The Viral Volley Podcast

Episode 215: College Volleyball Weekly Beach Top 20, 3/5/24 This week Jaden Whitmarsh of UCLA, Alli Hansen of Florida St. and Kylie Wickley of Texas jump into the show (missing Kelly Belardi of Stanford) talking about what they as athletes have seen so far 1/4th into the season (aka, 2 weeks). What's the talent like, what teams are playing well and how are they getting it done? The CVW BEACH crew then takes a look at eye-catching duals in Week 2, identifying top performing teams and athletes. As always, we end by picking out some duals to look out for in Week 3.

This week didn't see a whole lot of shakeups around the nation, however we're discovering the MIVA is getting very interesting with Ball St., and Ohio St. sitting at the top. There was an LA rivalry matchup, GCU dominance, Long Beach St. on a winning streak and Hawaii rolling along, however the guys talk "chirping and chippiness" in the game. The guys chatter about few other things that have come up last minute like the "two-handed attack", or what Rob refers to as "The Shove." All that and our normal business on College Volleyball Weekly, Men's Top 20!

While Alli of Florida St. tends to homework, Jaden Whitmarsh of UCLA, Kelly Belardi of Stanford and Kylie Wickley of Texas join Rob on recapping the Week 1 action of the NEW Collegiate Beach Volleyball season! We try our best to talk about the CollegeBeachVB.com Top 20 teams and top athletes. Contributor Kelly garnered Most Oustanding Pair (with Ashley Vincent) at the Duke Kahanamoku Classic, which then became the Pac-12 Pair of the Week, then the AVCA National Pair of the Week! Congrats, Kelly! Along with the Hawaii Tournament action, there was the Third Coast Invite as well as the Tampa Invite that some some teams skyrocket in the polls and the national eye! We'll touch on some key performers and pick some duals/matchs to keep an eye on in Week 2!

In Week 8 of the the NCAA Men's season we are still seeing intense parity as multiple teams visit "Splitsville"-- splitting their pairs of matches during the week. Along with that we're seeing changes in lineups, some intentional, some not. One thing is for sure-- the competitive levels REMAIN. As always, the guys discuss the results, pick their top players of the week, then dive into "Whatcha Watchin'" in Week 9. All that with some tangented discussion about "beard games," "Karate Kid" references and other salty remarks by the CVW Coaches' Panel. NOTE: We would have discussed the potential of a D2 Championship but we 1) ran out of time, and 2) Dan of Lewis had to leave the episode early.

Continuation from Episode 209, CVW Beach Top 20 Intro show with the Beach Top 20's new Student-Athlete Contributors! UCLA's Jaden Whitmarsh gets her own episode because of a schedule conflict with the Beach team when we recorded Episode 209 however, it works out perfectly so that we can find out about her Volleyball/Beach Volleyball career from WAVE Volleyball Club, Torrey Pines High School and now UCLA. Jaden has always been Ms. Reliable in the clutch and lives for those big moments-- however as you'll see that she has is a great representative of NCAA Collegiate Beach Volleyball-- and hopefully as an AVP regular! Listen and chime as we our final CVW Beach Top 20 contributor talks about how she got to where she is!

The CVW panel dives quickly into the recap with "The Elephant in the Room" segment that features our Coaches' matches during week 7. Lindenwood got the better end of a match vs. Dan's Flyers, Brad and the Tritons were at the SIAC/Big West Invite in Long Beach, and we discuss Jay's and Theo's wins for the week as well. It was another solid week of action and there still remains one undefeated team at 11-0-- the Lopes of GCU. We take a peek at some of the top series/matches during week 7, and although there weren't a bunch of surprises one thing does remain clear. If you're not careful anyone can beat anyone on any given night. From there we jump into an "Insights After 7 Weeks" as the coaches assess what we've seen almost at the halfway point of the 2024 season. Stay listening to catch the "Whatcha Watchin'" segment as the panel selects some good matches to keep your eyes on!