USA Men's National Team Middle Blocker and UC Irvine alumnus (you know I had to sneak that in there) David Smith jumps on The Viral Volley Podcast this week. 

We reminisce about the UCI days, the "Lights Out" incident in Happy Valley and how he was part of UCI's first National Championship team.

David then talks about his season in Poland with ZAKSA-- until the COVID pandemic broke out. From there it was a chaotic journey to get back to the United States, where he, as well as other USA athletes have started training with COVID protocols at American Sports Center.

David also talks about the challenges of being hard of hearing/deaf and having to be in social settings in this COVID-Culture with Social Distancing.

He then finishes off by offering some encouragement to give us perspective through this time in history. 

In this episode, Carli Lloyd drops into The Viral Volley Podcast to share her love and passion for the game, the "ups and downs," and her internal journey to finding wholeness.

We venture back to how she first played, becoming the 2010 AVCA All-American Player of the Year, becoming an international standout to representing the USA in Rio and winning the Bronze Medal. 

Finally we look at her international volleyball career and discuss a very powerful resource-- her new website, showupwithme.com, that invites others to not only develop their volleyball skills, but to also explore the inner side of life's journey.

This week the USA Men's National Team OH, Taylor Sander drops in on The Viral Volley Podcast (since we didn't get to meet for a surf today) to discuss "life" in the last year after FIVB VNL 2019, shoulder rehabilitation, the COVID postponement of FIVB VNL and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

We also reminisce on the Norco HS and BYU days, battles with Taylor Crabb and how he and brother Brenden are taking on TCrabb and Jake Gibb at the HB Pier! 

Sports Journalist and ESPN Sideline Reporter Olivia "Livvy" Phelps joins Rob on this episode to share how she started working in Sports Journalism and how she developed a love of covering sports, volleyball and athletic personalities. 

Emerging from her passion for sports came an interest in Collegiate Beach and Men's and Women's Indoor Volleyball resulting in her first docu-series, capturing Long Beach St. Men's Volleyball team in their National Championship title defense year (2019) as they experienced training, coaching, victories, defeats and the quest for back-to-back National Championships! 

As always, we close out with our "Run Down" segment to find out about the inner-workings of Liv-- all on this week's episode of The Viral Volley Podcast! 

The "Fiery Freshmen" Class of UCLA Beach sits down with Rob Espero to discuss the 2020 NCAA Collegiate Beach season, their connection as the rookies in the Bruin program, their first-year experience and being in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Rob then closes out the episode with an interesting and funny inside look of our guests on "The Rundown."

Kathy DeBoer, AVCA Executive Director and John Speraw, Head Coach of UCLA Men's Volleyball and the USA Men's National Team give a very urgent update on the state of NCAA legislation that is being proposed by FBS schools, aka "The Power 5 Conferences" that could impact Men's/Women's indoor and Collegiate Beach volleyball. 

If you want to continue to have Men's/Women's indoor and Collegiate Beach volleyball sign the petition at http://www.saveoursports.com, post on ALL your social media and encourage ALL your friends and family to do the same! 

In our special (and last College Volleyball Weekly for 2020) Quarantine Episode of The Viral Volley Podcast, Dan, Jay and Rob enlist the services of the living "Collegiate Men's Volleyball Almanac", Vinnie Lopes of Off-The-Block Blog!

The guys discuss the AVCA All-America Team and Honorable Mentions that were released on 4/21/20. In addition, the Off-The-Block Blog National Awards are down to their finalists. They guys take a stab at who will take each of the coveted awards!

Finally, Dan brings to light a proposal by the "Big 5 Conference" schools that could eliminate Olympic sports at D1-2 schools. 

Freshman Beach Volleyball phenoms Audrey & Nicole Nourse join Rob this week on The Viral Volley Podcast. The Nourses finish the abbreviated season 9-2-- with their only losses being to South Carolina and Florida St. on the road. 

In this episode, they discuss their experience at USC, their development, and how the pandemic impacted their first season. Additionally, they talk about their pursuit of the beach game and offer hints on how to distinguish them on/off the court.

All Big West Conference 1st Team Honoree, Kyle McCauley of UCSD (Huntington Beach, CA | Edison HS | Orange Coast College) jumped into NCAA D1-2 Men's Volleyball by storm leading the Tritons to their best ever program finish of 14-5 and their highest-ever AVCA ranking at #6.

Kyle reflects on the shortened 2020 season, what his expectations were for the team, what he did to elevate his game, the influence of OCC/Balboa Bay Club Coach Travis Turner and Mike D'Alessandro, and his transition from community college to NCAA D1-2 volleyball at the highest level.

1st Team All Big West Conference honoree Colton Cowell (6'1" OH, Makawao, Maui) reflects on the abbreviated 2020 season for the Rainbow Warriors, the success of a different kind of Hawaii team and the possibilities of what the 2021 team can look like. Colton recognizes some of the top performers he has seen this year in the "All Colton Team" before the AVCA All-America Team is announced next week (4/22/20).

We then close out this episode with "The Rundown," to get an inside look at Colton Cowell!