Court Captains: A Volleyball Podcast

Our final episode of PVF Season two! You may have been PVF-less for the last week but we’re here to help you bring back the good times with memories of the playoffs. We talk through the two semi-final matches as well as the championship: Nikki regales us with Vegas tales (including what ABO means), Kelly wonders what’s happening with Omaha next year, and Ian’s microphone was a bit screwed up.

Thanks for coming along with us this year! Keep an eye out for an occasional episode drop during free agency. As always...

After discussing the all-league team make ups, we come up with our own award categories, mainly based on ~*VIBES*~. Nikki fills us in on some Volleytalk forum drama and we hold a brief in-memoriam for the bottom four teams. Gone, but never forgotten.

 Can’t wait to see you all in Vegas! 

Follow us on Instagram for our commentary and updates: @courtcaptainspod
Got a question or comment? Email us at: courtcaptainspod@gmail.com

Our first Official Media episode that includes press conference Q&A with coaches?! We might be journalists after all.

In the second-to-last week of the PVF, the playoff picture became more clear: Indy official took the fourth slot - but not until after we saw them play Orlando live from Fishers. Shout out to the Ignite Comms team who made us feel SO welcome, we are so grateful to you! We talk our reactions from the match including arena vibes and reactions to seeing and hearing these players in-person for the first time. Let...

We’re back! There was a lot of volleyball to cover over the last 2 weeks. That’s overwhelming, so we barely talk about that! Ian tries to keep us on track with his bucket organization system as we discuss the final push for the last playoff spot. Kelly admits to some infidelity and Nikki gets fired up about some jewelry. 

Follow us on Instagram for our commentary and updates: @courtcaptainspod

Got a question or comment? Email us at: courtcaptainspod@gmail.com

Warning to the listeners, Nikki is mad this episode. She’s mad at Orlando’s staff, she’s mad at Vegas’s coaches, and she’s mad at the PVF transactions rules. She’ll be back to her optimistic cheerleading ways next time, maybe.

We have a lot of drama to talk through this week, which we DO appreciate the PVF for. We discuss Adora Anae’s transfer, her false start for Vegas, and Shime’s absence from the transactions page. Then, tea on some speculations and rumors for 2025!

Match analysis: once again, Nikki is mad… about Orlan...

Surprise! In-season player interview! And a rare video pod for yall! We LOVED getting to chat with Courtney Schwan of the Orlando Valkyries. We start this episode by getting to know her a bit better, and then review ORL’s Week 12 match against Indy with her.

From there, we discuss the transactions drama (but recorded before the April 1 deadline so… we’ll have more thoughts on those final moves for you next week). Then, we get into some match reviews and talk through Atlanta’s hot 8-match win streak, what’s going on with Grand Rapids hot-and-cold play, and...

Today on Court Captains, Ian teaches all of us a new phrase! 

Kelly’s theory of mid-season transactions from overseas players proves to be correct ahead of the April 1st trade deadline, marking the return of Nootsara Tomkom. We chat about how Tealer continues to be an unstoppable force and we hypothesize if Fury has a fighting chance to move up in the standings. Oh and of course there’s the oh so casual topic of pregnancy in professional sports.

Follow us on Instagram for our commentary and updates: @courtcaptainspod
Got a question or comme...

Spoiler: some of us DO think we’re journalists!

Lots of action in week 10 as Omaha storms back to the top of the table and Orlando’s streak is broken by San Diego. Atlanta is having a mid-season power move and Vegas a mid-season crisis. Grand Rapids takes two losses at home, Columbus gets a sweep, and Indy holds on to the 4th spot for now.

Kelly and Ian are tested on the actual team court captains of each team in the PVF, and then Nikki does a ~positive~ Dear PVF because we do love the...

A lot of chatter chatter in this episode. Nikki loves to love letter in this podcast, so first she begins with a little ode to Kelly being a great volleyball player. Then Ian matches our adult volleyball league commitment with a commitment of his own - reading the many rules pages of his upcoming fantasy baseball league. Wish his team luck!!

After Ian’s scorner, we do a full meander through the league action from week 9, from Grand Rapids’s great week to Atlanta fighting back, with Vegas’s inconsistency leading to a bit of a slip n’ sli...

We are just about halfway through PVF season two if you can believe it! We do a little check-in on the commercials (and their soundtracks) that Ian asked so nicely for in his Dear PVF. Per usual we review transactions, Ian’s scorner, and week 8 match analysis.

We have loved seeing Orlando get to the top, and are starting to see Atlanta get back to their standard form. Vegas is in the midst of a losing streak, Indy is still getting healthy, and Omaha did a sweep/swept combo. Don’t miss Nikki’s long-winded love profession for Ch...

Reactions to week 7 of the PVF comin' at ya! We review transactions (we’re a day behind the live transactions, Mojo basically undid everything they did last week so, sorry about that!), speculating on injuries based on instagram activity, Ian’s scorner, and talk through our thoughts from the all-star game. Nikki instructs all her little sisters - um, we mean the players - to not look at social media comments. You’re all doing so good! Don’t worry!

Warning to anybody listening with kids around, maybe especially don’t do that this week! Tiger Woods' shenanigan...

Today we’re talking all about Nikki’s valentine’s gift mishap – oh and some volleyball, sure. 

We answer some fan questions, including a lengthy discussion on rotations (who knew it was such a rich subject area?). We also dive into some discussions about team depth, roster management, and how injuries are shaping the playoff race.

A highlight of the week was Columbus taking down Vegas in what we thought was going to be another reverse sweep from Vegas, but they just couldn’t swing it. We’ve got another jam packed Thursday schedule this week. Which m...

Did yall see that transactions page drama this week? We chat through that in the context of some official word from the league on the 24-hour practice squad claim period. Spoiler alert, Omaha wants to keep all 3 of their setters! We also do a fun little bit about potential player movement and our thoughts on trades in this league. Nikki thinks there needs to be a fun little trade next month, for the sake of the league. JFYI… she is mostly kidding. Don’t come for her. Megan Lush is definitely staying in Columbus.

Then we go thro...

We’re talking Sunday Funday this week! All teams played on Sunday, taking advantage of the no-NFL-Sunday. We had some great sweeps and surprises (Mojo took a set from the Vibe for the first time EVER?!)

Some other highlights include Thrill making their way to the top of the standings. Omaha was swept for the first time by Orlando, who put on a great showing all week. Grand Rapids is hitting their stride after some roster changes. We speculate who Columbus will finally win against and Nikki comes at you with a brand new “Dear PVF” hot take. ...

As Ian so aptly put it, no new professional volleyball leagues were announced this week, so we’re back to business as usual recapping the PVF action!

We feel Ian’s really hitting his stride with Ian’s Scorner - what do yall think? Since there were only five matches in week 3, we talk through each one of them. From recounting Indy’s first loss in program history to the Mojo, to Rise’s major roster changes. From speculating what’s happening with Columbus, to reviewing the incredibly tight Vegas/Orlando match. We’ve got you.

We’ve also o...

Hey Captains. Business as usual around here. Nothing to see. No Notes app announcements to decipher. All is cool. 

No we’re kidding. For the first half of this episode, we recount all the drama of the MLV (Major League Volleyball) announcement. It’s major - haven’t you heard? We give the play-by-play, and all the information that’s been shared on the league so far, along with our perspectives, fears, and frankly, brutal mockery, which we do not anticipate will stop at any time.

The second half, we talk highlights from PVF week 2 game play...

Captains, hello. PVF is here. Are you not entertained?

On the pod this week, we give our thoughts on the league overall so far. From the production and announcers to the starting lineups and team performance analysis of every team, we’ve got plenty of thoughts on week one. A few highlights: Ian has the vision, with Indy turning it around and finishing off Orlando in their opener. Kelly thinks it’s really fun to see all these players in new jerseys! Nikki needs the PVF swirling logo to take less time between the reply and the live...

Hey Captains! For the first time in PVF history, the second season is about to begin!!!

Our season preview is all about the talent! We update you on the latest that’s happened with the league since the draft, and then chat through our top two players of each position in the league that you should keep an eye on during opening week. Then we speculate on who’s making the big bucks, which rookies we think will be able to make an impact this year, and our biggest question marks for what we’re curious to see th...

Welcome to Court Captains! We’re happy you’re here.

If you’ve heard about women’s pro volleyball in the United States and you want to learn more, you’re in the right place. We’re here to provide a breakdown of the pro leagues in the US as of the 2025 season. We’ll tell you how each league operates, how many teams and players each league has, as well as league roster rules. We share information that we have on salaries, how the season goes in terms of regular play, tournament play, and playoffs - plus, where yo...

SEASON TWO IS UPON US, CAPTAINS.

With the draft coming up on Monday 11/25, we’re coming to you with everything we know about the draft rules and what to expect. NCAA athletes do NOT declare for this draft - so anything can happen!

We chat through quick reminders on what each team is working with given the summer signing period: total roster numbers, number of returners, PVF transfers, and new faces. Which rosters are we excited about? Concerned about? Intrigued by? Confused by? Then, friend of the pod Jay Markle joins us to talk about co...

Our fourth and final guest of the 2024 off-season is Morgan Lewis! A southern California native, Morgan started playing volleyball at 9 and dreamed of playing professionally. She played college volleyball as an Oregon Duck, and was happy to be drafted her rookie year by Coach Haneef-Park - to play in her hometown for the San Diego Mojo in the inaugural PVF season.

Morgan talks with us about her excitement to play for the Columbus Fury in 2025, what went into her decision to transfer, and tells us about her current hyper fixation meal that proves to us she’s re...

Our third guest is M’Kaela White of the Orlando Valkyries! Born just outside of Washington DC, M’Kaela started her volleyball journey at the age of 16. Since then, she’s filled that journey with both natural talent and plenty of extra hours of hard work - after playing her college career at JMU, she went on to play pro overseas in Finland, Italy, and Romania. We talk about the cultures of those places and what it was like to navigate agents and the pro world.

M’Kaela tells us about her first year with the Valkyries, how she...

And for our second guest: Hannah Maddux of the Vegas Thrill! Hannah hails from San Antonio, Texas, and yes, she has seen Wemby in the flesh. A University of South Alabama Jaguar, we talk with Hannah about her experience getting that “you’ve been drafted” call upon graduating from a mid-major league school and her rookie season that followed.

From playing with Mother to remembering her first ever match in Omaha’s crowded-but-not-heckler-filled arena, her experience with the Thrill left her excited to head back to Vegas for the PVF’s second season. We loved hearing about her big br...

Captains… we’re in our interview era.

We’re so excited to have August Raskie as our first guest! Raskie, a Colorado native, is an Oregon grad and five-year pro who began her PVF career with the San Diego Mojo. We talk about her pro experience so far, her reactions to the inaugural PVF season, and her excitement to join the Grand Rapids Rise next year.

August also chatted with us about her life as a lefty and her thoughts on service routines, as well as her life off-court pursuing art, painting, drawing comics, and writin...

Hey Captains, it’s nice to see ya again!

We had to jump back on the mics to talk through Signing Day / Signing Week / Signing period updates and reactions - our FIRST PVF offseason! Since all players in the league signed on for 1-year contracts in 2024, the signing period is chaos and we’re here for it. Happy to see some of these players sign on for bigger salaries in 2025 (of course, we don’t know who’s being paid what… yet… But we expect a good number of these intraleague transfers are for increased salaries and/or playing t...

Hey, Captains! It’s the FINAL week of the FIRST regular season of the PVF.

First we talk about what we can expect in the next few weeks in terms of free agency and re-signing timelines. We’ve also got some other-league tea to spill. Then we do our final match analysis from week 16 - a handful of teams got their full rosters in during their last games, which we love.

Finally, we have playoff previews! We talk about our predictions for the semi-final matches, past stats on these teams from their regular season head-to-heads, and...

Hey, Captains! We’re reviewing week 15 (and a teeny bit of week 16) of the PVF. A few updates from the top including our final speculation on VNL departures (we think we’re done with those) and injury updates (from what we’ve heard around the block). Keep your eye out on May 20th for roster announcements from the teams, as that’s the day any unsigned 2024 players will become free agents (and we’ll likely hear about any resignings).

We give our points of view on some listener questions, and then dive into match analysis. This week we had a l...

Welcome back! We’ve got a big episode for the Captains this week.

We have many updates on VNL moves and speculations: we talk about potential challenges for PVF teams if players depart for national team duties and who might fill in (one important update since time of recording: we know Morgan Hentz will be present for the remainder of Atlanta’s PVF season!). 

We also talk through recent transactions these teams are making as last-ditch efforts to furiously push into their playoff mojo, as well as answer some questions from listeners! And of course, recap...

Welcome back, Captains! Ian and Kelly are hosting solo this week as we cover week 13 of the PVF. Another seven match week. Atlanta drops a match, but secures their spot in the PVF Championships in May. Thrill, Rise, and Fury each won one and lost one and Mojo barely dropped a tight 5 set match to Omaha. 

Into data? We love this stats sheet courtesy of r/pvf!

Follow us on Instagram for our commentary and updates: @courtcaptainspod

Got a question? Email us at: courtcaptainspod@gmail.com

And as a...

Welcome back, Captains! PVF had six matches in week twelve, so we review transactions made before the trade deadline (spoiler, no trades were made) and get right into match analysis. We continue to see Atlanta crushing, San Diego going up in the standings, plus the fight for 3rd and 4th keeps getting interesting.

We also chat through some of our experience at our first in-person PVF match, in Grand Rapids against Vegas this past Saturday. Plus, Nikki characterizes the dynamics of each teams’ friendships.

Into data? We love this stats sheet courtesy of r/pvf!

Welcome back, Captains! This week we’re coming at ya with all you wanted to know about the VNL… from people who had never heard of the VNL. We also explain what court captains ARE! Can you believe we’ve never done that? Our namesake! We can’t wait to see you in Grand Rapids!

PVF played 5 matches in week eleven. We saw San Diego get some wins and their best attendance turn-out all year against Columbus. Bethania de la Cruz from Orlando received this week’s Player of the Week honors. We also discuss the benefits of playing...

Welcome back, Captains! This week we talk about how you CAN get good sushi in Omaha. Really! REALLY. You have to believe us. We also chat about some disappearing transactions and Nikki’s idea to make the schedule less grueling. 

PVF played SEVEN matches in week ten. Atlanta almost had all sweeps, Columbus just couldn’t get that magic they had last week back, and Omaha got some wins at home.

Into data? We love this stats sheet courtesy of r/pvf!

Follow us on Instagram for our commentary and updates: @courtcaptainspod

Got...

Welcome back, Captains! This week we start by talking about the increased player salary details shared by PVF CEO Jen Spicher in a recent match at Vegas. Then we discuss some waiver/practice squad definitions so you can track movements and make sense of the PVF Transactions page.

PVF played four matches in week nine. Atlanta’s 5-match win streak was snapped by Columbus, along with their “undefeated in 2-point sets” record - but they keep the number 1 spot in the standings! Plus, we got to see a Mojo sweep, and we do love getting out the brooms...

Welcome back, Captains! We have a BONUS episode for you. Now that we’re halfway through the inaugural PVF season, we picked our all-star rosters based on the first 8 weeks of play. Here were our rules: - 14 player roster, just like PVF regulations - “Standard” starting roster, plus one backup for each position - Two wild card spots, can be any position Let us know what you thought of our picks! Comment on our Bonus Episode instagram post @courtcaptainspod with your reactions. Into data? We love this stats sheet courtesy of r/pvf! Got a question? Email us at: courtc...

Welcome back, Captains! Big trade news in the PVF this past week as Tori Stringer of the Atlanta Vibe was traded to the Columbus Fury in exchange for two first-round draft picks. We review how that looks in the context of current trade policies, and discuss some of our theories / implications.

Also this week, a big interview dropped with LOVB’s Director of Operations, Tom Hogan. Nikki listened to the whole hour so you don’t have to, and provides a rundown of the discussion points and new information we have on the second US women’s pro vo...

Welcome back, Captains! Ever wonder what a PVF travel day looks like? This week we imagine the insane travel weekend Orlando had, on an extremely detailed level. We also politely request that Grand Rapids’ and San Diego’s bird mascots get together for a little rumble. And: do you know what the Yellow Pages are/were? Ian drops some knowledge.

PVF week seven of play brought us five matches, where Atlanta and Omaha stayed on top of the standings, bringing both of their win streaks up to 3. We talk through an impressive Vegas 4-set win over Columbus and...

Welcome back! This week on Court Captains we… had sound issues :(  We’re accidentally doing a Goldilocks thing with our audio on this episode (Nikki’s too loud, Kelly’s too quiet, Ian’s just right) so bear with us and maybe keep your volume down - we’re sorry! We’re learning!

Week six of PVF action brought us seven matches - at least one from every team in the league. Columbus maintains their win streak with another dub (they’ve won their last 4) and Atlanta & Omaha reaffirm their top-of-the-standings position. We discuss the more recent presence of short...

Welcome back! This week on Court Captains we’re chatting about week five of PVF matches. We witnessed our first “swappy” as Nikki has demanded we call them, Mojo picked up their first win (not just any win - a HUGE upset against the #1 team), and Columbus climbed the standings on an impressive 3-0 hot streak.

We know you were all eager to hear our takes on the new NCAA double contact rule, so we discuss that along with some *GOSSIP* we gathered from the YouTube live match chat (thank you chat, we love you chat!) 

Notab...

Welcome back! This week on Court Captains we’re talking through a very busy week four of PVF action - EVERY team played this week, so we have much to discuss.

We talk about some organizational PVF news and then match analysis, including a handful of teams with a bunch of lineup changes, Omaha’s win streak, and Grand Rapids taking another match away from Vibe to slide into the number 1 spot in the standings. After match chats, stay with us to hear us talk about middle-of-the-court name games, time-out opinions, and the complexity of pro athletes havi...

Welcome back! This week on Court Captains we’re talking about the week three PVF matches - five of the league teams played two matches. And, we got to see Vegas Thrill for their first two matches of the year.

We dive right into match analysis, talking through serve efficiency % (thanks PVF for updating your website!), a deep dive on legendary setter Alisha Glass Childress of the Thrill, why a team might switch out their setter, and front row pre-serve lineups.

Notable Timestamps

1:51 Match analysis starts

34:40 Player of the week predictions