Court Captains: A Volleyball Podcast

Hello, Nikki and Ian coming to you live with the rest of free agency reactions! Breaking our silence on all the players going between US leagues and we guess the main thing we want to say is… everyone relax? Respectfully! Said with love! We don’t love talking about LOVB but it seemed like it was time. We think this is all normal and good! Even if it sucks for your home team to lose out on some pla...

Hi we’re back for free agencyyyyyy! First, we recap how many teams we’re working with here in the American volleyball landscape for 2027. Then, Nikki responds to the online discourse. You can’t expect her to be online and not respond to the discourse, right???? Right. Please skip to like 30 minutes in if that’s not what you’re here for 🙂 Free agency breakdown includes new coach updates, the lates...

Congratulations to the Dallas Pulse, MLV’s first ever first-year franchise to win a championship! Nikki and Kelly tell us about their time visiting Frisco for the semifinals and finals - everyone gives their rose and thorn from their respective viewing experiences (even Ian, who watched every minute on ION). We talk through each match and our reactions, as well as gossip heard throughout the venue...

Regular season is officially over, it’s time for the championships! We start the episode off with the terrible news that San Diego Mojo won’t be returning next year. We are a bit glib about this in the episode, and are mostly a bit confused about the league’s decision to announce a “12” team league that followed two days later - but Mojo fans, we love you and we’re sorry :(  We talk about a few of...

In true us fashion, some pretty big MLV news hit the airwaves about 14 hours after we finished recording… so no responses to the Mojo news in this ep, but we’ll get into that next week. Today we talk about the free agency period (spoiler we are in it right now) and what we know officially and unofficially about the rules for who can sign and when. Then, we go over this past week’s performances (Om...

Sorry for the late post this week - play has already started so some of these playoff implications may be a bit out of date, but we hope you listen anyways :) We talk about last week’s VERY stimulating VERY exciting matches - we are getting closer to knowing the playoff picture. Omaha and San Diego do some SWEEPS against Orlando and Atlanta. For Omaha: their blocking game is super strong, Merritt...

It’s getting so exciting up in here, is it not?!?!?! We think 4 teams have the most potential for the last two spots in the playoffs: San Diego, Omaha, Orlando, and Atlanta. We have THOUGHTS - and this is gonna be a huge week. But before that? We talk free agency gossip. John Cook, GM of the Supernovas, has been on the mic proclaiming 9 signed players for next year. Our Grand Rapids friends say TH...

Hey, Captains! Nikki’s feelings have changed regarding Omaha, we talk about that and her fun visit last week to watch the Supernovas take on Indy. We listen in on some press conference excitement (some of the last we’ll hear from Luka!). As we near the end of the season, who could secure those last two spots for playoffs? We speculate and more! Check out the Content, including video replays and hi...

Hey, Captains! On this week’s episode, we give our reactions to the All-Star game and their weirdo 3-set match / ghost bonus point format, Nikki reviews MORE injury updates and late season signings, we give some updates to team ownership - including Ian reading through some online paperwork and Discord gossip about a guy who may or may not want to buy the Vegas Thrill. Disclaimer: we do not know f...

Great news! We clicked record this week! We’re quite chatty this episode - Nikki reviews injury updates, Kelly runs down the all-star rosters and our predictions, and Ian asks us if we’ve ever been on a team like the Columbus Fury. It turns out our feelings about Columbus and Orlando on Monday may have changed after Tuesday’s match..!  Ian also tells a tale of a voicemail from the San Diego Mojo....

Our Score Corner aka Scorner is Ian's weekly staple on the podcast, and the reason this is our only post this week is because: it finally happened. We got on zoom and talked about volleyball for almost two hours and... no one clicked record. We are hearing this is a rite of passage, and we're grateful to have made 55 episodes without committing this faux pas. Anyways, that lost episode is...

This week on Court Captains, we get to talking about good ol’ LOVBuh, breaking down the possible mascots for their Nebraska team. We’re back to our regular scheduled programming of breaking down this weeks’ matches, including our exciting trip to Indianapolis. Indy is still on top and it seems like they might be unstoppable! Listen in and you might finally get the answer to the question “Is Omaha...

Kelly is BACK and we’re back on video! Halfway through season 3, how ya feelin? This week we learned about a brand new, first-ever, MLV Commish. We talk through our reactions and pick apart the PR quote, and then we talk injury updates, latest transactions, and give Kelly the headlines from the last week. We discuss Omaha’s illness implications and what we think could get them back into the win co...

Audio episode for yall this week - Kelly is out of town, so you’ve got Nikki and Ian’s reactions to recent transactions, news from the league (who’s heading to Dallas for playoffs?!), and match analysis. We get into Orlando’s shaky fundamentals, Omaha’s streak season, and answer a listener question about Grand Rapids and what’s going on over there. Ian wonders how players can improve at this level...

Okay, time to talk about the fun little trade. We talk about why we actually think it was pretty good for all parties involved (much to the disagreement of other online entities), and why it's not surprising for Cathy George to be down to give away a first round pick. And, for the first time ever - VIDEO REVIEW! Nikki goes in-depth with stats and scenarios to figure out why Morgan Hentz may ha...

Sorry for the delay on this one! A lot of chatter about non-match activity this week, so strap in for some takes. First off, have you guys heard of the New York Times? Their Business department wrote a hacky article about pro volleyball and we talk about it for 20 minutes! We discuss a few match reactions from Week 5, and then go into our overachievers and underachievers from the league so far. We...

Lot of volleyball to talk about this week - Indy keeps picking up wins, Dallas has an unexpectedly long road trip, and Omaha is back in their groove. You get Ian+Nikki only for 20ish minutes of this, sorry for the technical difficulties from Kelly’s end! We talk transactions news (mostly setter dramaaaa), speculate on passing stats contributing to winning, and once again call for a sneaky (player...

We have returned from sunny San Diego and are freezing again, but that’s show biz. First we talk about a couple of notable transactions from the last week - yes, we heard Maddie Waak went to LOVB, no we did not record this after that news. Most of our commentary still stands! Then, we talk week 3 matches - one we caught live, some YouTube reviews, some stats reviews. Orlando with two losses, Omaha...

Week two review for youuuuuu! But first, we talk through general MLV updates, including reviewing the big media advisory announcement from the drama queen Omaha Supernovas (said with love!) and our musings about why no one’s referencing Bolt6 anymore. Additionally, we had no choice, but simply had to, finally, give our thoughts on the “LOVB and MLV should merge” discourse. You are free to offer yo...

How’d yall like week 1? We thought it was fun. Our reactions to John Cook’s little salary cap mishap, San Diego’s 11th hour transactions, and rule changes you should know about for this upcoming season. Then, Ian’s scorner has returned! Week 1 results in a couple of minutes, and our reactions to the first showings from these teams. We are most impressed by Columbus, hoping San Diego can pull off a...

A little spice throughout this episode… some things just make us heated, you know? But we’re not mad about season three being almost here! We have a fancy new video border and a lot of opinions. We start with general news and updates: our reactions to the Valkyries performance in the World Club Championships, recent LOVBuh news, and a new podcast on the scene by an ex-Supernovas player. Then, we t...

Our pre-season interview is NEW HEAD COACH of the San Diego Mojo, Alisha Childress! We are so excited to have Alisha on the pod (some of us even more excited than others, you can guess who that is) before her legendary first MLV coaching season begins. Our first coach interview, our first Olympian interview - and the first player-turned-coach of MLV! We start by hearing about Alisha’s time on Athl...

The headline second-half-of-free-agency updates, 2025 Champion Orlando Valkyries going to the Club World Championships, and Draft Day! Congratulations to Mimi Colyer of the Wisconsin Badgers for being the first pick of the draft! She’s going to the Dallas Pulse, which Nikki realizes now that she never said aloud… anyways. Ian gives us the low down on the Club Championships and how they work and Ni...

WE HAVE A SEASON THREE The first week of August has bestowed upon us leaks of a “merger”, official announcements from the league, and free agency news galore. We put forth our perspective on the MLV name change (and the logo…) and what we think happened with Omaha’s return to the league, we review the changes to the salary structure, and talk reactions to day one of the free agency period. It look...

Our final episode of PVF Season two! You may have been PVF-less for the last week but we’re here to help you bring back the good times with memories of the playoffs. We talk through the two semi-final matches as well as the championship: Nikki regales us with Vegas tales (including what ABO means), Kelly wonders what’s happening with Omaha next year, and Ian’s microphone was a bit screwed up. Than...