March 10, 2025 • 33 mins
Khat and Tiffany open the show by recapping week nine, and Khat shares what it’s like to face friends and former teammates in a match. Afterward, Tiffany chats with LOVB Madison opposite hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara on a range of topics, including:
- Madison’s hot streak and the steak dinner that fueled it,
- Temi’s Nigerian heritage,
- A lovb of bad movies,
- Studying biomedical engineering in college,
- Playing professionally where she ended her collegiate career,
- Shaping the future of volleyball,
and more!
Follow Temi on Instagram.
Follow Khat on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
Host: Tiffany Oshinsky
Senior Producer: Anya Alvarez
Executive Producers: Carrie Stett, Tamara Deike, and Lindsay Hoffman
Theme Music: Pancakes by Eric W. Mast, Jr.
Sound Designer: Daniel Gonzalez
Serving Pancakes is an iHeart Women's Sports Production, in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinski and I'm Kat though, and this
is serving pancakes with League one Volleyball. The inaugural Love
season is finally here. Each episode will be going over
the matches from the week to keep you up to
date on everything League one Volleyball. Then stick around after
the analysis for interviews with some amazing people in and
around the sport.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Today's episode features Love Madison opposite hitter Tammy Thomas. Hi, Lara.
But first we're going to talk all things.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Week nine, and we're also going to do a quick
recap on Cat's birthday, which was last Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Have people lated, thank you?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
We had an amazing dinner at a place called Wuchaw
with the Chinese contemporary restaurant downtown Austin, and I had
a set menu everybody. I got there early and like
decorated the table with like black tablecloths and I bought
these like really cutel like glass faces and like bake
red roses and put those in there, kind of spend
them on the table with like some like lit led
like candlelight. So it was perfect. It was giving grown
(00:57):
and sexy. Everybody like wearing lace to dinner.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It was great. It was such a great time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Did you make that theme grown in sexy basically?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, Well, let's not talk volleyball because that's also
grown and sexy.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Sure, very true.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I mean I'm in it of course. Well we're gonna
get to you last because you guys played last. So
we're gonna start Week nine with Nebraska. In Nebraska where
Love Salt Lake took down Love Omaha in four sets sixteen,
twenty five, twenty five, twenty three, twenty five, twenty three,
twenty five nineteen.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Head coach Tom A.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Miashiro said after the match that it wasn't the prettiest
game they've played.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Don't get me wrong. There were some ugly plays, and
our ability to reset was incredible, I think because volleyball
is like that, and we play against good teams all
the time, good players, and so it's not gonna always
be pretty. But I'm just really proud of our crew
for doing that.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So what does that say about Salt Lake's perseverance in
this match?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
I mean, salt Lake every week is getting better, I
believe you know, They're find different rotations and connections with
both the opposites with Haiti and Skyler. But like I
say all the time, every week, it can be any
man's match, any woman's match, just how to speak, Omaha,
I think is still trying to find the collective piece,
that collective jail piece with them and you know, salt
like could you can get somebody down their bad day
and while they trying to figure things out, that's what
(02:17):
you can do. So I definitely think it can be
any women's game, any team's game each week and thinks
not like prove that goal, it's omaha.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Two standouts in this game where outside Ronnie Jones Perry
and Claire Hoffman, who scored thirty eight of the seventy
eight points in this match. We've talked about Ronnie a
bunch actually just last week she was Player of the match,
so we went over a bunch of stuff about her
and how great she is.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So let's talk about Claire this time.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
She has only had twenty one kills so far this
season until this match, where she finished with the season
high fourteen on thirty two attempts. She's also had season
highs for blocks, digs, and points with three, ten, and seventeen, respectively.
So what did she do differently in this match to
step up her game.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Well, you know, like we haven't seen a lot of
Clayer this season at all, so when a opportunity presents
it stuff. I think, like any other team, you have
amazing a deep bench with a lot of players that
can come off and make an impact.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Claire did that.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
I think her have an opportunity to come out and
showcase her talent like she's been able to do. She
within her practices has also been beneficial for them. So
I was so happy that she got out there and
she did her thing. I love clear She's great.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Claire, Ronnie and the rest of the hitters wouldn't have
been so successful if it wasn't for the player of
the match, Ceter Jordan Poulter. You already know how amazing
she is. She's a two time Olympic medalist, but talk
about what she does on the court to put her
team in the best position to win. How does she
trick opponents with her ability to you know, set all
over the court.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I think any great team in general, for football, for example,
I think the center for volleyball is a quarterback, and
if you have a great quarterback, you have a great setterer.
You guys going to be a great team. Jordan obviously
is an amazing league athlete. She's on the national team.
And her just being her orithmic stels and be able
to spread an offense and just bring her pieces together.
I think, you know, you have a great setter who
was collected and as a calm attitude and just very
(03:57):
you know, intense and just going about her job every match.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Gonna get that. And Jordan Polter is just she's a goat.
She's a freaking goat.
Speaker 6 (04:04):
Yes she is.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And a great guitarist too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Oh is she plays guitar? I do even know that
she plays?
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Self taught no lessons day.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
That sticks with their hands.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
You know, Jordan is really good about hiding where she's
going going gets the traffic, you know, like, for example,
of the offense is going one direction, she's really good
by switching it off for opposite direction.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So that makes sense that she'd be doing something like
playing guitar.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Okay, we guitar lessons, setters sessions you need to do
to be like Jordan Poulter guitar lessons.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yep, there we go, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Moving to Friday Night Love Houston pulled off their second
five set reverse sweep this season, this time over top
seeded Atlanta twenty one, twenty five, eighteen, twenty five, twenty five,
twenty one, twenty five, seventeen, fifteen ten.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Now these teams look like this is the beginning stages
of like a really good rivalry.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Top two teams in the league currently faced off each
other in the Love Classic finals, with Houston getting that win,
and here they are with another battle. What makes this
matchup so fun and also so difficult for the players?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I mean, you have two teams that have great pennheaders,
have great defensive players, and it would go head and
head every chance they get. You have two teams, two
opposites that are also in the national team gym, going
head to head. So it just depends. So who's nice
it gonna be? I think Houston just does a really
good job. JT is just an amazing feral athlete. You know,
if she's tired or not, she's gonna be JT. And
(05:25):
I think as well as like Atlanta has Kelsey, So
the matchup between them two every week is going to
be has been really.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Intense and fun, and I'm enjoying watching it a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Is it hard to make rivalries when you're friends with
a lot of the girls on the.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Other see, it depends, you know. That's funny.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
As a cole fall said told me a story between
about her and Jordan Larsen. You know, when they were
in high school they played against each other and stuff,
but it was like they were really good friends. But
when it came to like playing, it was like she
was saying, there was time she didn't even talk to Jordan,
you know. So it shouldn't it shouldn't matter. You know,
I feel like we're trying to play. We're friends, but
we're enemies on the court, you know. So I think
I'm really good about getting doing that with Matt when
we play against Euston. If I'm able to play against
(06:01):
her any other team besides this season, I'm really good about, like,
you know, knowing how to get to her. For example,
I'll play with her in Au. You know, I could
talk to her doing that little bit kind of girt
off her game.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
But she doesn't like it.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
She hates it, actually, But you know, I think it's
sometimes It was one match she didn't even really she
didn't talk to me for like two days because we
won she can get like that, but it just appears.
So I think it's great. You can see any be
friends after when I lost. That's amazing for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, Middle Amber Igdi was the player of the match
with fifteen points, ten kills, and seventeen attempts in five blocks.
Watching her hit that girl has some serious pay time.
It is insane and it's funny because she's like one
of the sweetest players that I've met doing this these interviews.
She's just so nice, but she switches. Her mentality just
(06:45):
switches when she's on the court, and she's just a
force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So talk to me about Amber in her game.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I think Amber is one of those sid and jewels.
I think she just continues to be dynamic for Houston.
It's such a big part of their offense, and as
was their defense. Blocking wise, she's huge, he's massive. Actually
was able to kind of hear a little story about
her from a reporter this past weekend that, like, you know,
high school, she wasn't like one of the top recruits
in her class or life. She kind of had a
I guess, kind of a hard time balancing when it
came to being recruiting. But as she got older and
more experince through club, she just kind of went off
(07:12):
the rafters and was just going hand as she was
starting to develop her talent.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So I'm very happy for her.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I think her story's really cool and she's been playing
great Houston like She's definitely someone to be able to
gout for it for sure.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
Hm.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Now we know that this is anybody's game.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But as I said before, these Houston Atlanta matches are
making for a good rivalry. So what does that Lanta
need to do to overcome their foe in the future.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Man, You know when you have that up to oh,
you gotta finish. You have to finish, you know. So
I think it's with the opportunity presentence. Its south for
you to close out a match.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You got to do it. So that's the best thing
you can do. Getting back to practice, working on some.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Washdrails to show that you're down three points in the fourth,
or down three points in a second, or down two
points in the fifth.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
You have to finish when you get these opportunities. Definitely,
all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Saturday's doubleheader began less than eighteen hours after Houston's big
win against Atlanta, and that short rest time may have
played into the Los Agains love Madison they lost nineteen
twenty five, twenty eight, twenty six, twenty eight, twenty six,
twenty five sixteen. Madison is absolutely on fire now having
won their last three matches. But how much would you
(08:13):
say that this result was from a fatigued Houston versus
very hot Madison.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I think, regardless, you have to come out and play
your best match. But I think it definitely was played
a big not a big part of it, but a
part of it. I think, not just physically, I think mentally,
you know, I think we didn't get to see the
same team we saw versus at Lennard. With Houston, I think,
you know, a lot more airs and mistakes, just like
dumb things like hitting balls and then that do you
know what would see that Madison King then Rochelle would
do you So I think it was more of that,
(08:41):
just you know, losing connection, and I think Madison did
a great job just staying on her and just you know,
going off the whole way they're on right now and
continue to get in that win.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The player of the match, Libero Milica Medved finished the
match with twenty four Diggs as well as for assists
seriously absolutely killing it.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
With their playing time up, She's really been able.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
To showcase how great she is on defense, totally fifty
seven digs over the last four games versus seven digs
over the first seven. Now you played against her, how
has Melissa been for this Madison team?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I think just being consistent and digging balls and digging
walls in good spots, you know. I think if you
can keep your team in transition in defense and dig
a ball to where the setter can be able to
set everyone from both pins a bit a blocker in
your pipe, I think that helps. So being able to
do that and dig those balls in a good space
for transitioning points, it's very hard to do, so her
being able to do that consistently for them is definitely helping.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I'm loving the Libero love. Then I feel like we
might need to start like a drop in Bros setting.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Dropphin Bros Podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
All about the Bros.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, speaking of great defense, last week, we talked about
some insane rallies that happened, but I want to highlight
a specific rally.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
From this match.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was set point for Madison in the second set
This insane rally lasted forty seconds and the defense started
when Melissa hit the ball. She dug the ball I
guess off her foot. Houston didn't even realize it at first.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Okay, what mat Iball still alive?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Houston may have thought.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
It was down and that really turned this rally into
a slugfest.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So what was your favorite part of that rally?
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Definitely the ball off the foot. You know, how often
does it happened in a match?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So you're able to get that that That's like the
laziest point you can do. Just have to get out
there if you can, or be readying the ball off
your leg. It's the best point ever. So definitely the
ball off the pot. It's might be my prime moment
for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right now, the last match of the weekend, Atlanta
got the w over your Team Love Austin in four
sets twenty five, twenty two, twenty four, twenty six, twenty five, fifteen,
twenty seven, twenty five. Seemed like they had actually the
opposite reaction to the five set loss the night before,
so instead of looking fatigue, they looked motivated. It was
also Atlanta's last home match for the season, so what
(10:55):
did you see out of them since you were there.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Definitely, like being the last home match or any team
will give you a little bit motivation to be able
to kind of.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Go out on a win.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
As tired they may have seemed, and I'm sure because
Kelsel diod a lot of swings. They just played a steady,
easy going match and honestly it's almost felt like we do.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Kind of dugo on grave.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
You know, we had a lot of attacking arrs and
we could get the ball and play service was a
struggle for us as well. I think scouring report wise,
I think we only had two players hit in a
positive Pitchency.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I think everybody else is the negative.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So you can't win matches like that when your top
two scores are one of the top scores is the
middle block. And middle blockers are amazing obviously athletes in
the court, but they don't win matches, and that definitely
showed that.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And this match was a battle through and through so
many amazing digs, so many huge blocks. In fact, after
the second set, both of the teams were hitting sub
one hundred. But regardless of these obstructions, no one let down.
So what's the strategy behind still going all out versus
you know, change of pace and trying to catch the
other team out of system, it.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Can be difficult. I think sometimes thus choice can go
hand in hand. I think for us, if we kind
of would be able to slow down and thought more like,
you know what we wanted to do, keep balls off
the barrow, because I think we said the barrel a lot,
you know, focus on our servings and the seams. Kelsey
passed a lot of balls and systems from them last night.
That kind of helped could have helped us to kind
of slow down and kind of realize that dejectory of it.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But also, once you're on that stride.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
On that win and you're able to have that, you
know that stride going forward and you want to ride
that coaster, ride that wave, I think it's great to
just keep going and going through it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So yeah, for Atlanta, they're big blocker of the game
was middle Tea Jammerson, who earned Player of the Match.
He finished with thirteen points thanks to six blocks, four
kills in three aces.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Tia getting her moment finally.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We've been talking about her for a while now, so
how did she find ways to stop your hitters?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean, tears are like the grim freeper of the
league right now. I don't think a lot of pinn
hitters like her.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Like she's you know, she's in your face, and she
has big hands, and she's stuffing, touching everything, and you
know she's just being a dynamically the middle top of it.
You know, if you get blocked, you get the fingerwave.
That's her thing right now. And then if you see that,
I'm sure you're getting pissed. So I mean, I'm proud
of her. It's been great to see her play for Atlanta.
She's been a great piece for them defensive wise, blocking, serving,
(13:04):
She has a great serve as well. I think she's
definitely giving them the middles this lead for the run
for their money. I think she's definitely one of the
top definitely one of the top three.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
All Right, Well, Kat, we're down to just for more
weeks in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Week ten is up next weekend. Here's the lineup we got.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Thursday night, Madison in their three game win streak, hosts Omaha,
who is on a six match losing streak, and this
will be Madison's last home match. Then Friday night, we
begin weekend with Love in Houston as they host their
newly dubbed rival by Me Atlanta. Saturday's first match will
be Salt Lake versus Atlanta, and then we finished with
the Battle of Texas. You and Love Austin versus Houston.
(13:40):
You ladies have been the closers these past few weeks.
So which of these matches are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (13:47):
You know, I'll keep shaing for my team, but they
keep letting me down right now, So I'm gonna go
in the direction this week.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I'm gonna go Madison versus Omaha.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I would lock to see Omaha kind of get out
this funk that there, and it'd be a great way
to do that snapping Madison streak.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
So I would love to see Omaha get away. What
about you, I'm.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Going with this new rivalry that I'm loving this Houston
Atlanta match. I want to see, you know some games.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, it's so so good.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Great volleyball, great players. It's it's a lot of fun
to watch. So I'm excited to see that one. So
all right, Well, when we come back, I sit down
with Love Madison's temmy Thomas ey Laura. We talk about
everything from Madison's hot street to her Nigerian heritage.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
To her hobbies and so much more.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
We're back with Love Madison's Tammy Thomas Eyi Lara, an
opposite hitter from Glenwood, Illinois. Temmy help lead Wisconsin to
the NCAA semifinals in twenty twenty three. She spent the
first four years of her collegiate career at Northwestern, earning
ABCA second Team All American honor in twenty twenty two
and first team All Big Ten from twenty twenty to
(15:04):
twenty twenty two. She made her professional debut in the
United States in twenty twenty four, and now she's playing
for League one Volleyball in Madison and is here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Tammy, Welcome to Serving Pancakes.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Hi. I'm excited to be here, very excited to have
you here.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I now we were recording this interview before Week nine starts,
So at this time, Love Madison is the hottest team
right now in League One.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
You guys just went back to back in.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Week eight, including a sweep against my co host Kat
Bell's team.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
So, Kat, if you're listening, sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Sorry, Kat, But can you talk about the atmosphere on
the team before this weekend and then after so.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Before this weekend, we were on a little bit of
a losing streak, but we were like, we can only
really get better. We have nothing to lose in these matches,
and like we were on the grind looking for our
first win, and we put in a lot of work
like these past couple weeks from basically the first week
until now, and we're still putting in work after these wins.
But after those wins, it was like a big confidence
builder saying that, like we've been going in the right
(16:08):
direction and it feels like we finally found where we
need to be and like everything's kind of falling into place,
which we're super excited about.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Now this league, anybody can win and we know that
we've seen it week in and week out. What was
kind of being said though during your losing streak like
every week that kind of kept you guys motivated and
still excited.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
It was kind of just like we have all the
pieces that we need, we just need to figure out
how we're going to use them and how we're going
to get to that next level and that next step,
because it was always like one little thing that would
like hold us back. It was like one little run here,
one little run there and we're like, how do we stop?
How do we side out faster? And we figured it
out this weekend and it was great to watch, great
(16:49):
to see.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, you guys were a lot of fun to watch.
Did you guys get to do anything after? Because you
guys were in Madison for the wins, so I feel like,
you know, was there any celebration dinners or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Actually, we went to dinner on Thursday with Tom and
he was basically like, if you guys win this weekend,
we can have a dinner every weekend. Oh and so
before every weekend, so we have our next team dinner tomorrow.
We're like, I guess that was the motivation. We needed
team dinner every week before next month. Not not like
(17:19):
the money from the Glove Classic. We needed team dinner.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Right. Where did you guys go for this, like rallying dinner?
Speaker 6 (17:31):
We went to this place called Rare Steakhouse. It's in
downtown Madison, like right by the capitol.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Awesome.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
We were like, Okay, if we can get it every week,
we'll start winning.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I'd love that so much. I would do that for
food too, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So I get it now, your first generation American correct.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, So where's your family.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
From and how did they end up in the States
in Illinois.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
My parents are from Nigeria and my ghosts and they
immigrated here in nineties because they wanted more opportunity for
me and my brother. I have an older brother who's
a year older than me, and Chicago there's like a
big Nigerian population here already, so they just kind of
immigrated here and kind of set up roots here for us.
So we have a lot of Nigerian American friends too
(18:16):
that live in the suburbs of Chicago, which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's awesome. How did you get into volleyball?
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Then?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Did your family play sports?
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Did your parents play sports at all?
Speaker 6 (18:25):
No? My brother and I did a lot of sports
growing up, So I played like soccer, basketball, did gymnastics
while I was short enough to play gymnastics. I just
did a lot of sports, tapped ballet like anything, and
really fell in love with volleyball and just kept playing
ever since.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Basically, did your parents have any idea what they were
getting themselves into and it came to club volleyball?
Speaker 6 (18:48):
No idea. So I started playing when I was twelve,
but didn't start like true true club until I was thirteen,
and then I started getting recruited for college and my
parents were like, wow, I didn't even know this was
like an opportunity for you. What do we do? What
do we do? And luckily I had a really good
like club recruiting coordinator who kind of walked us through
everything because my parents really didn't know anything about college
(19:11):
athletics and college balleyball and recruiting. So it was just
a really fun process for all of us, but we
all were like really confused most of the time.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Your brother played football in college, right.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Yeah, he walked onto the football team at Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So your parents had two kids both end up going
to college and playing a sport. What was that like
coming from Nigeria, having no family, like no interest in
sports really, and now all of a sudden having two
athletes in their family.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
I mean, my parents were definitely surprised by especially my
brother because he had never played football before, but they
were so proud of both of us, and I mean,
I just feel like making my parents proud by what
I'm doing is so special to me, just because I
know they gave up so much to give me and
my brother, the opportunities here, Like they haven't really been
back a really long time, just because they've had to
(20:02):
stay here, and like they've wanted to stay here and
support me and my brother and still come to my
matches or like go visit my brother and stuff like that.
So just being able to make them proud is one
of the best feelings in the world to me, and
I know to my brother too.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Have they been able to come out to your matches.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Yeah, They've come to a lot of the matches, and
I just love seeing them every weekend cheering in the sands.
It's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, that is awesome. Now, going back to college and
your decision. What ultimately made you choose Northwestern?
Speaker 6 (20:32):
It was close to home, really good academics, and it
had the major that I wanted, which was biomedical engineering.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So yeah, yeah, can you talk to me about this.
How did you get into biomedical engineering? Because I remember
when I was reading your bio and I saw that,
I was like, girl, that's like a serious degree to
go for, because that's like good for you.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
It wasn't tense for sure, but basically my aunt is
an engineer and I've always liked building things, But I've
all so really liked seeing people with prosthetics and just
seeing how it's helped them, like continued the way of
life they had before losing their limbs to like prosthetic
legs or prosthetic arms, and so I was like biomedical
engineering as a way that I can kind of get
(21:13):
into that realm of like building and doing prosthetics and
stuff like that. So I chose that major.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And then you ended up going to Wisconsin and continued
your studies there. Is that the reason why you decided
to go to Wisconsin as supposed to staying in Northwestern?
Speaker 6 (21:28):
Yeah, it was definitely academics and volleyball. Again, I think
I had four years under the same coaching staff, so
I think just having a fit year with a new
coach was really helpful for me and just fine tuning
some areas where I knew I could still grow. But
also Wisconsin and just the access to the hospital that
I had while I was here, and just kind of
the networking I was able to do while I was
(21:48):
there was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
For both your undergrad and graduate careers. In college, How
did you handle that degree with a d one sport
like that especially.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I mean, both of those schools are amazing.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
It was definitely pretty tough, especially getting the undergrad degree,
like my first year, just going through in season with
all of the chemistry and math and all of that,
and it was definitely hard. But time management was super helpful.
And having friends in classes was really nice too, because
if I messed a practice, I could just send my
friend a text and be like, hey, would you be
able to send you the notes? Going to office hours
(22:23):
and just really grinding it out.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That's like true time management stuff right there. Well, actually,
I'm going to jump ahead real quick because speaking of
time management, I've talked to a lot of girls who say,
you know, once they get to the pro level, there's
so much time off.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
So what are you doing on your time off?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
I'm doing a lot. I started actually doing crafts. Wait,
let me grab this.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Ooh.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
I we had like a craft night a few weeks ago,
me and a few of my teammates. And while I
was at Wisconsin, I got into handnitting. So I started
handiting this blanket for my friend, which I'm super excited about.
I really like the pattern of it. But I started knitting.
We do like movie nights BNCH TV shows play games
(23:04):
on like the PS five, just like I got back
into reading. I'm actually reading the Court of Thorns and
Roses series, So there's a lot of free times, so
I have a lot of things that I want to do.
I get that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I love that you guys get together so often and
do things like like movie nights, craft nights and everything.
I got to ask, what movies have you guys watched
lately and what's the most recent TV binge?
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Okay, so we just finished Dexter oh like all eight seasons.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
The whole show, the whole show, and how disappointed were
you at the end?
Speaker 6 (23:38):
I was so just like, we literally just finished the
last episode last night and I was so disappointed. I
was like, no way it ends like that because it
was such a good show. Now we're watching How to
Get Away with Murder. Oh okay, we're like in season
one and my eyes are glued to the screen, like
Annalise Keating can act. Yes, it's such a good show. Yes,
(24:00):
but then you watched like Lord of the Rings. A
lot of the movies I watched by myself. I've been
to the TV shows, but I meant to like bad movies.
Like a bad Netflix movie is like my cup of tea,
So I can't really I can't really watch that with
anything like that else because everyone's like that movie's so bad,
and I'm just I love it. There's just something about
(24:20):
a bad Netflix movie that really, I don't know, I
can't take my eyes off of it.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
What's the favorite bad Netflix movie?
Speaker 6 (24:27):
There's so many. My favorite genre is probably like rom
com or thriller, a bad Netflix rom comma thriller, where
like you know what's gonna happen, but you still can't
take your eyes off it.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
We'll be back with more from our interview with Timmy
Thomas Ei Lara. When you were in college, I know
(25:01):
that you had like help with your club teams with
recruiting for college, But when it came to pros.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Did you know that you wanted to go pro?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And did you have people help you with like the landscape,
because I know that the pro landscape can kind of
be vast with the international teams and everything.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Yeah. So I really didn't know about professional volleyball outside
of like the Olympics until I was a freshman sophomore
in college and I saw like my senior teammates go overseas. Now.
I was like, that's really cool. I want to do that.
I really want to play professional volleyball. And so like
my freshman and sophomore year and even junior or two,
(25:37):
I was like, Okay, I want to go overseas after
I'm done playing. And then my senior year when I
went to the All America banquet, Love was there and
they were just kind of talking about volleyball in the
United States and how it would start after my fifth year.
So this season twenty twenty five, and I was like,
that's a really cool opportunity. I would love deep be
(25:57):
in love basically and being able to play in the
United States. So now looking forward two years later and
me being here in love and playing in the US
has been super cool.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Did you find it even more exciting that you get
to play in the city where you got to go
to school at?
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Yeah. I mean when I was asked to go back
to Madison, I was like, yes, of course, because I
just think it's such a special place, like the Madison
fans love volleyball, and you can just see it the
amount of people that kind of know who I am
when I'm walking around doing things is super cool. Like
just knowing that people watch what we do and like
(26:35):
know us. It's really exciting to see and just seeing
the little girls who love watching us and look up
to us has been really special.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I was going to ask if you're recognized on the streets,
are you recognized more as a Badger or now as
part of Love Madison.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Definitely as a Badger, but people are recognizing me in
Love Madison. I actually got a little bracelet last week.
I think it's over on my counter, but it was
basically every team I played on, like the colors of
every team I've played on in my career, which was
really sweet from a fan at last Inthen's net.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
That is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
That's a great friendship bracelet that you got.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
It was really sweet.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I love that and very creative. Good for them.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, so you're on the younger side of the players
in the league. So have you found like a mentor
or have you been able to take some of these
other players that are on your team and really learn
from them, and have they taken you under their wing?
Speaker 6 (27:37):
For sure? I think Annie has been so great, Like
I grew up watching her play. I told her one
of the first days I met her that when I
had gone on to a visit and to Purdue in
twenty fifteen, I like watched her play for the first
time in person, and she was like, wow, that made
me feel really old. That was my senior year of college,
and I was like, yeah, I'm sorry, but I just
(27:58):
had to tell you. But bas like watching her in
twenty twenty one at the Olympics in this past Olympics
and being able to be on a team with her
where she's helping me out and like telling me what
shots I have opraan or helping me with a certain
swing has been really really cool and I've learned a
lot from her this season.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, I feel like walking onto a team knowing that
like a two time Olympian is, you know there, she's
playing the same position as me and is able to
like help me get better.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Is the coolest thing. I haven't experienced it myself obviously,
but I.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Feel like, for you, that's gotta be like one of
the coolest experiences.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
It's been really cool and super special, Like I wouldn't
trade it for anything.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, and then you got like Lauren Carlinia as your
setter too, who was a force at the Olympics this summer,
and then now you get to play with her and
get her SETX. What's it like getting a Lauren Carlini set?
Speaker 6 (28:50):
It's insane. Like when when I was telling people who
was going to be on my team after they had
announced it, they were like, you're playing with Lauren Carlini
and Andy jws Is like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I got to interview Annie over the summer and she was,
you know, she was just like the sweetest, like most
down to earth player. But then like when you see
her play and how hard she hits intense.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
Yeah, it's great. Like it's like intense energy, which can
be scary, but you know it's like in support of
you and like directed towards the other team. So it
just makes a fire lit under you.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Two, when you guys play other teams, have you made
other friends that you didn't know before, had played against
before now that like, you know, you get to see
each other almost every weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, so fun. Fact, like the first two or
three weeks we were away, we had every meal with
Omaha really basically, so we made a lot of friends
on the Omaha team, like Amber and Lauren Sibrins, and
also I knew of like amberygd and Jess Music, but
I talked to them a little bit more after the
(30:01):
Love Classic when we had our little get together that
was really cool. And then Gabby Blossom on Almaha's we
played at AU and so it's been really cool talking
to her a little bit more too.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's really cool though that you girls are shaping this
new generation of not just volleyball players, but volleyball fans,
Like has that hit you at all in a way,
like do you feel any weight on your shoulders because
of it? Or is it more inspirational and motivational?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
I think it's definitely more motivational than anything, just because
I mean in college I kind of saw volleyball growing,
and especially while I was at Northwest and we went
from having like four hundred or eight hundred fans in
a match to having four thousand by the time I
had left, and so that was really cool to see
it growing. And then when I got to Wisconsin, it
was like, wow, volleyball has reached such a big stage.
(30:50):
And then watching college volleyball this past year to love Now,
it's just been so cool and special watching it grow
that I love being inspiration to younger girls out.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
There, and speaking of younger players, I like to ask
this from you ladies who are now professionals, because I
feel like it helps this younger generation grow as volleyball players.
But what did you do when you were first starting out,
when you first joined club that really helped propel you
to become the player that you are today.
Speaker 6 (31:21):
I just kind of had fun with the people that
I was playing with, so my best friends I've met
playing volleyball, and I think volleyball just has a lot
of special people in it where yes, you focus on
your skill, you focus on the growth, but if you're
not having fun while doing it, it's you're not going
to want to continue it. So I would say the
biggest thing that helps me get to where I am
(31:43):
is having fun while still focusing on bettering myself in
the game.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Now, there's only a few more weeks left of the
League one volleyball season, So what are your goals for
the rest of this season.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
I think we want to show that we can compete
at a good level and win more games. I think
that's our biggest thing. Yeah, I'm really excited to see
where it goes and hopefully at the end of the season,
we're the team hoisting up the trophy.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
It's anybody's trophy, right, it's anyone's. Well.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Temmy, it was a pleasure speaking with you. You're so
sweet and I wish you the best of luck the
rest of the season.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Production by League one Volleyball. I'm your host Tiffany Oshinsky.
My co host is kat Bell. Amya Alvarez is our
(32:42):
senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and
Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Juwara Parker. Sound editing
and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes
by Eric W. Mass Junior Special thanks to Temmy, Thomas
I Laura.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Next week we'll recap Week ten. Thanks for listening.
Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinski and I'm Kat though, and this
is serving pancakes with League one Volleyball. The inaugural Love
season is finally here. Each episode will be going over
the matches from the week to keep you up to
date on everything League one Volleyball. Then stick around after
the analysis for interviews with some amazing people in and
around the sport.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Today's episode features Love Madison opposite hitter Tammy Thomas. Hi, Lara.
But first we're going to talk all things.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Week nine, and we're also going to do a quick
recap on Cat's birthday, which was last Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Have people lated, thank you?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It was great.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
We had an amazing dinner at a place called Wuchaw
with the Chinese contemporary restaurant downtown Austin, and I had
a set menu everybody. I got there early and like
decorated the table with like black tablecloths and I bought
these like really cutel like glass faces and like bake
red roses and put those in there, kind of spend
them on the table with like some like lit led
like candlelight. So it was perfect. It was giving grown
(00:57):
and sexy. Everybody like wearing lace to dinner.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It was great. It was such a great time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Did you make that theme grown in sexy basically?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, Well, let's not talk volleyball because that's also
grown and sexy.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Sure, very true.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I mean I'm in it of course. Well we're gonna
get to you last because you guys played last. So
we're gonna start Week nine with Nebraska. In Nebraska where
Love Salt Lake took down Love Omaha in four sets sixteen,
twenty five, twenty five, twenty three, twenty five, twenty three,
twenty five nineteen.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Head coach Tom A.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Miashiro said after the match that it wasn't the prettiest
game they've played.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Don't get me wrong. There were some ugly plays, and
our ability to reset was incredible, I think because volleyball
is like that, and we play against good teams all
the time, good players, and so it's not gonna always
be pretty. But I'm just really proud of our crew
for doing that.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So what does that say about Salt Lake's perseverance in
this match?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
I mean, salt Lake every week is getting better, I
believe you know, They're find different rotations and connections with
both the opposites with Haiti and Skyler. But like I
say all the time, every week, it can be any
man's match, any woman's match, just how to speak, Omaha,
I think is still trying to find the collective piece,
that collective jail piece with them and you know, salt
like could you can get somebody down their bad day
and while they trying to figure things out, that's what
(02:17):
you can do. So I definitely think it can be
any women's game, any team's game each week and thinks
not like prove that goal, it's omaha.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Two standouts in this game where outside Ronnie Jones Perry
and Claire Hoffman, who scored thirty eight of the seventy
eight points in this match. We've talked about Ronnie a
bunch actually just last week she was Player of the match,
so we went over a bunch of stuff about her
and how great she is.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So let's talk about Claire this time.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
She has only had twenty one kills so far this
season until this match, where she finished with the season
high fourteen on thirty two attempts. She's also had season
highs for blocks, digs, and points with three, ten, and seventeen, respectively.
So what did she do differently in this match to
step up her game.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Well, you know, like we haven't seen a lot of
Clayer this season at all, so when a opportunity presents
it stuff. I think, like any other team, you have
amazing a deep bench with a lot of players that
can come off and make an impact.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Claire did that.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
I think her have an opportunity to come out and
showcase her talent like she's been able to do. She
within her practices has also been beneficial for them. So
I was so happy that she got out there and
she did her thing. I love clear She's great.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Claire, Ronnie and the rest of the hitters wouldn't have
been so successful if it wasn't for the player of
the match, Ceter Jordan Poulter. You already know how amazing
she is. She's a two time Olympic medalist, but talk
about what she does on the court to put her
team in the best position to win. How does she
trick opponents with her ability to you know, set all
over the court.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I think any great team in general, for football, for example,
I think the center for volleyball is a quarterback, and
if you have a great quarterback, you have a great setterer.
You guys going to be a great team. Jordan obviously
is an amazing league athlete. She's on the national team.
And her just being her orithmic stels and be able
to spread an offense and just bring her pieces together.
I think, you know, you have a great setter who
was collected and as a calm attitude and just very
(03:57):
you know, intense and just going about her job every match.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Gonna get that. And Jordan Polter is just she's a goat.
She's a freaking goat.
Speaker 6 (04:04):
Yes she is.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And a great guitarist too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Oh is she plays guitar? I do even know that
she plays?
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Self taught no lessons day.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
That sticks with their hands.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
You know, Jordan is really good about hiding where she's
going going gets the traffic, you know, like, for example,
of the offense is going one direction, she's really good
by switching it off for opposite direction.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So that makes sense that she'd be doing something like
playing guitar.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Okay, we guitar lessons, setters sessions you need to do
to be like Jordan Poulter guitar lessons.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yep, there we go, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Moving to Friday Night Love Houston pulled off their second
five set reverse sweep this season, this time over top
seeded Atlanta twenty one, twenty five, eighteen, twenty five, twenty five,
twenty one, twenty five, seventeen, fifteen ten.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Now these teams look like this is the beginning stages
of like a really good rivalry.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Top two teams in the league currently faced off each
other in the Love Classic finals, with Houston getting that win,
and here they are with another battle. What makes this
matchup so fun and also so difficult for the players?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I mean, you have two teams that have great pennheaders,
have great defensive players, and it would go head and
head every chance they get. You have two teams, two
opposites that are also in the national team gym, going
head to head. So it just depends. So who's nice
it gonna be? I think Houston just does a really
good job. JT is just an amazing feral athlete. You know,
if she's tired or not, she's gonna be JT. And
(05:25):
I think as well as like Atlanta has Kelsey, So
the matchup between them two every week is going to
be has been really.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Intense and fun, and I'm enjoying watching it a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Is it hard to make rivalries when you're friends with
a lot of the girls on the.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Other see, it depends, you know. That's funny.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
As a cole fall said told me a story between
about her and Jordan Larsen. You know, when they were
in high school they played against each other and stuff,
but it was like they were really good friends. But
when it came to like playing, it was like she
was saying, there was time she didn't even talk to Jordan,
you know. So it shouldn't it shouldn't matter. You know,
I feel like we're trying to play. We're friends, but
we're enemies on the court, you know. So I think
I'm really good about getting doing that with Matt when
we play against Euston. If I'm able to play against
(06:01):
her any other team besides this season, I'm really good about, like,
you know, knowing how to get to her. For example,
I'll play with her in Au. You know, I could
talk to her doing that little bit kind of girt
off her game.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
But she doesn't like it.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
She hates it, actually, But you know, I think it's
sometimes It was one match she didn't even really she
didn't talk to me for like two days because we
won she can get like that, but it just appears.
So I think it's great. You can see any be
friends after when I lost. That's amazing for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, Middle Amber Igdi was the player of the match
with fifteen points, ten kills, and seventeen attempts in five blocks.
Watching her hit that girl has some serious pay time.
It is insane and it's funny because she's like one
of the sweetest players that I've met doing this these interviews.
She's just so nice, but she switches. Her mentality just
(06:45):
switches when she's on the court, and she's just a
force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So talk to me about Amber in her game.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I think Amber is one of those sid and jewels.
I think she just continues to be dynamic for Houston.
It's such a big part of their offense, and as
was their defense. Blocking wise, she's huge, he's massive. Actually
was able to kind of hear a little story about
her from a reporter this past weekend that, like, you know,
high school, she wasn't like one of the top recruits
in her class or life. She kind of had a
I guess, kind of a hard time balancing when it
came to being recruiting. But as she got older and
more experince through club, she just kind of went off
(07:12):
the rafters and was just going hand as she was
starting to develop her talent.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So I'm very happy for her.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I think her story's really cool and she's been playing
great Houston like She's definitely someone to be able to
gout for it for sure.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
Hm.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Now we know that this is anybody's game.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But as I said before, these Houston Atlanta matches are
making for a good rivalry. So what does that Lanta
need to do to overcome their foe in the future.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Man, You know when you have that up to oh,
you gotta finish. You have to finish, you know. So
I think it's with the opportunity presentence. Its south for
you to close out a match.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You got to do it. So that's the best thing
you can do. Getting back to practice, working on some.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Washdrails to show that you're down three points in the fourth,
or down three points in a second, or down two
points in the fifth.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
You have to finish when you get these opportunities. Definitely,
all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Saturday's doubleheader began less than eighteen hours after Houston's big
win against Atlanta, and that short rest time may have
played into the Los Agains love Madison they lost nineteen
twenty five, twenty eight, twenty six, twenty eight, twenty six,
twenty five sixteen. Madison is absolutely on fire now having
won their last three matches. But how much would you
(08:13):
say that this result was from a fatigued Houston versus
very hot Madison.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I think, regardless, you have to come out and play
your best match. But I think it definitely was played
a big not a big part of it, but a
part of it. I think, not just physically, I think mentally,
you know, I think we didn't get to see the
same team we saw versus at Lennard. With Houston, I think,
you know, a lot more airs and mistakes, just like
dumb things like hitting balls and then that do you
know what would see that Madison King then Rochelle would
do you So I think it was more of that,
(08:41):
just you know, losing connection, and I think Madison did
a great job just staying on her and just you know,
going off the whole way they're on right now and
continue to get in that win.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The player of the match, Libero Milica Medved finished the
match with twenty four Diggs as well as for assists
seriously absolutely killing it.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
With their playing time up, She's really been able.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
To showcase how great she is on defense, totally fifty
seven digs over the last four games versus seven digs
over the first seven. Now you played against her, how
has Melissa been for this Madison team?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I think just being consistent and digging balls and digging
walls in good spots, you know. I think if you
can keep your team in transition in defense and dig
a ball to where the setter can be able to
set everyone from both pins a bit a blocker in
your pipe, I think that helps. So being able to
do that and dig those balls in a good space
for transitioning points, it's very hard to do, so her
being able to do that consistently for them is definitely helping.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I'm loving the Libero love. Then I feel like we
might need to start like a drop in Bros setting.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Dropphin Bros Podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
All about the Bros.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, speaking of great defense, last week, we talked about
some insane rallies that happened, but I want to highlight
a specific rally.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
From this match.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was set point for Madison in the second set
This insane rally lasted forty seconds and the defense started
when Melissa hit the ball. She dug the ball I
guess off her foot. Houston didn't even realize it at first.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Okay, what mat Iball still alive?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Houston may have thought.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
It was down and that really turned this rally into
a slugfest.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So what was your favorite part of that rally?
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Definitely the ball off the foot. You know, how often
does it happened in a match?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So you're able to get that that That's like the
laziest point you can do. Just have to get out
there if you can, or be readying the ball off
your leg. It's the best point ever. So definitely the
ball off the pot. It's might be my prime moment
for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
All right now, the last match of the weekend, Atlanta
got the w over your Team Love Austin in four
sets twenty five, twenty two, twenty four, twenty six, twenty five, fifteen,
twenty seven, twenty five. Seemed like they had actually the
opposite reaction to the five set loss the night before,
so instead of looking fatigue, they looked motivated. It was
also Atlanta's last home match for the season, so what
(10:55):
did you see out of them since you were there.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Definitely, like being the last home match or any team
will give you a little bit motivation to be able
to kind of.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Go out on a win.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
As tired they may have seemed, and I'm sure because
Kelsel diod a lot of swings. They just played a steady,
easy going match and honestly it's almost felt like we do.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Kind of dugo on grave.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
You know, we had a lot of attacking arrs and
we could get the ball and play service was a
struggle for us as well. I think scouring report wise,
I think we only had two players hit in a
positive Pitchency.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I think everybody else is the negative.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So you can't win matches like that when your top
two scores are one of the top scores is the
middle block. And middle blockers are amazing obviously athletes in
the court, but they don't win matches, and that definitely
showed that.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And this match was a battle through and through so
many amazing digs, so many huge blocks. In fact, after
the second set, both of the teams were hitting sub
one hundred. But regardless of these obstructions, no one let down.
So what's the strategy behind still going all out versus
you know, change of pace and trying to catch the
other team out of system, it.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Can be difficult. I think sometimes thus choice can go
hand in hand. I think for us, if we kind
of would be able to slow down and thought more like,
you know what we wanted to do, keep balls off
the barrow, because I think we said the barrel a lot,
you know, focus on our servings and the seams. Kelsey
passed a lot of balls and systems from them last night.
That kind of helped could have helped us to kind
of slow down and kind of realize that dejectory of it.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But also, once you're on that stride.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
On that win and you're able to have that, you
know that stride going forward and you want to ride
that coaster, ride that wave, I think it's great to
just keep going and going through it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So yeah, for Atlanta, they're big blocker of the game
was middle Tea Jammerson, who earned Player of the Match.
He finished with thirteen points thanks to six blocks, four
kills in three aces.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Tia getting her moment finally.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We've been talking about her for a while now, so
how did she find ways to stop your hitters?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean, tears are like the grim freeper of the
league right now. I don't think a lot of pinn
hitters like her.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Like she's you know, she's in your face, and she
has big hands, and she's stuffing, touching everything, and you
know she's just being a dynamically the middle top of it.
You know, if you get blocked, you get the fingerwave.
That's her thing right now. And then if you see that,
I'm sure you're getting pissed. So I mean, I'm proud
of her. It's been great to see her play for Atlanta.
She's been a great piece for them defensive wise, blocking, serving,
(13:04):
She has a great serve as well. I think she's
definitely giving them the middles this lead for the run
for their money. I think she's definitely one of the
top definitely one of the top three.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
All Right, Well, Kat, we're down to just for more
weeks in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Week ten is up next weekend. Here's the lineup we got.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Thursday night, Madison in their three game win streak, hosts Omaha,
who is on a six match losing streak, and this
will be Madison's last home match. Then Friday night, we
begin weekend with Love in Houston as they host their
newly dubbed rival by Me Atlanta. Saturday's first match will
be Salt Lake versus Atlanta, and then we finished with
the Battle of Texas. You and Love Austin versus Houston.
(13:40):
You ladies have been the closers these past few weeks.
So which of these matches are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (13:47):
You know, I'll keep shaing for my team, but they
keep letting me down right now, So I'm gonna go
in the direction this week.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I'm gonna go Madison versus Omaha.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I would lock to see Omaha kind of get out
this funk that there, and it'd be a great way
to do that snapping Madison streak.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
So I would love to see Omaha get away. What
about you, I'm.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Going with this new rivalry that I'm loving this Houston
Atlanta match. I want to see, you know some games.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, it's so so good.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Great volleyball, great players. It's it's a lot of fun
to watch. So I'm excited to see that one. So
all right, Well, when we come back, I sit down
with Love Madison's temmy Thomas ey Laura. We talk about
everything from Madison's hot street to her Nigerian heritage.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
To her hobbies and so much more.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
We're back with Love Madison's Tammy Thomas Eyi Lara, an
opposite hitter from Glenwood, Illinois. Temmy help lead Wisconsin to
the NCAA semifinals in twenty twenty three. She spent the
first four years of her collegiate career at Northwestern, earning
ABCA second Team All American honor in twenty twenty two
and first team All Big Ten from twenty twenty to
(15:04):
twenty twenty two. She made her professional debut in the
United States in twenty twenty four, and now she's playing
for League one Volleyball in Madison and is here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Tammy, Welcome to Serving Pancakes.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Hi. I'm excited to be here, very excited to have
you here.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I now we were recording this interview before Week nine starts,
So at this time, Love Madison is the hottest team
right now in League One.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
You guys just went back to back in.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Week eight, including a sweep against my co host Kat
Bell's team.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
So, Kat, if you're listening, sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Sorry, Kat, But can you talk about the atmosphere on
the team before this weekend and then after so.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Before this weekend, we were on a little bit of
a losing streak, but we were like, we can only
really get better. We have nothing to lose in these matches,
and like we were on the grind looking for our
first win, and we put in a lot of work
like these past couple weeks from basically the first week
until now, and we're still putting in work after these wins.
But after those wins, it was like a big confidence
builder saying that, like we've been going in the right
(16:08):
direction and it feels like we finally found where we
need to be and like everything's kind of falling into place,
which we're super excited about.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Now this league, anybody can win and we know that
we've seen it week in and week out. What was
kind of being said though during your losing streak like
every week that kind of kept you guys motivated and
still excited.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
It was kind of just like we have all the
pieces that we need, we just need to figure out
how we're going to use them and how we're going
to get to that next level and that next step,
because it was always like one little thing that would
like hold us back. It was like one little run here,
one little run there and we're like, how do we stop?
How do we side out faster? And we figured it
out this weekend and it was great to watch, great
(16:49):
to see.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, you guys were a lot of fun to watch.
Did you guys get to do anything after? Because you
guys were in Madison for the wins, so I feel like,
you know, was there any celebration dinners or anything like that.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Actually, we went to dinner on Thursday with Tom and
he was basically like, if you guys win this weekend,
we can have a dinner every weekend. Oh and so
before every weekend, so we have our next team dinner tomorrow.
We're like, I guess that was the motivation. We needed
team dinner every week before next month. Not not like
(17:19):
the money from the Glove Classic. We needed team dinner.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Right. Where did you guys go for this, like rallying dinner?
Speaker 6 (17:31):
We went to this place called Rare Steakhouse. It's in
downtown Madison, like right by the capitol.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Awesome.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
We were like, Okay, if we can get it every week,
we'll start winning.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I'd love that so much. I would do that for
food too, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
So I get it now, your first generation American correct.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, So where's your family.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
From and how did they end up in the States
in Illinois.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
My parents are from Nigeria and my ghosts and they
immigrated here in nineties because they wanted more opportunity for
me and my brother. I have an older brother who's
a year older than me, and Chicago there's like a
big Nigerian population here already, so they just kind of
immigrated here and kind of set up roots here for us.
So we have a lot of Nigerian American friends too
(18:16):
that live in the suburbs of Chicago, which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's awesome. How did you get into volleyball?
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Then?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Did your family play sports?
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Did your parents play sports at all?
Speaker 6 (18:25):
No? My brother and I did a lot of sports
growing up, So I played like soccer, basketball, did gymnastics
while I was short enough to play gymnastics. I just
did a lot of sports, tapped ballet like anything, and
really fell in love with volleyball and just kept playing
ever since.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Basically, did your parents have any idea what they were
getting themselves into and it came to club volleyball?
Speaker 6 (18:48):
No idea. So I started playing when I was twelve,
but didn't start like true true club until I was thirteen,
and then I started getting recruited for college and my
parents were like, wow, I didn't even know this was
like an opportunity for you. What do we do? What
do we do? And luckily I had a really good
like club recruiting coordinator who kind of walked us through
everything because my parents really didn't know anything about college
(19:11):
athletics and college balleyball and recruiting. So it was just
a really fun process for all of us, but we
all were like really confused most of the time.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Your brother played football in college, right.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
Yeah, he walked onto the football team at Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So your parents had two kids both end up going
to college and playing a sport. What was that like
coming from Nigeria, having no family, like no interest in
sports really, and now all of a sudden having two
athletes in their family.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
I mean, my parents were definitely surprised by especially my
brother because he had never played football before, but they
were so proud of both of us, and I mean,
I just feel like making my parents proud by what
I'm doing is so special to me, just because I
know they gave up so much to give me and
my brother, the opportunities here, Like they haven't really been
back a really long time, just because they've had to
(20:02):
stay here, and like they've wanted to stay here and
support me and my brother and still come to my
matches or like go visit my brother and stuff like that.
So just being able to make them proud is one
of the best feelings in the world to me, and
I know to my brother too.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Have they been able to come out to your matches.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Yeah, They've come to a lot of the matches, and
I just love seeing them every weekend cheering in the sands.
It's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, that is awesome. Now, going back to college and
your decision. What ultimately made you choose Northwestern?
Speaker 6 (20:32):
It was close to home, really good academics, and it
had the major that I wanted, which was biomedical engineering.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So yeah, yeah, can you talk to me about this.
How did you get into biomedical engineering? Because I remember
when I was reading your bio and I saw that,
I was like, girl, that's like a serious degree to
go for, because that's like good for you.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
It wasn't tense for sure, but basically my aunt is
an engineer and I've always liked building things, But I've
all so really liked seeing people with prosthetics and just
seeing how it's helped them, like continued the way of
life they had before losing their limbs to like prosthetic
legs or prosthetic arms, and so I was like biomedical
engineering as a way that I can kind of get
(21:13):
into that realm of like building and doing prosthetics and
stuff like that. So I chose that major.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And then you ended up going to Wisconsin and continued
your studies there. Is that the reason why you decided
to go to Wisconsin as supposed to staying in Northwestern?
Speaker 6 (21:28):
Yeah, it was definitely academics and volleyball. Again, I think
I had four years under the same coaching staff, so
I think just having a fit year with a new
coach was really helpful for me and just fine tuning
some areas where I knew I could still grow. But
also Wisconsin and just the access to the hospital that
I had while I was here, and just kind of
the networking I was able to do while I was
(21:48):
there was really awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
For both your undergrad and graduate careers. In college, How
did you handle that degree with a d one sport
like that especially.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
I mean, both of those schools are amazing.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
It was definitely pretty tough, especially getting the undergrad degree,
like my first year, just going through in season with
all of the chemistry and math and all of that,
and it was definitely hard. But time management was super helpful.
And having friends in classes was really nice too, because
if I messed a practice, I could just send my
friend a text and be like, hey, would you be
able to send you the notes? Going to office hours
(22:23):
and just really grinding it out.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That's like true time management stuff right there. Well, actually,
I'm going to jump ahead real quick because speaking of
time management, I've talked to a lot of girls who say,
you know, once they get to the pro level, there's
so much time off.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
So what are you doing on your time off?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
I'm doing a lot. I started actually doing crafts. Wait,
let me grab this.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Ooh.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
I we had like a craft night a few weeks ago,
me and a few of my teammates. And while I
was at Wisconsin, I got into handnitting. So I started
handiting this blanket for my friend, which I'm super excited about.
I really like the pattern of it. But I started knitting.
We do like movie nights BNCH TV shows play games
(23:04):
on like the PS five, just like I got back
into reading. I'm actually reading the Court of Thorns and
Roses series, So there's a lot of free times, so
I have a lot of things that I want to do.
I get that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I love that you guys get together so often and
do things like like movie nights, craft nights and everything.
I got to ask, what movies have you guys watched
lately and what's the most recent TV binge?
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Okay, so we just finished Dexter oh like all eight seasons.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
The whole show, the whole show, and how disappointed were
you at the end?
Speaker 6 (23:38):
I was so just like, we literally just finished the
last episode last night and I was so disappointed. I
was like, no way it ends like that because it
was such a good show. Now we're watching How to
Get Away with Murder. Oh okay, we're like in season
one and my eyes are glued to the screen, like
Annalise Keating can act. Yes, it's such a good show. Yes,
(24:00):
but then you watched like Lord of the Rings. A
lot of the movies I watched by myself. I've been
to the TV shows, but I meant to like bad movies.
Like a bad Netflix movie is like my cup of tea,
So I can't really I can't really watch that with
anything like that else because everyone's like that movie's so bad,
and I'm just I love it. There's just something about
(24:20):
a bad Netflix movie that really, I don't know, I
can't take my eyes off of it.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
What's the favorite bad Netflix movie?
Speaker 6 (24:27):
There's so many. My favorite genre is probably like rom
com or thriller, a bad Netflix rom comma thriller, where
like you know what's gonna happen, but you still can't
take your eyes off it.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
We'll be back with more from our interview with Timmy
Thomas Ei Lara. When you were in college, I know
(25:01):
that you had like help with your club teams with
recruiting for college, But when it came to pros.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Did you know that you wanted to go pro?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And did you have people help you with like the landscape,
because I know that the pro landscape can kind of
be vast with the international teams and everything.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Yeah. So I really didn't know about professional volleyball outside
of like the Olympics until I was a freshman sophomore
in college and I saw like my senior teammates go overseas. Now.
I was like, that's really cool. I want to do that.
I really want to play professional volleyball. And so like
my freshman and sophomore year and even junior or two,
(25:37):
I was like, Okay, I want to go overseas after
I'm done playing. And then my senior year when I
went to the All America banquet, Love was there and
they were just kind of talking about volleyball in the
United States and how it would start after my fifth year.
So this season twenty twenty five, and I was like,
that's a really cool opportunity. I would love deep be
(25:57):
in love basically and being able to play in the
United States. So now looking forward two years later and
me being here in love and playing in the US
has been super cool.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Did you find it even more exciting that you get
to play in the city where you got to go
to school at?
Speaker 6 (26:14):
Yeah. I mean when I was asked to go back
to Madison, I was like, yes, of course, because I
just think it's such a special place, like the Madison
fans love volleyball, and you can just see it the
amount of people that kind of know who I am
when I'm walking around doing things is super cool. Like
just knowing that people watch what we do and like
(26:35):
know us. It's really exciting to see and just seeing
the little girls who love watching us and look up
to us has been really special.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I was going to ask if you're recognized on the streets,
are you recognized more as a Badger or now as
part of Love Madison.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Definitely as a Badger, but people are recognizing me in
Love Madison. I actually got a little bracelet last week.
I think it's over on my counter, but it was
basically every team I played on, like the colors of
every team I've played on in my career, which was
really sweet from a fan at last Inthen's net.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
That is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
That's a great friendship bracelet that you got.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
It was really sweet.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I love that and very creative. Good for them.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, so you're on the younger side of the players
in the league. So have you found like a mentor
or have you been able to take some of these
other players that are on your team and really learn
from them, and have they taken you under their wing?
Speaker 6 (27:37):
For sure? I think Annie has been so great, Like
I grew up watching her play. I told her one
of the first days I met her that when I
had gone on to a visit and to Purdue in
twenty fifteen, I like watched her play for the first
time in person, and she was like, wow, that made
me feel really old. That was my senior year of college,
and I was like, yeah, I'm sorry, but I just
(27:58):
had to tell you. But bas like watching her in
twenty twenty one at the Olympics in this past Olympics
and being able to be on a team with her
where she's helping me out and like telling me what
shots I have opraan or helping me with a certain
swing has been really really cool and I've learned a
lot from her this season.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, I feel like walking onto a team knowing that
like a two time Olympian is, you know there, she's
playing the same position as me and is able to
like help me get better.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Is the coolest thing. I haven't experienced it myself obviously,
but I.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Feel like, for you, that's gotta be like one of
the coolest experiences.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
It's been really cool and super special, Like I wouldn't
trade it for anything.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, and then you got like Lauren Carlinia as your
setter too, who was a force at the Olympics this summer,
and then now you get to play with her and
get her SETX. What's it like getting a Lauren Carlini set?
Speaker 6 (28:50):
It's insane. Like when when I was telling people who
was going to be on my team after they had
announced it, they were like, you're playing with Lauren Carlini
and Andy jws Is like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I got to interview Annie over the summer and she was,
you know, she was just like the sweetest, like most
down to earth player. But then like when you see
her play and how hard she hits intense.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
Yeah, it's great. Like it's like intense energy, which can
be scary, but you know it's like in support of
you and like directed towards the other team. So it
just makes a fire lit under you.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Two, when you guys play other teams, have you made
other friends that you didn't know before, had played against
before now that like, you know, you get to see
each other almost every weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, so fun. Fact, like the first two or
three weeks we were away, we had every meal with
Omaha really basically, so we made a lot of friends
on the Omaha team, like Amber and Lauren Sibrins, and
also I knew of like amberygd and Jess Music, but
I talked to them a little bit more after the
(30:01):
Love Classic when we had our little get together that
was really cool. And then Gabby Blossom on Almaha's we
played at AU and so it's been really cool talking
to her a little bit more too.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's really cool though that you girls are shaping this
new generation of not just volleyball players, but volleyball fans,
Like has that hit you at all in a way,
like do you feel any weight on your shoulders because
of it? Or is it more inspirational and motivational?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
I think it's definitely more motivational than anything, just because
I mean in college I kind of saw volleyball growing,
and especially while I was at Northwest and we went
from having like four hundred or eight hundred fans in
a match to having four thousand by the time I
had left, and so that was really cool to see
it growing. And then when I got to Wisconsin, it
was like, wow, volleyball has reached such a big stage.
(30:50):
And then watching college volleyball this past year to love Now,
it's just been so cool and special watching it grow
that I love being inspiration to younger girls out.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
There, and speaking of younger players, I like to ask
this from you ladies who are now professionals, because I
feel like it helps this younger generation grow as volleyball players.
But what did you do when you were first starting out,
when you first joined club that really helped propel you
to become the player that you are today.
Speaker 6 (31:21):
I just kind of had fun with the people that
I was playing with, so my best friends I've met
playing volleyball, and I think volleyball just has a lot
of special people in it where yes, you focus on
your skill, you focus on the growth, but if you're
not having fun while doing it, it's you're not going
to want to continue it. So I would say the
biggest thing that helps me get to where I am
(31:43):
is having fun while still focusing on bettering myself in
the game.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Now, there's only a few more weeks left of the
League one volleyball season, So what are your goals for
the rest of this season.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
I think we want to show that we can compete
at a good level and win more games. I think
that's our biggest thing. Yeah, I'm really excited to see
where it goes and hopefully at the end of the season,
we're the team hoisting up the trophy.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
It's anybody's trophy, right, it's anyone's. Well.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Temmy, it was a pleasure speaking with you. You're so
sweet and I wish you the best of luck the
rest of the season.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Production by League one Volleyball. I'm your host Tiffany Oshinsky.
My co host is kat Bell. Amya Alvarez is our
(32:42):
senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and
Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Juwara Parker. Sound editing
and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes
by Eric W. Mass Junior Special thanks to Temmy, Thomas
I Laura.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Next week we'll recap Week ten. Thanks for listening.
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