Claim OwnershipThe Viral Volley Podcast
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Volleyball from sport court to the sand court-- from the preps to the pros and beyond. Home of College Volleyball Weekly Indoor/Beach. Episodes drop “most weeks.” Follow the pod on Instagram at @viralvolleymedia or host Rob Espero at @therobonthemic!
304 Episodes
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This week, we go through our normal routine of recognizing digital content creators in the Men’s game. This week it was reported that the Official Fan Account for NCAA Men’s Volleyball, @ncaamvb surpassed 22.6 MILLION views! Great news for #ncaavb, but even better news for Men’s Volleyball! In our news segment we remember Steven Lee Sander, father to Taylor and Brenden, two wonderful personalities in Men’s Volleyball. Other news for the week, had former Stanford All-American Matt Fuerbringer being named as Head Coach of the USAV Beach Team as well. From there we go into the “Elephant in the Room,” that highlights the Coaching Panelists’ matches in Week 9, “Eye Catching Matches” of the week and finally, the panel’s “Ballers/Players of the Week.”
New this week, is “Jay’s Quick Hits” segment where we bounce a handful of NCAA Men’s Volleyball questions/topics on the spot for a hot take!
Thanks for listening and following! #ncaamvb #ncaamvolleyball #ncaavolleyball
This week’s episode brings on Arizona St.’s Arden Besecker and Kendall Whitmarsh fresh off the most recent AVCA poll and the first named conference pairs of the week across the nation! Arden and Kendall discuss last year’s journey for the Sun Devils as they had another great season under Head Coach Kristen Glattfelder being on the verge of heading to Gulf Shores!
Both the Sun Devils share a little about their 2026 team and recap their 1st week of play which grabbed the attention of the voters in the most recent poll, as ASU thrusts up 2 places from #11 to #9. Along with the climb, Arden and partner, Zoey Taylor, and Kendall and her partner, Olivia McElroy went 4-0 on the weekend. The latter were named Big 12 Pair of the Week!
We discuss what matches and results grabbed their attention in Week 1– which all happened on Queen’s Beach in Waikiki, HI at the Duke Kahanamoku Classic!
Thanks for listening/watching!
In our Week 8 recap of the 2026 season the Coaches’ Panel (minus Dan out with the flu)
discusses the action that happened in D1-2 Men’s Volleyball at our half way point!
But first, we shout out our Instagram content creators @1stseedvolleyball’s John McNallly and
Holly Wong of @hykchora for putting out excellent and engaging content in Men’s
Volleyball!
From there we discuss the start of a new D2 program at Mercy University, career milestones
for Kevin Burch of Ohio St. and Shawn Olmstead of BYU. As always wee flow into
our “Elephant in the Room” segment to our matches of the week and our Ballers
of the Week.
Our conversation flows into “Whatcha Watchin’” in Week 9 and we end with dropping a “Volleyball
Hot Take”—for which I recommend you take a good listen!
As always, thank you for watching/listening!
As we kick off the 2026 NCAA Beach season, Sydney Miller of Hawaii jumps on to chat with Rob about the first-ever AVCA Player of the Year Watchlist while breaking down the top-10-ish teams in the AVCA Preseason Poll. Of course we drop a lot of names because that list could have been bigger, but there is such an abundance of talent on teams' rosters-- to a point where some did not get mentioned!
CVW BT20 will change format for this season (listen to the episode to find out why), but no matter what we'll have at least Sydney on the show for a chat of the Top 20 Tidbits/Results!
Thanks for listening/watching! #NCAABEACH
Our Week 7 recap mean’s we’re coming upon the half-way point of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Collegiate Volleyball season! Tteams are turning heads as conference play in the EIVA and MIVA have made us expect the unexpected! Meanwhile, Non-conference clashes have teams butting heads to keep records unblemished, establish nonconference superiority and get quality wins under teams’ belts! The CVW crew runs down the Week 7 recap all the way down to the No. 1 team in the nation, but not before our special guests from the MPSF join us!
From there, the guys pick their Ballers of the Week and drop the matches they’ll be keeping dabs on in “Whatcha Watchin’!”
Thanks for watching/listening! Spread the word, and click on subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and/or on YouTube!
Illness and technical difficulties made this episode a little choppy but it didn’t matter as the Coaches’ Panel dropped their recaps, insights and opinions on an action-packed Week 6!
Discussion includes “Social Media Shout Outs” to Vinnie Lopes of Off-the-Block Blog and a family of digital media creators of the Zapanta family (Jay, Rachel and Noah)! From there we chat about some of the top matches of the week, highlight play and other news items—like Penn St Head Coach Mark Pavlik’s 700th win and the debut of the first-ever AVCA Player of the Year Watchlist.
As always, the guys pick their “Ballers of the Week,” and conclude with matches they’ll be keeping an eye on in week 7!
Thanks for listening/watching!
"No Average Joe" episode!"
This week we bring on Men’s Volleyball Influencer, Joe McCurdy (@jtmvball on Instagram and TikTok) on the show to talk about the happenings in week 5 of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball season from a digital journalist perspective. Joe and Rob bounce between select matches of the top 20 and highlight key performances in those matches. Of course they take a stab at top athletes of the week, then pick out some of the top matches to look out for in Week 6!
Week 6 "Social Media Shout Outs" to @nekobavisuals and @buhlmedia and, @thevolleyballrecap!
The Coaches' Panel is back after a busy week for Rob (apologies for no episode) at the Southwest Boys Classic after the First Point Collegiate Challenge!
Rob mentions a few news items for the week with some first-ever victories for first year programs, (but he forgot to say, "Congrats," to Ohio St. Head Coach Kevin Birch for his 100th victory).
The panel discuss the top 20 matchups that caught their attention during Week 4 play, From there they, pick some other matches that just were eye-catching outside the top 20 as well! Of course, they always pick there "Ballers of the Week," then the matches they'll be watching in Week 5!
Thanks for listening/watching and tuning in!
Episode 290 of Viral Volley Media’s, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20 for Week 2 of the 2026 Collegiate Men’s Volleyball season is coming in HOT!
This week we acknowledge two content creators covering the men’s side, then go to the “Elephant in the Room,” which discusses our coaching panelists’ results from last week’s play. From there we venture into the “Eye-Catching Matches” of the week followed by “The Panel’s Picks,” highlighting any other matches around Men’s Volleyball in any conference, at any level.
Of course, the guys have their say in CVW Ballers of the Week with the top performers while finishing with “Whatcha Watchin’” for Week 3!
#ncaamvb #ncaamvolleyball #ncaavolleyball
In this week’s episode we catch up on A LOT of news from the last 6 months with special guest, Men’s Volleyball Influencer, Joe McCurdy and George Mason Head Coach, Jay Hosack.
Firstly, we honor and remember Glen Lietzke, who passed away on Christmas morning. Glen was a generous supporter of volleyball who impacted thousands by his love and support of the game.
From there we hit on the news of announced retirements, program discontinuations, movements and “resurrections.” With all the growth we also delve into the addition of the GLVC Conference and the expansion of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship to 12 teams for 2026!
To close out the episode we discuss the first 2026 AVCA Preseason Poll, then have the panelists make bold predictions for 2026.
As always, thanks for listening in! Apologies for a “basic format” episode! I’m on travel
With the unexpected retirement of Long Beach St.'s 22-year, Hall of Fame, Head Coach Alan Knipe, Beach did not have to look far or too long to find who would succeed Al. New Head Coach Nick MacRae has been in Long Beach his entire life, and with the 49ers/Beach for 14 years!
Nick takes some time to discuss his experience at Long Beach St., his relationship with Alan, how he plans to continue the winning ways of the beach in the near and distant future!
The Gauchos were on a mission to start 2025-- to get back into the Big West Women's Volleyball Championship-- which they have done. They're running one of the best 2-setter offenses in the land with potent attackers all-around. OH Eva Travis and MB Layanna Green talk about the season so far and what Gauchos potential could be in this year's championship.
The Mustangs had a strong and talented group of athletes coming back for 2025, and with that the goal of playing in their 3rd Big West Championship! Talking about their Cal Poly team with the No. 2 seed of the Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship are Kendall Beshear and Ally Elif Hurriyet.
Be sure to jump into ESPN+ November 26th-29th to watch the action! Rob Espero and former Long Beach St. standout, USC Beach National Champion, and pro beach volleyball athlete Hailey Harward are on the call!
In 2025, UC Davis has completed their first-ever conference championship and made Head Coach Dan Connors the winningest coach in Aggie volleyball history. They've got a solid core of athletes at each position who have been competing together for years! Talking about their team with the No. 1 seed of the Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship are Mia Starr and Ally Chandler.
Long Beach St.'s Elise Agi and Madi Maxwell discuss the 2025 season and their path to the 2025 Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship.
Episode 287 features 2025 AVCA Fall Pairs Champions from Long Beach St., Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah. The San Diego County products have been the work-horses for the Beach and have been almost unstoppable their entire first three years at Long Beach St.!
We discuss the start of their partnership-- proof that nobody can "ghost" Taylor-- even Malia, their natural success together, winning outside of collegiate beach ball and their road to the 2025 AVCA Pairs Championship!
The "Salty Guys" of College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20 are BACK! Heaps of news has come about since the last ball drop in the Natty match in May so the band got together to talk about SOME (yes, we've got to do a part 2) of the news that has hit D1-2 Men's Volleyball!
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:30 AVCA Hall of Famer: Alan Knipe, Long Beach St.
00:06:00 2025 NCAA D1-2 Coaching Changes
00:34:20 NCAA Tournament Expansion
00:46:00 MPSF & Big West Previews: Others in the Making?
This summer the USA Men’s U21 team had an extremely talent roster that literally could have run far deeper than the 24 athletes who made the “official” roster– and it was composed of some recently graduated and a lot of current NCAA D1-2 players! What’s that mean you ask? We’ve got a young crew getting ready to take on the world as potential senior national and Olympic team players!
In this episode, Head Coach of the history-making USA Men’s U21 team jumps on College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20 to talk about this talented group of guys that he, Donan Cruz, Matt Pollock and Donovan Martinez had the honor of training through the Men’s U21 World Championship in China and receiving the USA’s first-ever medal in the U21 World Championship!
From there, we discuss the expansion of the NCAA Men’s D1-2 Men’s Volleyball Championship to12 teams– which we are all EXCITED FOR! John also takes time to discuss the importance of the Championship’s growth, as well as the recent news that in the last 10 years boys’ participation has grown over 76%!
We close out the episode talking about John’s UCLA team, the expansion of the MPSF and what competition could look likein 2026!
Big 12 standout Anhlina Khmil of the 2025 NCAA Collegiate Beach National Championship team, TCU jumps onto CVW Beach Top 20 to discuss her happenstance beginnings in indoor volleyball, then making her way over to beach.
She also shares about her home and family as Ukraine was being attacked by Russia during the time she was making decisions about competing in Beach Volleyball and attending TCU.
From there we recap her career during her Freshman through Junior years, TCU’s uprising and the continued improvement of her play resulting in groundbreaking performances for Lina year-after-year!
We then focus on 2025– where Lina and her history-making team won the National Championship in Gulf Shores. She shares how the dual points were dropping and how she was running to all the courts to root her teammates on, then finally celebrating with “The Spaniards,” Dani Alvarez & Tania Moreno as they claimed the “Championship Clinching” dual-winning point!
We move into what she’s been doing this summer on the Beach World Pro Tour, CEV’s and what we should expect to see with the 2026 Sandy Frog team with their player and coach additions!
Thanks for watching and/or listening to College Volleyball Weekly Beach Top 20, Viral Volley Podcast!
First episode for the summer after some time off we jump into the AVP Contender Series event, the Denver Open!
Heading into the Rockies is always a special event at The Island facility where we would find an unlikely tandem teaming up for this event—Stanford Beach Freshman All-MPSF honoree Avery Jackson, playing her 1st AVP event with former USC standout and long-time AVP star Geena Urango—playing her 86th AVP event! The 2025 Denver Open Champions did not face any resistance until the final—where we saw one of the top comebacks in the game to win the $10,000 and automatic berth into the main draw at the Manhattan Beach Open. See/listen what Geena & Avery had to say about competing this last weekend!
Thanks for listening in! Be sure to support these athletes by following the on social and supporting their sponsors and programs!
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