great matchup. Obviously, the battles are the
Speaker 3: best outsize right now in the league, I think for
Speaker 3: myself speaking. But then also I'm ready. I'm excited to
Speaker 3: see how Houston handles Madison. You know, Madison's in a
Speaker 3: roll right now, and they have Anna and Annie in there,
Speaker 3: and they found that connectivity right now as a team.
Speaker 3: So that's also be a really great match to watch.
Speaker 3: What do you think?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm kind of feeling it with the Madison Houston
Speaker 1: match as well. I think it's going to be really
Speaker 1: fun to watch, especially with Madison being so fired up
Speaker 1: right now. I'm kind of like, let's go.
Speaker 2: It's any man's game right now. This is the great thing.
Speaker 3: I don't think about this League like, it can be
Speaker 3: any team tonight and who show it's going to show
Speaker 3: up and it's it can be any weekend and in
Speaker 3: given weeks on end, you know, so this can be
Speaker 3: an up war for Madison right now.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well that's it for this episode of Serving Pancakes.
Speaker 1: Thanks as always for your wisdom and insights, Cat, best
Speaker 1: of luck this week, but also happy birthday. Wednesday, March
Speaker 1: fifth is Kat's birthday, so make sure you give a
Speaker 1: shout out online and if you see her next week in.
Speaker 2: Guys, thanks shouts off pistys.
Speaker 1: Let's go Yeah. Serving Pancakes is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Tiffany Oshinsky. My co host is Kat Bell.
Speaker 1: Anya Alvarez is our senior producer. Our executive producers are
Speaker 1: Carrie Stett, Tamara Daiki, and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead
Speaker 1: is Juwara Parker. Sound editing and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mass Junior.
Speaker 1: Next week, we'll recap Week nine and talk to Love
Speaker 1: Madison's Temmy Thomas I Lara, thanks for listening.