SMU Volleyball Interview with Ellie Bolton & Jentry Lamirand

live from Fondren library on the beautiful Campus of SMU in the Big D this is yanx kids favorite podcast the Mustang mood welcome everybody we have bonus episode no I was just going to say they were talking to me about it earlier today and both of them were very excited for this episode hosanna's SMU volleyball is her favorite women's sports team just generally speaking so um she's very excited to watch you guys uh for the Nebraska game and how old is she she is 8 months old that's sweet oh very excited very excited eight-month old smiling a lot right now we love that well we have some very cool guests with us two volleyball stars with amazing careers in high school and college um Ellie Bolton and gentry lemand sorry you told us but I forgot I say it right lamarand awesome F welcome to the show right thanks for having us this our first volleyball episode we're pumped yeah it's going to blow up just because you switch it up it's going to blow up I I think there's like a I think we've seen in like the last three to four years a surge in women's sports and I think it's awesome I think more Sports more people getting the spotlight especially more women getting the spotlight is going to be great for sure yeah for sure yeah and we just love sports of all kinds especially when there's a an SMU uh logo going with it oh Absol Mustangs on their on their Jersey we're about it right exactly yeah exactly um so we saw y'all beat TCU last night so let go that was exciting great feeling how did that how did that game Go I mean obviously you won but do you want to tell us about it yeah I mean we played them in the spring as well at like a scrimmage type format so I think it's fun going into those matches there's no pressures there's an exhibition but they're are really really talented team and so I think that gave our team a lot of Mojo going forward like you know that we swept them um handled them pretty well and I think it gave us just the ultimate confidence going forward so yeah the two programs are pretty close both coaches were assistants at Baylor before coming to SMU and TCU I mean I know a lot of girls on the team just because of the proximity Fort Worth is my hometown so it's fun to play against your friends and I mean the coaches are friends too so all right so we're not big fans of TC around here I don't know if our uh reputation the license plate says at all TCU sucks see that I didn't even see that um you're new to SMU this kind of your first sorry Ellie Ellie forget there's people listening as well Ellie uh you're new to SMU yeah um but Gentry you've been around the block at timer too you've played TCU several times what do y'all hate about TCU you can start you can start um I have to be nice cuz my mom and both of my brothers went there but I I don't like purple that much does that count yeah that's good that's good Walker's in that same boat he has some relatives that you know I don't speak to him he doesn't speak to me but somebody did I'm joking I'm sorry guys yeah I do have to fight my brothers to put on SMU shirt even when I'm playing so wow did you drop any like comments after beating TCU um I mean kind of before but then after I didn't need to rub it in too badly they they knew what was going to happen so so the score speaks for itself yeah yeah obviously I don't think I don't like that they have red included in their colors yes I don't know I don't know much about you but that was really to me we hate those things as well I I like I it just confuses me I'm like your Pur your colors are purple and black and gray and white where's the red coming from exactly I don't know I was just curious well you ask them that and they're like oh it's because our mascot shoots blood from its eyes but it's like I just that's a bit dramatic it it is thank you yes yes yeah yeah we're talking about their jerseys I don't know it was a while ago but they have like the TCU football team sorry we're not talking about volleyball right now but no football too we love it but they have like their dark like their gray and black jerseys have like some red and maybe blue on them too I don't think it has blue I think it's just and black it doesn't make sense it just sense yeah it's weird so we can let's just keep making fun of them for that that's awesome so yall swept TCU last night and then that was the last exhibition is that right yeah okay so and then you're off to Hawaii soon yeah on Tuesday what does the next two weeks of SMU volleyball look like um we leave on Tuesday for Hawaii so we'll be there Tuesday through Sunday our time um we play Friday Saturday technically Saturday Sunday get back and then we've got Nebraska at home it's our home opener I think that's going to be super it's almost sold out right it is yeah it's going to be the biggest crowd volum I've ever had wow awesome and we used to play Nebraska at Katon before and they were down the road our Rivals and they do not travel for people so the fact that they're traveling to SMU to play there it's a big deal and so I think it's going to be a really big match wow that's a aome yeah that's I didn't know that they don't travel that much is there a particular reason for that just because they have the weight of their program they can say you come to us they do like I mean they sell out all of their home matches Nebraska volleyball is like a big deal the real deal to yeah last year they had the most people out of women's sporting event in history yeah they played in their football stadium it was it was a really big deal if you look at their noncon like outside of big 10 cuz Big 10 you don't have that much control over it but they're nonon they don't travel anywhere they're they're home for every single weekend but then we got them to come here so that's going to be really really exciting it's really good for SMU volleyball for sure oh yeah was like a deal are y going to play them in the future we played them last year at their home tourament okay so this is the second one of the yes this is like the last year in the contract gotcha so to to prep for a game like this is there anything you do different or is it just kind of just keep your head down keep working or what does it look like I mean Nebraska is such a big name I feel like it's really easy to be intimidated by them but we kind of have to treat it like every other game to just keep I mean keep the focus on what we're trying to do and I mean they're a very talented team but so are we just treated like any other game for sure I think it's kind of getting over that mental block of like oh we're playing Nebraska they were the national championship like just realizing you know they're the same age as us they're the same you know like level of volleyball as us and we're going to compete and I think it's good that we're getting them early on you know when they're still figuring out their lineup they're still kind of working out some things and we can capiz on that early and hopefully get him so what would a win against Nebraska mean for SMU volleyball uh a lot honestly I mean the name itself Nebraska volleyball like you wouldn't think that smu's playing them and for sure competing with them and I think I mean this might be skewed opinion but I think we're a super underrated team and I think that would really put I mean like respect on our name for sure yeah I think it would put us on the map for sure sure like coming to SMU like there always been a top 25 you know really good program but Nebraska like that's the gold medal standard for relable program so I think if you knock off a team like that we've been described as like the Dark Horse of NCAA this year I think that's a really cool mentality to take on is like that Underdog mentality and if you get them early like man like that just puts you on the map and we've got some really tough matches after that and I think we could set ourself up for a lot of success in the season that's awesome that's exciting yeah um so Ellie you are a grad student here ATU doing your fifth year your Co year of Eligibility you played um at where did you play that's right um what well first off did you play SMU when you were at kraton at all did kraton play SMU we did actually and I forgot about this but we played them back like my sophomore year um we hosted a tournament at kraton and we played him and I think the only girl on the team then was Jamon wheeler the outside mhm um but we were just talking about that yeah yeah did y'all win or did weaton did winon yes we did um but now I'm an SMU fan so so now yeah now that you're on SMU you would beat we'd beat kraton if we played them now right exactly exactly but we don't want her to like you know upset any friends back at no yeah please don't include that so how how has your transition been to SMU yeah um we want to hear about that and then also I guess why did you choose SMU how did that come about CU that seems random for sure yeah I I loved my four years at kraton I we were very successful made the spe 16 had a lot of success there but I think you kind of hit a point where you're like I've done my time here I want something new and um visited a couple schools it's a really quick transition you know you graduate in December and then you're just taking visit after visit on Christmas break and I actually canceled three visits after I came to SMU I was so sold um I think our coaches do a great job of recruiting um Dallas is a super easy City to recruit in and I think think you know you combine academics Athletics joining the ACC um I loved the coaching staff I really believed that they were in this mission to be a top 15 program even and I believed in it and I wanted to be a part of it I think it was an easy decision after that so and my brother told me to commit so I was like TCU brother no sorry those are my TCU Brothers my brother's back home in KU he goes to KU um but he's like my best friend we were on a visit and he's like I think you should go here and I'm like yeah I think so too let's just cancel the visit and let's commit so he came to visit SMU with you he did and he's just like this is the place he had yeah yeah he knew he knew that's cool wait what's his name cuz we got to give him a shout out now yeah Aiden Bolton Aiden Bolton Aiden shout out great job man thank you yeah he's the best but it was super easy school um to honestly like advertise and it was very attractive to me as a grad student so that's cool yeah and what are you studying here as a gr St my Master's of management so cool get to enjoy the new School of Business exactly starting in August very nice I'm very excited yeah I'm very very thankful I chose here that's awesome that's really cool that's awesome we're very glad to have you thank you yeah and um what are some main differences that you've realized or noticed between the SMU program and the Katon program right I mean I think it's funny because you're had a place for four years and that's all you know of what college volleyball is like like how the programs on how practices are run your travel schedule and um it's crazy how you can go from one thing to the next and they're just night and day different and I do think that like I think the way that we train is very different than how I trained at Katon and the way that we you know I don't even know like plan our practices and what times we do it at it's just very different and I think in a good way both have very positive things to each of them and I love both of them in very different ways but I think it's just been crazy to see how different um the two are especially with the caliber of training um like we go very hard to SMU and I that's kind of how I'm wired and that's how I like to go and I love that piece of it for sure gotcha so when you say go very hard is that mhm cardio like workouts or lifting or what does that look like more so just the practice like they work us like in the spring I was almost taken a back at how like wow we're going for three hours we you know are doing these high intensity drills and you're sweating and and I love it I think that's how you get better and um that's kind of what I mean more so like the practices not specifically like the training um but yeah yeah it's been great gotcha yeah that's awesome so Gentry um you're from a local community you're from decada right yes um and so what was it like for you getting recruited and I'm sure you had several options what what uh attracted you to SMU I actually got recruited by the coaching staff before the one that's here now but I think they both offered similar like it was a similar feel with both of them they both wanted to win it was very competitive environment obviously great academics and then they really just sold me with the culture like the girls meeting the girls was a big part for me um I had loved all my teammates back at home and I knew that I wanted to continue that and be really good friends with my teammates and they really sold that to me and then I signed and a couple weeks later I got a phone call hey there's a change in the coaching staff and I mean obviously that comes with a lot of emotions you're wondering if you're going to get to stay if you're going to have to restart the recruiting process but after my first call with Sam like I knew it was going to be even better than what I thought it was like I was so excited we had great coaches coming in whole new team coming in but I mean the vision was the same we wanted to be a top program that's awesome and so you came to SMU this is now your junior year right what was it like like being on the championship team last year winning the conference yeah that was super fun I mean the American Conference there was some really good teams whenever my freshman year we had UCF in Houston they were both ranked they both went pretty far in the tournament um they were great teams and this past year it was nice to get the opportunity to be that great team we got to go to the NCAA tournament as the American Conference champions and I think it was a good start I think winning that conference steing foot in a new conference we're going to see what we can do now do you think that the ACC is a more difficult conference just in volleyball just generally across the board or okay yeah you tell by how wider so is that do you find that intimidating do you find that exciting do you find like what what's the what's kind of the thoughts knowing that you're going to be playing against just better teams I think it's really exciting I mean if you want to be the best you have to play the best and sometimes that strength of schedule in a smaller conference doesn't set you up for in the postseason and the team that we want to be we want to go far in the postseason so I think joining the ACC is going to set us up for that for sure I think it's all about how you approach it like you look at it and be like this is really daunting we the like what what would you say the top three seeds in the ACC were number one seeds going into the tournament last year like I think you can look at it and say that's really daunting but I think we look at it as an opportunity like first year in the ACC and I think we've got the team honestly to really go and compete and to be the Dark Horse like people said in the NCAA and I think that when it comes time for postseason we're going to be even more prepared than we have ever been so I think it's a really exciting opportunity for sure so who are the teams we're looking out for in the ACC Louisville pit Stanford Florida Georgia Tech I mean you name it I mean seriously all the teams right like we I think you look like pre-season rankings we came in ranked six in the conference and I think you hear that number you're like oh dang that's pretty low but you look at the teams ahead ahead of you and it's like final four appearance final four appearance Elite appearance sweet 16 like it's it's a really really big compliment um to be given that six seed and the teams ahead of you were in the elite eight last year like that's you know like we'll take that you know so I think it's a really exciting opportunity for us yeah so for people who don't know how the volleyball tournament Works can you kind of break that down um what does it look how many teams get in and then how does it go like regions from there mhm it's set up the exact same as March Madness for basketball okay all 64 yeah 64 teams there's four Regional sites um yeah yeah there's four number one seeds all the way down and then but one conference could have three like you said one conf just because of the location of where the teams are is that why or is that just really you get number one seed you're number one seed yes and no it kind of depends they they'll make exceptions like if you it could be a stretch but you could be just such a Powerhouse team that they still give you the number one seed in like a questionable region so like Nebraska and Wisconsin were both in the Big 10 last year but they both got number one seeds because they had done so well in their nonon and in Big 10 that they were right there that you're like we cannot not make both these teams a number one seed so there's kind of exceptions for sure MH yeah okay yeah and then so last year we played Texas state in the first round is that right and played UT so we went in as a seventh seed and we our site was at UT Austin and we played Texas State swept them the first round then we played uh Texas they ended up being the national champions they just I mean absolutely demolished everyone in the tournament no one was really expecting it I mean now looking back it's like wow they really like did very well but they they peaked at the right time and yeah they got us they got us yeah so that's why I was so surprised seeing like you said sixth like after going into the second round of the tournament last season and then getting six in the ACC but I guess I didn't realize how powerful the the ACC is in yeah especially with Stanford coming in Stanford has like historically been an amazing volleyball program and adding them is just I mean they're great arguably the toughest conference in the nation right now for volleyball for sure it's like us in Big 10 probably and people think that ACC is going to Edge them out for sure so that's exciting that is exciting it's a really cool opportunity it is very very cool yeah so how is travel changing for yall this season is that going to be a bigger portion of your time or is it yes it I think so so last it um last year all we played all games on weekends so I mean the most we would miss is Thursdays Thursdays Fridays we'd play Friday Sunday and we would play the west side of our conference so it wasn't too bad of travel but I mean now it's a little bit more we're going to California we're going to North Carolina going to New York like yeah do you like that or is that like okay I mean schoolwise academically no not ideal I think there's what do we say three trips during season where we're gone for a straight week you know and that that definitely messes with academics for sure I mean you got a couple more midweek games like you've got a Friday Sunday Wednesday Friday kind of thing um but I think we're all just really excited honestly I mean is not ideal but it's never going to be and I think we're just excited to go and play these teams and go to these really great cities and play like the best the best I think that's the overarching yeah and there's some really cool environments in the ACC like they really support their women's volleball teams like to the nines and there's going to be some really cool like soldout crowds that are like all in for their team and I think that's going to be really fun to play in yeah what environment are you looking forward to most oh good that's a good question I've heard that Georgia is one of the hardest gyms to play in what I've heard as well it's very that's our home open I that's our season conf conference right on top of you the band is like right on like right at the end yeah I I think it's fun because like most of those top those teams ahead of us in the ACC like we get to host which I think is really cool we get to host Stanford we get to host Louisville pit we played twice once at home uh one over there but I think that's a really cool opportunity to host those really big teams although I'd love to see Stanford that was like one that I was like I'd love to go there yeah go to California yeah I'd be okay with that but that's all right we get to go next year it's crazy to think about this a little bit because I pulled up the rankings for it pit is four Stanford's five Louisville's six so you just said that you're going to play those those three teams four times like if you think about like the number of top 10 teams you play in a season like you got four games against them already that's kind of crazy to think about for sure and nonon we have Nebraska and knock Nebraska yeah you're play Kentucky maybe Purdue Purdue's top 10 kuy's top 10 yep Baylor's top 25 always um yeah that's a hard schedule yeah it's really hard you have a lot of opportunities to prove yourself exactly exactly and that always helps your RPI when you're coming when it comes to postseason explain explain an RPI for just like General fans um RPI is like it's not necessarily about wins and losses but the quality of wins and losses that you have um so if you lose to a really low ranked RPI team that's really going to hurt your RPI like yep I think like as you finish what in RPI last year we finished 21 we took some like rough losses to teams that went and lost to some other bad teams and kind of like Stacks up like that but then we also went and knocked off some teams that had a really good RPI like yes last year when we got announced into the ACC we swept Florida State the same day at in Tallahassee so I mean that was really cool that helped us a lot and they were ACC champs yeah and they ended up winning the AC so it's kind of just about your quality of wins and losses and not necessarily about just like your winning record or your losing record um and that really does help you when it comes time to the tournament like that's kind of more what they look at like what are the teams that they beat who are the teams that they lost to how does that stack up yeah yeah I'm sometimes sound like a broken record on this but I I kind of vocalize a lot you're not what your record says you are always sometimes you do get losses that are like hey that's sometimes like that loss is a good loss like you can still use that as like momentum kind of going into a tournament or something anyway that's typically why like there you see like five to six big 10 teams make the tournament but only one AAC and only one big East team make the tournament you know cuz it's like well the Big 10 they're battling Nebraska Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan state every single night so they may be taking losses but they also they get a win in there then you know that's going to help you for sure mhm yeah yeah s worker didn't mean to cut you off oh no so back to the traveling y'all about to go to Hawaii yes do you have have you been to Hawaii before and do you have any fun things planned for the trip over there or is it just kind of in and out I I've never been yeah I'm I'm super stoked we get there on Tuesday we don't play until like a Friday Saturday um we're going to practice every day so it is a business trip all you know you have to remember that like now we're playing but we do have lots of fun excursions planned yeah our coaches do make sure that we get to kind of have fun with everything we do they're giving us free time they're setting up like some yeah like a boat day we're going on Hikes like yeah we're very thankful to be a part of program where they balance the two you know like we're going to practice we're going to work hard focus on winning but at the same time we have this downtime in Hawaii let's go on a hour hike or let's go on a boat ride you know so I'm I'm stoked I'm excited it's fun so you all like staying in like Honolulu or like okay nice yeah and I've heard the actual University of Hawaii like the volleyball environment there they have this big dome and they just pack the place like that's yeah it's going to be super fun it's going to be very fun yeah we're excited wow yeah so kind of to volleyball I'm sure there's been a lot of talk about this and I was just curious what y'all's opinions are on the new setting rule the double hit we love it I was going to say I mean for us it's like we don't have a set here she actually used to train as a Setter oh okay she does it all you will learn this about her like she hits middle she sets she's a bro she's an outside like she does it all like you ask her to do anything and she'll step in and crush it so but you're not setting this year so yeah doesn't apply to us as much but I think anybody just kind of makes you play a little bit more free you know I also at the beginning was like really like you can win some points on that you know so I was a little bit bummed about it but I think it makes everyone play a little more free I think it helps RS out too because it's such a judgment call and people are just inyour face about it if you go one way or the other I think it just takes the pressure off them a little bit yeah um yeah yeah I mean at first we were all like that that's ridiculous like why would you ever do that and now as we're practicing it's like ah no doubl so yeah exactly can just manhandle a ball and you're like well doesn't sound grow yeah and for those who don't know what that rule is can you explain what the double hit is yeah yeah so whenever you're setting it's like an overhand and the ball's supposed to come out with no Spin and if it like comes out like kind of Jank then they call it double on it like you as spin on the ball yeah if there's spin on the ball so that's why like a Setter is such a specialized position cuz you have to train that on top of like location and everything mhm so now it doesn't matter how the second cont comes out as long as the third contact's clean then yes you can double on the Third Contact like if you send it over the net and it's a double then they don't then it's point over it's just the set yeah it's just like the second cont first and second first and second contest yep gotta are the the people that usually play Setter are they do they have different opinions than y'all or at first they probably did but now like they'll throw up a ball and it's like hey no doubles it got there so I think there's so many Setters that when that first came out they're like I spent my whole life training how to not double a ball and to be this very technical Setter and I think it's like well dang it now it's all going to waste but then you start playing and you realize how many points could be lost based on a judgment call from a ref and on a messy play and you're like okay wait mind I'm good with this you know so I think it's a controversial topic but I think all in all it's probably for the best for colge volleyball yeah that's good do you think it diminishes the value of the setter uh I still could never do what they do yeah I agree our our best friends is set and she is like what she does I tell her every day I'm like it's so like you are the quarterback of your team and I just think that that honestly takes the pressure off of them a little bit of like you have to figure out you know who to set when to sit where to locate the ball so not thinking about whether I'm going to double contact or not I think helps them a little bit for sure okay yeah so makes their job easier so that they can be so they can be better in other areas right right exactly yeah I think that's a good idea question that makes sense yeah yeah so there's also another new rule this year where teams can have two yeah two Leber liberos do you all call it libero defensive defensive specialist usually on the team I know it's the same thing yeah like the libero I I would say like you call the libero the girl who wears a different color jersey and then the people who go in specifically just to play like a three rotation back row kind that's like a DS defense special oh okay yeah different yeah they're different but they they're different but they do the same thing yeah exactly it's just little burgo gets to play staying the whole time and then the DS is only in for three rotations possibly for like a hitter or something like that yeah but now there's two right is is SMU taking advantage of that um TBD yeah I mean I think so yeah I think it's smart honestly I think they can't be on the court at the same time so like you can have one person out there but say that labero is struggling or something if you have someone and it doesn't count as a substitution so that's really helpful if you can just flip them out because one's struggling and the other one gets to go and I think that's a huge Advantage for college volleyball for sure we'll see if teams use it or not I think every team honestly should suit someone up I mean why not you know yeah just to have the option just to have the option it doesn't mean that that libero isn't going to stay in the whole time and do a great job it just means that you have someone's backup so I think the team should utilize it but do you think it'll change strategy very much um honestly yeah yes and no cuz I mean you could have like a serving like a service specialist and then like a defensive labero but all in all you're going to have to defense every rally and you're going to have to Ser receive every other so I mean yes and no right depends on how you look at it right at this level you'd hope that they'd be at least decent at both so it's like yeah you know but yeah that is true like you can have if you're in your serving rotations you can have a libero come in because hey like they're really good at defense and then vice versa Ser reive put the other one in but yeah I think it's just smart honestly just to even suit someone up just to have that as an option but like TCU did that we did that um um we'll see if other teams do that so gotcha yeah and for those that don't know volleyball as well yeah can you explain what a libero is yeah what they do so it's the person in the different color jersey they get to play back row all six rotations so they run the back row so Ser receive defense um just ball handling in general they kind of get to handle that and you're opposite of the middle hitter in the front row so you're you have two middles they'll each play through rotations and you're basically their back row player because they'll never come in the back back row so you get to serve rotation and then you get to be in all six and you take the second ball the setter takes it you run the back row you get to play defense um you're kind of just like the baller back there MH yeah nice yeah usually short people and usually loud people so that's like how I would describe yeah don't scream mine in here cuz I think it would hurt oh yeah don't worry yeah you have my word you have my word and gentry you're the outside hitter yes right can you explain that position yes so uh outside hitter you're playing on the left pin um sometimes you play three rotation sometime sometimes you play six um you kind of have to take out the trash um if there's an out of system ball they're just jacking it up to you you got to go get a kill on it um yeah you're just kind of trying to put that Third Contact away better the ball um in system you can still get the ball but yeah you're just on the left you're getting a ton of swings in and you got to be able to get some kills but also stay really clean and not make as many errors yeah outside it's funny like they had to put the ball away when it's in system and then they also have to put the ball away when it's out of system and the other midds just get to chill like if it's perfect they hit it they crush it whatever but like outside it's amazing what they do yeah to deal with everything gotcha and you're like the cleanup on the anything going out anything that's like Wayward you're the cleanup on for sure yeah okay that's a good way to describe it yeah and if you're allowed to talk about it what's your favorite play um or favorite situation I okay this might be cheating I like watching our middles run slides because I can never do that it's like you're jumping off of like one foot you're like running around the setter to the right pin and I mean you're just like yeah crushing a ball and I don't even know how they like they're it's amazing to watch our midds hit slides they're so good at it all three of them very very good yeah so I guess that's not mine but it's my favorite oh how about you do you have a favorite play I also love a slide I I think it's like takes a lot of coordination and timing between like the setter and the middle I think it's like the most impressive set and hit that you can score on and our middles are phenomenal at it so it's so fun to watch them just like tear people up it's so hard to defend too yeah a good slide hitter is is very hard to very hard to defend yeah and our both bars are very good at it so that's awesome yeah y do you have a question uh yeah not on this though I'm not sure I was going to ask I wanted to kind of move to the transfer portter but I can also wait on yeah yeah so this is going okay so what you know obviously you you transferred in so what what effect do you think the transfer portals had on volleyball as opposed to maybe some of the other sports like yeah how has it affected you guys and yeah I so I actually used to view the transfer portal as a very negative thing like I because there was a point in time probably after after Co specifically but like it just got blown up girls were transferring left and right like the portal was almost like overflowing it felt like with people and I I always like at that point was like you should stay loyal to your program whatever with obviously the exception that people have very valid reasons to leave a program all the time but when that Co year came into play and you got that fifth year of Eligibility I think that completely changed the game for the transfer Port I think sometimes it's not like I didn't leave kraton because I hated it I loved it I could have stayed there another year um it was great but I think it allows girls at the age of 22 like almost 23 to like go do something else for fun or you know go play in a new conference or go to a better team or go to a I don't know like I just think that the that Co year has changed the transfer portal so much and honestly I think people are using it for good now and I think my class is the last class so this year's a last year of that Co year that people be able to use it and then we'll see what the portal looks like after that but the fifth year has definitely made it grow a ton and I think people should use it if they want to you know so that's kind of how I view it yeah and do you think it's more difficult for high school players to get into the top tier teams now because of the transfer portal for sure I I think it has affected recruiting a ton my sister is four years younger than me she's at Michigan State right now um so she's a little freshman there but when she was going through the process her junior senior of high school like there were programs that told her no cuz they're like we're going to go get a fifth year this next year we're going to go get this girl in this position and we don't have money for you like it it definitely affected the recruiting for the high schoolers um but I think it all works out how it's supposed to and hopefully those coaches can find that balance of adding value from fifth year but also valuing the girls that are there and the girls that you want to bring it I think it's a balance that you kind of have to find so yeah yeah what do you think Gentry I mean I've I mean I've been here for the past three years and I've gotten to see our team transform each year with the transfer portal um whenever a new coach comes in obviously a lot of the girls are going to leave they just want to see something new like not necessarily for bad reasons or anything but our team has we've had a lot of girls transfer in over the years and honestly I think it's great a new coach starting out you don't have to build your program from the ground up you can take some girls that are already Ballers bring them in and just have a ton of talented girls on one team and not necessarily have to train them from the time they're 17 18 until the end of their career so I mean I've loved it recruiting whenever they announced that Co year yeah it was pretty rough for the girls getting recruited out of high school I had to change my position to sign with SMU but it it all works out in the end and I've I mean our coaches are great about going and getting great girls and keeping our culture what I mean it's what we make it but for sure like mindes it they definitely attract girls that want to win yeah we have a very veteran team this year I don't know if you guys saw that like nine seniors like that four from the transfer portal and then yeah I mean yeah jams jams me and Casey are the only ones who have been at SMU this whole time it's crazy wow yeah but it's is she so right like at least I feel like we just mesh so well together and I mean all these girls came from all these different places and it's just a very cohesive unit I think part of that has to do with the fact that we're a small roster a 14 I think when things get too big and you know like I just think that that can create messy situations and you're trying to get please everyone and get everyone playing time and then it's just it kind of turns into a messy situation so I think that's a piece of it but for sure the coaches really do a good job of establishing that culture with all these players coming in yeah what do you think the ideal number is for a team you because you said you know 18 was too many 14's small so I think 14 is perfect agree 14 is perfect yeah I think it's perfect yeah I mean we've got depth like there's not one position that you could throw in the quote unquote backup and be nervous about um I mean I if you have 14 and you're only a team of six really good players and you know everyone else is like oh gosh you know maybe then maybe you run into some issues there I think 14 is perfect the 14 we have is perfect the 14 we have there you go biased yeah the 14 we have is absolutely perfect um but yeah I think the smaller the better honestly I think it creates a tighter group I think more cohesiveness I think if you have the depth like why why go up to 18 19 20 you know like there's no need for it so yeah yeah ever since I've been at SMU we've kept a pretty small roster and I think it's honestly benefited Us in the end I mean the girls get to know each other y all of us are best friends like I mean I guess you can't really compare it to football but like you might not know everyone's name like we're all best friends we're all hanging out all the time and I think that definitely creates a different environment than a team that's so big you can't be friends with everyone so I think there's definitely some different strategies that coaches take but I love R14 so I'm not I'm pry sure biased cuz I love all of our 14 but like I just think that's a good number yeah yeah that's good so what's what's so special about this team that we have this year there's a lot of things I mean I could probably talk about this for hours yeah I mean well yeah we got a hours I mean just starting like with the character of the girls like we were here all summer and we worked our butts off every single day and you can do that and look at a team and be like oh yeah they work hard but like what like and we have fun at the same time like it's never it doesn't ever feel like a chore to like come to practice cuz you get to come to practice and you get to see your best friends every day like MH it's not I'm waking up every day it's like oh like I have to go to practice again it's like no I get to go see my friends again like I haven't seen them all day like it's so and we practice in the morning it's such a great start in the morning too like yeah I I totally agree like I think sometimes you do have to force that team chemistry you have to like do team building activities and do all that stuff and I honestly like I they don't have to do that with us like like truly we just get along and there's not like an odd duck or like anyone that's just like on their own like I I I always laugh because like I told them like we actually Ed the group chat like on other teams like we never used the group chat it was like Hey we're wearing blue today and like that was it and like this it's like hey the football game's at 700 come over to my apartment we'll get some snacks and like hang out like and it's that it's that it should be that simple you know but sometime it's not always the case sometimes I just think we have all very like-minded girls like everyone who's very bought in to specifically this season we have a very veteran team I think that helps a ton you know it's our last season and um you know you kind of just want to give it all and we just got great personalities like I I brag about all the time I don't know like we just kind of lued out like our coaches recruited the right girls and like I mean if I could have like 14 bridesmaids I would so that's that's kind of I mean very very lucky for sure especially with the amount of time we spend with each other I know it's probably good that you like each other yeah true sure so transferring from the transfer portal yeah into the other buzzword in college athletics right now is nil how has that changed college volleyball um I definitely think it's monetized it a ton I think that girls now especially like this day and age in high school are basing some of their decision- making off of who's going to offer them the most money and I don't like that piece of it I do like the piece of it of like you know you have someone who's maybe a walk-on at a program and you know they weren't earning they couldn't make money before and now they can make money and help pay for their school or um I think there's pros and cons to it I don't like that you know girls are like I'm choose you know my sister had a friend in high school who chose one program over the other culture wasn't as good but she was going to make more money and you know I'm like you know maybe that's not a factor that you should really look into that deeply um but then again I think there's so many we don't have time for a job like this is our full-time job so I think hey if we can make some extra money on this side that's amazing and we're going to take advantage I think there's pros and cons to it% yeah I feel like volleyball's a little bit different I mean there's probably not as much money as football or basketball or like those type of schools so I def I mean I made my decision fully based on yep everything but Anil so I mean you can and no shame in that like if you want to go be an nil star like totally do it but I feel like it's definitely a lot more self-motivated in volleyball like if you want to like go be an influencer like you have every right to go do that and you can go be great at it we had a girl on our team last year who absolutely killed it Alex Glover was literally like a superstar of nil but she like really worked hard for it and she like grinded to get those nil deals and and I mean that's great for her she's great at she's our nil supervisor now like so I think there's a lot of opportunity in it but there's also some downfalls where you can make some decisions based on not the right things yeah for sure sure and you said so she became your nil supervisor so that's kind of how she what she did post College what what are your's thoughts are like after you you're about to graduate yeah what's the uh what's the thoughts like what's what's the next plan after this mhm um I would like to play pro so like right now just for that kind of transition period the seasons from January to April I think that'd be really cool if the opportunity presented itself in the States or elsewhere overseas there's like a million opportunities I think in the states would be really special um if the opportunity came about if not um start working do med device sales I considered law school I know that like we're kind on the same page there I considered law school um I'm not sure that's really going to happen with the timeline of everything and that's okay um but yeah play volleyball maybe do med device sales go watch my sister play She's a little freshman College like I want to go watch her and cheer her on so um that's kind of my plan right now yeah I'm planning on going to law school after I get my MSA yeah very cool awesome yeah like MSA like accounting so are you an accounting major yes I'm an accounting major let's go come on yeah biased but you know yeah have you had Greg Summers yet I actually have not I'm graduating my undergrad in three and then I'm doing my fourth year of eligibility in the MSA program so I'll have a you will he great he was my favorite did you oh yeah cuz you're a finance man right Finance takes accounting for two years so yeah shout out to Greg subers had suers I loved all my accounting professors I love all of my profess give me good grades please yeah yeah a only so you were talking about going pro yeah I I have noticed that there aren't really many opportunities in the US for that but there's a ton over in Europe so I would like to hear y'all's thoughts on that of you know if you think there's a market in the US like yeah should it become more of a thing or are you just like really happy to try to have the experience to just go hang out in Europe and play volleyball what are your thoughts on that I think I mean for the longest time it was like if you wanted to play Pro in volleyball you had to go overseas you had to go play in turkey or Paris and I think those I mean right not like bad options NE Prett yeah right but this past year was the first year of professional volleyball in the US so there was only one League I don't even know how many teams like 13 maybe like it really was small they're adding a new league this next year um and then I just think it's going to continue growing I think people are really bought into it really invested in I think it's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger um but yeah for like me personally like whatever the best opportunity would present itself I mean if you got to go live overseas for a couple months it's not a bad gig you know make some money um but I think it's really special to play in the US and have your family and friends be able to watch so um if that came about i' for sure jump on that opportunity for sure yeah yeah I think it's super cool they're starting to do Pro in the US I mean whenever you're younger and you play volleyball it's like the endgame is like oh I want to play division one college volleyball but now it's cool to see girls that like I want to grow up and be like a professional volleyball player because that's always it's always been an option for like basketball football and it's cool to like see the kind of transition from oh I just want to play college volleyball to no I want to be a I want that to be my career I want to play professional so yeah that has been cool to see yeah so well if we take a step back from college and pro we're talking about a high High School um and club and so there's kind of I guess two big portions of volleyball life during High School what do you feel like is the more important um guess games what what games are more important as a high school student trying to make it to the D1 level uh is it club or high school it I think it's definitely Club I mean coming I grew up in a really small town there wasn't exactly D1 coaches flying out to Decor Texas to come watch us but I also played for a really small Club too so I think the exposure that I got from Club is definitely what led me to some of the bigger programs that I talk to and it doesn't matter what size your Club is if you're playing in these National qualifiers like you're going to get eyes on you and I think that's really important for girls yeah I agree I think Club is for sure like first and foremost the most important I mean those are the tournaments that coaches go to they're hopping from court to court it's these big big tournaments um I always think that high school is just like a supplement like I fortunately went to a very successful High School like top 20 program that only helped me but it wouldn't hurt me if I went to a really small school for like you know I just think High School is kind of just a supplement like if you're had a good program that obviously helps a little bit but no they're not really going to high school games they're going to the big qualifiers and run around from court to court interesting yeah how important do you think it is in high school to have a really good team as opposed to like if you're a star on a team that maybe doesn't have the best you know supplementing cast like does that affect your recruiting do you think or do you think you can shine like as an individual player uh it's definitely one of the sports where it's harder to shine as an individual player I was very fortunate to go to a high school where we were very good and still you're not going to get as much attention especially if you go to a smaller school um these I mean Club volleyball it's like a whole Rabbit Hole you can go down it's blown up I mean there's qualifiers of over like 200 teams and you're getting a college coach from every division one program in the nation one tournament like those are the big opportunities that kids really get noticed yeah I just like I mean it's just like it's so intimidating too as like a 16-year-old at a club tournament and you know like back in the day like when I was not back in the day not that long ago but when I when like I'm saying like I'm really old like when I was getting recruited there weren't like that many rules in place so like I committed when I was just going to my sophomore year like I was a baby I didn't even know what I wanted but you have coaches emailing you like hey I'm coming to your match at 10:00 and like I just think at that age you just get so stressed out about that stuff like I just look back and I'm like I had nightmares about them coming to watch me play and just so stressed like I have to do well I just think I'm I'm glad there's some rules in place of like hey you have to be a junior in order for us to contact you and I don't know if you guys are aware of that but yeah there's yeah the recruiting Ru like you have to be a junior in high school for them to even contact you um it used to be like they could contact you at any point um again our best friend came she was in eighth grade like freshman of high school just because I mean I don't know like you just you think you know at that time and um I'm I'm glad there's some rules in place but yeah like Club tournaments it's a big deal still is but at least they can't reach out to you until you're like at least somewhat mature somewhat I don't know as mature as you can be as a high schooler yeah the 17-year-old I don't know yeah I feel like another thing that's super cool with Club is you get to know like everyone in the volleyball community so now like whenever I see one of my best friends has won two national championships back to back she was on my club team and I'm so happy for her and it's so cool that like from one team you can go to so many successful programs and I mean that's super fun to see you're not necessarily committing eight girls out of high school to a D1 program but it could be your easily your club team could have eight D1 commits on the same team and you're going all across the country and it's cool to see them kind of shine in their own light gotcha so what state has better Club programs Texas or Kansas oh probably Texas yeah Kansas City really is a big hub for really really talented volleyball like it it's a great great place but Texas is just like a different level like just I mean just the amount of clubs they have and amount of successful clubs they have like it's it's insane yeah yeah Club volleyball in Texas it's it's the real deal uh we would be traveling like across the country I remember we had a qualifier in like Boston or New York and we traveled all that way to play a club that was like 30 minutes minutes from us in the championship it's like okay but it's like all the Texas teams always end up playing each other yeah so I mean I guess it's cool you got to like see your friends all the time but also it's like oh like we could have drove down the road to see to play this game can you just describe the environment of like those tournaments that are in the big convention centers where there are like 100 courts or whatever it's like absolute chaos um people joke about it being like like a traumatic or what's that like phrase like not like a traumatic experience but like a dream a fever dream like like I don't know like people joke about that and it's so true because you have matches at 8:10 in noon and you walk in and it's just this big like hundreds of Courts hundreds of Courts people everywhere whistles blowing every second like you can't even hear your own voice and it's like smoothie here t-shirt's here and someone's playing over there and a college coach is over there like it's just almost overwhelming but I I loved it I really did I loved Club volleyball yeah if you didn't know what you were getting yourself into you'd be pretty surprised to walk in and it's just like courts on courts like as far as the eye can see and you're playing maybe up to like 11 sets a day and yeah for like three or four days in a row I mean yeah they need to seriously have like a reality show that like follows around like it's the par a Dance Moms sounds like what you call it a a fever drink theom Dance Moms from like that show yeah I know what you're talking about there could be like a volleyball parents show for sure like the moms going and getting drinks in between matches like the local and then like setting up iPads to get filmed to make highlight videos the dad's making matching shirts like it is this synchronized parent cheers yes like it's or not it was so fun like you guys may be on to something about this the reality TV show yeah they need to look into it they do because I think they should do a Texas team if I'm being honestas I know exactly the club that they should do and I'm probably say it but I mean all of the Texas Club girls know exactly what I'm talking about so there's there's one that everyone is like everyone knows yeah you play them and it's like oh my gosh like I'm about to get yelled at by like not my own parent oh gosh that's oh man yeah do you it's hard to it's hard to like almost explain it if you haven't been in it like it's just it's crazy like I dread the day that if like I have kids and they want to play Club volleyball like I'm like so excited for it but it would also be like so daunting like yeah yeah that's very far away nowhere nowhere near hopefully they change a little before we get yeah for sure for sure that's funny Gentry so I heard at decar that you were pretty good at cross country I did you have did you talk to colleges it all about running for them or was it always just volleyball yes and no um I thought about running cross country for a while I some coaches had reached out to my coach and I had no idea what I wanted to do honestly I mean my sophomore year I actually almost quit volleyball to just focus on running and then I started like looking into the scholarships and I mean there's a big difference you can have a headcount sport where you're going to get a full ride or you could have 12 scholarships split between the men's and the women's cross country team so I kind of just chose the path that would have like led me to more success but I mean I I loved my cross country experience in high school yeah well that's some of my some of my friends got to run at really cool programs and I'm like super happy for them but yeah that was the path that I took is there anything where you think being in cross country has helped you in volleyball I feel like definitely the mental toughness aspect of it I mean you're getting up at 5:00 a.m. in the middle of a Texas summer to go run like 10 or 11 miles like you can do anything after that I'm out I'm out sounds aw the anxiety of being on a starting line with the gun up like nothing ever compares to it you can do anything after you do that oh yeah I believe yeah I believe you that's no thank you hard pass all right another thing we saw was that when you were asked if you could have have dinner with anyone Dead or Alive you said Dave poroy can can you please just explain that he's so where is this it was on our interview last year for media day he's so interesting to me I mean I listen to his podcasts like all the time and I've always like followed bar sports like he's such like a fun guy and also like I'm scared to talk to him like I don't know what he's going to say but that's probably the fun part I mean he's so blunt but he's always like right so you can't ever be like oh well you're being harsh it's like no you're being correct and truthful so yeah I mean just like what like he's such a good businessman but he's also like funny and all of that stuff you wouldn't expect out of just like a millionaire who built his business from the ground up so yeah I think he's super cool but yeah I know he's funny lunch with him would be awesome that's awesome so what what Lunch Spot would you go to in decar if you were having yeah Dave poroy uh kores kasat Tores in Decor Texas WR not your head know Tex Mix I'm assuming yeah it's either that or like Chili's so you got there's a water Burger too I mean there's limited options but catur is the big three yeah chili water bger that's all you need I mean waterburger is the uh it's the best fast food restaurant debatable I've never had it I'm a big bur girl too like I love Five Guys I've never had what a burger get their bacon burger good yeah I I always get the patty melt so I go the Patty m is the best honey butter chicken biscuit phenomenal best 2 a.m. snack you can ever get yep okay it really is yeah yeah we could go deep into whole separate water yeah well so Ellie how's so how's been living in Dallas I love it I I think part of it's I love my teammates so much and I love where I live and I love that there's so much to do I mean like you could literally never be bored like we don't even need to leave our apartment complex like it's just there's so much to do and I love it I love the people here um I seriously have nothing but good things to say about Dallas I love it I love it so if you had to rank Omaha Kansas City and Dallas how would oh goodness uh let's just take like Vol programs out of it just cities in general yeah I would do oh my gosh that's actually like really hard because I love Kansas City I don't know if youall have ever been like chief game barbecue anything like Kansas City is the best but um I'm going to go Kansas City I don't know Dallas and Kansas City are pretty interchangeable Omaha is probably going to be third I loved my time at kraton I loved kraton but Omaha probably out of those three is probably going to be last yeah but Omaha's great we have the College World Series great food spots like Omaha's great for sure cool yeah we have to check it out someday I know we get a baseball team then we'll go yeah there you I mean the College World Series it is so fun it's such a cool experience our club baseball team is pretty legit I'm pretty sure wait that's funny so let's just give them scholarships and have a team yeah ex there we go might as well don't even give them scholarships if they're already here let's just have a team doesn't cost the school money guys come on we can do it we got to build a stadium over 75 that's my idea oh yeah go like a Clyde Warren Park kind of deal over they're building another Park further south of Clyde Warren bb5 on 35 yeah they just need to do another one just on 75 on 75 for the field I think it' be it awesome that'd be awesome imagine just driving down the highway though and you see a homer fly over your car it's just part of the character that's part of the character you just dodge the Home Run ball or you stop on the highway to get it I mean I don't think it would make Dallas driving any worse I mean it's already yeah it's already pretty bad that's awesome be pretty epic do you guys have any more questions oh well no I mean I'm sure we could have more questions but there is 20 minutes until the game and I know you guys have to get to y'all's party so big deal lots of snacks no hey um but yeah I don't have any other questions for now but I guess if there's one thing you want people to know about SMU this season what would that be that we are a fun group to watch you should come out and watch because we have a lot of fun while we're playing and kick and butt yeah I think the same thing I feel like you just have to come and watch you got to see it to kind of understand how fun it is I mean yeah we play volleyball all the time we're still watching volleyball 24/7 just cuz it's right it's so fun to watch especially at such a high level so right we've got a great home court great schedule most of our games are free so like I would just encourage people to come and watch I think you'd be surprised like coming and watch us compete you're like wow this is fun they have a lot of fun while doing it yeah yeah and then a big match up against Nebraska coming up on September 3rd at 7 o' some Moody magic in uh or some volleyball Moody magic so excited about it that'll be great be super fun we're super pumps yeah awesome and if people wanted to follow you on Instagram or Twitter or anything like that how how could they find you uh well you can honestly look up the roster on our website then it has links to our Instagram or like my handle just la. bold and it's super simple so Gentry lamarand but with a Jay so okay there we go easy as that cool and yeah follow us on Instagram at the Mustang mood uh subscribe on Spotify and YouTube leave a comment and yeah like And subscribe yeah thank you so much for being on thank you guys for we had a ton of fun it was super cool getting to know yall learning about SMU volleyball we're excited for being in the ACC yeah I had no idea that like the competition was that intense and like that people are saying all this stuff about our team it's super exciting thanks for having us we're excited we got to talk about it we're pked yeah and we're excited to see you guys at the Nebraska game yeah yes that'll be so fun be exciting let's do it awesome Pony up Pony up