Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 019 | Gator Greats Return to Gainesville: Marlie Monserez, Elli McKissock & Anna Dixon
Transcript
- speaker-0: This week it's set six from Gainesville. We have interviews with Marley Montserrat, with Ellie McKissick, and Anna Dixon from the Florida Gators alumni match. Plus, Jenna Rosenthal is back to help us break it all down. Lock in. This is the Set Six Podcast. What's going on, everybody? How are we doing? Welcome to, I believe it's episode nineteen of the set six podcast. We are, of course, the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. I'm your host, Severin Lavenstein. And with me again, another week in a row is Jenna Rosenthal, our set six correspondent, who is just full of all the wisdom, all of the enthusiasm, and all of everything that we need to know in the world of Major League Volleyball. Jenna, how are we doing? I'm coming to you guys now in brand new high fidelity. Check out the camera, check out the mic. I think it means they don't hate me. So I think you'll be hearing a little bit more from me in the future. And if you're not into that, I am so very sorry. I'll also attempt to hold I'll stop the ASMR. I'm just having a great time. Yeah, you can you can stick around, I think. You know, now that we've upgraded upgraded your equipment, I think ⁓ yeah, you can stay. You can stay. It's the real deal. You go three for three and then all of a sudden they buy you a fancy mic and I will be here every week. The rest of us like, comment, subscribe. We are on Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Please continue to share the podcast and tell your friends it's a great way for us to grow. And please go listen to episode 18 before you listen to this one. That was all things Minnesota brand reveal, including interviews with Stephanie Samadi, Kayla Hainlein, Hattie Bray, and Team President Michelle Haynes. This week we've got our live episode-ish, live on location from Gainesville, where we went to go and chat with our MLV Florida alumni. Which was a blast. Jenna was there. I was there. Producer Mike was there. ⁓ we had a great time. It was part of our travelpalooza for the month of August. ⁓ and before we get to that, that that's gonna be about thirty minutes of interviews. We talked to ⁓ Ellie McKissick, we talked to Marley Montserrat, and we talked to Anna Dixon, and that was a lot of fun. And again, a huge before we go any further, a huge thank you and shout out to the University of Florida for having us. That was ⁓ just awesome, so much fun. So before we chat with them. ⁓ we're gonna get through the news and there's a lot to get to. So those interviews are about 30 minutes long. Our news is gonna be a little bit more extended than it has been in previous weeks. And then Jenna and I are gonna have some fun towards the end and wrap up with a new segment that we came up with, really that Jenna came up with, which I love. So ⁓ we're gonna do that to wrap up the show. So without any further ado, Jenna, let's dive into the news. And the first thing that I wanted to bring to our attention is Vegas announcing their full roster, which we were waiting on some final names. And then ⁓ the the full thing came out and they've got the whole ⁓ breakdown on their ⁓ on their socials and then also you can go to our transaction wire as well. But the full Vegas roster has been released. Didn't we tell you everything was gonna be A okay? We promised and now we've delivered. And you can check out the transaction wire because I'm gonna do it as soon as we're done recording this episode. It'll be out by Thanks the reminder, Seth. That's that's that's a real great co work with pal right there. I'm sorry. Just s subtle referencing that ⁓ there are several things that we do in between when these episodes come out. ⁓ we don't just as much as we would like to only podcast for a living. But no we don't only talk our ear off, each other's ear off. That's fine. And I want to issue a correction because you said at the end of this podcast we're gonna have some fun and I think we always have fun. I mean as As fully episoded by ⁓ by our chat for a couple of minutes about ⁓ Cletus, the the Fox Sports robot of last episode. We can certainly talk about anything. I'm really concerned that our entire audience now thinks I'm into ⁓ Transformers, which is not the case because the clip really cut out the overall rant about short men in Hollywood. But that was the past. This is the future, we are moving forward. Jenna, just real quickly, what did you make what do you make of the full complete Vegas roster now that we can talk about it? I think it was a lot I'm really excited to see a lot of familiar faces back. ⁓ Jardine, White, Oblad. I think these are really huge pieces, but the big move for Lecator member Mene to come over to the thrill, I think that's really gonna change a lot of the tone for this team and drive into this new era. I think so often we have so much talent and when we had fewer teams, a lot of that talent was really concentrated on some really, really deep rosters. So I'm really excited to see All of these athletes have a platform in their own right. So many setters should be setting their own offense. So many players like Leck should be leading their own franchises. And now we're having so many more opportunities to see these athletes in action. So I'm sad, as the kids would say. I saw that I saw some someone say at one point, I'm sad, and I like, God, I'm so old. I didn't even realize that was a new that was a new ⁓ term terminology. But ⁓ I couldn't say it any better ⁓ myself. I think that's perfect analysis and I'm not gonna add any more to it because I think that would Fantastic. And I totally agree with you. Boom. Jenna, ⁓ I'm gonna try to pull it up here as we talk, but another really cool thing that got teased today that I didn't even know it was coming was DC floated a little graphic and has a little logo now where Major League Volleyball D C used to be. So I'm gonna pull it up while we talk, but I noticed that just came up and I was like, wow, this is this is happening. We're moving right on from NorCal straight on to DC, maybe something coming soon next month. I mean, rest in peace to Travan Severin's travel schedule, but I really do expect to see the last because that's who we're waiting on, right? We're waiting on Los Angeles and we're waiting on Washington, DC, a real coast to coast spread. And frankly, any sign of life is probably incredibly encouraging to volleyball fans in market and We had that proof, even if it was a very coy little tease. Where did you even put in coordinates? I d I don't know. So I think I think you can put them into maps. But yes, so here we go. I don't know if this show and tell is gonna work very well on screen to screen, but there's the post with the coordinates. And then you can also see in the top, this is the little logo that they have now on their page, which ⁓ I think is very interesting. So ⁓ They just said in their caption, coordinates locked, stand by. ⁓ Okay. So some eagle eyed viewers can pop that into Google Earth for us. I know if I was more prepared, I would have totally p plugged in the coordinates and seen where that takes us. So I'm worried that I may have seen a comment on a particular website that shall not be named that the coordinates land at the lawn of the White House. ⁓ okay. I don't know what that means for anyone and independent journalism would ask that we fact check it. However, we are an entertainment podcast. We we'll leave that to everybody else who can search it up. Boom. I'm gonna stop saying boom. That's not my new tick. That's bad. Jenna, on to the next bit of news. team USA volleyball is playing in the Norseca Continental Championship. I believe what we know is they last defeated the Dominican Republic and I believe today they are playing Canada again. ⁓ just what have you made overall of of ⁓ Team USA and their current ⁓ their most recent continental run? I mean, we dragged them a little bit last episode, and by we, I mean me. But ⁓ I honestly think it's a really interesting tie-in to some of the interviews we have later when Marley was talking about some of the early season difficulties experienced by the mojo. She remarked that Alicia and Mel, they didn't really change anything. They just decided to lock in and get better at what they were doing after suffering some early season losses. Now, I personally think that's probably a little bit different than the situation facing Eric Sullivan and the team USA athletes. But it's a more charitable charitable intro ⁓ it's a more charitable interpretation. And let's just say I'm gonna be very curious to see how this match goes. Maybe he's playing some 4D chess that we're not aware of and he'll Come up and spank 'cause the games have been close with Canada. It's not been a total blowout. The last one went five, I think. And and this is one of the ones where unfortunately it's it's tough for us to comment too much because everybody in the future already knows what happens. But I think that's certainly the the match that that everybody had circled once ⁓ the US advanced past a certain point. But I I agree. I wonder if it's, you know, another trip around and and you learn some things from the last time and then you see what you can what you can improve on. Or maybe if it was just, you know, hey, if these are gonna go five, then it's it's made the best team win and we just know that we're gonna fight all the way through. Jenna, let's move on to talking about first serve again where we were both at in the your lovely city of Milwaukee, which was fantastic. My first experience. ⁓ it it's up there. For anybody who who is interested, I maybe someday might post my list of favorite cities. It is in a t it is a top ten, verging on top five city for me, and that is a bold take. But ⁓ Well the whole secret was you weren't supposed to tell people how great Milwaukee is because heaven forbid too many moves just kidding. Just kidding. It was terrible. Jenna, ⁓ let's talk about the matches. ⁓ I thought they were really fun, really entertaining. I think there were some that surprised us. ⁓ I was surprised to see how good Arizona State looked for sure. I was surprised at how dominant Wisconsin looked, and I think we were all s relatively assuming that they would be a really good team this year. ⁓ I also just had a a a blast watching the high level of play that was from all of the teams there. And ⁓ I wanna give you the floor to talk about ⁓ Marquette and a specifically very nice performance by them. ⁓ hell yeah. I'm gonna gas them up in just a second. But I also wanted to say it was a lot of really high level volleyball prior, but I think it really reminded me some of the differences between the college and the pro game. Things get lopsided a lot quicker. I think in college games, ⁓ the wheels can come off much, much easier. And I think that was on display for some teams and some teams more than others, but ⁓ but yeah, no, you're right. Marquette, receiving votes, Marquette, my very proud alma mater, they took number two Texas to five. And frankly, they probably should have had it. But I think that's a phenomenal performance for the team's first outing. ⁓ I really think people sleep on Marquette so often when I was on the team and even after I left the team and I was just insanely proud of my girls and hell yeah, way to take it to ooh, the Texas Longhorns. You know, well deserved reputation, you know, runners up and number two in the preseason poll, but take that. Welcome to the Big East, everybody. Jenna I was gonna say I was gonna say Big East. I'll let you finish that. Jenna, it was ⁓ it was really cool, the different ki types of content that we had there. ⁓ we got to we had a little ⁓ ⁓ vlog with ⁓ Kaz Brown and Leah Edmund, which was really fun for the Kentucky match. ⁓ we had ⁓ Anna De Beer on the street chatting with all of the ⁓ the Louisville alums and fans for ⁓ some Ren gift cards, which was a lot of fun. ⁓ they both watched the matches with us. And then we also, I believe coming out soon, ⁓ we got to tr go with Kaz where she talked to the Kentucky team and just again throughout the whole thing, I just want to make sure make mention, thank you to ABCA. Thank you to all of the ⁓ programs. It's been so much fun getting to work c more closely with these D one universities. They all could not be nicer to us and more welcoming, ⁓ whether that's Florida, which you'll hear coming up in this episode, or ⁓ all the universities including Kentucky for letting us ⁓ sort of behind the scenes there. And I don't want to give away too much for ⁓ what we'll show in that vet video of Kaz talking to the team, but I just loved ⁓ you know, what Coach Skinner was showing, kind of like how how she didn't always have the the easiest time. And how it you know, you could you could really learn a lot from Kaz's entire journey, not just the highs and not just the lows. It was a full complete spectrum which ⁓ which was so cool. So I I won't spoil it, but that's another piece of content coming and we just ⁓ we had a lot of fun at first serve. I mean, one day you're gonna have to talk to Kaz because I remember I run r I ran into her in Odessa, Ukraine. I think it obviously was before the war. Not much f Not much before the war. I think it would have been twenty twenty. Yeah, twenty twenty. We played ⁓ Chemic Usny in Odessa. And I went back to Germany, obviously. And then I remember that season ended with I think she had to flee. So I an unbelievable story of volleyball. And well I want to ask her about that someday, and I still haven't. Jenna, w one final piece of of our first serve time, which I would like you to t ⁓ tell us more about. was a little bit of a round table that you guys go to. ⁓ yeah, that was a lot of fun. ⁓ Saturday morning before the second day of matches, Jamie Gordon, president of the ABCA, held a little invite-only roundtable discussion ⁓ with some industry professionals. And I was able to go on behalf of Major League Volleyball. And gosh, that conversation could have easily gone on for hours and hours. We had to hard cap it at about two, two and a half, but the fundamental question being What is it going to take to make volleyball the premier women's sport? Full stop. And I mean, that's a whopper of a question to drop on the group. ⁓ and I think I believe it was Casty Lickman, ⁓ who spoke spoke first and kind of outlined some some bullet points. But this was, you know, decided on by the group. ⁓ number one being cultural relevance, that volleyball needs to be a part of the general sports conversation just as easily as football. ⁓ falls right around the corner. And so all we hear is like, ⁓ football season's coming back. Football season's coming back. Volleyball needs to slowly start occupying the minds of the average sports fan in that way. That only probably comes through expanded broadcast presence. ⁓ there was an ESPN rep in the room and we had some conversations surrounding their strategy and their outlook. ⁓ and again, one of these things, these things fall from the other, right? An expanded broadcast presence is going to lead into greater commercial investment. Which feeds the wheel, feeds the wheel. And then of course the elephant in the room is going to have to be the success of the national team at the Home Olympics. That's gonna bring millions of eyes to the sport and the sport needs to be ready to receive that attention. And frankly, a strong performance in the LA Olympics is imperative for the success of this project, whether pro ⁓ college or otherwise. Two immediate thoughts. One, I mean, if if we needed another reason why you need to keep appearing is because that's the kind of awesome insider info that you have here. I mean, I I'm not getting invited to meetings like this. That's that's pretty sweet. My second thought immediately is I think that's all that's all great, but that that Olympics point to me really piggybacks off of kind of what I said a couple episodes ago about just some of what I've heard, you know, being around that area. I feel like and and you you tell me what you think. I I don't I don't necessarily I'm I'm willing to be swayed from this take, I I guess I'll say, but I feel like there's so much pressure put on the performance from because it's not like the the at least the women's national team and then even recently the men's national team getting bronze in Paris. I it's not like they're not performing well. I think I think what I'm trying to get to is is is I think it's a little bit not of a cop out, but sort of a nebulous kind of, ⁓ well, we got to capitalize on that. Okay, what does that look like? Are we going to drive people to broadcast viewership? Are we going to really promote a s a specific athlete and find our alone MR. Like, what does that mean in terms of the the promotion and the springboard from the Olympics? Because I think I think that's something that has been said before, I guess I'll say. I think I want to draw this d distinction between waiting and hoping for that momentum from the Olympics to save us all ⁓ versus continuing to build a cultural platform and a cultural relevance, a place where that attention can land. Because Certainly until the creation of our league, largely volleyball viewership peaked every four years. ⁓ the Olympics are on. What should we watch? ⁓ volleyball's on. Awesome. And then those people would never watch volleyball again. So this capturing this momentary attention and having a really sticky and really engaging product where people can say, ⁓ this volleyball thing's pretty great. And hopefully the major league volleyball. professional volleyball has started to occupy a larger and larger space in society where volleyball is no longer this odd niche sport, for example, curling in the Winter Olympics. It's no longer this niche sport that is only interesting every four years, but exists in a more interesting place three hundred and sixty five di days of the year. ⁓ I think the Alona Mar conversation, Caitlin Clark conversation is also a little overdone in this sense. ⁓ One because naturally the conversation shifted to, you know, the the resurgence of interest in the the WNBA. And for the longest time, I've said on, you know, in various capacities for this league and for other things that volleyball not having a male component ⁓ a male counterport has been the biggest strength because people aren't asking why we aren't dunking. Right. And I thought this is a great strength because, you know, people aren't preoccupied and concerned with. differences. They're not used to seeing things a different way. Except now I'm wondering if that's a tiny bit of a disadvantage because Caitlin Clark was able to storm onto a scene that already understood her sport. The the NBA has been building cultural relevance for what, 50, 50 years, 70 years? People already understood what it means to do logo threes and drop 40 on them in a night. When the star comes along, like Kari Knotts, who's so far and above her peers, we need to make sure the American public is gonna understand what that means with through increased visibility and through increased broadcast retention. Caitlin Clark, trust me, she is absolutely generational. She defined an entire sport, but America already understood what she did. Whereas with volleyball, we have to teach them along with us as we grow. Well, Jenna, we we got super deep on this topic, this sort of final part of this news here, which I would love to I mean, it's it's a conversation we're gonna have to have more when we when we have ⁓ kind of more time to do it, but we don't want to keep you all too much from ⁓ these great interviews and the awesome time that we had in Gainesville. So we're going to ⁓ quickly just preview the this ⁓ the these chats with our our Florida alumni in MLV. ⁓ Jenna, just the the alumni match reaction super quickly. I thought it was great to see the ⁓ The what they they went to the team cheer grandmas with the the grandmas playing ⁓ against everybody. I thought they held their own more than adequately and ⁓ getting a talk to the other. That's that's the difference. Obviously This is not meant derogatorily. Girls and women. This was a bunch of professionals who had never played together. They had met, well, some of them had played played together years ago, right? But this is not an organized team. They're doing Lord knows what in their offseason. I'm sure it's still very responsible. And they still take a Division I program to five. That's been practicing for so long. It's not a dig on the current gators. It's just proving that volleyball is such a technical and intellectual game that age does really reward you. So I want to give our flowers to that just to say. Our athletes are the real deal. They certainly are. And we got to talk to them about being back at Florida, signing with their new teams. I believe all of them are going to be with new teams next season. And ⁓ we got to chat with them a little bit about just their volleyball journeys. In order, you will hear them if you're not watching visually. They are Marley Montserrat, Ellie McKissick, and Anna Dixon. Marley, this was so cool to come here and see you play in the alumni match. First, just you know, your reactions to being out there and and being with that squad that looks so fun. ⁓ well thank you so much for coming. It is just so cool. I mean, it's really cool to be back in the Odom and this is a really great group of girls. So to be able to compete against them and to see old friends and teammates has been really fun. What kind of memories, you know, come back when you're back on campus, you're walking through these halls, getting to say hi to everybody, especially, you know, you I'm sure like you can't go anywhere without someone saying hi, right? But just what kind of memories come back for you here? It's just really awesome. Even Mary showed up today, so it was really cool to see her. All the support staff came, even the ones that don't work. For Florida anymore. It was just so great to see them, all the trainers, and I just always love coming back here. It seemed really cool when she came into the locker room to talk to everybody. She said she was like much more mellow now, mellow Mary, which was really funny. But that that must have been great. And then it seemed like a lot of great, you know, kind of talking points and things that you could say to everybody around there too. But it still looked intense. It doesn't seem like anybody was taking any plays off for that match. Yes, it was definitely more intense than I thought it would be. So it's great for them, great for us to get the training in. So it was really fun. We were talking Marley before we we started here about how, you know, your your Florida connections are so deep here, but obviously it has that always been something that even when you were here and when you left, you knew that you were always gonna be very connected to not only the university, but also just, you know, around this specific area. Yes. I mean I grew up coming here. My mom went here, both my sisters played here. So I was the third to play. I my whole life was spent driving up to Gainesville. So I love this area and it's fun to come back. And now you can keep driving back to Gainesville because you signed with Orlando, which is so exciting to have you back here. Obviously, you know, gonna be playing for Francois and a different kind of ⁓ revamping there with the Valkyries. But we wanna ask you like what was that process like when you when you landed with Orlando and then obviously to return to Florida? It was really cool. It was definitely a hard decision, but I was so excited to just have the opportunity to be home again. And I mean my family was ecstatic. A lot of my friends lived there and it's just really exciting. What were some of those conversations like were you talking your family a lot? Were talking to the front office in Orlando a lot? Like what what were some of the the behind the scenes of making that decision? Honestly, my agent just did such an amazing job and she was really helpful through the whole decision making process. I remember my dad was out of town, so it was so hard to get a hold of him and I that was like the most stressful part of it all. I was like calling and he was in China. I was like, Hello, help me. Dad, this is important. Pick up. The free agency started four minutes ago. I have to make a decision. ⁓ so it's definitely more stressful than years past, but I'm just really excited for the opportunity to be home. And then ⁓ aside from your dad, but also volleyball it throughout the rest of your family with your mom playing right and then also your ⁓ your sisters, correct? Mm-hmm. And ⁓ just, you know, probably being able to have a lot of bounce off from them as well, right? Yes. My mom definitely takes a back seat because she's just so sweet. ⁓ and then my sisters try not to have super opinionated opinions. ⁓ but everyone's just super understanding in my family, so kind of when it comes down to make a decision, it's like whatever you want to do, we're behind you. What excites you the most about playing in a Francois system and and all the things he can bring from a coaching standpoint? ⁓ I'm really excited. I know Kyle Carly Snyder played for him for a while in France and loved him. So just hearing like how many people have positive things to say about him is really exciting. And I'm super excited to play with Brittany. we did AU together and we're really close and just to even be in the same gym with her, I'll be so happy about Yeah, I mean Brit like you said, Britney, charity, you're gonna be reuniting with Ellie, you know, a lot lot of familiar faces on that team, right? It's gonna so cool to see you fit in with them. But was was that also, you know, factors looking at the individual roster and other people's that ⁓ other people that might ⁓ sign and join you? Is that also a factor? Yes. Brittany and I talked a ton leading up to it, just hoping that we could be together. ⁓ but it was just really awesome. But it was very rushed decisions. So I didn't necessarily know all the people on the team, but I did know Britney was gonna be there. Absolutely. I mean Marley, it it's it's the elephant in the room of just how impactful you were for San Diego last year and just, you know, a star at that team and bringing them all the way to ⁓ to the the semifinals and just ⁓ I mean, what do you take from that experience last year? And obviously, you know, not the ending that everybody wanted, but to be able to move on into this next chapter with Orlando, you know, what are some of things, some of the lessons, maybe some of the things that you learned throughout the season that you're taking into next year? I mean, last year was my favorite year of volleyball probably ever. Alicia was amazing. ⁓ we're really close. So it just made the season so fun and it was an awesome group of people. I learned like that it's just about having fun and getting better each day. They were really good about ⁓ Alicia and Mel were really good about like we don't have to change everything after one loss. So I mean we lost the first six games and then we were like, okay, we're not changing anything, we're just gonna get better every single day. And I think that was something really cool to like not have a staff be like, throw it all out the window, we're restarting. They didn't. ⁓ and I will learn to keep that with me. You know, it's just like getting a little better every single day. I love that you touched on that because that the mental resilience, I feel like you were a real leader on that team to be able to foster that. And then going into Orlando, like are there things that maybe you notice from them on the other side of the net that kind of it's I don't want to say that that you're gonna come in and kind of change things, but that you're gonna kinda come in and help kind of bring some of that resilience maybe or or I guess what what did you notice about them before that maybe you'll will inform you now on the inside? I think the really cool thing is it's almost like an entirely different team. So honestly I think everyone will just bring in their own experiences and I hope we can just have a really fun positive culture. You I've r ⁓ read and listened to you talk about that joy of the game before and I think it's such a great mentality that you bring. But the two-part question there, but like you mentioned last year being one of your favorite seasons of volleyball. How does that feed into the joy of the game? And then the second part of that question is when maybe there are days and matches when you don't have it, how do you keep that going long term? ⁓ I think I decided after I finished at UCLA and was like, I don't know if I'm gonna go back to indoor. And I did. I said, Well, I'm only gonna do it if I'm having fun. And I definitely had weeks like in the last four years where I wasn't having the most fun. But honestly, I don't know if I had any in San Diego. You know, it was just like, almost deciding like, well, I'm not gonna do it if I'm not having fun. So I might as well have fun or you have to be done. Yeah. I mean, do you have any advice for people who are looking for that? Because I feel like you know, it sounds like you know exactly where where that is. And I feel like I've talked to other players sometimes where they might not say it directly, but you know everybody's kind of looking for that. And how do you know when you find it? I think it's really hard. I think it starts from it that's tough because I think it's like building up throughout your whole life. Like I almost look at it like I have a degree from Florida, a master's degree from UCLA. Like I have so many people in my life that love me. Like I don't have to do this. You know, I get to do this. So if I I think if you build yourself like a nice path behind you, like in things you can fall back on, then it doesn't have to be end all be all. ⁓ and I think that's when I play my best volleyball when it's fun and it's not the end of the world. Because at the end of the day, like we're playing four people to watch. Like we're playing for people to have fun and to be entertainment. So I like to try to treat it like that a little bit. That degree at UCLA, transformative coaching and leadership, how has that helped you in your playing time? ⁓ Honestly, the coolest part of it was just like talking about different coaching styles and almost makes you more understanding of like coaches you wouldn't necessarily agree with, you know? it was based on John Wooden's teachings and I loved it. It was just really cool to see all the different perspectives and There's no bad coach or like wrong coach. There's just different ways of coaching. And not everyone might agree with someone, but it's kind of to be able to see past the like what they're saying and see the person sometimes is necessary. I think that's great advice for young players for sure. I wanna not get too far removed from you sailing beach. How did that help you become a better indoor player? I think it was just, I mean, Jenny Johnson Jordan is still like We're so close. And just to have a community there that was so positive and uplifting. And ⁓ I had to go in there with like a completely beginner mindset. Like I never played beach before. So it almost made me approach indoor again like that. Like I just had to restart and I came and trained at Florida ⁓ all fall a few years ago. And it was amazing and the coaches were amazing then. It just kind of brought me back to why it was fun. That's perfect answer, I feel like. And then You've been part of a successful team, I feel like at every every junction, whether we're talking about Florida, UCLA, Atlanta, San Diego, and and then, you know, obviously not leaving out your your, you know, full scope of university experience, but just I feel like if anybody can answer this question, it's you of what traits or characteristics do you notice about a team, especially as we go into here the next season with Orlando, where you know, okay, like we've got something special, this is a good group that has the the potential to to win at a big level. I think it's sometimes it's just the people. You know, I haven't had a team yet in the MLV that I haven't like loved every person. Like in Atlanta for two years, San Diego for one, I think Orlando won't be any different. Like I'm so close with Ellie and Brittany and so many of those girls on the team, I'm so excited to be around. And I think it just comes down to the people because if you don't like the people you're playing with, it's hard to make any progress. And then, you know, just to tie it back to, you know, being here at Florida and and where part of your journey really started, how how did that build the the foundation for you to be so successful at every single stop that you went to? I think I have nothing but amazing things to say about Florida. I obviously was the previous staff. So Mary, Dave, I was so close with them and you know, they really shaped me to they shaped me into the player who I am today. So I'm forever grateful for that and I'm forever grateful to this program. Well Marley, we are forever grateful to be here and that be able to talk to you and this was so much fun to watch and ⁓ I mean, anybody who's thinking about seeing those alumni matches, they are they are no joke. That is not a scrimmage, that is a full on match, and we were just so great to be able to see it and and great to be able to talk to you. So thank you for sitting down with us. Well, thank you so much. I'm super grateful for the new staff for putting it on. ⁓ they're awesome and this has been really fun. Ellie, how you doing? This was so much fun to be here and to see this alumni match. And we were just talking before we started this that that was a real match. I mean, you were diving around all over the place. You were leading the squad. Just tell us what that was like to be out there. speaker-1: Yeah, it was so fun just being able to play with some girls again that you haven't played with in forever or even like Rachel who's playing Beach now, I haven't ever played with her, but I've been wanting to for so long. And so just being able to play with her and a bunch of group of girls that, you know, are some of my best friends again is super amazing. So speaker-0: When we talk about the history of Florida, I mean, you were the first one that must come up because you know, you hold a program record for career digs, career sets played, second for career matches played, and third for career digs per set here. You're a huge part of this program. And then to be able to, you know, come back with this regime. You played with Car ⁓ Marley and with Anna, you know, kind of spanning that gap as well. But, you know, what are some of the fondest memories that you look back on with your time? And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention as well the four out of five Sweet Sixteen appearances. speaker-1: Yeah, no, those were so much fun and just the competitiveness of this program is literally unlike any other. ⁓ and you know, I'm biased a little bit, but you know. ⁓ but yeah, it just shows with the amount of alumni we had here and also with just people that are in the MLV and weren't able to make it today even. So there's a bunch of girls like Carly Snyder and Ramon Alessandro are playing for teams in the MLV. that weren't here today. So it was just like super cool to be able to see those girls and yeah, just they are amazing. So speaker-0: Yeah, I think you're allowed to be a little bit biased. That's definitely with obviously the foundation that was set here for your career, what did you learn and what were what kind of skills w I guess what I'm asking is how did you develop at into the current pro that you now are with what you learned here in Florida? speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, there is just like so much that I learned here at Florida. It's hard to even nail down one thing. I mean, when you come in and you're going from club and playing against, you know, girls to then women who are, you know, much older than you. The game goes really fast. And so Florida does a really good job of making the game feel super slow and just gr growing your volleyball IQ and being able to just yeah, make the make the fast feel slow. ⁓ is like a huge thing that helped me in my career. They taught me so much technical and tactical things where I just was like, I'm gonna go out and, you know, try my best and try to keep the ball off the floor where now I definitely have more of, you know, just technical and tactical work that has made me jump in my career for sure. speaker-0: What did you notice sca scout the twenty twenty six gators for me, if you will, what did you notice on the other side of the net? speaker-1: They love high hands for sure, which is so what's like no one can dig high hands off the block. So that was so good. Lily obviously is just a powerhouse in the backcourt and is going to keep so many rallies alive. ⁓ Taylor has really I mean I'm just, you know, hyping them up, but Taylor is super neutral and she can trick a lot of blocks. She created a lot of big seams back there. you know. Rachel keeping up of course, but she's just super tricky with her setting and yeah, they're they jump really high. So just being able to try and read the best you can and make a good effort play, but ⁓ yeah, lots of high hands and they're they jump out of the gym, so speaker-0: ⁓ Ellie, I wanna ask you more about you and specifically you being back here here relatively in Orlando for next season and just w what went into that process to sign with Orlando. speaker-1: a i a lot of things, you know, it's it's obviously the you wanna win the championship at the end of the day and I think we're gonna have a really good group of girls going in to be able to do that. But also my family is there, so being able to be at home and my sister has two children, so you know, holding the aunt title super high on the list for me is ⁓ definitely one of the main reasons why I wanted to come back so I could be around them because you know they're they're the cutest things ever. So obviously biased once again. But yeah, so family but also just knowing how competitive Orlando is and wanting to run it back like when we won it not this past year, but the year before that when I was on the team and that was super special. So just being able to do that for the city of Orlando and be home and yeah, just being able to be in the community that you know, I was raised in is just super special to me. So speaker-0: What's your favorite thing about being an ⁓ speaker-1: And I ⁓ I love being well I love being able to play with them and hang out with them and use all their cute word lingo, but then being able to give them back. Isn't it the best? speaker-0: Give us some examples of the word lingo. Come on. speaker-1: ⁓ like dainty. You know, like now it's instead of thank you, it's dainty. And then when anyone now says like I do, my that's the new phrase my niece has been saying, but she does like so she'll have a birthday coming up and sh I do. And it's like now if anything anyone asks me what I'm do I do, you know, so just using her cute little baby words, which you know, total ant move, but it's like really cute to me. So speaker-0: Bring them back into the huddles for Orlando this year and we'll know exactly where it's speaker-1: Exactly. Yeah, now you guys know it's you know, I'm turning into a baby with baby talk, so speaker-0: And like you said, being able to give them back, you don't have to take ⁓ on the airport rides. speaker-1: Exactly. That's the best part of it all. Being an aunt, being able to give ⁓ back. speaker-0: ⁓ Ellie, what what'd you make of the roster with Orlando? Obviously you know we know Charity and Brittany are any there, but then you're reuniting with Marley as well and it looks like it's really gonna be a stacked squad for this year. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Yeah, we have a lot of powerhouse attackers that are gonna be able to point score super high for us. So just honestly enjoying that offense is gonna be really, really great. My sister actually played with one of the girls that went to UCLA, so that'll be fun to be able to ⁓ you know, connect with her and be able to play with her. So like the volleyball world's very small as you know, but ⁓ yeah, just really great attacking and obviously Marley's gonna be able to run an amazing offense. So just being able to play with her again is super fun. So speaker-0: You mentioned reuniting with Marley. I noticed that you're both from the same hometown. I noticed that before they introduced you today too. But I'm just curious, was there any crossover in the club days? Was there you know, how early were you two going against each other? speaker-1: Definitely so she played at a not rival but we both went to private high schools in the Orlando area. So we definitely played each other in high school a bunch. and yeah, yeah, I think a few of them like one of them we played was televised, so that was like super cool. My sister is on the same age group as her, so they've been friends for a long time. ⁓ even before I committed to Florida. There's a video actually that I need to send you guys, but it's me running over to Marley's house when I told her I committed and I like jump into her arms and her dad gave me a jersey of her one of her sisters 'cause she, you know, they're gator family here. And yeah, I like ran into her arms and jumped and told her that I was committed to Florida. And so yeah, that was just super fun to be able to do that. But th I we have a video somewhere so we could put it in this be honest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so cute looking back and just seeing how young I was in high school and she was it was when we were both committed. So Yeah, just knowing where we are now and just how full circle it is and being able to live so close to each other and it's so great. speaker-0: Absolutely. Ellie we we talked about those sweet sixteen runs and just and we saw Coach Wise here today as well and just what was it like to play with her or play for her and then obviously to see her back today as well. speaker-1: Yeah. I mean, just the wisdom that Mary brings and the vibe that she just the calmness and steadiness that she has when she like enters a room. I mean, I'm just like so excited to see her and yeah, the sweet sixteen runs were amazing, but just the memories you make in between two are just, you know, awesome and one of them was in COVID, so that was so crazy and then the year after it was just ⁓ it was such a good run for For us as a team, but yeah, it was great to see her again for sure today. speaker-0: And then Ellie, before we wrap up, I've gotta ask you, you know, what is it like t for to be cheering on your fiance ⁓ in the MLB with the Royals? And then you got to see him in the home run derby this year as well. So please enlighten us what that how that's been. speaker-1: Ugh, yeah, he is the best. He texted me before ⁓ the game today and he was like, Good luck today like I feel the nostalgic through the f nostalgia through the phone, like, you know, we met here so it's just been insane to like drive throws of Gainesville again and feel the memories come back of when we met and being able to, you know, pull up his game on my phone as I'm, you know, playing in the alumni match and being able to support each other and the flexibility of having a amazing off season so I can go and and support him too, which is is so fun. So speaker-0: Do we have the travel schedules filled figured out when you can go to Kansas City, when he can come to the Orlando? speaker-1: I try my best but sometimes, you know, there's those last minute flights that, you know, sneak in the cracks, so yeah. speaker-0: No, it's perfect. Well, Ellie, we are so looking forward to seeing you in Orlando this coming season. Thank you for be having us out here to be able to watch you today. ⁓ it was awesome. speaker-1: Coming and hanging out. So yeah, it was so fun. speaker-0: Anna, first off, just want to start. This was just so amazing to see you play in the alumni match. You were ripping it along I've been saying to to Marley and to Ellie too, this was a real match, it looked like this was not just an exhibition. But what was it like to be out there? speaker-1: Thank you. Thank you. It was just so fun. Well, for one, Ellie and I mean Ellie and Annie Kate, we were roommates here at UF. And of course I gotta play with Ellie in Atlanta at a time. I was with Marley for a short period and Kennedy Muff came in. I hadn't played with her since like my last match ⁓ here at UF. And so just to have us all in the same room and then getting to play together was such an amazing experience. And even a couple of the gators who came over and played on our side, those were some of the freshmen when I ⁓ Fifth year senior, so it was really fun to see them and also get to play with them again. speaker-0: What kind of memories does it bring back to know to be back here, to be wearing gaitors colors and to, you know, just be kind of back in the college experience? speaker-1: Yeah, I feel like my senior year, ⁓ we still talk about it all the time. We called it Barbie Land because it was just everybody was so happy and just had so much gratitude coming into practice or lift, whatever it is. We made sure to make that perspective change as soon as we stepped into facilities. And so I feel like it was just a good reminder of like, okay, this is an amazing experience, like a the culture that we built that I can still take into to prove showing up with gratitude each day and I don't know, I play they have a lot of joy, so it was fun to to play with them. speaker-0: Been a recurring theme and I love that Barbie land. I'm whatever remember that. But that's been a recurring theme. We we talked to Marley about that as well. And I'm curious, you know, you've been part of a couple different environments, different team environments, and then you know, this season, which we'll get to here because you've signed with Columbus. But how do you know when you have that right environment? I mean, whether that's throughout the college process or the professional process now, where you know that this is gonna be Barbie land too, or you know, you have a team that has that kind of environment. speaker-1: Yeah, I feel like it's kind of what you make it. And I think that's something that we decided as a team ⁓ in preseason of like, okay, what we want to win a national championship. What does that look like? And so we made our rules of like, okay, our locker rooms are safe space, but we have a time of when we're done complaining because even if we're sore, we know we're sore, we have to move on. But ⁓ I think that w even with Pro, it was so nice having Marley and Ellie who came from that same culture and like standard for each other. ⁓ So we could push each other in that too. And I feel like it's it was great in MLV too because a lot of girls are coming from similar programs with the same values and the same motives. And it was kind of effortless, ⁓ getting to play with a lot of the girls from different colleges. But speaker-0: How does ⁓ the twenty twenty six Gator squad look? speaker-1: Good. They're really good. They have some hammers. It was so fun to see them and even ⁓ like Taylor Parks looks amazing. She I rehabbed here for a year, so I gotta watch them her freshman year and they all they look amazing. So it's really fun to watch them. speaker-0: And I wanna talk more about you. You signed to Columbus, you're reuniting with former Gator Dave Booz. Yeah. ⁓ yeah speaker-1: Yeah, it was amazing. I ⁓ I'm trying to think of when our ⁓ whenever free agency signed, he was my second phone call and I was like, I had to pinch myself. Like there's no way would get the chance to play for him again. I he developed me so much my fifth year, and I think a lot of times people think, ⁓ you're a senior, like you know how to play, like I'm gonna let you do what you've been doing your whole career. And he came in and completely changed ⁓ my style of play and just helped my ⁓ IQ grow a lot, my fifth year. And so I think to have him again, I'm just really excited to see what he does at the pro level and I know a lot of the girls in Columbus are excited for that too. speaker-0: Can I ⁓ ask more about that just 'cause like you seem like a very confident player in your style. I can never imagine you're a way. What were what were some of the specific things that you might have changed or noted that you kind of used to play like that you kind of should? speaker-1: Yeah. He he helped me know what to think about. I don't know if that makes sense. So I w I was like, I was a very, I was a C-ball, hit ball type of player and pray that it works out and figure it out from there. And so I think he just helped me really break down ⁓ the game of more of what the other team's scheme is, how we can create big seam situations with our setters, ⁓ decision making, what to r how to read, what to look for, our blockers on defense. ⁓ I could I couldn't even but get into going detail about all of it, but he was I called it like the Hogwarts of volleyball when I got here because he's just he's a wizard with what he knows about the game. And so ⁓ he opened up a lot for me, ⁓ mentally. speaker-0: I mean, w we'll need like ⁓ multiple hours to get into all of the awesome references you're dropping through which is just so great. But that's for episode two when when that comes. But you know, to more of a serious note, I mean, have you looked at at w or what was your thought of just how they were constructing the roster and not to put any undue pressure, but you know, replacing like Raina Terry and yeah, coming in and needing to you know, I th I think it was no secret that they're looking to kind of completely revamp obviously what's going on in Columbus, but what did you just make of the way that they built the team, including you on it? speaker-1: Yeah, a lot I mean, obviously I get to play with Ava Martin and Avery Carlson again. I'm super excited. Ava's from Kansas City, Reagan's also from Kansas City. I got a little bit of time with my Mai, and from what I know about the girls coming in, they're really, really hard workers and they're really, really good people. And so Dave and CK have made a point of like, I want to create an environment where people want to show up to work every single day. Like they feel happy, they feel joyful when they're coming in, but we're also gonna learn a lot and work really hard. And so Just from those conversations I've had with those girls, I know that's the environment, that's something that they already do as people. And then to have staff who are also implementing that at the same time. I'm just really excited to see how it happens. speaker-0: What ⁓ what lessons did you take away from Atlanta? speaker-1: I would say performing in high pressure situations. I was a dov sub the last two years and honestly it was really fun. Like I knew my role was the the spark plug, the the energy to come in when the team needed it. And so yeah, to come in and perform in those tight set situations, like I honestly had a blast. And it was a great learning lesson for me. And ⁓ the game is also just so much fun. Faster and everybody's reading your shots. The blocker the middle blockers are insane in the league. And so it was a lot of ⁓ learning how to mix up my shots and find new ways to to score. speaker-0: I'm nerding out at all of the ways that you're talking about kind of what works best for your game. I I love it. And I'm if I can kind of put the capper on that is what are the characteristics of a system that you feel you play the best in? speaker-1: Hmm, I would say I am very, I need a little bit more structure for myself. Like, I I play very, very free and a lot of energy, a lot of passion. So I think having a an environment that kind of helps me hone that energy into more ⁓ analytics and logistics is super helpful for me. ⁓ but yeah, also freedom to just try new things. Like we're trying to grow the game in the league and ⁓ if that's with different shots are well taken a lot from overseas in the the midtens game as well, of how can we change the game and ⁓ I don't know, shatter our ceiling too. We talked about that at Van D volleyball camp. I loved it of like how can we push ourselves to find new ways to score, try new things on defense and grow the game for the next generation. So yeah. speaker-0: I and I wanna go back. I'm kind of sort of doing your career in reverse order here, but I I wanna ask because i from my opinion, you know, just kind of seeing you from the outside, you seem like a very resilient player. And to me, that's highlighted by how you dealt with the elbow and wrist injury in twenty twenty three and unfortunately cutting that season short. But how difficult was it for you to overcome that going into your pro career and how did you overcome that to be the amazing player that you are? speaker-1: Yeah, thank you. It was really it was tough because I I think it I got injured I think four games before the cutoff ⁓ to get my senior year back. And so I had came here as a prep year to prepare me for the draft. And so I felt really good. I've never really struggled with any major injuries until then, but ⁓ I think I gotta spend a lot of time with myself outside of volleyball and spent more time with my family, with my friends, and it was good to ⁓ have that year to focus on myself like mentally and physically. But coming in it was really hard because of course we have we have cuts, but the more you think about it, the more I would like get overwhelmed. So I just tried to keep reminding myself each day in training camp of like, okay, remember when you were just dying to pepper with somebody in the backyard or remember you were dying to be a part of the team and I think I missed the little things a lot like bus rides or traveling with them, getting ready in the locker room. So I just try to stay more in the present moment and enjoying every every practice, every rep that I could. speaker-0: Is it hard to find you outside of volleyball? I feel like that's sometimes something that comes up when I talk to different athletes with different dispositions, is sometimes that person aside from the sport is hard to find. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, I think for me, I kind of give credit to my my parents and my siblings. They really like helped me with that in high school. So I really, I thankfully did not struggle with it as much in college. I think that fifth year I definitely did just because I had plans of okay, yep, I'm gonna finish my senior year at Florida, I'm gonna go play pro or go overseas, whatever that might look like. And it was more of that transition of okay. If I don't have this, what career am I gonna do? Like we don't have time to do internships, get part-time jobs in colleges. And so ⁓ I don't know, for me, I'm like, ⁓ wow, ⁓ this is my chance now to figure out what else I'm good at outside of it. I feel like I had I knew myself outside of it and knew what I like to do, my hobbies, but career-wise, I'm like, okay, what else am I good at and how can I make this a career when I'm done? But I've thankfully been able to keep playing, so we'll cross that bridge again. Yes, when it gets there. speaker-0: I took you into the introspective and then to to come back on the other side of it with hopefully something else that ⁓ has helped life outside of volleyball. I believe through research I saw a canine furry friend that was part of ⁓ finish this up here by telling us about your speaker-1: Yes, yes. ⁓ my gosh, that's my puppy Nico. I got him during COVID. ⁓ we had all online classes. We'd have like two hour practice a day and lift and then I was able to come home and be with him. But I will take him to Columbus next season. But he's great. It gets me outside, do a little recovery walk after practice and no, he's been awesome. So speaker-0: What are some of your favorite things about his personality? speaker-1: He's very hyper, like very hyper and I don't know he's a mini golden doodle, so I don't know if you know much about doodles. They're humans basically in dog form. So he's very needy, wants a lot of attention, but yeah, he's a cuddler. speaker-0: I'm hoping that you'll introduce us when we meet him in Columbus. And we are so looking forward to seeing you in Columbus. But we were also so happy to see you here in Florida and it was just an awesome experience. And thank you for sitting down with us here. speaker-1: You thank you so much. speaker-0: A huge thank you once again to the Florida Gators, to Marley, to Anna, to Ellie, and for an all-around amazing time being there in Gainesville. ⁓ Jen, I'll I'll throw it over to you for the first reactions. ⁓ what would you make of the interviews and ⁓ yeah, just y even even anything from our time in Gainesville? Honestly, I just hitting the road with you guys is just a hoot and a half. No, that would be a vlog, but alas. ⁓ no, I honestly it was really great being back in Gainesville. ⁓ I'm gonna go throw in my own little plug. my coach from Marquette, Ryan Tice, is now the head coach of the Gators. So that was really great to see him again. But in thinking about our athletes, our gators, I think it's really cool that Marley and Ellie are able to go back and be hometown heroes and continue to play pro volleyball so close to where they grew up. ⁓ they both went to Florida. They're both from the area. I think that's awesome. And kind of like what I mesh mentioned in the intro. When Marley was talking about some of the early season struggles that the Mojo ran into, I think it was really interesting that Alicia believed in the team that she had selected and chose to get better with that team. I think that's a really, really awesome message that sometimes gets lost in the pro game in a sheer flutter of panic, right? Because the coach's job is just as tenuous as a player's job in the pro leagues. And so sometimes there can be a lot of flurry of activity to ⁓ find solutions when sometimes you just might need some time. But yeah. I loved hearing about the different ⁓ different paths and points in their career. Specifically I loved when Anna talked about Florida being like Barbie land. I thought that was great and funny. Yeah. ⁓ and I I also loved her answer on sort of finding ⁓ becoming a a better player after working with Dave Booz I thought was really good. ⁓ I'm excited to see her in his system again in ⁓ Columbus. ⁓ and then, you know, listening to to Marley talk about her joy of the sport, to Ellie talking about being an aunt was great. And so ⁓ the different the different points and and and what generation are Ellie's nieces? What generation is that? 'Cause that's that was crazy. I had never heard any of those things even remotely. That's not Jen Alpha, right? That's over. No, I think it's one beyond. Fate I have no idea. I'm the wrong one. That seems scary. 'Cause we keep making fun of ourselves for not understanding I'm sat and like. Well you got it. I I didn't get it. So No, but that's old already. If these kids these days are saying other stuff. I can't keep up. More in the real talk vein, ⁓ Anna Dixon continues to be my relatable queen. ⁓ she and I played a season in Atlanta together, so that's how I got to know her. I particularly loved, and I wrote this down and highlighted it with my pink highlighter, hashtag BarbieLand. Yeah, before I worked with Dave, it was sort of seaball, hit ball, and prey, which is accurately describes my entire beach volleyball career. And frankly, my entire career as a whole. So now I'm not a highball hitter like her, but seaball, hitball, prey. ⁓ can Coach Booz fix me too, please? It's not too late. I need hill. Columbus isn't too far away. We can find out. We're I'm I'm going back, guys. We're going back. Season four. Just Time machine that's this ish. Jenna, let's let's move on to the segment that I've been looking forward to getting to. This was born out of us sitting ⁓ courtside at ⁓ first serve and coming up we still talk shop while we're watching the matches. And ⁓ Jenna I I'll give her like ninety percent credit for this. I I chimed in with some of my opinions, but Jenna came up with this ⁓ this new segment that we're calling Six Takes. Get it? Set six, six takes, yeah. ⁓ you're you're so funny. Where where we are gonna go alternate ⁓ three takes each, ⁓ combined for six takes. And ⁓ yeah, I think this could be fun, ⁓ fun segment. So we're not gonna explain it too much. We're just gonna launch into it. But Jenna, please lead us off on six takes. And and if you'd like to add any more context, you may. So my context for six takes is you know how I gave that really reasoned analysis about the current state of the industry and how we had some really key stakeholder meetings? Yeah, this is very thought on professional. Yeah, this ain't that. My first take, six on six in your college warm-up is stupid. It's stupid. Why? You ha because I swear to God, you you have an hour of elaborate warmups where you start with your little activation exercises and then we move into bigger and bigger stretches, and then we get the ball and we do some ball control. Defense warm up, sure, totally. Having coaches hit down balls at you to feel the groove, right? Exactly. These warm-ups are to get you in the Feeling, right? The groove. You have to to quote one of my foreign coaches, it is important to have good feeling. I have not found a way to express that in proper English. Anyway, that's what these warmups are for. The six on six warm-up is telling me that, I don't feel ready to go full go. I need to you know, I'm I'm a slow starter. No, ma'am. Notice I subbed that for a different word. No, ma'am, you're an athlete. Just because you're not professional doesn't mean you're not an athlete. You just spent an hour warming up. If you're not ready to go, that's on you. Get it together, figure it out. Fix your head. This was the take that that spurred this entire segment. So I'm glad that's good ⁓ yeah, I think I saw Texas doing it. I'm like, that's stupid. That's wrong. Bad. Have you talked to coaches about this? I mean, I've been an athlete for so long, so my opinion in this way. I mean it does matter. It didn't matter. But no, I have not. Once I join a coaching staff, potentially. You'll ha you'll have to tell Tice about it. See see see if he runs any six. No, so Tice so Tice eliminated it. We did it in twenty fourteen, at least. 'Cause that was the only time I got to play because I was redshirted, right? I was like, Yeah, look at me go. Wow. ⁓ no, I made an error on the one ball. I'm gonna get set tonight. Dang it. So he eliminated it at some point. I don't know. So I think Ryan's pretty smart. My my first take is go back to physical tickets. I this is for all walks of life. I just had to buy or not had to. I just tried to buy concert tickets the other day. For some reason they were only on Axis and it was impossible to It seems so fake. It is. It I think it is. I'm I'm an Axis hater. Just in general, not not even calling out specific brands or or companies. It's just like sometimes it shows up in your wallet, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't update. you know, the the seat number is wrong or if I'm trying to get into a match, ⁓ like your your phone screen isn't bright enough to to click to, you know, accept the ticket. I just whatever it is, if you lose your physical ticket, the only person you can blame is yourself. And maybe we have the the tickets, you know, maybe you have the non physical one as like the backup. So like they have a record of that you bought the ticket and that's great. But yeah, sorry. That was a recent pet peeve of mine of like I miss physical tickets. Bring what happened to Will Call, really? Will call was great. Probably two big lines there. You know, I'm sure there's a whole bunch that's, you know, everybody's like, it's well, it's more it's more ⁓ convenient. Now that's fine, but think of the times when it hasn't been convenient, when it hasn't showed up on your phone, when it's in the wrong wallet, when you've forgotten your password. I swear it's like breaking into the Pentagon firewall to relog into your ticket base sometimes. I'm like, It's me. I bought a ticket to this. No one else has. Let me Or you or you somehow log in on like a slightly different email address and there's no tickets. You're like, Cool, the thing I spent two hundred fifty dollars on. isn't here apparently. Exactly. Okay. It's gonna okay, this actually ties back to twenty fourteen a little bit. I also get very irrationally angry if your headband does not match your teen colors. You are given a beautiful uniform. Matches, thought out. Someone has given you shoes. They even give you the socks, especially in college. And then you slap a blaze pink headband on there. It doesn't match. I think back Mar Marquette, we are blue, we are gold, we are white. Why do you have a neon pink headband? You are not special. You were just given this entire set of clothes. You even got the sweats and the backpack to match. And then you put that on your head? It always rubbed me the wrong way. And you know what? I walked the walk because freshman year, twenty fourteen in Marquette, I wore a navy sweatband. Not just a headband, it was a whole sweatband. Don't know where I got this from. I had multiple of them 'cause they got kind of gross. But I had my I had my good, my nice game sweat. Yes. Yes, it was. Although as it got sweaty, it got lighter, which was gross. And you know what, Sev? I wore it until the day I'm gonna call him out by name. A man by the name of Chris Nook. He was our volunteer assistant. Again, I was red shirt in twenty fourteen. You know, do my warm up and stand on the bench, I'm ready to cheer for my team and carry the water as you do. And he's like, Jenna. Like, what's up, Chris? He's like, What you wearing a sweatband for? I'm like, it's my headband. He's like, Well, you're not sweating, you don't play. And I was just Jaw dropped on the floor, little 18-year-old Jenna. Mortified. I never wore it again. Which realistically is probably the right choice. But yeah, it's entirely accurate. I'm redshirted. By definition, I will not be playing. What am I doing on the sidelines wearing a sweatband? Guys, someone, I needed someone to look out for me. My second take is. I hate sponsor patches on jerseys and I think they're the worst thing to happen to sports. Now let me preface this by saying when a sport has made itself a thing with sponsor patches, that's fine. I have no problem with, you know, when you see in soccer what you see in again, I reference F1 a lot. So Formula One. ⁓ I have no problem with ours because we have established that and it's not one big patch. I'm so this is no no shade to specifically Wisconsin, but I noticed this on their jersey when we were playing when they were playing. And I just it's such a clean uniform. And I get that all sports are doing this now. But look, so that was the one that jogged my memory. But like whatever your sport you're watching, like baseball, why do I have to see a a sponsor patch now on the Yankees? Like why is there mass mutual on the Red Sox? Why is there VistaPrint on the Celtics? Like I don't these are classic uniforms. VistaPrint seems so Junkie. Doesn't work. Somehow. Doesn't work. ⁓ Even on the I mean I'm I'm naming all Boston teams, but like Rapid Seven on the Bruins. First off, it's black and white. So like at least Wisconsin made theirs like red and and white, so that's fine. But like these classic uniforms from these places that don't need the sponsor money. I'm just gonna say it. Like, that's I don't know. I I don't like it. I don't like it when you have the established for years and years and years, never like you have the clean uniform. And then all of a sudden, bam, just because you're already getting hit in the face with so much advertising. It's like, do we really need to do it now here on this? Yeah, I noticed it on NBA guys all of a sudden, because I was like, wait a minute, is that Motorola? I think Bucks have Motorola for some reason. And like, it's just a sellout, man. Yeah. And this is this is when we decided into our full punk rocker. God, you're just you're just a bunch of sellouts. Ticketmaster's the worst. Another casualty of society. God. I'm gonna go cry in my room, Mom. I think I think there's ways to do it really well. And maybe that's what I'm really, you know, against. Like again, to go back to F1, like the shell is so synonymous with Ferrari. Yeah. Versus like if you look the way that you know the giant blue HP logo on the red Ferrari, like can we at least change the colorway? Like, no, it's gotta be just a big blue HP on on the perfect red Ferrari. Like, what do we have to do that for? And you know, just back in the old days, the way that They used to incorporate all the different ⁓ the the different ways. I mean, unfortunately, one of the companies that used to do it really well was cigarettes. Like Camel and and Marlboro used to l have really great advertising looks that just seemed like they fit in best with the uniforms and now it's just now it's whatever. So that's my writ. As I learned about marketing, man. I'm aware that smoking is bad. Kids, smoking is bad. They just made cigarettes look so cool. And that was the point. Jenna, let's give our final, our final s ⁓ take of six takes before we move on. And the reason why we saved this one for last is because we have some crossover with this one. ⁓ my God, you're making it sound so premeditated. Anyway. So my thing is I still believe in the purity of college sport. You should not have a name on the back of your jersey because you're going to college and you're playing for the name on the front, and you need to earn it and prove it to play for the name on the back. You play so hard for the name on the front that you earn the name on the back, kind of thing. That's my take. I think I almost threw up a little bit in my mouth there. You're hearing you go, you play for the name on the front. ⁓ my god. Yes, you play, ⁓ my God. Dude, are you not a team player? Team Spirit, dude. Rudy too. I'm not a sports fan. I don't get that. I don't understand your reference. I don't I don't agree with that take at all. I think especially if you're like you're you're paying so much money to go to these schools probably or someone's paying so much money for you to go to that school that you know you're going to be a a part of that program forever. You should be able to have your name there. I got paid to go to Marquette and I was gonna do everything Marquette said. They bought me hand bought and sold. Thank you very much. I will do everything I can. And I remember when I got my first team USA jersey for the college national team and it had my name on the back. And I still remember that feeling in my stomach, like just absolute butterflies, chills, like I knew I had done something. Something special. But most people aren't gonna get to that level. So I mean that's really cool. That's the first time you saw your name on that jersey. You know, if if you're a kid whose capped spot is college, they're not gonna play afterwards. Like that's the only time they get a jersey and it doesn't have their name on it. Yeah. Pro athletes get their name on jerseys. ⁓ God, no, I sound terrible. But I mean, you still get to frame your jersey. Hell, I'm not framing my Marquette jersey ⁓ with my bet the with the back, even if I had my name on the back, which I didn't. I'm still framing that jersey. Marquette University jersey photo, you know, all the little bits in the shadow box. I'm currently hoarding those for the future. ⁓ that's another story. I have one right next to me that I need to use for this, so I'm with you. ⁓ sick. No, I'm saying, again, so when you frame it, you're what what side are you framing? You're not framing your back. That's just the most self-congratul congratulatory thing I've ever seen. If you if you had a jersey with your name on it, you would you would frame the front? Yeah. I don't agree. Okay. Well, ⁓ okay, now I have three. ⁓ well, I've got I've got a set of three from each team I played on. So I need one of the front. I think if I had a patch for so like the final four patch, like if I had that. Good patches. Different, different from the sponsor patches. If I had like a final four patch of the I like these patches, but not these patches and ⁓ no doctors. So trust me, like there are good patches and there are bad patches. For all of you watching at home, I'm currently envisioning my Midwest basement slash bar slash man cave, which if you're from the Midwest, I hope you'll understand and know exactly what I'm talking about. 'Cause this this is where these are all going. They're all currently in storage as I live in a 700 square foot apartment. But when we get the walkout basement slash bar slash man cave, that's where these are all going. But no, I think I think with my pro jerseys, yeah. I'll just do a really big one, one facing forward and one facing back. But again, I know what my name is. Fair enough. Jenna, let's ⁓ move on to our last couple items, which are we do one mailboy question. We have We have a couple. We have one mailbag question. This comes from a DM from Aaron who was ⁓ chiming in on our topic from last week. ⁓ which of course w we talked about the robot at Fox Sports for so long we forgot to actually mention their name, which is Cletus. And so Aaron asks, What would the volleyball robot be named? And then ⁓ mentioned it couldn't be Pepper, 'cause Pepper is taken, obviously. I mean it probably should have been Pepper, but alas, Pepper's the right thing. I think the ones that are overdone but that you just have to already put in are spike. Yeah. And ⁓ what was the other one I had? Val the volleyball? No. Val? No. ⁓ Val could work. But then then you're just kind of you're you're kinda leaning in towards Valkyrie's territory there. That's true. I think the right answer is just to buy the naming rights to Pepper. Stick a sponsor patch on her. Well, we'll think Well, because you said you had a second name, though. I know, and I forgot what it was. I can't figure out where I where I wrote it down. But well I'll we'll think about it more. But it's a good it's a good question that maybe others can chime in on what you would name the the volleyball version of the Fox Sports robot. ⁓ man. Before we go any further off the rails, let's let's get close to wrapping it up, Jenna. What are we doing? Seminar is going off the rails. The cat is on the desk. What what are we up to? ⁓ what are we up we up to coming up? I know that ri next week will be ⁓ our reaction from NorCal and the reveal that they will be in San Jose ⁓ and plan and their arena ⁓ reveal as well. ⁓ Tex Yu Arena was the the arena in San Jose. And then ⁓ we mentioned obviously that we will be going to Wrigley on September 6th. And ⁓ now that DC is teasing things, maybe that's coming up soon. I don't know. Yeah, man. Hit the road. I want you to go see. ⁓ I did hear tell that some associates of ours are currently touring the DC venue, so it does exist. Please stay tuned to our socials. ⁓ MLV on pretty much everything. And ⁓ we look forward to being back with you for episode 20 next week of the set six podcast. But that's gonna do it for episode 19. ⁓ Jenna, thank you so much. This was fun. And ⁓ please continue to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Thank you to Mike, Amy, and Jenna for helping produce this pod. It doesn't happen without them, and it doesn't happen without you. ⁓ for now that is all. Thank you so much for listening to Set Six, and we'll see you next time. See you later.