The Viral Volley Podcast

Episode 296, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, Week 8 Recap 2-23-26

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!

Episode 295, College Volleyball Weekly, Beach Top 20: AVCA Preseason Polls and Watchlist, 02-17-2026

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

Episode 294, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20, 2/16/26

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!

Episode 293, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20, 2-9-26

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 700^th 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!

Episode 292, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20, Week 5 Recap 02-02-26

"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!

Episode 291, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, Week 4 Recalp 1-26-26

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, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, Week 2 Recap 1-12-26

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

Episode 289, College Volleyball Weekly, Men's Top 20, Media-Coach Mashup and News Update, 12-29-25

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

Episode 288, College Volleyball Weekly, Men's Top 20: Long Beach St. Head Coach Nick MacRae 12-11-25

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!

Viral Volley Podcast, 2025 Big West Women's Volleyball Championship Interview: UC Santa Barbara

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.