Kennedy Martin

So they're not passing great, and they're not hitting great, which is obviously correlated.

And you've got Kennedy Martin still there, averaging four kills on almost 300 hitting, which... is good for anybody, not necessarily like we've seen her be even more dominant than that.

But that second hitter, like Whitney Longstein, obviously a former Husker, Waverly grad, is averaging almost three kills a set, but she's hitting under 200.

And they don't really have great options outside of her either.

They've tried some different things, but nobody's been able to consistently terminate at a high clip.

And we saw Alexis Ducky, obviously.

The Florida transfer was kind of the big storyline of reuniting her with Kennedy Martin.

And I mean, she's only averaging nine and a half assists per set.

[laughs] Question one, "I just realized that Marina Markova played at Florida for a couple years in '22, '23.

At the time, I didn't hear that much about her, with Kennedy Martin and Stucky being the most talked about players on that team.

Did you guys know she was playing there, and if so, did you expect her to develop into one of the best, if not the best outside hitter in the world?" So at the time, no, I wasn't aware because, well, I believe she was also playing middle.

She wasn't even playing outside.

...

I don't, I don't know the finances, but like her, she's, she's, you know, she was the only volleyball athlete who was an Adidas athlete before they signed Andy Jackson and Nayo Beche and Berggen and Kennedy Martin, Kendal Sowers.

Like before them, Harper was the only one, so I'm sure she was making bank.

She was at World Cup games, you know? Like, she's doing great.

... your Penn State, Tennessee?

Um, yes, we can, and I will say that Kennedy Rogers and Jaylen Stout of Tennessee, uh, looked amazing, and Penn State could not stop either of them.

Kennedy Rogers was the Kennedy of that match, not Kennedy Martin unfortunately for my Nittany Lions, but Jaylen Stout also super impressed me.

She's only 5'10", and I was like, "Their...

I s- I have the same feeling still.

Do you think they've improved since the first time you watched them? Like, I thought Kennedy Martin found a little more rhythm.

They were using her out of the back row.

I mean, she started with a pretty low bar, but I think she's getting better.

Yeah.

Um, I think it was Kennedy Martin from Penn State.

Yes.

She was going to attack and there was a, a sponsor advertisement-

Yeah.

Um, I think it was Kennedy Martin from Penn State.

Yes.

She was going to attack and there was a, a sponsor advertisement-

Blackshear? I don't know.

Blackshear or Kennedy Martin?

Kennedy Martin.

Kennedy Martin or Kari Spears?

Kennedy Martin.

Kennedy Martin or Olivia Babcock?

I don't know her stats this year.

I'm going-

Those are really good offensive weapons, and I think that's important for Penn State because they were so one-dimensional last year.

It was so obvious that they were going to go to Kennedy Martin because their other outsides were just so inconsistent.

But why...

Tell me why they didn't pick up a passer.

I could say that every episode.

Kennedy Martin not looking like the Kennedy Martin from last season.

What's happening?

I fully expected her to be the second best attacker in the NCAA.

I'm not sure she's in my top 10 right now.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, I, I'll go a step further than that 'cause you guys, uh, I said before the season started, my preseason player of the year was gonna be Kennedy Martin.

You did say that.