Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Tifny Oshinsky, and this is Serving Pancakes with
Speaker 1: League one Volleyball, with the inaugural Love season just around
Speaker 1: the corner. Over the next few weeks, we'll be following
Speaker 1: some of the biggest women's college volleyball games featuring schools
Speaker 1: that our players attended. In today's episode, I'll be going
Speaker 1: over the thrilling five set victory for number two Nebraska
Speaker 1: over number ten per Due with Big ten Networks Emily Emon,
Speaker 1: and then Love Omaha's head coach Susie Fritz will join
Speaker 1: me to talk about the inaugural season, her career, and
Speaker 1: so much more so. First, let's talk to Nebraska Purdue.
Speaker 1: Emily Even, welcome back to Serving Pancakes. So happy you're here.
Speaker 2: So happy to be here. Always down to chats men'saavolleyball.
Speaker 2: It's been a crazy season so.
Speaker 1: Far, absolutely insane, and this match was equally insane, with Nebraska,
Speaker 1: who was number two, coming back from being down two
Speaker 1: to one to beat Purdue twenty five, twenty two, twenty
Speaker 1: two to twenty five, twenty three, twenty five, twenty five,
Speaker 1: twenty two, and then the insane it's set seventeen fifteen.
Speaker 1: So let's talk big picture. First, Emily, what stood at
Speaker 1: to you the most in this match?
Speaker 2: To be honest, the biggest thing to me was watching
Speaker 2: this match. It didn't feel like Nebraska won. It felt
Speaker 2: like Purdue lost it. You know, they were up two
Speaker 2: to one in one of the toughest places to play
Speaker 2: in the entire country at the Devani Center. They're up
Speaker 2: ten to eight and set five and then kind of
Speaker 2: let it slip away. The biggest thing to me was
Speaker 2: produce service errors. You know, they had four in that
Speaker 2: fifth set alone, four in a period of the first
Speaker 2: seven points, So they were just handing Nebraska, you know,
Speaker 2: part of that fifth set. And when you look at
Speaker 2: the numbers, Purdue pretty much outplayed them. I mean in
Speaker 2: terms of blocks fifteen to five and a half, they
Speaker 2: out blocked Nebraska. They out hit them three eleven to
Speaker 2: two forty two. And that's a really good Nebraska defense.
Speaker 2: And if you're going to be able to hit above
Speaker 2: three hundred against them, to me, you have to be
Speaker 2: able to capitalize on that. Eva Hudson and kloeesha Coin
Speaker 2: produce outsides are just absolutely insane. One of the best
Speaker 2: duos in the country combined for nearly fifty kills the difference. Though,
Speaker 2: again those service errors for Purdue, they had nineteen of
Speaker 2: them in the entire match. If you have the opportunity
Speaker 2: to take down the number two team in the country
Speaker 2: and you're kind of out playing them in almost every capacity.
Speaker 2: In the fifth set, you're up ten to eight, you
Speaker 2: have to find a way to close it. So it's
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, for the Boilers, letting it slip away.
Speaker 2: But I mean, what a fun volleyball match. The defense
Speaker 2: was outstanding. It's so fun when you see players like
Speaker 2: Hudson and Shaquoigne go off, and then you're playing in
Speaker 2: one of the best atmospheres in college volleyball. I mean,
Speaker 2: it doesn't get much better than that in a seventeen
Speaker 2: to fifteen fifth set.
Speaker 1: There's so many things I want to touch on that
Speaker 1: you just mentioned. I want to break things down first.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the most recent thing that you just said,
Speaker 1: playing at the Davanny Center. You've been there. You know
Speaker 1: you can feel the electricity coming from your screen while
Speaker 1: watching games in Nebraska, but can you just explain what
Speaker 1: it is like to actually be there, especially when you
Speaker 1: have such a wild match like this was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Davanni Center is second to none. To me,
Speaker 2: it's the most intimidating place to play in all of
Speaker 2: college volleyball. I mean, the bells and whistles there are incredible.
Speaker 2: It's an incredibly nice facility. It seats about eighty five
Speaker 2: hundred or nine thousand with standing room only, and they
Speaker 2: sell out every single night. They're closing in on three
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty consecutive sellouts, which is a Division One
Speaker 2: Athletics women's record, not just for volleyball but all of
Speaker 2: women's athletics. It is crazy. Those fans know volleyball so
Speaker 2: so well. They're so knowledgeable about the game. You know,
Speaker 2: they know in a chair, and then if the other
Speaker 2: team's doing well, like it's real quiet in there, but
Speaker 2: it is. It's crazy. I mean, when you have nine
Speaker 2: thousand fans screaming at you in that kind of environment,
Speaker 2: it is so so tough to play in and that
Speaker 2: really becomes a difference maker when you enter a fifth set,
Speaker 2: when things are close, when you can get that crowd
Speaker 2: momentum behind you. That's one of the reasons why it's
Speaker 2: one of the best home court advantages in all of sports.
Speaker 1: I mean, they've won thirty five straight there, so you know,
Speaker 1: watching this game and hearing this crowd, I can completely
Speaker 1: understand how much of a home field Advanta is now
Speaker 1: one of the heroes for Nebraska. Merrit Pison. She had
Speaker 1: a season high twenty two kills in this game. We've
Speaker 1: seen how good she is. We know how good she is,
Speaker 1: but can you explain why teams struggle to stop her?
Speaker 2: Mayor Beson's a gamer. I mean, she is one of
Speaker 2: the most difficult attackers to stop in the country. She's
Speaker 2: very rangey, meaning she can vary up her attack well.
Speaker 2: She hits deep corners, she can barrel things down the line.
Speaker 2: Whatever set is given to her, she does a really
Speaker 2: nice job of adjusting to that. She also has really
Speaker 2: great court vision, so it doesn't matter the defense in
Speaker 2: the block you put in front of her. She's able
Speaker 2: to see the block really well. If there's a small seam,
Speaker 2: she'll hit right through it. Does a nice job at
Speaker 2: targeting fingertips. She's always just got a heavy arm. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you give her a received to rip through, she's
Speaker 2: put in the putt in a hole in the floor.
Speaker 2: She is just absolutely incredible. One thing that I think
Speaker 2: Nebraska hasn't necessarily utilized enough but they started to during
Speaker 2: that match against Purdue is getting her going in the
Speaker 2: back court. They've been rotating her out with a DS
Speaker 2: in the back row, which last year she was so
Speaker 2: effective back there. She was one of the best backcourt
Speaker 2: attackers in the country. And now this year they've been
Speaker 2: using a DS because they have a plethora of just
Speaker 2: incredible littles on that team. But Beson really got it
Speaker 2: going in the back row, especially when it mattered most
Speaker 2: when those sets are really tight, especially in that fifth set,
Speaker 2: they left her back there, and I mean she was
Speaker 2: just going off. But I mean, she's a gamer, she's rangy,
Speaker 2: she's athletic, she can just fly jump out of the gym.
Speaker 2: She's so much fun to watch.
Speaker 1: And talk about Andy Jackson because she's also been absolutely unstoppable.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: I mean she's like nearly unstoppable. There's one point in
Speaker 2: that match I think I want to say it was
Speaker 2: a third set she was hitting like nine hundred. I mean,
Speaker 2: Andy Jackson right now is in a league of her
Speaker 2: own in terms of middles. Her slide attack is the
Speaker 2: best that I've seen in the country. I mean, the
Speaker 2: way that she's able to fly up there and even
Speaker 2: if it's not the perfect set, manages to find something
Speaker 2: to do with. But she added three inches to her
Speaker 2: vertical in the offseason. She now touches ten ten, which
Speaker 2: is crazy for an attacker that's only six ' three.
Speaker 2: She can jump out of the gym. She's really rangy.
Speaker 2: She's very explosive, strong arm, and her connection with rossettter
Speaker 2: Berg and Riley is incredible. You know, they had time
Speaker 2: to practice it over the summer playing in the USA
Speaker 2: gym obviously a lot of you know, time just in
Speaker 2: the Nebraska gym as well. But Andy Jackson's incredible. Her
Speaker 2: offense has taken just massive strides in the last year,
Speaker 2: and her blocking too has gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Eva Hudson and kloe Cha Coin on Perdue.
Speaker 1: They both had double doubles in that match. They also
Speaker 1: looked unstoppable. I mean, if I didn't know the score,
Speaker 1: I would have thought that Perdue had it just based
Speaker 1: on how they were hitting. Even though they lost this match.
Speaker 1: How dangerous is this Perdue team with them?
Speaker 2: They're so dangerous. I mean, the key to stopping Perdue
Speaker 2: is to slow down Eva Hudson and kloes Ha Coin,
Speaker 2: which teams can't do. You know, it's so incredible because
Speaker 2: if you look at Chloe Hacoin, she's an attacker that's
Speaker 2: about five to nine, and I would say that's like
Speaker 2: a generous five nine. She's more like a five eight,
Speaker 2: but she jumps through the gym. It doesn't matter that
Speaker 2: you know that the ball is going to either of
Speaker 2: them in the outside or the backcourt, you still can't
Speaker 2: find a way to stop them. Which is what makes
Speaker 2: this Purdude teams so fun is you know where the
Speaker 2: ball is going. They set a vast majority of their
Speaker 2: sets to the outside, to one of the two, and
Speaker 2: they just find ways to put it down in a
Speaker 2: fifth set, in the beginning of the first set, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. They're gonna get a ton of swings. They're
Speaker 2: just ballersm You know, I always think about who would
Speaker 2: I not ever want to play against, and those are
Speaker 2: two players that I just would never want to face
Speaker 2: on the other side because you know they're getting the ball,
Speaker 2: they're still going to put it down. They also just
Speaker 2: have that look in the rye that you know they're
Speaker 2: going to take their game to the next level. And
Speaker 2: as an opponent, I would be completely terrified.
Speaker 1: I mean, Shaquinn being five, eight, five nine or whatever is.
Speaker 1: I think it says she's five to ten on on
Speaker 1: the roster, but I also know as someone who's five
Speaker 1: to three, who was once put in a book as
Speaker 1: five to six. I know people like to be a
Speaker 1: little generous, but I mean she's going up against Mary
Speaker 1: Beeson who's six three I believe, and Andy Jackson six floor. Like.
Speaker 1: I mean, the fact that she can get those hits
Speaker 1: down and have that many in a match against girls
Speaker 1: who are that tall is insane.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, And to be honest, for both of those
Speaker 2: players too, it's not only just their front court play,
Speaker 2: but it's like having two liberos in the back court
Speaker 2: as well. They are so good defensively, they fly around
Speaker 2: the back court. I mean, Chaquhanna is making saves in
Speaker 2: that fit set that you could have got prdue the win.
Speaker 2: Obviously didn't, but I mean she is incredible in the
Speaker 2: back court as well. Both of them are, for sure.
Speaker 1: And then their middle hitter, Raven Colvin. She didn't have
Speaker 1: the best night hitting, but she did lead with eleven blocks.
Speaker 1: So again same question when it comes to Raven, how
Speaker 1: dangerous is she on this team?
Speaker 2: Raven Colvin's incredible I mean, she's a very undersized middle
Speaker 2: She's just about six feet tall, maybe five to eleven,
Speaker 2: but she plays so much bigger than she is because
Speaker 2: she's a little bit shorter. She really has to make
Speaker 2: sure to be very disciplined. That's what she's really good at.
Speaker 2: Blocking wise, she makes really explosive movements. She doesn't move
Speaker 2: until she knows where the ball is going, and that's
Speaker 2: led to just stuff after stuff. I mean right now,
Speaker 2: she's second in the NCAA and blocks percont at about
Speaker 2: one point seven, which is just absolutely unheard of. Again,
Speaker 2: second in the country, that's first in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: She is incredible, and also when they can get her
Speaker 2: going offensively, it really changes the game for Purdue. She's
Speaker 2: good enough to where the ball doesn't have to be perfect.
Speaker 2: Purdue oftentimes talks about just getting it in a window
Speaker 2: for her to hit, because she's so athletic and dynamic
Speaker 2: that if you can just get the ball to her,
Speaker 2: she'll figure out something to do.
Speaker 1: With for sure. Now, Perdue was dominant in the second
Speaker 1: and third set, beating Nebraska in those two, But what
Speaker 1: happened in the final two, especially in that fifth set
Speaker 1: where they were up fifteen fourteen one point a way
Speaker 1: to seal the game. What went wrong with the Boilers.
Speaker 2: To be honest, Nebraska started making plays, and it took
Speaker 2: them up until that point to really do it. They
Speaker 2: were kept in that set because of produe service errors.
Speaker 2: You know, up until about the seven point mark, Purdue
Speaker 2: had handed Nebraska for service airs, so they were already
Speaker 2: kind of in the set, and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden at ten to eight, they found a way to
Speaker 2: turn it on. Their front row really started making plays,
Speaker 2: and it was a really balanced effort. It's not like
Speaker 2: one person really ended up just going off at the
Speaker 2: end to get it done.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Mayor Beeson had those last two kills for Nebraska, But
Speaker 2: up until that point they just found ways with other people.
Speaker 2: Whether that was Andy Jackson getting it killed, you know
Speaker 2: twice late in that set, Harper Marie showed up big.
Speaker 2: The biggest thing for Nebraska is when it's tight, they
Speaker 2: turn it on, and sometimes they struggle with that starting
Speaker 2: off matches a little bit slow. But again, also if
Speaker 2: you're playing in a fifth set at the Devani Center
Speaker 2: and it's that close and you've got the crowds momentum
Speaker 2: behind you, that definitely helps your team turn it on
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, time for the serving pancakes. Pancake counter
Speaker 1: and in this match, I only counted one pancake. It
Speaker 1: was in the fourth set by Landychboy. Nebraska was up
Speaker 1: nine to five when Chilboy came out of nowhere to
Speaker 1: just get that pancake and dig the ball up. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: Nebraska did not get the point on that effort, but
Speaker 1: it was a valiant effort by her, and I went
Speaker 1: to comment her on that. But talking about defense in general,
Speaker 1: I know we talked about Hudson and shit Coin, but
Speaker 1: what did you see in the defense from both teams?
Speaker 1: What really stood out to you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you know Nebraska's defense always stands out.
Speaker 2: You mentioned a player like Landy CHOBOI just absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2: I think they did a really nice job in the backcourt,
Speaker 2: which they always do, just racking up dig after dig.
Speaker 2: Lexi Rodriguez to me, she's hands down the best libarro
Speaker 2: in the country. I thought Perdue was doing a good
Speaker 2: job keeping the ball in Bergen Riley in the back court.
Speaker 2: Her dig numbers were really high, trying to get Nebraska
Speaker 2: out of system. But really what stood out the most
Speaker 2: was the blocking from Perdue. I mean, they did an
Speaker 2: incredible job really from start to finish, and that's what
Speaker 2: this Purdue team is known for. They just put up
Speaker 2: block after block. They ended with fifteen of them against
Speaker 2: Nebraska is about five and a half, so that really
Speaker 2: stood out. You know, Raven Colvin again just a phenomenal blocker.
Speaker 2: She really led that charge for Perdue and was just
Speaker 2: absolutely lead up front. She wrecked up nine stuff. So
Speaker 2: you know, it's a backcourt defense for Nebraska the front
Speaker 2: court defense for Purdue that really stuck out.
Speaker 1: Lastly, Emily, there has been so much parody in women's
Speaker 1: college volleyball this season, so many upsets in your opinion,
Speaker 1: Why is that and what does it mean for the
Speaker 1: rest of the regular season going into the tournament.
Speaker 2: Well, parody means that it's going to be really fun
Speaker 2: as we head into the rest of the season. But
Speaker 2: it's been really cool to see because over the last
Speaker 2: three or four years, we're seeing upsets like we've never
Speaker 2: seen before and so much more parody top to bottom.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of conferences, take take the ACC
Speaker 2: for example, used to be a very top heavy conference.
Speaker 2: You had Pitt, you had Louisville, and then Georgia Tech,
Speaker 2: you know, is always kind of in the mix, but
Speaker 2: now there's so many conferences and teams where it's anyone's game.
Speaker 2: You can't take a night off because top to bottom,
Speaker 2: these conferences are getting so much stronger, and not only
Speaker 2: are the top teams getting better, but the middle teams
Speaker 2: are now pushing the top teams, and the teams that
Speaker 2: are normally at the bottom of conferences are pushing those
Speaker 2: middle teams taking sets off of the top teams across
Speaker 2: the board. Right now, you can't take a night off
Speaker 2: because we've seen upset after upset time and time again,
Speaker 2: which for us as fans, I mean, it makes it
Speaker 2: so exciting. It's you know, every night we're seeing massive upsets,
Speaker 2: which is going to you know, pay dividends for a
Speaker 2: lot of teams down the line in the tournament too,
Speaker 2: and probably some pretty big upsets once once postseason play starts.
Speaker 1: Very excited to say that that tournament is going to
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun to watch. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Emily, appreciate you taking the time to speak
Speaker 1: with me and talk some women's collin volleyball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. Happy back Anto time. Thanks for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: Great analysis by the extremely knowledgeable Emily Emon. Now let's
Speaker 1: talk about professional women's volleyball in Nebraska. Love Omaha head
Speaker 1: coach Susie Fritz is here. Coach Fritz has the resume
Speaker 1: and experience you want in a head coach. Born and
Speaker 1: raised in Kansas, coach Fritz began her coaching career in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four at Florida Atlantic. She eventually found her
Speaker 1: way back home, becoming the assistant coach of Kansas State
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven, then took over the program in
Speaker 1: two thousand and one. After twenty five seasons with the Wildcast,
Speaker 1: she became an assistant coach at Arkansas. During her tenures,
Speaker 1: she led nationally ranked teams to eighteen NCAA tournament appearances
Speaker 1: with her players, including sixteen All American selections, twenty six
Speaker 1: All Region selections, and fifty six All Big twelve selections.
Speaker 1: And now League One Volleyball is lucky to have her lead.
Speaker 1: Love Omaha Coach Fritz. Welcome to Serving Pancakes. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for me here.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Tiffany,
Speaker 3: thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Now, thank you so much, coach. I have to start
Speaker 1: by asking, after such a storied career in college ball,
Speaker 1: why did you decide to go to the pros, specifically
Speaker 1: with League one Volleyball?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, so many, so many things, you know,
Speaker 3: the one just the people involved in League One where
Speaker 3: I think as I as I kind of started to
Speaker 3: get more into it and meeting. My first initial meeting
Speaker 3: actually was with Danielle Scott, who you know, five time Olympian,
Speaker 3: phenomenal human being, and just her excitement for how League
Speaker 3: one was building, and Tom Hogan and his team. They're
Speaker 3: just phenomenal people, and I think that's where it started.
Speaker 3: I knew volleyball. Volleyball is in my heart, it's what
Speaker 3: I love. Coaching is the family business, right But the
Speaker 3: college landscape is changing, and I think this was the
Speaker 3: next logical step for me that made a lot of
Speaker 3: sense to do what I love, but have it look
Speaker 3: a little different if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1: So what are you expecting to be the biggest difference
Speaker 1: between college and pro Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think what I noticed right away and in conversations
Speaker 3: with the with the women on the team is just
Speaker 3: this desire for collaborative work, right is you know these
Speaker 3: guys are professionals. They've played all over the world. They
Speaker 3: have far more international plane experience than I have. I
Speaker 3: have a lot of volleyball experience, But I think the
Speaker 3: collaborative piece of it is, and you take away the
Speaker 3: academic piece, which is a big part of the student
Speaker 3: athlete experience, right, So I think the collaborative just where
Speaker 3: you these guys know what they want, they know what
Speaker 3: they need, they communicate it openly and honestly, and I
Speaker 3: love just the direct model and the really clear vision
Speaker 3: of where they want to go. So I think those
Speaker 3: are the big pieces right now.
Speaker 1: This is the inaugural season of League one. So what
Speaker 1: have been some of the challenges you've faced planning for
Speaker 1: a first time team in a first time league.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I heard someone say you're building the
Speaker 3: plane as you fly it, right, there's a little bit
Speaker 3: of that where because you're I do feel to be honest,
Speaker 3: really comfortable with just the all the pieces in the parts,
Speaker 3: you know. I think when I became a head coach,
Speaker 3: I tell people often that it took me probably five
Speaker 3: to seven years to get my arms wrapped around all
Speaker 3: of the entities there are involved in an athletic program,
Speaker 3: whether it be collegiate internationally, and you start thinking about
Speaker 3: the marketing and promotions and the ticketing and the events
Speaker 3: and the strength and conditioning, athletic training, right, and the
Speaker 3: list goes on and on and on, and really, I
Speaker 3: think as a head coach you want to have at
Speaker 3: least some minimal knowledge of these things. So everybody's doing
Speaker 3: that for the first time in all of these different areas,
Speaker 3: and the communication and the collaboration that's required to do
Speaker 3: that is what I noticed right off the bat, right,
Speaker 3: is that we're all but the intention within the organization
Speaker 3: is phenomenal and everybody's in it together trying to problem
Speaker 3: solve quickly as things arise, and that part of it,
Speaker 3: I think is pretty huge for the organization period to
Speaker 3: be successful.
Speaker 1: Well, we're only a few weeks out from preseasons starting,
Speaker 1: So what are you doing to prep for this first.
Speaker 3: Preseason planning practice? You know, I mean, I'm trying to
Speaker 3: stay focused on the volleyball things. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: things to be focused upon, but I'm trying to really
Speaker 3: just stay focused on the volleyball things. And you know
Speaker 3: what the structure of practice is going to look like,
Speaker 3: Starting to set a schedule for the women on the
Speaker 3: team and working with League One in terms of what
Speaker 3: their requirements of the athletes are going to be. There's
Speaker 3: and I'm sure you're familiar with it, but there's a
Speaker 3: tremendous amount of just resources and opportunity that these women
Speaker 3: have access through League One and some of the programming
Speaker 3: that they have done just from the pro level all
Speaker 3: the way down to the club level is phenomenal. So
Speaker 3: just getting organized, I think more than anything, is the
Speaker 3: simple answer.
Speaker 1: Do you sort of have like a mentality of what
Speaker 1: you want to build in this first year?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do. You know, I want to be really
Speaker 3: competitive and I want you know, there's a there's a
Speaker 3: desire in me in some ways right to represent women
Speaker 3: in sports and desire to you know, I know a
Speaker 3: lot of the women on my team are so excited
Speaker 3: to represent something where young players can look to and say, hey,
Speaker 3: I can do that someday. And I think there's still
Speaker 3: a little bit of that in me that if you
Speaker 3: want to be a volleyball coach and you want to
Speaker 3: coach at the highest level and you want to stay
Speaker 3: in the United States to do it, that opportunity is
Speaker 3: there for you, and there's not a lot of women
Speaker 3: professional coaches and that representation for me really matters. And
Speaker 3: I'm excited to be able to have a chance to
Speaker 3: be a great coach and do it in a great
Speaker 3: league with a tremendous group of women.
Speaker 1: I love that well. Especially Nebraska is one of, if
Speaker 1: not the hotspot for women's volleyball. I mean, watching the
Speaker 1: Nebraska Perdue game on Friday, there were so many cutaways
Speaker 1: of the younger generation holding sign saying stuff like future
Speaker 1: Nebraska volleyball player. You know, they're just so excited about
Speaker 1: the sport and they want to be part of it.
Speaker 1: So now you've coached at Kansas State for a long
Speaker 1: time in your career, but you also had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to play in Nebraska. So what are you expecting when
Speaker 1: you get to come coach in Omaha.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I tell people a lot like I've been external,
Speaker 3: like just in arms reach, watching it for a really
Speaker 3: long time, and I think until you're in it, you
Speaker 3: don't really totally get it. Just the fandom that exists
Speaker 3: in the state of Nebraska, and it's you know it.
Speaker 3: I mean Creighton University. Kirsten Berenthal is a phenomenal coach
Speaker 3: and she's got her team playing exceptionally well and Matt
Speaker 3: Buttermore at UNO. And this is out side of the Huskers, right,
Speaker 3: who have traditionally been a powerhouse, and John does a
Speaker 3: phenomenal job there and so the university filtering system, if
Speaker 3: you will, and they're all successful all the way down
Speaker 3: to the club level. The high schools in Omaha play
Speaker 3: tremendous volleyball. Just fandom is the best word that I
Speaker 3: can explain it. They're true volleyball fans. They love volleyball
Speaker 3: there and I just feel blessed to be, you know,
Speaker 3: part of it and embed ourselves in that community. It's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of some of the players on your team,
Speaker 1: you get to coach four time Olympic medalist Jordan Larson
Speaker 1: and two time Olympic medalist Justine wang Arantez. So let's
Speaker 1: start with Jordan, who is known as the governor of Nebraska.
Speaker 1: What are you excited about when it comes to coaching Jordan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's been a really neat experience to
Speaker 3: get to know Jordan on a level outside of maybe
Speaker 3: her as a volleyball player, you know, and just the
Speaker 3: journey that she has been on from a career perspective.
Speaker 3: And admire that and use that in some ways to advance,
Speaker 3: if you will, right, the experience of our team and
Speaker 3: myself and our program. And she is an amazing human
Speaker 3: being with this desire to give back to the Nebraska
Speaker 3: community that helped build her and put her in a
Speaker 3: position to have this phenomenal volleyball career. And she's committed
Speaker 3: to service and mentorship and legacy, if you will, And
Speaker 3: you know, I just feel blessed to be in that
Speaker 3: with her, you know. And I think that's the cool part,
Speaker 3: right Jordan, is she's going to let me be in
Speaker 3: that with her and wants to still be coached and
Speaker 3: wants to get better as a player, and wants me
Speaker 3: to coach the heck out of her. So it's a
Speaker 3: really cool, I think dynamic so far. I have so
Speaker 3: much admiration for her and where she's been and the
Speaker 3: fact that she's still doing it, So I can't say
Speaker 3: enough good things about it, you know, and the opportunity
Speaker 3: to do that with.
Speaker 1: Her, Yeah, and with her experience, I mean, how do
Speaker 1: you coach somebody with that much experience?
Speaker 3: Well, Jordan knows exactly what she wants and what she
Speaker 3: needs for the most part, right, I think a lot
Speaker 3: of times with an elite level player like that, it's
Speaker 3: not necessarily about doing more with her, you know. In
Speaker 3: some ways, it's about helping her refine, if you will.
Speaker 3: You're not asking her to do more, You're asking her
Speaker 3: to do really specific things, really really well, you know,
Speaker 3: and helping her create that list. You know, what is
Speaker 3: she thinking about, what is she working on? How can
Speaker 3: we help her do that? And I don't think that
Speaker 3: list is very long for her anymore, you know, for
Speaker 3: a lot of the women on the team, right is
Speaker 3: just what's your list right now? Where do you want
Speaker 3: us to help you? And that's where I think that
Speaker 3: collaborative piece really comes into play with these guys. Is
Speaker 3: at this point they kind of know who they are
Speaker 3: and what they want.
Speaker 1: M for sure. And then Justine Wangarantez best libero at
Speaker 1: the Olympics in Tokyo. She's the all time digs leader
Speaker 1: in Nebraska, another queen of the state, if you will,
Speaker 1: when it comes to volleyball, do you think that you
Speaker 1: have a huge edge right there with your libero situation?
Speaker 3: Wait feels like it, right, it feels like it. But
Speaker 3: they're all good, you know, And just a shout out
Speaker 3: to you know, Maggie upright and Danielle Michelle Chapman, right Smith,
Speaker 3: those were the recruiters that went out and got these
Speaker 3: phenomenal athletes on all the teams Omaha included. And I
Speaker 3: just think they've done such a phenomenal job of getting
Speaker 3: the right talent to be able to make this thing go.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I do. I think I have a little edge, right,
Speaker 3: she's the best. Who doesn't want the best?
Speaker 1: We're going to be seeing elite volleyball, elite players and
Speaker 1: not just you know, in Omaha, but all over the league.
Speaker 1: As you were saying talking about the recruiting and trying
Speaker 1: to get these women to join the league, there's just
Speaker 1: so many amazing players. So specifically talking about Omaha, who
Speaker 1: on your team are you most excited to coach and
Speaker 1: to introduce to the States?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be impossible for me to answer, you
Speaker 3: know that, Yeah, that would be impossible for me to answer.
Speaker 3: There are just the diversity within the roster. I'm excited
Speaker 3: about the international players and their opportunity to experience the
Speaker 3: sport culture in the US. When you talk to them,
Speaker 3: that's something that they're just really amazed by and looking
Speaker 3: forward to being part of that. So I think there's
Speaker 3: a piece of that for sure, But even more than that,
Speaker 3: just the community aspect of League One and the ability
Speaker 3: to have it be more than just volleyball. Those are
Speaker 3: all things I'm really excited about. I don't know as
Speaker 3: if I can, if you ask me to pull out
Speaker 3: one player, right, I just don't think that's possible. I'm
Speaker 3: excited to get to know all of them and be
Speaker 3: part of this process for all of them and hopefully
Speaker 3: help them advance their careers and have a tremendous experience.
Speaker 1: Well, there are ten women who were on the US
Speaker 1: Olympic team this past summer who are spread out among
Speaker 1: the sixth League one teams. You know, there are international
Speaker 1: Olympians in the league, as well as other top players
Speaker 1: from all over. So with all of these players out there,
Speaker 1: which teams do you think will be the hardest to
Speaker 1: compete against? And who are you most excited to face? Yeah?
Speaker 3: All of them? I don't know. That's the cool thing
Speaker 3: about it, right is I don't know, and all of them?
Speaker 3: You know, the answer is all of them, And right now,
Speaker 3: if I'm being frank, I'm not really thinking too much
Speaker 3: about anybody else, Right is all of our time and effort.
Speaker 3: I've got this tremendous staff that we put together in Omaha.
Speaker 3: Remy is from France and he's got a ton of
Speaker 3: international experience. And we were able to bring in Corey
Speaker 3: Tetzlaf who was an All American at Creighton and she's
Speaker 3: part of our staff. And Joby Ramos was currently at
Speaker 3: Iowa Western Community College. And I've got this beautiful, amazing staff,
Speaker 3: and I just right now, we're going to build our
Speaker 3: own plane, you know, and we'll worry about everybody else
Speaker 3: is when we get there.
Speaker 1: Now, looking back at your career, both as a player
Speaker 1: and a coach, what things have you learned that you're
Speaker 1: bringing to love Omaha.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the list would be too long too. I often
Speaker 3: say I've screwed it up so many times, right is.
Speaker 3: I think where I'm at from a career perspective right
Speaker 3: now is that early on, I think I over coached everybody.
Speaker 3: You know, that anything that was coming into my it
Speaker 3: was You're trying to fix everything at once. And I
Speaker 3: think what I've learned is it's just better to do
Speaker 3: less well. And so maybe both from a coaching perspective
Speaker 3: and a life perspective, I'm on this mission to do
Speaker 3: less better and I think just really being intentional about
Speaker 3: what you want to accomplish that day, what you want
Speaker 3: to accomplish that practice, what are the most important things,
Speaker 3: and how do you create an environment that allows everyone
Speaker 3: to be successful within that? And I think for me
Speaker 3: that's priority one. I'm philosophically. I know who I am
Speaker 3: from a coaching perspective. I know what I want to
Speaker 3: do and what I don't And it's a really wonderful
Speaker 3: place to be and to feel like you've done a
Speaker 3: lot of trial and error and you've made a lot
Speaker 3: of mistakes and you're in a place where you feel like, yeah, no,
Speaker 3: this is the way we want to do it. And
Speaker 3: so I think that's where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1: Would you say you learn most of this from coaching,
Speaker 1: like in your career, because you said earlier that your
Speaker 1: family is you know, you're from a family of coaches.
Speaker 1: Do you learn any of this from them too, or
Speaker 1: did you learn anything specifically from them that you've brought
Speaker 1: to your coaching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot, you know our family. That's it's an
Speaker 3: interesting dynamic, right because you're always talking a lot of
Speaker 3: this stuff. I feel like I learned from my family
Speaker 3: was the relationship culture building pieces. Right. They're football coaches
Speaker 3: and basketball coaches and tracking field coaches, right. So from
Speaker 3: a sport perspective, I think that's just stuff I learned
Speaker 3: along the way. I had some tremendous mentors and people
Speaker 3: that were really really influential in my life and shaping
Speaker 3: how I wanted to teach and how I wanted to
Speaker 3: learn about volleyball. Just from a philosophical perspective, what are
Speaker 3: the most important things? How do you go about teaching
Speaker 3: and training them? How do you develop your own principles
Speaker 3: within that and yet not lose who you are as
Speaker 3: a coach? You know, I have to be me and
Speaker 3: but you're always just grabbing pieces and parts from different
Speaker 3: places along the way. And I think I'm to a
Speaker 3: really nice place where I want to keep learning, but
Speaker 3: I want it to be within a certain framework now.
Speaker 1: So going back to the beginning of your coaching career,
Speaker 1: you kind of had this unique way of becoming a coach,
Speaker 1: because I've read that you actually started coaching while you
Speaker 1: were still playing. So can you tell me.
Speaker 3: You went six and twenty one that year? It was
Speaker 3: just really terrible?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, well, how did you go from becoming a
Speaker 1: player to a coach? Can talk about that transition, what
Speaker 1: it was like, especially since you were playing, you were
Speaker 1: like a player manager in baseball in that regard, But
Speaker 1: talk about that and also just how you got into
Speaker 1: the sport in general, because I also read that you
Speaker 1: considered yourself a late bloomer to the sport.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, you know, it was different than the club systems,
Speaker 3: particularly in rural America, were not established in the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm dating myself a little bit, but so
Speaker 3: I think if I really think back that far right,
Speaker 3: it just was different. And so I went to junior
Speaker 3: college route initially as a player, and then I ended
Speaker 3: up at Florida Atlantic University and I played for this
Speaker 3: Venezuelan guy. His name was Leo usgata Key and if
Speaker 3: you say who's got the key really fast, that's how
Speaker 3: you say his name. And he was just the coolest.
Speaker 3: I played for Ray Bichard, who's the volleyball coach at
Speaker 3: the University of Kansas, and then I worked for him
Speaker 3: for a couple of years, and I worked for Jim
Speaker 3: McLaughlin for a few years at Kansas State as an
Speaker 3: assistant and with my dear friend Jason Watson, who is
Speaker 3: an amazing, just brilliant coach at the University of Arkansas,
Speaker 3: and along the way was introduced to Marv Dumfy and
Speaker 3: Carl McGowan and a lot of these guys just really
Speaker 3: shaped how I feel about volleyball. And I think back
Speaker 3: to that time of yeah, sure, I want to be
Speaker 3: a volleyball coach, and unfortunately they had fired Leo uscati
Speaker 3: Key and had hired a the assistant women's basketball coach.
Speaker 3: This actually happened back then to coach the volleyball team,
Speaker 3: and the problem was she just didn't know anything about volleyball.
Speaker 3: So I came on basically to run practice, but with
Speaker 3: my teammates.
Speaker 2: They were the.
Speaker 3: Players that I had played with the year before, and
Speaker 3: it was complex, and we weren't very good, and I
Speaker 3: was terrible, and you know, it was a really difficult start,
Speaker 3: if you will. But I left there thinking, Okay, why
Speaker 3: would anybody do this? This is terrible? And I got
Speaker 3: really lucky that I landed a couple of jobs after that,
Speaker 3: and it's turned into be this beautiful, imperfect journey, career,
Speaker 3: journey that I wouldn't give up for the world.
Speaker 1: Did you know that when you were a player coach
Speaker 1: that coaching was the next step or did it sort
Speaker 1: of take you a few practices a little bit of
Speaker 1: time before you realized, like, this is my path.
Speaker 3: I think it took me a lot. Yeah, I think
Speaker 3: it took me a long time, to be honest. I
Speaker 3: think you know that you have a disposition for teaching
Speaker 3: and mentorship and development. I think you know you have
Speaker 3: this disposition. I learned pretty quick that if I wasn't
Speaker 3: if it wasn't volleyball, I'd be teaching something. I think
Speaker 3: I see myself as a teacher and so, but it
Speaker 3: took a while to gain both the knowledge and the
Speaker 3: experience to feel comfortable in the role. It's not something
Speaker 3: you know learn overnight for sure.
Speaker 1: Now, going back to two thousand and three, I read
Speaker 1: that you were named the Big Twelve Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year after you led Kansas State to their first ever
Speaker 1: conference title. You were on your way to coaching the
Speaker 1: Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament, and you were one month
Speaker 1: away from giving birth. So, being that it was two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, what was it like being so far
Speaker 1: along in your pregnancy, having a young child, and coaching
Speaker 1: at such a high level. What type of support did
Speaker 1: you get?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember that it's chaos, you know. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think it's just this, it's just this chaos that
Speaker 3: you're living in. And I remember just constantly thinking finding
Speaker 3: joy in the chaos, right, find joy in the chaos. So,
Speaker 3: you know, what was it like being pregnant? You know,
Speaker 3: it was just being pregnant. I don't know as if
Speaker 3: it was anything other than that, right I At that time,
Speaker 3: that was my second pregnancy, so I knew a little
Speaker 3: bit more what to expect. The first one was probably
Speaker 3: a little tougher because you don't know what's coming, but
Speaker 3: the second one you kind of know what to expect.
Speaker 3: I do remember seeing my physician and going, hey, can
Speaker 3: I get on this plane and fly to you know, wherever?
Speaker 3: Do you have to come with me? What's going to
Speaker 3: happen here? And so organizing that. But my doctors were great,
Speaker 3: My team was great. I don't if I'm being honest,
Speaker 3: I was just coaching and happen to be pregnant, you know.
Speaker 3: And now when after you have the babies, right, and
Speaker 3: then they're alive, then you have to try to keep
Speaker 3: them alive. And that's a whole different set of things. Right.
Speaker 3: So one of my funniest stories is having probably my
Speaker 3: four year old with us in the back of the
Speaker 3: van and the team was always so great with them,
Speaker 3: and having them in the back of a van and
Speaker 3: having him get sick and like really getting sick, virtually
Speaker 3: got sick in the van, and having my team just
Speaker 3: be a bunch of champs, and thinking, oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: you know, God love them. But you know, those teams
Speaker 3: along the way when my kids are little, they helped
Speaker 3: me raise my kids. They ran around in the gym,
Speaker 3: and the athletic trainers helped me, and the assistant coaches
Speaker 3: helped me, and the ops people helped me, and my
Speaker 3: parents helped me, and it was it was a team
Speaker 3: effort to try to get those boys right to maybe
Speaker 3: to school, if you will, right. So I had a
Speaker 3: lot of hands and a lot of help.
Speaker 1: I love that. I mean it's now twenty years later,
Speaker 1: and I feel like there's, you know, still a stigma
Speaker 1: attached to working moms or athletes being moms, but you know,
Speaker 1: speaking specifically about love. Sarah will Hyde Parsons of Love.
Speaker 1: Madison is pregnant with her first child.
Speaker 3: Off the top of my head.
Speaker 1: You know, there are a lot of moms in the league,
Speaker 1: like Carley Low and Julienne Fossett, and in general, you're
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of professional women athletes in like the
Speaker 1: WNBA or n WSL who are becoming moms and working moms.
Speaker 1: So over the course of your coaching career, how have
Speaker 1: you seen working moms supported and athletics. How has it evolved?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I have you know, won
Speaker 3: they're athletes. They're athletes first, you know, I mean, they're well,
Speaker 3: maybe they're moms first, right, but they're but they're athletes,
Speaker 3: and I guess my thought is they absolutely can do
Speaker 3: it right now. They have some physical demands that pregnancy
Speaker 3: complicates that. You have to be pretty committed to coming
Speaker 3: back after a pregnancy because you've got to get back
Speaker 3: in shape, you've got to meet the physical demands of
Speaker 3: your sport. And but the ones that do it, it's
Speaker 3: just it's absolutely possible. It's no different than putting on
Speaker 3: a suit and going to work, and it is just
Speaker 3: what they choose to do. So I have you know,
Speaker 3: that's how I feel about it. There's no reason why
Speaker 3: these women can't go have a family and do this too.
Speaker 3: You know, we have to well we don't have to,
Speaker 3: but many of them choose to carry them, right, and
Speaker 3: so that complicates it. It's going to take you out.
Speaker 3: Like Sarah, right, she's going to take a year off
Speaker 3: and then she's going to get back in shape and
Speaker 3: she's going to come back. And being a parent makes
Speaker 3: you a better person, you know. So she's going to
Speaker 3: come back and learn some things along the way and
Speaker 3: try to figure out how to balance being a working mom,
Speaker 3: and she'll do it just like you know, thousands of
Speaker 3: women to come before.
Speaker 1: Speaking of kids, I saw that your son is was
Speaker 1: a caddie at Whistling Streets.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, yeah last summer.
Speaker 1: Are you guys big golfers? Uh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't want to say I'm a
Speaker 3: good golfer, but I'd like to play golf. Right, He's
Speaker 3: a big golfer. My husband's a big golfer, and so
Speaker 3: it was an amazing experience for him last summer. He
Speaker 3: loved it. He absolutely loved it.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. You know, Jordan Larson picked up golf during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. I feel like, maybe, yeah, you guys should
Speaker 1: start some sort of you know, team bonding experience getting
Speaker 1: out on the links.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes a minute, right to get good at golf.
Speaker 3: I don't know if the beginning golfers would think the same,
Speaker 3: but you know, but I go hack it around pretty
Speaker 3: I go hack it around when I can.
Speaker 1: Oh, I love it. I love golf. I'm not very
Speaker 1: good at it either, but it's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: to play.
Speaker 3: I think I may need to get to retirement because
Speaker 3: it takes some time to get good at it.
Speaker 1: True. Well, lastly, going back to volleyball, what do you
Speaker 1: hope to showcase in this inaugural season and what do
Speaker 1: you want fans and the public to see, learn and know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I hope that we can showcase just
Speaker 3: a phenomenal level of play, you know, simply. I hope
Speaker 3: that we can put all of our pieces together and
Speaker 3: in a short period of time and really show showcase
Speaker 3: this beautiful combination of international athletes and American athletes and
Speaker 3: varied levels of experiences, and put all of our pieces
Speaker 3: together and just simply play phenomenal volleyball.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: If you ask me what I really want to accomplish,
Speaker 3: that's it, right, And I want the fans and the
Speaker 3: people to see how amazing. These women are just there.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. They are so much more than volleyball players,
Speaker 3: and they're amazing volleyball players, but they're also these incredibly driven, smart,
Speaker 3: talented humans that I think are tremendous role models just
Speaker 3: for people, not just little girls, but just for people
Speaker 3: in terms of how they're driven to be successful, how
Speaker 3: they honed their craft, how hard they work to be
Speaker 3: good at it, and how well they failed and recovered
Speaker 3: and go again. And so I guess that's what I
Speaker 3: want people to know and see. But mostly I just
Speaker 3: want to put all the pieces together and be really
Speaker 3: good at volleyball.
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, Coach Fritz, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on Serving Pancakes. It was a pleasure speaking
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 3: It's so nice to meet you, Tiffany.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in
Speaker 1: partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find
Speaker 1: us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts for wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya Oliverrez is our senior producer. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradiki and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing
Speaker 1: lead is Jawara Parker. Sound editing and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Emily Emon and coach Susie Fritz. Stay
Speaker 1: tuned for another episode of Serving Pancakes. Thanks for listening.