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The Viral Volley Podcast

Viral Volley Media

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!

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  • 20 episodes
  • Updated July 19

Episodes20

Newest first
  • July 19 · 28 min

    Episode 315, Viral Volley: Names in the Game, Brooke Nuneviller, LOVB ATX, 07-18-2026

    In this episode of the Viral Volley Podcast, the former PVF/MLV superstar and now LOVB Austin OH Brooke Nuneviller joins Rob on the “Names in the Game.” Brooke dropped a HUGE announcement back in May that she would NOT be returning to Omaha, but everyone knew something else was on the horizon for the Chandler, AZ native. Brooke reflects on her time in Omaha with her 2 Championships and Best Outside Hitter hardware in her time as a Supernova. She shares about some of her favorite (setter) teammates, favorite teams to compete against and other anecdotes in her time in Omaha. The conversation then moves towards what the future holds for the former Oregon Duck All-American in Austin, as she combines forces with a rock-solid LOVB roster. With Brooke, joining LOVB she’s one of the few “unicorns” in the American professional volleyball to play internationally (Turkiye), don the USA WNT uniform and in the 3 American women’s professional leagues of Athletes Unlimited, Pro Volleyball Federation/Major League Volleyball and now, LOVB. Without a doubt, Brooke has some great matches ahead of her, along with the support of Gorjana and Mizuno! As always, thanks for watching or listening!

  • June 5 · 59 min

    Episode 314, Viral Volley Podcast, Names in the Game - Alaina Chacon, 6-5-26

    In this Episode of the Viral Volley Podcast, ascending pro volleyball athlete Alaina Chacon jumps after she and partner Maddie Anderson go 2-0 at the opening weekend of the AVP League in Belmar, NJ. Before that weekend, Alaina has always been one of those "watchlist" athletes from her days in HS indoor, to Florida St., and now the Beach Pro Tour and the AVP. One of three tallented sisters, Alaina has been a switch-blocker on the beach but has also been a lightning quick defender with a full toolbox of attacks-- that include a very heavy hammer. This week she reflects on her volleyball beginnings, getting discovered by coaches Hector Gutierrez of TCU and Brooke Niles at Florida St. After finding success at the collegiate beach game she ventured into coaching and eventually her pro career where she has continued to find success at both the BPT and AVP! How she had to find a partner rather quickly at the start of the 2026 season being that sister, Morgan was carrying her first baby for Auntie Alaina! What did she do? Did she "...slip into Maddie's (Anderson) DMs?" Nope. She just texted her :). Listen in!

  • May 27 · 1 hr 50 min

    Episode 313, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20, 2026 NCAA Closeout Episdoe, 05-26-2026

    After taking a much needed week off the Coaches' Panel of Nickie Sanlin of McKendree, Jay Hosack of George Mason, Brad Rosstratter of UC San Diego, Theo Edwards of CSUN and Dan Friend of Lewis (for a brief moment) jump into this mega-closeout episode to talk about the NCAA Championship match crowing the University of Hawaii as the 2026 National Champions. Along with that a lot of news of top names turning pro before the completion of their collegiate careers as well as athletes changing teams. With that, we move into the effects of "The Portal." As always, we end with a fan favorite, "Jay's Hot Takes!" NOTE: A special thank you to all of you who have followed the podcast during the 2026 NCAA Men's Volleyball season. We truly and deeply appreciate all your support, comments, messages and friendly conversations with those of you who have contacted us or said, "Hello," to us! We may do some special topics over the summer, or even track our USA Men's teams!

  • May 21 · 36 min

    Episode 312, Viral Volley: Names in the Game, Avery Poppinga, 5-20-26

    It's the first Viral Volley Podcast of the summer! To kick it off former Florida St. and LMU Beach standout Avery Poppinga shares about the start of her volleyball journey struggling with scoliosis, playing in Texas, to Florida St. and finally to Loyola Marymount. Avery talks about the wonderful, yet different coaching she received from Brooke Niles and John Mayer and additional back issues she suffered with during COVID. Avery then discusses her current life as a pro-beach volleyball athlete and how she is navigating the pursuit of her dreams, traveling across the USA and the world competing in multiple tours, which has lead her to OnlyFans. Avery, along with other pro-beach standouts Alaina Chacon, Falyn Fonoimoana and Hagen Smith are featured on "Perfect Set" on OFTV-- a competition to see which pro can coach their team to a $50,000 grand prize! Visit the URLs below to check out the former Lion's ventures! "Perfect Set" Series on OFTV: https://of.tv/c/perfect-set Avery's OnlyFans Site: https://onlyfans.com/averypoppinga

  • May 4 · 1 hr 18 min

    Episode 310, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, National Championship Recap, 5-4-26

    This week only Jay and Rob were available for this week's discussion amid the AVCA and NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee members' responsibilities this week (Yes, Rob is also "doing stuff" for the AVCA). That being said, the discussion goes to the 2026 NCAA National Championship Volleyball Tournament at their regional sites, the top performers, interesting stat lines, and other related issues that arose from the exciting play that we encountered at the regionals! Sorry, Rob may or may not get to the timestamps. He has a hard deadline to get the episode out in the Pod-Realm!

  • April 30 · 32 min

    Episode 309, College Volleyball Weekly, Beach Top 20, NCAA Championship Week, 4/29/26

    Sydney Miller of Hawaii and Rob touch on the conference tournaments across the nation winning automatic berths fand punching their tickets to Gulf Shores for the 2026 National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship! Announced recently was the AVCA Collegiate Beach Player of the Year Finalist list and as expected, it should be a tough decision for the AVCA panel to choose between the FSU or UCLA girls. From there we talk about the matchups to kick off the opening round of the NCAA Championships. See what Sydney and Rob had to say about the matchups and drop some insight as to who to watch for in the pairs! Thanks for listening and apologies for the missed episodes the last few weeks!

  • April 27 · 1 hr 30 min

    Episode 308, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, Pre-Championship Episode 04-27-2026

    The CVW crew is joined once again by McKendree Head Coach, Nickie Sanlin, as we talk about most of the big conference tournament results. We bounce all over the place with a few of the contributors having to attend to other responsibilities, but we try to hit on all the top matches, performances and news of the last 7-10 days! We discuss whether the NCAA Committee (with Dan Friend) got the right teams in-- and even consulted ChatGPT TWICE and even IT AGREED! Although we joked it was "Easy" this year to pick the at-large berths, we know they were at the grindstone for the entire season! With the brackets set, all the panelists are heading over to volleyballrankings.com to fill out their 2026 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Bracket! You should jump over there also and play for fun! Thanks for listening and apologies for the missed episode last week!

  • April 14 · 1 hr 49 min

    Episode 307, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20, Week 15 Recap, 04-13-2026

    It’s a MEGA episode this week with special guest contributor, Nickie Sanlin of McKendree. Nickie has been one of the most influential coaches in the game not only in the NCAA but in the USANTDP and is what some may classify as a “mover and a shaker.” Our almost-2-hour discussion delves into all the panelists’ matches, key performers and the state of where their teams are at in conference play as some head into their final weekend of regular season play, while others are opening their conference tournaments this weekend. As always, we pick a handful of top-20 matches that caught the nation’s eye with exciting play, upsets to shake up seedings, and standout performances by some great student-athletes. Still much to be sorted out this last week in relation to conference seedings, so we know ALL matches this week are worth watching to see the exciting conclusion! The panel drops their “Ballers of the Week” and fire off on “Jay’s Quick Hits” or “Hot Takes” to round out the episode!

  • April 6 · 1 hr 10 min

    Episode 306, College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20, Week 14 Recap, 04-06-26

    This week's format is an open-forum for the coaches' panel to select the matches and topics we discuss from Week 14. Everything from multiple red cards to "Libero of the Year Award" for the AVCA! With Hawaii sweeping the series vs. UCI, the Bows appear to be in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the Big West Men's Volleyball Championship. The MIVA will be entertaining to see how it settles before that conference tournament, with Ball St. narrowly leading Loyola for the top seed. EIVA is not a lock-- yet-- especially since the Nittany Lions finish up their regular season at 2nd place George Mason.

  • April 1 · 37 min

    Episode 305, College Volleyball Weekly Beach Top 10-ish, Week 6 Recap with Kelly Belardi

    This week Kelly Belardi rejoins CVW Beach to recap the week that was for the Stanford Cardinal that had them reclaim the No. 1 AVCA Coaches' Poll ranking for 3rd time in 2026. Kelly also gives some insight on couple of the top 10 teams to watch in the final 3 weekends of regular season play. Last weekend, Kelly achieved the 100th Career Win milestone so she also shared how important her teammates were in accomplishing that feat. In addition, Kelly and partner, Avery Jackson were honored as the AVCA National and MPSF Pair of the Week! The Stanford Cardinal are "gunning for the top" hoping to defend their MPSF Beach Tournament Champion title but are aware that teams are better and deeper than ever! From there, we break down a couple of the hot teams during Week 6: #5 Florida St. & #3 Texas.

  • March 30 · 1 hr 12 min

    Episode 304, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20 Week 13 Recap, 3-30-2026

    In the Week 13 recap, we saw a week were there were no upsets in the top 10, however it didn't mean there was a shortage of action! Long Beach St. took down Theo's Matadors twice, while Brad and his Tritons were in the battle but UCI found a way to get it done in 3 and 5 sets accordingly. Dan and his Flyers only had one match for the week in the Battle for Chitown on Rae Strong Night, where the Ramblers came out with the win in 4. UCLA is at 20-0 and looking unstoppable, while Pepperdine had a very important pair of wins Provo vs. BYU that cold prove important if an At-Large bid is on the line. Just a few samples of our discussions before we pick our "Ballers of the Week," NOTE: For those requesting time-stamps, we apologize for not posting them. Rob has to get the episode up within an hour of recording so we have to turn the episode around REALLY FAST. As always, thanks for watching or listening! iTunes: https://bit.ly/4uODVab Spotify: https://bit.ly/3NWZnt1 Podbean: https://bit.ly/40LqYQV YouTube: https://youtu.be/7bl1wmnhPiw

  • March 25 · 27 min

    Episode 303, College Volleyball Weekly Beach Top 10-ish, Week 5 Recap, 3-24-2026

    This week saw top teams like UCLA, Stanford, USC and TCU idle, however that didn't stop the rest of the other top teams from pulling off big wins, like #9 Cal over #4 Texas, and #16 GCU over #12 LSU. University of Hawaii's Sydney Miller and Rob review and recap Week 5 of the NCAA Collegiate Beach season as we inch closer to conference tournament time and begin looking at At-Large berth scenarios! Throughout the episode we discuss a few career milestones for some Mustangs, Seminoles and a Sundevil! Thanks for watching or listening!

  • March 23 · 59 min

    Episode 302, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20 Week 12 Recap, 3-23-2026

    This week we remember Ann Davenport after her unexpected passing last week. She was truly a volleyball pioneer helping the game grow in so many aspects. In our “Social Media Shoutout” segment, @lewismensvb is recognized for their viral post of the week—a celebrity doppelganger with one of their current OHs, Daniel Haber. We got through our Week 12 recap focusing on some of the top 20’s matches that received national attention, spending some extra time on the No. 2 Long Beach St. vs. No. 3 Hawaii matches, picked our players of the week, then dropped some “Whatcha Watchin’” matches for Week 13. To end our episode, “Jay’s Quick Hits,” brings some interesting questions about team culture and must-have equipment as the panel responds in not-so-lightning-quick speed.

  • March 18 · 46 min

    Episode 301, College Volleyball Weekly Top 10-ish, Week 4 Recap 03-17-2026

    After a two-week break, Sydney Miller of Hawaii and Rob Espero breakdown some of the top tidbits of the top-10-ish teams in the most recent AVCA polls. There were minor shifts in the top 10 this week, but all within expectations. A lot of discussion on East Meets West in Manhattan Beach and the FAU Invitational where a few unexpected results arose involving USC, Florida St. and TCU. Thanks for listening/watching and following!

  • March 16 · 1 hr 39 min

    Episode 300, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20, Week 11 Recap 03-16-2026

    As always, we start off "shouting out" some of our Men's Volleyball digital content providers, and this week it's Lee Feinswog of 900 Square Feet and @flicksbyry_! In the 300th episode (on Viral Volley Media) we’ve got an NCAA Men’s Championship Volleyball Recap in Week 11 that saw No. 1 UCLA remain undefeated—which beckons the question, “Can the Bruins be beaten?” Also, Penn St. makes a West Coast swing vs. Long Beach St., Pepperdine and USC as Coach Pav continues his retirement tour. Stanford snatches a couple wins against No 7 BYU that could prove to me huge come MPSF Tournament time while celebrating Volleyball Day in the Bay. The then-No. 11 UCSB Gauchos split their Big West series vs. No. 4 UCI behind George Breuning and the mustache-clad Cole Schobel. The Coaches’ Panel chat about a few other matches, then we go into the new HOT segment— “Jay’s Quick Hits,” and this one is a doozy! Thanks for listening/watching and following!

  • March 10 · 1 hr 37 min

    Episode 299, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20, Week 10 Recap 03-09-2026

    In Episode 299 CVW Men’s Top 20 is graced with the guest appearance of Princeton Head Coach, Sam Shweisky. Sam joins the crew to talk about some of the top 20 matches during the 10th week of the Men’s Collegiate season. Each week, the MIVA seems to have more mayhem as teams jostle for positioning for post-season play. The Waves split with the Bows for an entertaining series, Belmont Abbey and Mt. Olive are vying for the top spot in the Conference Carolinas, while the “Battle for LA” proved that the lone defeated team in the nation can turn it on in crunch time. From there the crew selects their “Ballers of the Week,” and matches they’ll be watching in Week 11. We finish the episode with a new favorite segment, “Jay’s Quick Hits,” where the coaches answer some interesting topics in Men’s Volleyball! Thanks for watching and/or listening! #NCAAMVB

  • March 2 · 1 hr 18 min

    Episode 298, College Volleyball Weekly, Men’s Top 20, Week 9 Recap, 03-02-26

    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

  • February 26 · 36 min

    Episode 297, College Volleyball Weekly, Beach Top 20, ASU, Week 1 Recap 02-24-26

    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!

  • February 23 · 1 hr 11 min

    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!