Court Captains: A Volleyball Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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 time, so get your money, athletes!)

We talk through the confusingly disparate marketing tactics for these teams’ announcements, as well as PVF’s cute little non-announcement announcement that we’ll only see 8 teams in 2025, rather than the previously promised 10. Excited for Indy to get going, and hoping for some good news from Dallas and Kansas City for 2026.

During this episode we talk about an organization that we love - LOV! You can find more about them to get involved or donate at: lightsoutvolleyball.org

Keep track of PVF 2025 signings with us on our Google Sheet, which you cannot edit because you don’t have permissions, but if you could, we’d advise that you not edit them on your phones: PVF '25 Commitments Watch List - by Court Captains

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

Got a question or a reaction to the signing period? Email us at: courtcaptainspod@gmail.com

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 what we think each team needs to do to get to the final. Thanks for hanging out with us this season :)  

JOIN OUR WATCHALONG! We’ll be live-streaming our reactions to the playoffs on our YouTube channel, so join the conversation (new YT chat alert!) at youtube.com/@CourtCaptainsPod

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, if you prefer to listen to us via YouTube, all our episodes will be uploaded there as well!

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 volleyball league to come onto the scene in 2024.

PVF played three matches in week eight. Atlanta secured its number 1 spot again with a win over Omaha. “The Blue Teams”, Orlando and Omaha faced off resulting in an Omaha win, and finally Vegas overcame Grand Rapids, in a game that gave us our first setter Player of the Week! 

Apologies to those who don’t like coughing sounds. It only happens in the first 5 seconds of the episode. Enjoy!

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 always, look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

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 a couple 5-set thrillers for Orlando. We’re having a great time in this episode, and hope you do too.

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 always, look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

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 serves in the league, Bolt6’s dislike of pancakes, and away Columbus fans at Orlando getting frisky.

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

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

And as always, look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

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!) 

Notable Timestamps

9:07 Omaha at Columbus

15:48 Orlando at Vegas

18:04 Grand Rapids at San Diego

22:44 Columbus at Vegas

26:55 Omaha at Orlando

30:25 Vegas at Columbus

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

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

And as always, look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

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 having full careers outside of volleyball.

Notable Timestamps

05:39 Match analysis starts

39:58 Player of the week predictions

41:54 Nikki’s takes

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

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

And look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

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

36:10 Listener Q&A

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

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

And look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

Welcome back! This week on Court Captains we’re talking about the week two PVF matches. We got to check out San Diego Mojo twice, against Atlanta Vibe and Omaha Supernovas.

In our Stats Corner this week, we chat through how the teams are measuring serve receive performance as well as what breakpoint means in volleyball terms. We still do not know what serve efficiency % is or how to calculate it, so don't ask us! 

Then we discuss the two matches from the week. Nikki establishes herself as a Mojo apologist/hopeful, Ian doubles down as a de la Cruz stan, and Kelly gives her recs on mid-game blocking adjustments.

Notable Timestamps

Stats Corner: 3:05

PVF Announcements: 14:50

Match Discussions: 19:00

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

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

And look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!

Welcome back! For our second episode we’re talking about opening Pro Volleyball Federation week observations - we saw two thrillers and a sweep!

5 out of the 7 teams played their first matches this week. First we chat through what we’re seeing in these arenas and some of the rules and regulations the league is implementing. We give a breakdown of some common stats you’ll want to know, and then talk about each of the three matches that took place during the ~inaugural~ week of the season.

And yes, the pun was intended.

Timestamps:

Volleyball Stats Explanation: 12:14

Match Discussions: 28:00

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

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

And look out for us in the PVF YouTube livestream chat!