Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 020 | Meet the Players Launching MLV NorCal

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Episode 020 | Meet the Players Launching MLV NorCal · Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast

• Mike Moline: That's really carbonated this week. It's set six from the NorCal FanFest. We have interviews with Kerry Walsh, Jennings, Pia Timmer, Ali Czech, Naya Gross, Izzy Strand, plus Jen Rosenthal is back to help us break everything down from the world of Major League Volleyball. So lock in. This is the Set Six Podcast. What's going on? How are we doing, everybody? Welcome back. It is another episode of the Set 6 podcast. We are the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. And in what feels like a landscape of growing podcasts, remember we are the only podcast that is the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. But we're glad you're joining us. I'm Severn Lavenstein with me for today, co-host Jenna Rosenthal. Please like, comment, share, subscribe. We are on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. This is episode two. 20. And before you listen to this one, please go listen to episode 19 with all things from our Florida Gators trip to Gainesville for the alumni match. We talked to Marley Montserrat, Ellie McKissick, and Anna Dixon. Today we've got interviews with Carrie Walsh Jennings, Pia Timmer, Ali Czech, Nia Gross, Izzy Strand from the NorCal Fan Fest. That's coming up for you in just a little bit. So we're gonna talk the news, we're gonna do the interviews, we got our six takes segments. It's back after last week and the great success it had, and then we'll do our mailbag. And we'll get out here. So without any further ado, let's get into it. Jenna, how are we doing? Having a great day. How are you? Happy. That is a lot for a Wednesday, but I love that. I mean, I say I'm having a great day, but I've been consistently one day ahead in my personal schedule all week and it's kind of aggravating. But I knew we were recording the podcast today. So here we are. I'm locked in and I'm finally ready to talk about it. Setting the standard for the rest of us, do you want to help us launch into the news to start? Yeah, we can talk about the news. ⁓ I thought it'd be really fun to check in with some of our teams, our favorite NCAA college teams that we've had the great privilege of visiting this offseason. First off, in your overall news, I've got number two Pitt sweeping number six Wisconsin. Insert evil chuckle of the Marquette alumna right here. Izzy Stark and Olivia Babcock scoop some ACC honors for their effort. Frankly, that's a very iconic duo. I know all of you think Severin and I are an iconic duo, but I think the Izzy Stark Olivia Babcock connection might be slightly more productive. Continuing on, Pitt will be taking on number 24 BYU. That's next on their slate. Moving along, we look at Louisville. They're cruising. They beat number 12 Indiana in their home opener and swept Dayton following. Chloe Shacone continues to kick some booty, and I love that girl, and I know I will be watching her throughout the NCAA season. Just real quick, Jenna, she was amazing when we watched her at ABCA first serve. I think you and I are both talking to each other, and I was like, she jumps so high. It's incredible for you know, sp I I know it's not always about how tall the specific player is. And obviously with with where she's at and and you know, where she's playing in such a great D one institution, playing with all these you know, amazing players, it's no surprise when you just see how good she is. But not only how fat or how high she can jump, the the area in which she could place her serve and just the pinpoint accuracy to me just, you know. completely jumped out when we were there in Milwaukee. Dude, she's a true athlete and that's what makes her so much fun to watch. Big fan. Let's go Chloe. I'll be watching all season. ⁓ yes, so next up for Chloe and the rest of the Cardinals is number 18 TCU and a stop at number nine Texas. So hopefully they'll continue their winning ways. We'll be cheering from here at set six. More exciting upset news number 17 Florida took down number 11 Minnesota in a super gritty four setter. ⁓ we can shout out Taylor Parks, the setter for the Gators. She hit her thousandth career assist. That's always such an exciting milestone for anyone at any institution. So we'll give our flowers to Taylor for that performance. ⁓ and they're actually taking on Wisconsin tonight. So fingers crossed, I I'm a Gator fan. So can't wait to see how that one plays out. Are you are you surprised by that result after what we saw from the alumni match and getting kind of a an up close personal look at that team and and obviously you getting to reconnect with your former coach, but also, you know, what we got to see from them, was that a a surprising one for you? Honestly, no. I I really I've been a big fan of Coach Tys for many years, obviously. ⁓ but I think that the alumni match was a really, really useful early season test for them. it can show it showed that they have a lot of different pieces that can fit in differently. And in that big win against Minnesota, they had key performances from the entire squad at key moments. It wasn't like a one-star player captured the show and carried the team. It was a real team effort. And I think that's a big characteristic of a lot of Tice's teams. And we saw that in the interchangeability at the ⁓ the Gator Test match, if you will. Moving on, our last Set of friends. Number three, Kentucky did sweep South Florida. Now that's not terribly surprising. ⁓ but Coach Craig Skinner hit his 500th career win at Kentucky as a Wildcat. So congratulations, Coach. That's a huge milestone for anybody. We love shouting out fantastic performances here. And next up for the Wildcats is UCLA at home, right before seeing number 13 Penn State at Wrigley Field. We will be able to catch that game. We're heading down to Chicago ourselves to Get in on the action. I'm excited. What about you? I was gonna say we're we're gonna be able to expand that friends list at the end of this next weekend here, ⁓ going out of Chicago. I'm so, so excited for that, Jenna. I think it's gonna be just, I mean, such a great atmosphere, never mind great volleyball that we're gonna get to see. ⁓ I've been checking in on on different ⁓ interviews and various platforms with players talking about the differences in playing outside and playing with, you know, some of the elements like the lights from a baseball stadium, things like that. So I've been kind of diving into it. ⁓ but I think it's it's gonna be J the atmosphere is what I'm honestly most excited to to see, which I think is such an obvious take. But ⁓ yeah, like we like I said, we're gonna continue to expand our our list of friends as we go here. I mean, did you see a post? ⁓ we don't have any great connections to Mizzou at the moment, but I saw a post of them. They dragged a volleyball court out to their baseball facilities just to try and get a feel for what it's like playing outside, playing an indoor game outside. So I I'm just really curious to see and I'm so glad we get to be a part of that spectacle. Wrigley's so iconic. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I agree. And then, you know, this is maybe more of a kind of a no pun intended, a left field take, but you ⁓ at least around here. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. When we're when we're when like I'm driving around or like there's a specific, you know, kind of community college track that I'll go to sometimes, and just outside, you'll see kids, you know, playing, you know, grass volleyball, or you'll see, you know, pick up where it's not necessarily beach volleyball, and it's outside. And so it's almost I know this is like the the pinnacle of the sport and being, you know, outside major stadium, major D one programs, but in a weird way too, it just reminds me of almost taking it back to the roots of the you know, that kind of outside ⁓ almost pickup atmosphere to it, especially with some of these ⁓ really cool you know, being part of those those showcases to start the year. ⁓ it's like that parallel line of like taking it back to the beginning and also bringing it to heights that it's never been before. Well, that's such a great take. And maybe we can talk about that at length another time, just how vibrant and cool the adult recreational high level, ⁓ I think the proper term is the open national volleyball circuit. And a lot of that is played outside, grass, turf, ⁓ beach, all of those things. The sport is so much bigger than we see it, and we're so lucky to be a small part of it. And honestly, I will be the first to tell you if you don't prepare for the elements outside. it will humble you very, very, very quickly. Indoor players have to play the game, but when you're playing outside, you're playing the game and you're playing the weather and you're playing a force that you can't even see, the wind. So massive respect for outdoor volleyball players and I'm really excited to see how these high level athletes will cope outside of their element. Yeah, as long as those elements don't incr include rain. You know, quick quick story time. I know I'm sidetracking us here, but ⁓ one of my favorite memories from the Paris Olympics, this was beach volleyball, but it was, I believe, one of the preliminary rounds or the pool phase rounds with ⁓ cloth and nuss, and ⁓ it was the last match of the day, and I think they got to the second set, and the most torrential downpour you've ever seen like hit the the the ⁓ Eiffel Tower Stadium, and it was I mean, it was absurd. And and we were the media row was like it was a tent, and you could just i and w it never meant it was never meant to have all of the media there at the Olympics under the tent at the same time. So you had just had everybody packed in. The the driving rain was coming down. We were soaked and they still had to go out and play. And I think it was like an hour, two hours later when the storm finally passed. Again, beach volleyball different th from what we're talking about. Got it understood. But like the whole, you know, momentum shift, the sand was different, the you know, everybody was was gone. Then the only one that was still there watching that you could see aside from us we got to move down to the front rows. But up in the top was LeBron James and he stayed all the way through the end. ⁓ and and Tern and and Kristen ended up winning. But that was ⁓ yeah, let's let's hope that weather like that does not affect ⁓ this outdoor showcase and Rick. Dude, that is the cool coolest story I have ever heard. Like Le LeBron James. LeBron James. That all also was rent free in my head every time that I see him too. But ⁓ if you need to fact check me on that one, I promise in my I mean, this is a shameless plug, but in my personal Instagram I have like the highlights of Paris. And if you go through it enough, you'll see the the you know, what happened that day and I even zoom in on LeBron to show that he's there too. So promise it's true and I can back it up. If I was ever within fifty feet of LeBron James, I would have to physically restrain myself from the vocal stem of LeBron James. Of that. Yes. I thought you were just gonna say, you know, restrain yourself from from being a p complete fan, which would be me with Tom Brady, which is why I'm glad I was not in Vegas last week. But be that as it may. I've sidetracked us way too long on this one. Should we move on to the next next bit of news? I suppose we can. Jenna, we had a really cool reveal this past week. The DC flight. First off, how do we feel about the name? But I want to sidetrack even further from that. The color, the little purple that they have showed us is Awesome. And we were talking about how we felt like purple was a little underutilized. I think we might have known that ⁓ might have been coming for DC, but I didn't know it was gonna look like that kind of purple. And at least right now from what we can see, it's like a this is a niche reference, but it's like the kind of purple that goes off at a color run, you know, when like the smoke is in the air and like the the ⁓ the it's like it's like almost like a chalky purple. I don't know if that's gonna resonate with everybody, but I really like it is the point I'm trying to think the look the term you're looking for is pastel, perhaps? Sure. We'll go with that. Maybe lavender. Lavender is good too. No, I think it's absolutely fantastic. And ⁓ I love I love the energy of flight, right? It's ⁓ it's a little bit esoteric, it's a little bit out of reach. Not out of reach in an out-of-touch way, but it's very aspirational, very forward-reaching. And I feel like that's a good fit for Washington, DC. And I think you and I, like everyone else, have been waiting eagerly for Any shred of news. And those little teaser clips were so beautifully produced and the color was just so, like, so lovely, so classy, so elevated. I'm here for it, and I can't wait to hear more about their venue and how they keep tying this stuff in. I genuinely have loved all of our team's reveals. I think they've all had a unique character to them. I think they've all had and and we haven't even gotten all of them. Again, we're still waiting for the name of what MLV NorCal will be. ⁓ we're still waiting for LA. And we're still waiting on the full, I think, uniform reveal. And I think the full logo reveal for DC, although, you know, I think they've teased they've at least teased it or or what they have in their in their little Instagram circle, I think is going to be part of it. But they all have had a different feel. And I love like, you know, whether it's the montage that Minnesota did or the little teasers from here or, you know, I love the confidence of NorCal being like, hey, here's our roster, our fan events here, you know, we know we're cool, you're gonna come see us. Like I love all of the different feels of all of them. I think they I don't know, it's this one of the things I also nerd out about is I'm like, well, you know, if it's just this one drone shot over a city, yeah, anybody can do that. But the w the way that they all have put together their different ⁓ styles of reveals, I've I've loved and I totally agree with you. I think flight is cool. I just wanted to pull up what they had on their ⁓ on their in their social post here. ⁓ quote volleyball lives in flight. The game is decided above the ground, DC sits at the center of the nation's airspace and And here airspace carries a different kind of weight. Two worlds, one identity. Together we are DC Flight. The name is only the beginning. Our full brand identity and the place we'll call home will be revealed mid-September. Eyes up. So Ooh. I love love that. Mid September. If it's already the first week of September, that means we might only have about two weeks to wait, if we're lucky. Yep. Before we're ⁓ booking a flight to go reveal the flight ⁓ coming up on ⁓ you know pretty soon. But I think it was just also really neat. Like I had people who were not necessarily in the volleyball space texting me being like, ⁓ my gosh, we we have a team in DC now and you know there's gonna be another team on the East Coast, and ⁓ that's the whole point too. So really, really excited about that. ⁓ and then also don't want to get too far away from the s subject of this episode, which was we had the full reveal from NorCal, San Jose announced as the the home city. of ⁓ MLV NorCal and Tech CU Arena, where the San Jose Sharks, ⁓ the AHL team, ⁓ plays their games. ⁓ that's going to be the home for MLV NorCal. So wanted to round out our ⁓ team announcements with that and make making sure that we acknowledge that as well. And so you'll hear some of that in the interviews when we talk about obviously San Jose being a big thing and then also ⁓ Tech Si U Arena being their home. That's one of the first ⁓ questions in there that we asked to carry. So ⁓ those two announcements ⁓ coming within the last two weeks ⁓ for our league, which we love. Rock on, man. Show business. We're getting closer and closer. We are getting closer and closer. And ⁓ we'll r we'll transition into those interviews now. And so as we mentioned, ⁓ really nice fan event in San Jose. I had the the wonderful chance to be there. There was a a whole bunch of ⁓ speakers and announcements. They had everybody from ownership to ⁓ leaders from the city to ⁓ you know, ⁓ our commissioner Jamie Weston got up and talked to everybody. ⁓ it was it was a really great event. And as I mentioned, it's been really It's been a lot of fun to see the different styles and characteristics of each one. They've all been great in their own ways and they've all had kind of their own little feel to it. I loved, you know, like, for example, and this is all my opinion and all very like, you know, vibes based. It's not based in fact, but ⁓ Vegas felt like almost like welcoming back your your family, right? 'Cause obviously there was some connection there. So they bring everybody back into the arena, you know, they they sort of reintroduce and it's kind of like you know us We you love us, we love you, we know you, that kind of feel to it. Minnesota was very like, you know, here are our favorite places with the restaurants and the park and the the after party and like, well, you know, here are our favorite places in the city. And NorCal was very like, ⁓ what is this? This is a new thing. It's kind of getting reintegrated into this part of the city and we're gonna end you're put it ⁓ here in, you know, here's where our arena is and and and We've got this this cele celebratory first serve with our our youth clubs and it it's it all has such a cool, unique feel to it that is I think is unique to each area. And so that's kind of what I hope you'll get to hear from some of these interviews. And you'll hear ⁓ Pia Timmer also mentions too, you know, they did they did the clipping, ⁓ which is what ⁓ the the club girls do. You know, they go and make little ⁓ clothes pins and and clip them on to people, usually with some very nice messages on them as well. So ⁓ yeah, we're gonna get into those interview interviews and Jen and I will talk about them on the other side. We will hear from in order Carrie Walsh Jennings, Pia Timmer, Ali Czech, Nia Gross, and Izzy Strand here in these interviews from MLV NorCal FanFest. You know what? Dreams do come true. And today was our first forward-facing event for MLV NorCal, and it was called FanFest, and the fans showed up and all of the important people in the city showed up and But more importantly the fans showed up the community and that's we what we want to lean on. You know, we we love the game, people love the game, but the community is where the richness is, where the juice is, and so to have our number one day, first day of ⁓ MLV NorCal public, and to see the fans' support, like my eyes are watering and my heart is full. Why San Jose and Describe how special it is here. San Jose is a in all the world, San Jose is very special and and most recently, like they have taken pride and they've made it, they've made a dedicated effort to support women's pro sports. And so when you come into a region that has the Golden State Valkyries, that has BFC, they just invited a new women's pro ⁓ hockey team and now they have pro volleyball. You want to be where you're wanted. And San Jose has been how do we how do we align with you? We want you, we want to be this not only for women's sports, but for women's volleyball. 30,000 youth athletes play in NC Bay in Northern California volleyball. That's a big deal. But outside of the volleyball niche and fandom, there is such an amazing and stalwart group of sports fans here in San Jose in particular in NorCal, you know, regionally. And so we want to be where we're wanted, and San Jose wants us, and we want them. And last time I got to talk to you, I didn't know who was going to be on the roster. Now some of the players here. Tell me about the squad that's getting assembled for MLB NorthCal. You know, our squad is full of heart. full of grit and all the athletes know how to play volleyball. They all have great experience, some a little bit less, some a little bit more. But it was pretty cool during the interview process where there was one moment in every call where I was like, she's it. That's the go I want. Whether it was an expression of gratitude for the game or fight or hunger or you know desire to win and become the best they can. Like we have a roster full of champions on the inside who live like championsmen of day to day. So the results will come. I haven't gotten to ask a lot of people about the arena and the setup that was announced before Tell me any details about you know where we'll see everybody playing this year. Yeah, so TechCU is our home arena right here in San Jose and they just recently did a remodel. It's world-class, next level. It seats about 5,500 capacity, which is perfect for us. The goal is to kick butt to have the community show up for the 14 home matches we have. But it's fantastic. It's a great location. Right now it's the home of the women's pro hockey team that'll launch in the fall, and then it's also the home of the Sharks minor league team. And so we have a great sporting community around us. They know how to host world-class events and they know how to make a great in-game experience. So we're very fired up. You know, our sport deserves the best. Deserves the best, period. And it's what's so exciting about Major League Volume in particular is the leadership they brought on board. Jamie Weston is commissioner. You know, her pedigree, her whole life has led her to this moment where she's going to take our pro sport to the next level. When you look at MLV Norcal and our ownership group, like I am nothing compared to my fellow owners, Teresa Gao, who knows what it takes to win in Venture Capital The World. She knows what it takes to pick winners. She's an investor in the Golden State Warriors, Golden State Valkyries, BFC, Buffalo Bills. She knows goodness and greatness. Love that. And the Vivek Rana Dive, he owns the Kings. And they win, you know, NBA Team of the Year on the business side often. Our owners are not only owners and like financially supporting, capitalizing our team, they are literally making decisions. They're making sure our team is sound, hungry, resourced. I don't know, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Yes, I think there's So many people, I mean the outcome already is great. ⁓ there's so many like things to do and the weather's awesome and yeah it's a lot of fun to see everybody come out. People look back 10 years from now, you'll be one of the first. I mean, does that cross your mind at all? Yeah, of course. Like it's really exciting to see like what's coming and ⁓ how this is all gonna turn out, and I'm sure it's gonna be great. So it's definitely cool to be part of it. What is this team like on paper? Obviously, you know, we're we're still waiting to see you all could be on the board the first time, but yeah, you were certainly a highlight of that list along with Taylor and Allie and some really cool pieces of this roster. What did you mean to the team on paper? I mean, there's so much different experience. All around. I mean, different people have played in different countries, different levels, different all the different experiences are coming together. I think that's really exciting, and ⁓ yeah, I'm curious to see what it's gonna be like to play with everybody, and I'm super excited and stoked to get practices started, which is crazy because it's still like a couple months out, but ⁓ yeah. Different countries and different experiences is a great segue to talk about you playing with Team Germany this year. You were awesome getting to watch you play over there. But what what kind of skills and experience did you learn from maybe you're experience this year and obviously you played with them you know for a little bit but what what what did you learn there that's gonna help you into the season? ⁓ I think a lot. I mean I don't know it's just such a broad question but ⁓ I could go really into detail but please do I mean there's a lot we do a lot of like out of system setting like highball setting there's a lot of defense drills we do every day with the national team and just overall like ⁓ playing experience on such a high level was definitely great this summer ⁓ so hoping to get And I can get all those experiences into the MLV and yeah, share all that. That'd be super fun. Yeah, it seems like you guys have already interacted with some of the fans. What have some of the some of your favorite interactions been like so far? What are people asking you about? What has it been like to kind of talk to some of the fans so far? ⁓ we just made some like the clips that a lot of the high school girls do and stuff. Those are really fun. so I think most of our plays already made like two and then we'll we're gonna see who we can secretly clip here. I love that left up all year round. Watching how you how you flip it onto everybody's backpack. What have your ⁓ conversations been like with ownership? ⁓ just really positive all around. I think everybody's just really excited to get this all started and yeah, so are all the players and I, so ⁓ just all the excitement honestly. What is gonna be the key to really connecting to this whole San Jose market, this atmosphere? It's so unique, right? You know, what is gonna be like a key to authentically really connecting with the fans out here? I mean just taking the time to talk to people, ⁓ I think it's always really important and then getting back. Back to you know, the clubs, the high school girls, all that. so I'm really excited and stoked about to see what they all have planned for us and ⁓ yeah, we'll see. Yeah. Just describe what it's like to be here today. It's so exciting in full circle. It feels like it's been so long that I've been signed here and all of us have been signed here, but to finally be here it just feels so real and it's so exciting. You're gonna be one of the original members of this team. So years from now people are gonna look back It's so exciting to just be here for the beginning and see it kind of start up and just the way that the league is continuing to grow and to be a part of that on a new team, new franchise, new city. I mean it's beautiful here, the people are awesome, and I I couldn't be more excited to be a part of the beginning of it. Everyone here has been so kind, just everyone we've met. Like we were at a sandwich shop earlier this morning and everyone's just been so nice and just so comforting. Like, hey, welcome, like is there anything we can do for you? We're just super helpful too. So it's been really cool to finally see the connections like we're making over Zoom when we first sign and things like that kind of transfer over to finally being here and meeting. everyone officially like in person. It's it's been super full circle and fun. Ale you've been busy throughout the off season as well. I saw that you just called the game I think. Yeah. What have you been up to? What what kind of fun have you been having? Yeah, I mean honestly like I just got my like literal dream job so it's been really cool like getting the opportunity to play pro in the spring and then play being able to call matches in the fall like I couldn't be more excited but I had so much fun just getting to call and talk about some of my old friends and old teammates like I loved it but I'm super excited for the rest of like the semester with the Big Ten, but yeah. We're also excited for this dynamic duel. It's not good What has it been like? I saw you guys already, you know, paling around. Did what has it been like to be back with Taylor? It's so exciting, it's so fun. Taylor's one of my best friends, so I'm just so excited to be here with her and being on the same team, like it just it feels like it's fake. I'm like this isn't real, but I'm super excited. But yeah. Allie, what are we gonna say about this NorCal team? Yeah, I definitely think we're a very passionate team. ⁓ I think you'll see a lot of passion, I think you'll see a lot of competitiveness, but I think you'll also see a lot of joy. Everyone's so kind and sweet, and I can't wait to see that come out on the court in the best ways possible. It feels amazing. I can say the energy on this blog is unmatched. It's it's amazing and it feels so thrilled to be here a part of the inaugural season of the 2027 NordCal, and I'm just so blessed and I feel very, very grateful. What was it like when you You were first trying to figure out who you were going to sign. Yeah, so my volleyball journey has been a journey. So I knew I wanted to play in the States and I prayed on it and asked God to reveal the answer and just like that I had a conversation with Carrie and Ashley. Both of our values aligned along the lines of what we want out of volleyball and what we want to get to. So after that conversation it felt like it was a match made in heaven. So I'm very grateful that they reached out to me and I'm so happy to just be here to be a part of the team. ⁓ Amazing. Amazing to have a three time Olympian just in my presence is just is it's it's a very very special moment it is. You know what has it been like to get together with everybody so far and obviously more teammates to come to interact with teams so far. You see all as a unit early. Yeah, so it's funny. I played with Taylor Lampair at Minnesota, so we get to be back on the court together. I played against Allie in Puerto Rico. We were rivals and just meeting all of the other girls has just been a blessing. I think I trust the process of who they picked to be on the team and I feel like the energy is gonna be great and we're gonna make some magic together. I mean the West Coast, there's no professional volleyball team in this area. We know we got LA all the way down there, but we're on top and NorCal is the perfect location to place a female professional. Yes. What do you hope that some of talking heads like me are gonna be saying about MLB NorCal? I want them to say when we see NorCal team coming through, that team hustle, that team fight, you can see the chemistry and culture that they've worked to build because we are new, it's gonna be a process, and we all know that. But to have the same common goal of being successful and winning, that's what I'm most excited about. What was your life? Yeah, it was amazing. I think I've had the biggest smile on my face the entire day, just seeing everybody seeing old players. and stuff come together like a bunch of ⁓ vision girls came up to me and I was just ecstatic to see them they're like we know you like you played at Vision I was like ⁓ my god this is so cool so the atmosphere is just amazing and everybody talking to each other all the different air areas people are coming from is just so fun. Early days I know It's gotta be so cool to see so many people come out right from when you first start when it's just MLB NORCAL and there's nothing really tangible behind it. Right now to have something like this, you know, it's gonna feel pretty special. Like this is actually happening. Yeah, it's so surreal. All of a sudden the girls at Susbury were walking over. I literally was like, I I can't believe I'm here. Like I've been waiting so long for this and I'm just so excited that it's finally happening and all these people decide to show up for us and like the fans are amazing. I know we're gonna have the best fan base. A 49ers player came up to me and I was like, ⁓ my god, for an my favorite team because I'm from here. So obviously, seeing all these girls from the clubs around here, I saw some new clubs I've never seen before. So it was really cool interacting with some specific people, and everyone honestly is amazing. We really care about the younger generation. Like I said, I played here, so all these clubs I feel like I'm a part of. And seeing all these girls like growing up, I'm like, I hope that you strive to be me one day because I was the same way. Like, ⁓ god, I see her and I want to be her. So I think it's just so cool that I get to be a role model for these. girls like I was once that too so it's just amazing. I'm so happy that that's what we want to do with this franchise and this ⁓ team so yeah just need to zoom out a little bit just MLV expanding this many teams in this offseason you know speaks of the health of the league right but where you as a player how do you see this league you know growing and continuing to expand to markets like this. Yeah I think it's amazing how many teams that we have and I hope we expand even more. It's just amazing that every location like people can go to like I Have people in Kansas that can go to Texas or then go to Omaha. So it's really cool that we gotta play each other and be all around the nation and get everybody involved together. So that's just like super fun. And last one for you just I know it's only a few of your teammates here today, but you're getting to interact with some of them already. You know, what is it like the teammate chemistry already coming together? Yeah. Yeah, it was so fun. ⁓ Naya, Naya, literally, we already made a TikTok together, and it was so funny making it because we had to like do a thing together. We were like walking and then like kicking our leg out and stuff and I was like wow team chemistry already bonded super great I even went to lunch with one of the other girls Shayla super fun to just talk to her about our experiences we both played in France overseas and so it was just really cool to like find the connections about each other and we're already just becoming such a great team so I'm so excited to meet the rest. Are we gonna be expecting more of the TikTok game throughout the season? Like definitely as we go? One a hundred percent TikTok game I know that everyone's gonna be posting Naya for sure I definitely was posting on my TikTok. I love doing Doing the dances and stuff like that. So catch us on socials. Awesome stuff. Again, a huge thank you to Carrie Wallace Jennings, Pia Timmer, Ali Czech, Naya Gross, Izzy Strand, and of course all of the amazing MLV NorCal staff and ownership. Jenna, two things that stuck out to me. One, I think the buy-in was so real. I mean, just from being there, everybody was very invested in everything everybody was saying on the stage, but also, you know, you had kids and and parents and fans coming up to the the players and wanting to talk to them. I thought the the fan engagement stuff was cool. They got to make these great hats, which I wish I had gotten time to stop by and get one, but you could sew patches onto them and it had MLV NorCal right in the middle. And and the the whole layout, not only was it a lot of great activations, but it felt like a genuine fan engagement that created fan engagement, which I thought was great. And then I one other thing that stuck out to me, Jenna, was when Carrie said about San Jose being a hub for women's sports, you can You can kind of feel that and you she was talking about I think the WNBA, PWHL and women's soccer, I believe, ⁓ it it having a place for for women's sports there too. But when she said, you know, San Jose wants us and we want them and you want to be good be where you want it, where be where you are wanted. ⁓ I think that was a a great point. And I think there's a lot of you know, as as in any sport, when you're looking at expansion, you can look at all places where where something is not and you're filling a void. But you also have to go where that interest is. And I've I felt like from the whole package that s ⁓ San Jose is definitely that place. Dude, I would agree. San Jose's welcome. You know, I only watched remotely, of course, but it like you said, it's such a genuine interest because every community is gonna say, ⁓ we support our women's sports. ⁓ we're really, you know, we're really into that. That's a really great thing. But when someone walks the walk like that and to have such a deep community partnership with the city of San Jose. I think that sets you up for success entirely. And again, like like you said about the fan fest, I really thought it looked like a very integrated, almost carnival like atmosphere. I was I had some serious FOMO sitting here in Wisconsin. not that it takes much to give you FOMO for California from Wisconsin, but it really looked like it was a multi-layered, multi-leveled engagement, not just some tents and a table in an empty plaza. So Kudos to that and I really can't wait to see how this energy continues to permeate the entire team and their actions. And I can't wait till the name reveal comes out because I swear I am swallowing my tongue every thirty seconds and I think it's just gonna be the icing on the cake. I I am too. Yeah. I I'm I'm excited for that one as well. ⁓ they also were giving out these really cool ⁓ like thank you boxes. I got a new ball to add to my my background here. ⁓ they gave they gave us a nice ⁓ your show and tell. Do a little bit a for the visual audience. We've got a nice ⁓ nice tote bag as well. So I don't know if that if that plays for the audio audience, but ⁓ that was very nice of them as well. So I should get back to talking into the mic here. But ⁓ anyway, two, it is it was a great, great event, and ⁓ like I said, like you said, I I'm looking forward as well to the name reveal. ⁓ and and their logo too, which I'm sure is is coming down the road eventually too, as we speed through the off season entering fall, September already. Crazy. I really think the name is going to shake things up, don't you? I I as I make direct eye contact. I have no comment. No comment. Jenna, let's move on to a segment that, at least from what I saw, seemed to resonate with some of the people last week, which was ⁓ one of your fantastic inventions, which is six takes. And ⁓ we've got some some out of the box ones for for this week that ⁓ maybe don't have as much to do with volleyball. But ⁓ that is our next segment. It is ⁓ another edition of Six Takes, so why don't you lead us off there? Well, lest the good people forget, Six Takes is where reasoned and logic opinions go to die. So kicking thing things off really strong in things that I didn't know about my co-host Severin. Apparently he's a complete psychopath because he does not agree with me that blue raspberry is the vastly superior Jolly Rancher flavor. Watermelon. What the heck is Everybody knows it's watermelon. Dude, the watermelon isn't even in my like top three. I mean, I I I know how to win this argument. Watermelon doesn't turn your tongue blue, and then when you have to go do something serious, you know, you when you can't even open your mouth or, you know, y you just start talking to someone and they're like, why is your tongue blue if you have ⁓ the the blue raspberry? So Okay, back up a blue raspberry isn't a real fruit, so a a watermelon is. Done. I win. That's one, that's not what a watermelon even comes close to tasting like. Two As a grown man, how many Jolly Ranchers have you eaten in the last five years? Jolly ranchers know Sour Patch a lot. Okay, see, that's valid. Sour patch kids are a mature, grown up snack. And Jenna, what's the best flavor of Sour Patch? It's watermelon. That's why they make a whole pack of it. I win. Hmm. Yeah, I don't have a good comeback on that, except that I do vastly prefer sour gummy worms. I think that the the the physical Logistical texture. I could get really engineering on you about the surface area to volume ratio of a gummy worm versus a sour patch kid. And probably how many crushed up bugs have to go into making them as well. But I feel like this is more suited for our Halloween episode when we get into Halloween candy, like every other podcast probably. Well, yes, but this time we're gonna have costumes. We totally should. That would be great. I already know what I'll be able to do, so we'll we'll have to get there. But that I know exactly what gonna do. I'll break your heart 'cause I think I'm going I I'll break your heart 'cause I think I'm going DC, but we'll leave that for everyone to guess. Project. Do you want to hit it? ⁓ wait, it's my turn. My turn for a take, right? 'Cause we're going in reverse or or ⁓ alternating order. ⁓ this is one I left off ⁓ from first serve. By the way, just my my disclaimer none of this is hating on our experience with First Serve. It was amazing. We love AVCA, loved being there, love all the teams. Any uniform specific No notes are purely with the uniform manufacturers slash sports as a whole, not the specific schools, not the specific teams. I feel like I don't need to say that with just my my opinion take, but hey, it's there just in case anybody was like, Wow, you really didn't like you AVCA. Not true at all. Had a blast. One thing I noticed, I don't get half sleeve uniforms. And I remember this too being in the NBA like I think it was like in 2013 or something crazy like that. Like the the cutoff, like High sleeved sort of uniform where I'm I'm a big like either you have the full short sleeve or you do the tank top. And I don't get like the little half sleeve kind of uniform thing. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You know, the problem is I like the half sleeve because it first came into style when I first got to Marquette in twenty fourteen. So that was in one of the uniforms. And I just say did so cool. Did you have one in your Marquette uniform? We did in twenty fourteen and then it was retired soon after because it was out of s probably going out of style. That's around that era though that I told you I saw in the NBA, like twenty thirteen, fourteen. That was big then. Exactly. So no, you're right. It's weird. I think you need to commit one way or the other. However, a full short sleeve volleyball jersey just does not work. I feel like you could make it work, but then of course, then I think of I think the one that's probably the best. I like the long sleeve ones. I think those are cool. When you know 'cause then Yeah. That's cool. I I'm essentially wearing a blank jersey because that's the thing, right? This entire sport is played above your head and I don't want this this sleeve monstrosity getting in the way and worrying about what it's doing and you know, fussing with that and fussing with that and well, that's a valid take. That's a very valid take. What I also like too, and and you know, maybe there's difference between men's styles and and women's styles, but I saw this on the Wisconsin uniform, so now I'm gonna say something that I like about the Wisconsin uniform. I like the high neck collar. I think that was like kind of cool. And then, you know, versus like the the V, I think the high neck collar is is cool. True. Cause I think when you go excessively V necky, it's not fully sexualizing, but it's like, look, we made a women's shirt. Why is it a women's jersey? Exactly what it looks like. It's like, ⁓ look at this. This is a women's jersey. And it's like, no, we don't need to do that. You didn't do anything. You just yeah. You just put a V-neck on that does not make it a woman's jersey, dear God. Do better. Adidas slash Nike slash Under Armour slash. Is is Wisconsin still Under Armour? I thought they were Under Armour, but someone's gonna correct us in the comments. Yeah, I still feel like that's such an oddball. Who else does Under Armour do? Anybody really? People are screaming at us right now. College volleyball fans are yelling at us. And that got canceled again. We we gotta move on quickly here before we make anybody else mad. Okay. Well, ⁓ I'm gonna I'm gonna make a lot more people mad, including my ⁓ some of my extended family. Coob is a stupid yard game. Labor Day is coming up this weekend, everybody, and I think we should have a high time to discuss a mini section called yard game power rankings. Coob or Viking chess is the dumbest one of them all because it is generally just throwing sticks at other sticks and trying to knock them over. And the other biggest scam is you buy a cube set and you look at it and you just realize it is some stained two by twos. Right? Like two by four, there's a two by two, that's it's a square. I don't know, Severin, if you're that much of a handy guy, but it's literally affected my Instagram algorithm with all Milwaukee tool stuff now. So please, I've I've I have to become one now that I'm I'm friends with you and co host with you. Exactly. G get with it, man. The blue collar representation is huge here. ⁓ no. It's it's it's a bunch of blocks stood up in the yard and you're throwing wooden dowels to knock the blocks over. It is no different than anything a toddler would do. And we spent hours playing it last weekend and I'm sure we're gonna play it again on Labor Day, except I'm in Chicago with you. Which is a neutral statement. I'm saving you from coop, a game I've never even heard of before. Yes. Okay. People in the comments. This is j genuine aud audience participation here. Are you Coop players? Have you heard of Coop? I'll flip it to Severin though. What is your top yard game that you may have played with your family on something as lovely as a Labor Day week? Okay, so I have three in descending order. one I'm probably gonna make people mad because I I wrote play catch. I I pro I switch it up. I say have a catch or play catch. I don't have a a specific one, although I know some people are very it's have a catch. It's not play catch, but that can be football, baseball, y whatever. You can throw around a tennis ball if you want. I don't even care. ⁓ I wanna honestly, I now I wanna like get more people who know how to pepper. I feel like that would be fun as a as just a yard kind of thing on Labor Day, you know, fires going, whatever it may be. But that has not been in my circle of Labor Day activities yet. I'm gonna try to make it one. But but play catch is one, cornhole is two. I mean classic, can't go wrong with it. I feel like it's getting a little stale 'cause it's everywhere. It's at every every brewery you go to, every outside activity area. It's even like I saw free ones in in parks the other day. I went to a I went to a golf course the other day and they had one just while you were waiting to to, you know, go to the first tea. I like, All right, this the cornhole saturation is getting a little bit much, even out here on on the west coast. ⁓ and then finally, ⁓ can jam. I feel like can jam has gotten bigger and so ⁓ in in descending order. Catch cornhole can jam. We ⁓ we do love can jam and I had to outfit my grandmother with the of glove so that she could smack the frisbee a little bit more carefully, right? Love can jam. And also I mean, this is one of my also least favorite conversation topics ever, and I'm still gonna go into it. Cornhole versus bags. Cornhole. Call it bags up here. Well you you guys are weird. So clearly. And then, and this is when you launch and be like, ⁓ my God, you say bags? Who says bags? How do you say bagel? Like, I swear to God, somehow this conversation has come up at every single volleyball team I've been on in the last decade. And it's a great conversation starter. You're just getting to know your new teammates. You're getting to know your new friends. Maybe you're hanging out after practice and inevitably bag bagel, water fountain bubbler. Cornhole bags. It's Bubbler is where we have the crossover because that's a Rhode Islandism now too. Or not now. It always has been. Bubbler and it is a is a that's where we have some weird cro crossover where I feel like it can't be bags because now I think of the volleyball game that people play as a warm-up. Yeah, but that's that's that's Italian. That's Italian. This is gonson. My second take is YouTube ads gotten out of control. I cannot watch anything, including trying to check in on this podcast and make sure everything's running well. without waiting for two minutes before I can actually watch the video or halfway through it trying to get to a specific section to make sure our audio sounded good and then boom, YouTube ad. And it's always the same one. It's just I I'm not gonna give any of them free advertising, but it's all stuff that I will never use or never need and and poor AI ads or whatever it is. And this is the most get off my lawn take that I've got, but the ads have gotten out of control and they're also so loud. I won't even have my y my headphones up all the way and YouTube ads out of control. So your YouTube ads aren't trying to get you to go to therapy? No. That's the targeted ads I get. They're mostly trying to get me to sell all my stuff that I don't want or manage my money on their app. That's probably better than your YouTube algorithm telling you telling you that you need therapy. My final take out of our six takes segment, which will mercifully come to an end for the first episode two of the Saint Stakes, is I think LAX is the worst airport in the country. Which leads us into our mailbag, which comes from Rusty, who says, What MLV cities can you get to with a nonstop? And what do you need a layover for from LAX? Well, Rusty, I can tell you ⁓ free advertising via kayak, which I looked up earlier before the show, you can get to all of the MLV cities except for two Grand Rapids and Indy. Indy surprised me. ⁓ but it's always you can get there. Fine nonstop is the way back. At least this is again according to what I looked up today, that you needed at least one stop. ⁓ the the disclaimer is I hate flying out of LAX because I it's my least favorite airport, so it's always for me, Long Beach or Orange County. But that is incredibly niche and specific. And so hopefully everybody else has much better airport options when they're flying around to various different cities to see their favorite LA ⁓ MLV teams next year. Beautiful. But I feel like LAX is fancy. Miley Cyrus talks about it in partying the USA, so that means it has to be great, right? Well, if you find the upcharged Uber fees, ⁓ especially for waiting, or the giant horseshoe of ⁓ confusion, which I'm pretty sure that the the famous Greek labyrinth was easier to navigate than the horseshoe at LAX, ⁓ then, you know, I I can't I sure w w what I I'll I'll agree with you there. But also the the gridlock traffic to get in. I I always say I think the one of the deepest expressions of love you can have for someone is will you drive them to LAX? And you ⁓ let me tell you something. Like, I don't know if I would drive my own mother to LAX. So ⁓ that's yeah. That's how I put my mom in I put my mom in a car to Orange County. See ya mom. Bye. See? That's what I I would do too. So ⁓ yeah I w I was even ⁓ we'll have to I'll have to fly out of LAX for Wrigley and I was even trying to figure out if there was a friend's couch I could stay on before I had to ⁓ make it all the way there the the next morning. So ⁓ yeah, needless to say, Rusty, great question. ⁓ but all of them except for Indian Grand Rapids you can get to in nonstop flights, and that is why unfortunately LAX sometimes still has its uses. However, Rusty, it may interest you to know that you might be able to get to Grand Rapids for the final games of the season via a ferry from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The ferry drops you up in ⁓ Muskegon, which is a short drive north of Grand Rapids. I wanna try the the whole ferry ride. I feel like that could be kind of a Cool way to do some kind of content, whether that's a like a specialty interview or kind of like a a day in the life of getting across on the ferry would be neat. Hattie Bray and I crossed from Miske Eagan to Milwaukee at the conclusion of the twenty twenty six season and a great time was had by all. ⁓ and my one last fairy fun fact, ⁓ when Hattie and I were on the ferry, we saw a man genuinely, genuinely driving on with his long oar. Which is John Deere long. On the John Deere, straight up the ramp. That's that's awesome. ⁓ man. Well that is ⁓ that that was our mailbag in six takes. And ⁓ we already mentioned what we're up to, which is just gonna be ⁓ you know, going to Wrigley, which we're super excited about. ⁓ but then also now potentially DC at the end of this month too. ⁓ maybe some draft news coming for you pretty soon when we know a little bit more on our end, we'll be able to share with you. ⁓ but all of that is kind of what at least I can think of that we're up to, Jenna. Anything that comes to the top of your mind. No, man, I'm just making sure our Wrigley plans go as well as possible. So hopefully you guys can tune in to the rest of our social channels to see some of the excitement from that game. I, like I said, it's gonna be a spectacle and see you there, man. Yeah, we have some great social content planned for you all. So please ⁓ tune into our socials. That's basically MLV on everything, especially Instagram. I know we'll have a lot of stuff there for you as well. ⁓ but that's gonna do it for us here on this episode, episode 20 of the Set Six Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. Please continue to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the podcast. It's how we grow and ⁓ we appreciate it. Please go check out the MLV Training Essentials live now on the MLV shop. That's right, we have a shop now. You buy some great, awesome MLV merch, a lot of great stuff there from Ren. So please go check that out. Like we said, we're a Wrigley this weekend, so we'll have that coming up on the socials. And you can catch us on these episodes every Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern is our drops. We thank you so much to Mike, Jenna, and Amy. Those are our producers. Does not happen without them, and it's not happening without you. Once again, everybody, thank you for listening. I'm Severin Lavenstein. That is Jenna Rosenthal, and we'll see you next week. See ya.