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KP HERE! The podcast interviews college coaches, high school athletes and other leaders in men's volleyball. The topics that are discussed on the show is how boys' volleyball is growing in the USA, club volleyball, college recruiting and other volleyball topics.
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Season 4, Episode 15 Division III Coaches Huddle
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KP Sits Down with NCAA Division III men's volleyball coaches to discuss the 2026 NCAA men's volleyball season. Joining KP is Glenn DeHaven (Juniata), Evin Giglio (Wentworth), Doug Burchett (Dominican) and Rob Wingert (Misericordia). Also, Christian Taylor of Randolph-Macon joins the show.
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Well, KP here, and welcome to the Kevin Pratt Podcast. We have the NCAA Coaches Huddle. It's an exciting time in NCAA Division III volleyball. Um, we're gearing up towards the end of the year. We got about a month left, and we have a real treat today. We have Coach Christian Taylor, who we're gonna introduce in a little bit from Randolph Macon. They're obviously coming off of a huge win against Southern Virginia. It's gonna be a great show tonight. We'll go around the horn to say our hellos and then we'll introduce Coach Christian in a second. Coach Evan, coming from California, back in Boston. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I just want to issue a blanket apology up front, just for anything that I say on this podcast today. Just know that I'm kind of cranky, a little sleep deprived. I already stole a question from Doug, so shout out Doug. Appreciate that. So you might not be getting my A plus work, but I'm feeling uh I'm feeling pretty loosey goosey here. So, Rob, uh might be hurling some insults your way, more so than usual today.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, that's when I think Coach Evans at his finest, and uh I am excited for this show then. Uh we got Coach Doug out in uh Chicago. How are you doing, Coach?
SPEAKER_00What's up, KP? It was 70 degrees here in Chicago today, so I am doing very, very well. Sorry to rub that in your face.
SPEAKER_01Nice little heat wave in uh Chicago, love it. And then we got Coach Rob, how are you doing in Pennsylvania?
SPEAKER_02Good. Despite having to watch our practice, which ended about 30 minutes ago, I do think I'm gonna keep my dinner down during the podcast tonight. Things are things are looking up for me.
SPEAKER_01Nice, nice. Glad you're being healthy. And speaking of health, our good friend Coach Glenn is a little under the weather. Uh, his team just traveled to Southern Virginia and now he's back home. So he's taking the uh night off for the podcast, and that flu has been getting everyone, it seems like. So uh I hope he is resting up. And then most importantly, maybe arguably tonight, we have Coach Christian on who's doing an absolute great job at uh Randolph Macon. It's in the Virginia area, a little outside of Richmond. And uh, like I said, I'm sure he's gonna talk about it coming off of a huge win against Southern Virginia, doing some great things in that area. And I met Coach Christian on the recruiting trail a few times at tournaments, and good guy, growing the sport the right way. But Coach Christian, why don't you uh say hello to the listeners and thanks for coming on?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, thanks, KP. I appreciate you guys having me on. Uh, been listening to the the podcast last couple of years, so excited to get the opportunity to join you guys tonight. Like you said, we're located about 20 minutes north of Richmond in lovely Ashland, Virginia, uh, which everyone around here calls it the uh the center of the universe. Um, which if you guys get the chance, come on down to the uh center of the universe. And uh, Rob, you've been down uh to lovely Ashland at 79 today, so definitely no complaints at all. It's been it's been great weather here, and you know, it's exciting pulling into campus in the morning and seeing all the guys outside and enjoying the weather.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and uh we'll move on to our next section then. You know, I'll I'll start it off is how long have you been coaching and you know, what do you really enjoy about Randolph Macon as a university and also like coaching your squad?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so this is my fifth year as a head coach at Randolph Macon. I was an assistant for two years before that. Uh, you know, I think you know, one of the main things that really stands out about the college as a whole is just our commitment to our students, not you know, from a four-year standpoint, but you know, for the rest of their lives. You know, our career center is available for our students even after they graduate. Um, so we just had a career fair on campus two weeks ago. You saw people in their 30s and their 40s on campus, meeting with different companies, being able to bring in their resumes, be able to network. I think that's a pretty unique thing. They still do like interview training, resume building for any alumni that's interested. And so being able to give back to alumni when they're in in that job search process, I think is pretty unique and something that our guys uh take full advantage of when they're at school with us and then once they graduate as well. I'm I'm lucky, I know Evan, you joked uh that on the podcast last year, like being able to coach a lot of the guys that I've coached in club, um, and being able to continue coaching them through their college career and see them grow from being high school boys to you know young men um and seeing that development on and off the court is is something that I've uh I've really loved being a part of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh coach Doug, what question do you have for a coach?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Christian, so as it relates to recruiting with your roster, I'm kind of seeing a majority of your roster is from the Virginia area. So talk to us kind of about like recruiting in your region and what makes Randolph make an kind of uh a selling point for Virginia athletes to stay kind of kind of in in your area.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, we've been really lucky. A lot of guys that, you know, have come up in Richmond or Virginia Beach have elected to stay closer to home and be closer to their families while you know still getting a good education and playing college ball. Um and we've been been lucky to provide that. Um, you know, we've you know been able to develop our our relationships with with club directors like Matt McLaren at Coastal has been huge for us. And um, you know, having that sort of relationship with with club directors where you know you're able to, you know, get into their get in and watch their practices early on, see them at tournaments consistently, uh, I think it's been been really big for us. But you know, with us being you know about an hour and a half from DC, 20 minutes from from Richmond has been huge from a an internship selling standpoint. We have what's called a J term. And so instead of a May master that a lot of schools have, um during January, all of our students only either take one class or they have an internship. So a lot of our our students are graduating with summer internships, January internships, and that look really good from a resume standpoint when they start applying for jobs. I mean, I think that's been a a really big piece of our our recruitment.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's good stuff. And Coach uh Rob, what question do you have for uh Coach Christian?
SPEAKER_02Christian, how does it feel to be the second best Stevenson setter turned head? No, I'm kidding. But on a very real note, um you're you're one of the few guys, I would say, in in the 2010s era of volleyball who transferred, you know, before the transfer portal existed, before it was a really big thing. So just talk about that experience as a transfer student athlete, stepping out of one environment, stepping into another, and you know, navigating that process and and kind of what was your decision making throughout it, and then being welcomed at your new institution.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's uh a great question. It was definitely a very unique experience. Like you said, not too many people had transferred at that point in time. Um I actually graduated in December of my like fourth year from EMU. And so I was looking to continue playing for my my final semester, final year, and you know, with the grad program that Stevenson had, um, it was something that I was looking to, you know, continue with online um grad school, which was a pretty unique opportunity. So that was definitely a selling point. I knew all the guys from the Stevenson team from playing against them in the CVC when I was at EMU and just building connections with them, you know, through, you know, the summer circuit, being able to play with them in different tournaments, play against them in different tournaments, and then also in the regular season. So it was definitely a very comfortable situation to move into, knowing how successful that program had been, and then also looking at something where, you know, how can I be successful post-graduation? You know, what makes the most sense for me from a grad school standpoint? Um, you know, and the the online piece of that was huge, um, where I could go in person for that final semester, be able to play ball, um, and then also be able to come back home, work full-time, get into coaching while finishing up my degree. Um, so that was definitely the the biggest pieces of that, of that decision.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and finally we have, you know, he always comes with good ones. We got Coach Evan. What question do you have for coach?
SPEAKER_04I got two questions. They're not not related at all. Uh, first question, I want to talk about your team this year versus last year, right? NCAA attorney last year, you you're a lot of returners, right? What what do you think's different or is nothing different from last season to this season? You know, if you feel like you guys have taken the next steps or you know, what's what's that look like your you know last year to this year?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, good question. I think, you know, for for us last year, it was, you know, being in the Odak is the first year of the conference. For us, um just being able to, you know, compete within that and trying to, you know, reach our peak. And we definitely had some some speed bumps along the way um to be able to get there. Um but I think you know, getting to our conference championship, winning our conference championship, getting to play in the NCAA tournament, I think was huge from a confidence standpoint for our guys, like knowing that they can compete on that stage. And then coming into this season, we only graduated our OH two and middle two from last year. And so having that same core group of guys return, um, you know, most of them have been starting since their freshman year. And so it's their fourth year, their senior year, and kind of seeing them take all these bits and pieces and from learning experiences along the way and really be able to utilize that and harness that this year has been has been really cool to watch. And so I think you know, the talent's always been there, but you know, could the confidence grow to where it needed to be? Um I think we're we're really seeing that over the last couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_04So my second question, unrelated to the first, is let's just talk about scheduling. Is it for me, I always feel like it's a headache. It's never an easy process. Is it difficult for you to get teams to come down to Virginia to fill your schedule out to get some some more nationally ranked teams on the schedule? How do you navigate that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's been a very difficult process, to be honest. Um, you know, for us in the Odak, we do a double round robin, and we've got nine teams in our conference. So 16 of our play dates are already full and used from conference play. So we only really have six other dates to be able to use. So with that, you do try to, you know, schedule the most competitive schedule that you can. Um, but like you said, it is tough getting teams down here to Virginia to play. You know, not a lot of teams want to travel to the barn at Southern Virginia, so we can't really piggyback off of that too often. Um, but we've been very lucky over the last couple of years. You know, Coach Clint Ajuniata agreed to come down here two years ago, so we're going to play them next year. Beachy at Messiah has been great where they've come down the last two years. We went to them last year, we're going back to them next year. We do a home and away with Southern Virginia, home and away with Marymouth, um, home and away with Stevenson. Um, and just trying to build a competitive schedule, but also not make the guy sit on a bus for six hours to travel each direction. Um, it's been a has been a difficult thing to navigate, but also a fun process as well. And so we've almost finished our schedule for next year. Only got one more play date to kind of play around with right now and and move around. But um, I've gotten really lucky about meeting teams in the middle as well. So, like this year we got to go to Stevenson and we played Mountain Union and Nichols at Stevenson. So getting two teams that were the we're in the NCAA tournament last year um and kind of meet them at a at a more centralized location um has kind of been the the best process for us over the last couple of years. All right.
SPEAKER_04Well, if you make a trip to Boston, I will reciprocate and come to Virginia. Saying right here on the pod, Rob heard it. Okay, you come to Boston, we'll come to Virginia.
SPEAKER_02Is Curtis invited?
SPEAKER_04I like that. Curtis will come, but he's not gonna play against Wentworth. I'll tell you that right now. So he's free to go wherever he likes. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01It's always fun to see you guys navigating your schedules and stuff. And we talked about that in a good way about the podcast, just travel stories and stuff like that. So on to the next part of our podcast. We're gonna start with Coach Doug. Can you kind of highlight what happened with your team and things that happened in the Chicago area?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we only played one match last week against Concordia Chicago, which is actually four blocks down the street. So it's a very quick uh uh school to travel to for a uh an away match, which is great. Picked up a win against them, uh, so had a lighter week for us. A couple other big matches that happened in the Midwest region. Illinois Wesleyan um had a 3-2 win over Loras for the first time in program history. So they had also beat, I think, the week before, uh, or the week before that against North Central for the first time. So Illinois Wesleyan making some moves in the CCIW. And then other big matches I thought were Aurora had a 3-2 win at Benedictine University last week, and then they're they went out to California. I think they're still in California. They might have another match tomorrow, but they picked up a uh win against UC Santa Cruz. Uh so I thought uh so yeah, Aurora kind of having a solid week, and I think they they played today and might have picked up two more ones. So Aurora had a good week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned how close you are to Concordia Chicago because I had the pleasure this fall doing that little recruiting trip. And I bring that up, Coach Doug, because I applaud that you two coaches, you know, at those universities. You actually sometimes will even choreograph and work together so the recruit you you know they're gonna see both campuses, you're fine with it, and you will get on the phone with that coach be like, Yep, I'll take them from nine to noon. Why don't you take the recruit from two to five? I think it's really cool because that's what you basically did with me, you know. Like I hung out with you, and I literally you're right, it's four blocks. Like I just took my rolling suitcase and walked down the road a little bit and uh went to another university. So good stuff there. And why don't we go? So, Coach Evan, can you talk about the Boston area and then I'm gonna whip it back to you at the end, and you'll maybe talk a little bit about the California teams that you saw too. So we'll start with the Boston teams, and you can talk about your team if you want to.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I can talk about it at the end since we were in California. Uh, but out here, uh, not a ton in that uh I don't think a lot of teams are moving up and down here except for maybe MIT with a big reverse sweep over NYU. Those guys got a lot of freshmen and uh looks like they're continuing to improve and and and play better as that season goes on. Uh, LaSalle continues to cruise. I don't think they've lost a match in a few weeks. Uh, Endicott still sits outside just outside the top 20 with uh most of just conference play left for them until us in the last week. So not a whole lot of movement out here in the Northeast.
SPEAKER_01All right. And then Coach Christian, why don't you talk about your matches and what kind of went on on around the Virginia region?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we had five matches last week. We played Merrymount Tuesday night, got a 3-0 win there. We played a double header against Averett on Wednesday. You know, with weekday matches, something new that we're doing in our conference is playing two matches on the same night for a weekday. So if you're traveling four hours instead of doing, you know, eight hours on a bus and playing one match and coming home, it's eight hours and you get two matches while you're there on a Wednesday. Um, we started that last year and it's it's got its pros and cons for sure. But won both of those matches, and then Saturday we had a try match with Bridgewater, which I know you guys had Coach Code uh Colden on a couple weeks ago. Had a tri match with them in Southern Virginia, beat Bridgewater in the first match, and then beat Southern Virginia in three in the second match, which was uh an awesome win for our program and really proud of our guys for that. You know, other matches in the in the Virginia area, um, Southern Virginia um Egyuniata in three on Friday night. Virginia Wesleyan has been a team that's really impressed me out of our state. Um, they're now 16-4 on the season. I know Glenn brought up Jamari last week when you were talking about multi-sport athletes. He's a soccer player that's averaging over five points per set for them um and just really, really doing good things. But yeah, it's uh it was an exciting week in uh in Virginia volleyball for sure.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's good stuff. Congratulations on a big win against Southern Virginia. That's a great program that Coach Peterson does a great job. And you know, it's it's really, I think, exciting how much these teams are um you know beating each other up in a good way. There's a lot of parody, so I think that's good for the sport. Why don't we go back to Coach Evan? Can you kind of maybe highlight the California teams on the West Coast? Because I know you saw them or any updates you have on those squads.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I uh forgot to mention Springfield losing in five. Rob shot me a look. Uh they lost in New Paul's in five. Uh so that's two straight five-set losses for Springfield, uh, which will shake up the poll quite a bit when we start talking about that. Out in California, we played some matches. It was really nice. The beach, that is, great weather. Cal Lutheran, Santa Cruz, us, Aurora, Kane, Baldwin, Wallace, and Wabash. And there's a lot of teams out there. We came on the front end. Uh, Santa Cruz's looked good. They lost in a five-setter to Aurora, as Doug mentioned. They're playing games as of right now. Cal Lutheran looked really strong as well. Kalloo and Santa Cruz don't play each other. Um, they're saving those matches till later during the season. Uh but Kalou beat us. Uh they beat Baldwin Wallace. Uh, believe they beat Kane already. Uh they have Aurora next. And then a couple of those teams are actually following Santa Cruz up north. So they're not going to play Santa Cruz at Cal Lutheran. I think it's Wabash and Kane are going to go up north and and see Santa Cruz up there, if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, California teams looking strong. It's very possible also that Kallo gets some first place votes, you know, in the poll. So it's it's very, very possible.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, thanks for that West Coast update because I know that you were obviously out there. Um, so that's good stuff. And then Coach Rob, we'll end with you on this section. Can you give us kind of that Pennsylvania Northeast uh or New York update?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I gotta start with Fischin talking about Virginia Wesley and Barry's the lead. Uh huge win for those guys over St. John Fisher this past week. So so shout out to VW. And I gotta scold Evan. A couple weeks ago, he came on with a hot take. Something about the UVC being dead on arrival, that the conference was chopped, the teams were bad. I was here saying, guys, they're probably still the best conference in America. Evans insisted, no, they're not. The UVC is so back. We've got to start. Evan kind of mentioned it. MIT 2-0, some really big performances there. NYU with a really nice split. I don't know if you can say that about UVC play all the time, but they sweep Stevens at home before losing to MIT. Tough week for the ducks. They they go down to NYU and to Newpolts. Uh Newpults getting super hot, win over Springfield, win over Stevens. Uh, you can argue that's probably the toughest back-to-back matches you can you can play on an annual basis. You know, just two teams that are perennial Final Four, perennial national championship contenders, and Newpolts takes down both in the same week. Messiah with a sweep over Vassar, which, you know, Vassar's starting to get healthy, they're starting to find their identities. Big win for Coach Beachy's squad. And stepping away from that area, I gotta I gotta give a little pack update. St. Vincent College goes into Greenville, Pennsylvania and gets the sweep over Teal on the road. I think a lot of us had written that conference in stone. Have nobody even see Teal win it. They were really hot in January and February and some big wins. Um, St. Vincent had the inaugural conference championship for the PAC before it was an NCAA tournament bid, I believe. Um, and they're showing they're not DOA. Um, and I know we're about to get into players' shout outs, but his line wasn't great, but his name is gotta give some love to Sean McSwiggan, leading St. Vincent to the to the win over Teal. That's uh it's a legendary name. You don't see a lot of kids out there rocking the McSwiggans. Good work.
SPEAKER_01And you did mention our uh shout-outs to our players, so let's let's go do that right away. We'll start with Coach Evan. Who are some players that stood out to you this weekend?
SPEAKER_04Let me talk first about Jaden Greenwell. Dude is playing manball for Wabash. He's a freshman middle, he's out of indie. He made Connor Foxwell look like a child. Our middle. 14-1 against us. That dude is everywhere. I think he added three aces as well. Good blocker. One of the best freshman middles I've seen in a long, long time. So I think that guy's only gonna get better. Wabash has a lot of guys in the lineup that are freshmen and sophomores being a uh, you know, a newer program. And so I think they're only gonna continue to get better. I was so impressed with him. I told him like twice after the game. And then Braden Gonzalez, the libero for Cal Lutheran. We call him uh aka reverse gigs because he started his career at Springfield and then went to Moor Park, which is the reverse of what I did. And uh I think he's got a chance to be an all-American. You know, I don't I don't know uh too well what the the lib situation looks like in the Midwest, uh, but uh I think Brayton, you know, has got to be in that mix. Statistically, when we looked him up on Blindmetrics, he was passing like a 2-5 on the year, uh, which is is no joke, especially when you consider the Cal Lutheran schedules. Cal Luther's got a lot of really talented guys, uh, but I think that Brayton definitely has a chance to be in that mix as an all-American.
SPEAKER_01Well that's that's good stuff, and then let's move on to Coach Christian, who stood out for you guys, either your team, and you saw a lot of matches this week.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, one guy I want to give a shout out to from us at Randolph Macon is Bryce Matthews. He's a junior right side for us. Um he had 21 points against Southern Virginia, and so being able to have that combination of kills, locks, kisses um was huge for us. Uh our oh went down in the first set, and our basically our third outside guy that would have been first off the bench had the flu. Um so went to our fourth outside from there. So Bryce um really stepped up in a in a time for need against SVU for us. Uh David Ward from SVU. Um I don't know if anyone got the chance to watch that match against Juniada on Friday night. Um, be able to see what he is able to do. He was at Easter Minnesite. for a couple of years and um now over at SVU, he's now fully healthy. He didn't play the first half of the year um coming off a shoulder surgery and knee surgery. Um but he's fully healthy now and um he's been really exciting to watch. And then one other guy I want to shout out is just I know it's been mentioned on here numerous times. Alex Kagoro at Messiah. I mean he is absolutely unbelievable to watch. He went 26 kills, six errors on 51 swings this week, including that sweep of Vassar that you guys mentioned. He's been a stud for Messiah. He's fully healthy again and excited to see what he can do the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_02I think you mean the milkman Christian if you're listening to the show. I do have one question about uh Bryce Matthews.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02So that clip that you posted on Frog Jump or that was posted on Frog Jump did Bryce or your lead assistant coach travel further during that play? Because your assistant took off down the bench like the gym was on fire.
SPEAKER_03So I gotta know who covered more ground during that I'll have to say Bryce um you can't see him he runs out of the clip dives underneath the bleachers on the other side of the gym and then comes back. And we get into a timeout a couple points later and he said he really needed that to be able to collect himself after. So I know he's a he's an unbelievable kid to to coach. And just the energy that he brings is insane. I've never coached anyone like that. I'm sure it's very annoying to play against I'm sure other coaches don't like playing against it but he just has so much fun while he's playing he's always playing with a smile on his face always having a better time than anybody else and it's just been it's been fun to watch but yes that clip basically sums him up in the in the most precise way possible.
SPEAKER_01And Coach Doug, who uh stood out for you over in uh the Chicago area?
SPEAKER_00Yeah I had mentioned Aurora had a pretty good week and one of the guys that I think for them is continuing to get better and better is uh junior opposite SJ Nelson. He I think really started to make solid progress last year in his sophomore year towards the end of the season and then has really just developed into a go-to player for Aurora this year, uh which kind of compliments Josh McClellan. So they have an you know another kind of go-to player that they can go to. He had uh 17 kills against Ben you and then 19 kills against a Santa Cruz for so for two uh big wins for Aurora I think he chipped in 20 points against Benedictine and then added 22 points against Santa Cruz. So he's been fun to watch he's got a high vert um and just plays kind of all out it seems like anytime I've seen them play.
SPEAKER_01And lastly let's go to Coach Rob uh who stood out for you this weekend?
SPEAKER_02Yeah apparently it's uh Libera Love Week we've shouted out a couple different NYU guys we talked a lot about Emerson Evans we talked a lot about the big purple dog Charlie Clifford but I got to give a a quick shout out Bennett Tchaikovsky Bennett if I got your name wrong I apologize. 15 digs in their three set sweep of Stevens he had a bunch of unbelievable ones some open nets on middle some overpasses and overall he's got 36 digs in their seven sets against Stevens this year which is which is a pretty impressive number we haven't made 36 digs this year. So for him to do it against Stevens is is pretty awesome. I'm second guy and I know Coach Gillio's chatted about before um but just got to show him a little love again. Braden Baker for MIT popping off 28 kills in their five set win over NYU got to be the shortest guy since Randy Hansen to post 28 kills in a match against an Ashley ranked team. So really impressive stuff from Braden uh carrying the offense big time for for MIT and what's their biggest win of the season so far.
SPEAKER_01All right so we're gonna move on to our AVCA rankings. Obviously Southern Virginia had a big win against Juniata and then Randolph Macon beat them Springfield obviously went down to Newpole so there's just a lot of good things going on. So I can't wait for these guys to dissect this let's start maybe with Coach Doug. What do you think is going to shake up with the ABCA rankings?
SPEAKER_00So I think what's interesting with Juniata and Springfield losing will Carthage go up to the top spot? But if you look kind of at the breakdown of first place votes from last week Carthage is only getting three of those first place votes Juniata had 12 and Springfield had 16. So Juniata and Springfield very solid teams obviously but people obviously last week didn't think Carthage was enough for a top spot so I'm kind of curious to see if Carthage moves to one or stays at three I'm not really sure. Floris I think will go down a few spots or might go up a few spots. I think Newpaltz will go um up a spot or two and then between us and Illinois and I don't know if we cracked back into the top 20 and Vassar goes down. So I don't yeah I don't know it could be there was a lot of uh shakeups this past week but it's kind of interesting with like you know teams would would lose but then they had a big win so I don't know if that's uh gonna shake things up too much or not.
SPEAKER_01But and then Coach Evan, what are your thoughts on the ABCA rankings will happen this week I don't know Kevin.
SPEAKER_04Here's what I think though okay here's my pitch we just throw the poll out this week okay just run it back the same we make one change okay we just take Wentworth out of the top 20 and put Randolph making in our spot I think we were like 15th. Just make that switch call it a day post it let's move on that's that's my pitch for this week.
SPEAKER_01All right good stuff. Coach Rob, what do you have?
SPEAKER_02I mean for the uh shakeup you think that will happen this week yeah I think um I think a lot of people have hit on some things I I think Doug might be a little too modest. My poll's the only one that matters and I have Dominican ranks so I don't think you have to worry about anything else. I I think we'll see NYU move more than or sorry new polls move more than a few spots I think we'll see Stevens take a bit of a tumble I think MIT is going to take a little bit of a climb. But I was thinking a lot about you know my top five and right now a lot of those teams are in the same boat. They've all got one or two losses you can excuse it for one reason or another this guy was missing we had to play at this venue we had just played so and so but I try to think about you know what what do I know about each program and and what's the biggest guarantee. For me, the biggest guarantee is that when Alex Kagoro is on the floor, Messiah is really tough to stop and they have a lot of certainty about who they are. They have their seven guys they want to play plus their serving sub they have a great sense of identity and how they play. I've never seen a team be so dominant where their 02 only takes five swings in a match but when your right side can take 43 it makes a difference. So I'm putting it out there I submitted it this afternoon I am voting Messiah as my number one team in the country for the first time this year.
SPEAKER_04You know I think it'd be easier to put Messiah number one if BQ was just a nicer guy. You know what I mean? If he was a little bit more likable I could see that but you know it's really tough.
SPEAKER_02When I missed our match he said na na boo boo you couldn't even be here to lose to me. I believe yeah it was it was tough you know it hurt Renee's feelings but I just can't control the actions of a maniac like that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah I get it I get it.
SPEAKER_01Well yeah it's uh I do think we'll have a few things moving around it doesn't surprise me that some of the number top four teams kind of went down there's a lot of parody it's gonna be a fun conference tournament it's gonna be fun to see how the conferences shake up and then obviously the playoffs are going to be a lot of fun too. So um let's move on to some of the big matches that are coming up this week in your region and you can also mention who you guys are playing. Let's start with Coach Christian. What are some big matches coming up for you guys?
SPEAKER_03Yeah one of the ones I was looking at um this upcoming Saturday is a tri match with Roanoke Virginia Wesleyan who Rob mentioned um beat St. John Fisher this past week and SVU. So I think that's gonna be really exciting to see um you know Roanoke against top competition Virginia Wesleyan against top competition and how you know SVU bounces back um going into this weekend. So I think that's that's ours in the ODAC the the big ones and then I know you've mentioned on the show before you know do D3s play Division I Division II schools we've got um Tusculum coming to play us on Saturday in a tri match with Randolph I'm so really excited to um to compete against them. I think it's a unique opportunity for our guys. We haven't played a a D1 or a D2 program in a couple of years so I'm excited to get them on the uh on the schedule this weekend.
SPEAKER_01Awesome and I'll I'll slide in real quick with some West Coast updates. On Wednesday UC Santa Cruz is going to play two matches they're gonna play Keene uh university in Wabash in Santa Cruz that's gonna take place on Wednesday of this week and uh we're airing this show on Monday so it'll be in two days and then Cal Lutheran will be playing Tuesday night which is tomorrow night again the shows aired airs out on Wednesday but they're gonna play Aurora that Doug mentioned that Aurora's still out in the California area.
SPEAKER_04So Cal Lutheran will have a big match Tuesday March 10th so let's move on to Coach Evan what big matches are going on in your region yeah so uh we're playing Mighty on Saturday but what I really wanted to highlight this is what I stole from Doug because I didn't feel like making him talk about himself Dominican and Carthage okay so I think Carthage is going to move to number one that's my guess you know who knows but all these number one teams keep losing right and like Carthage is on like a four match win streak. They haven't dropped a set you know they're just JW's fat and happy over there. You know everything's going real smooth right Doug's had to grind out a little bit more and so non-conference match prying for the number one to fall it's all it's all coming together. So I'm gonna be paying attention to that one and you know if Dominican wins that I might put them in one of my poll the next week I'm just saying I will seriously consider it.
SPEAKER_01Good stuff.
SPEAKER_02And uh what about uh coach uh Rob what's going on with you in your area I just got a text from JW too he said he's got a fresh white button up at the dry cleaners for Saturday. So Doug you might take him down when he's looking his best so that's uh should I wear a white button up too that would be amazing. Kevin you might have to pull the episode until Saturday to keep it a surprise. A little bit slower week I think a lot of spring breaks were where teams are off teams are down or they're wrapping up their spring break trips with matches before the podcast like you had mentioned Kevin. So I got my I in one Springfield MIT is on Thursday. Springfield is is obviously you know bounced back with with two wins over some some lesser competition this weekend but they've struggled going against the big dogs the past few times they've lined it up and MIT's feeling confident they took down NYU and and something that I think is really valuable in playing in Springfield is you want to have some some youthful exuberance on the floor and MIT running so many freshmen out there, they don't they don't care what the MIT record is against Springfield. They just see it as hey it's another chance to play volleyball you know not the program that's dominated our sport for the past 15 years. So I wonder if a little bit of that blissful ignorance is gonna is going to help the MIT guys you know make it a challenge and and that's probably the first time for any of those kids from MIT that a little bit of unawareness could be an advantage for them in their lives.
SPEAKER_01That's uh that's good stuff there. And let's uh move on to and then we have Coach Doug did you talk about your region about the teams that are coming for you guys.
SPEAKER_00Evan obviously touched on our match on Saturday at Carthage the other matches I think that stood out to me and I know you already talked about Aurora Calu tomorrow I think that's a really big match for the this week. I like Mount Union versus Buffalo State Buffalo State's obviously had a really solid season Mount Union has uh you know faltered a little bit but I think they are really really climbing for those those big wins so I think that's a big one this Wednesday for them. And then I have Benew versus MSOE two teams in the neck important you know big match for the both those teams to stay at the top and then the other one is in the CCIW Augustana versus Illinois Wesleyan I already talked about Illinois Wesleyan having a really good season uh I think with their win if uh against Augustana they put themselves if they're not already at at the two spot in the CCIW right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and you know that's good stuff you guys have coming up there's some really good matches I think and it's it's just been an exciting time for NCAA Division III volleyball. We're gonna move on to the last section of our of our show and that's the questions from the fans. So I'll throw a question you guys you guys a few of you can decide if you want to chime in and answer. So NCAA men's volleyball is arguably one of the longest seasons in all the sports you basically start training the first week of school and have a fall tournament and start practicing and have matches in January when you come back for second semester with a full month left basically in the season how do you guys manage your program do you guys still lift weights a ton as a program are the practices about two and a half hours up to three hours still a week and then is there like recovery days you guys give because you guys are also traveling so long in a bus or stuff is there a rhythm and an art to this schedule does anyone want to kind of take a stab at that question?
SPEAKER_02Yeah I can bat leadoff one thing that I think you'll you'll notice with a lot of programs even though our our season is so long matchwise typically most men's volleyball programs are front loaded. So you know we'll play two thirds of our season in the first six weeks and then over the last six weeks we only have a third because as teams get into the conference stretch you you normally tick down. So honestly we do a lot more of our body management in the front half of the season when we're competing at a higher frequency you know those three and four match weekend tournaments playing in the midweek plus two on Saturdays whereas we get later in the season our load actually lightens a little bit our lifts you know still occur twice a week but it's a lot more body maintenance. Training, you know, we'll will tick up, we'll take down depending on how guys are feeling but yeah the most important thing is that you want your student athletes stepping in a match day feeling good feeling fresh and feeling like they can perform to the best of their abilities. For some guys that means continue to lift heavy during the season. For others we've got variable programming and same thing for training you know last year we had a big right side who was taking 60 swings a match he didn't practice super often um this year we don't have anyone who's uh who's taking that kind of offensive workload. Um so most of our guys are are training pretty hard on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_04This isn't really answering the question uh but I do I'm an advocate for moving us more towards an actual spring sport right we're kind of in this hybrid between winter and spring uh and for a lot of us right that deals with facility issues of crossover between us and basketball and I feels like I don't know about you guys but I feel like it's getting longer the crossover like we we just had our spring break right and so now we're going back and this will be the first time that it's just us in the gym. So I I would love to see volleyball become more of a true spring sport. I think that would be really beneficial for our sport for our scheduling and uh it might help with that load a little bit to just to to manage that and maybe a little bit longer of a break between the preseason and our actual season.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I uh I think that there's uh good stuff there. I mean managing a season's really tough and there's there's a lot that goes on and there's a lot of uh traveling and lifting and stuff like that. So I thought you guys did a good job. Uh we have another question maybe uh the two other coaches can chime in is um when you guys play conference so here it is is when you guys play conference sometimes you play a team two three times throughout the season for your program personally do you think that that's an advantage when you play a team a few times or are you kind of a coach in a program are like we only like playing them once and all of you guys can chime in if you want I'm sure it's a preference or maybe the schedule just is what it is. But Coach Christian do you want to start with that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah for sure uh I think I mentioned earlier we're double round robin for our conference so we play every team at our conference twice which like you said it's got pros and cons to it. Usually the lineup you play the first match you're not gonna see that the second match you know as you go throughout a season injuries happen changes happen the different guys stepping up so it definitely you know prevent uh presents a unique opportunity where you know you have your game plan that you that you scouted from the first match and you could have a completely different game plan and scout for for the second match. I think that's one of the things that makes coaching fun is you know seeing the the different chess pieces that that people use how how have they adjusted how have they adapted and evolved and you know being able to identify that for your team you know that's been been one of the most fun parts about being a coach is is trying to analyze that I mean I don't mind it um I definitely see the cons and in it um but you know it's not not too big of a you know a negative thing for me I I enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01Anyone else want to chime in?
SPEAKER_02I'd love to get the CCIW coaches because I feel like they play each other 42 times a year. I was actually just looking back at a couple things the year um 2024 when Loris had their massive run they played Kowloo twice during the year in January and then the NCA quarterfinals they played Carthage three times they played North Central three times like I I feel for you guys in the Midwest Doug like don't you want to see some some different faces across the net like I feel like you guys just rotated you play each weekend.
SPEAKER_00Well it's interesting or so you come to Massachusetts I will go to Illinois we haven't been to Boston in a long time actually it's interesting with CCIW versus the NAC because our conference has we have 12 or 13 teams so we only play everybody once and then you see the CCIW and they only have six total teams so they're playing everybody twice and then you know if it turns into regional rounds are playing a team for a third time. So yeah it's it's interesting just with we all play each other or or most of the teams play each other you know from a crossover standpoint but we only play knack teams once um you know you probably play some CCIW teams more in a season than you play your own conference teams I would bet. There's well so it's interesting like I know what with the NAC what we're trying to look at is like do we have to schedule it's we can schedule teams and a home and away you know playing Loris twice or playing North Central twice. We can travel within an hour distance and play you know really really good volleyball. But yeah our conference is tough with just all the conference dates we have to utilize but uh getting you know I look this this year you know and and then next year playing a conference match but then playing a non-conference match the same day in a try aspect. So just kind of some things we have to navigate with with so many conference teams.
SPEAKER_02As uh as an East Coaster who does that pretty much every weekend it's it's worth the investment.
SPEAKER_01Get gives your guys the spice of variety is the spice of life they they they would love to see you know uh a different guy across the net aside from someone from Marion I'm sure so I can't thank you guys enough this was awesome uh show we did I know you guys some of you travel a lot and we have the daylight savings we're dealing with so it's kind of super late your guys' time I appreciate Coach Christian coming on and um telling us about his awesome program and great wins this weekend. Coach um you know Evan it's always good to see you coach Rob and Coach Doug thanks so much we'll go around the horn real quick before we say our goodbyes we'll start with Coach Christian anything else you want to add?
SPEAKER_03Yeah I want to give a uh shout out to uh my wife and daughter my daughter turns five weeks old tomorrow and so that's been an awesome experience. My wife's been a rock star through it all um but it's been a it's been a unique experience going through this in the middle of our season and but she's been she's been holding it down at home when I'm at practice and matches and um you know my daughter Adley's been been amazing. So definitely want to give them a shout out.
SPEAKER_01Well it's pretty cool we've had a lot of coaches on Coach Christian and there one thing I can say about the coaches in the division three and you know division one and two is family matters. These guys all care about their families and I've had the pleasure with everyone on this call to talk to them about their families and that's pretty cool. And uh congratulations on your newborn and good stuff. Um coach Doug, what do you have for us?
SPEAKER_00KP thanks for another great week Rob glad you were back and feeling better. Evan glad you're back hopefully you're happier the the rest of the week Christian thanks for for joining us this week we enjoyed you having you on okay and then coach Rob what about you?
SPEAKER_02Remember the famous Mark Twain said the reports of the UVC's death were greatly exaggerated and he attributed that too to Evan Gilliel. So just keep that in mind folks.
SPEAKER_04And then Coach Evan you get to uh be the last word of the podcast this week you guys can't see this at home but when Doug had to say like you know Evan have a good week his whole facial expression changed and it was like you could tell it was painful for him to get it out. So the inflection didn't change but you know those those eyes aren't lying Doug.
SPEAKER_01Well you guys have a great week good luck in your matches and thanks again Coach Christian for being on and we'll see you next week.