 Welcome to the All This Versions show presented by Buffalo Wildlings. I'm Sam Murray joined now with Steven Simmons, volleyball head coach, All This Versions. Coach kind of blanked in your 12 matches into the season already. Eight and four. Three of those four losses are to ranked teams, you know, including Springfield number two in the country this past weekend. If I ask you for a report card this year so far through your first 12 matches of the game, you're going to be a report card so far. Eight and four. So we're at 50%. Higher. Four and eight. Anyway, I'd say we're like at a B and playing good. Sometimes we play excellent. I don't like against Riviera. We ranked sixth and won that one. I think we have four losses but they're all now against ranked teams, right? We lost to New Falls, who are, I don't know, two, lost to Springfield, lost to Rutgers who are ranked now, ranked top ten, and junior. So we're losing to ranked teams that were competing when we were losing. I think every loss has to be a loss. So you're all mistaken stats. I'm happy with what we are because we're a fairly young team. There are new guys in... One of the new guys in a different position. He's not new to the team, but Alex Melbardes. He was the center on the roster for the past two years prior. He's right up there. I think he's second or third on the team. Talk about the teams there. Alex Grew came in as a freshman, he's a junior now. You turn sideways as a freshman and you wouldn't see him. He's a skinny kid. But MC in our training program has been poking him up. I knew he could hit. I recruited him in California. He was a hitter in high school. So it's just when he came here, we were lacking a center. So I converted him to a center. But he's hit all along through practices. So it's not like all of a sudden, you know, learn how to hit a volleyball. You always hit from the template line and practice. Everybody has that drill, you know, because of it. So Alex has really come through using what's called the opposite position, opposite the center. All he has to do is hit and block and serve. So he doesn't have to worry about passing him a lot. He just should be a killing machine. And he was a center. I indicationally played really well in that position. But he's still growing into it. It's tough because you get a lot of balls that are out of system. You just throw them to the back row or try to find the opposite. Ask him to put it down against a three person block. He's really hitting some great balls, smart shots. Another person I want to talk about is Tanner Stoker. You know, he had some big expectations. He was filling the role that landing shorts left open. Just talk about his play because he's really kind of delivered. Yeah. Tanner passes really well and digs really well. I think passing is the critical piece because we have a lot of guys that can hit. You know, Middles can put the ball away if it's fast enough. But you can set it to him. And he's blocking. You just get some King Kong blocks at times that chance really well. And also his serving. He has this like bullet line drive. It's different than a jump serve. So I'm really happy. He didn't play a lot last year. As he said, he was behind landing shorts. But he stepped up and started. Match of sweet ones. He's been like a difference maker. His attacks coming along. This really could be the best pick hitter on our team. That's just like the back row attack from the middle. He jumps so well. So I'm really proud of him. Just stepping in there and taking over. Yeah. You start conference play this week and face wider. I'm sure you're probably not looking ahead or overlooking wider. But I think the rest of the conference is looking ahead for the following week. You play Arcadia. How has this non-conference schedule playing all these top teams prepared you for the start conference play now? Yeah. It has completely. I think our guys are super confident that they can compete. And I guess anybody. They really, it's been filled really hard. And New Paul, as I mentioned at the time, our conference is maybe one of the toughest in the nation. And Stevens is right up there in the top five always. But good Stevens just now. They're right up there. And Messiah be Arcadia. And this Messiah is not to be overlooked. No one wants to be overlooked even wider and opener this Saturday at 2 p.m. to come. So yeah, I don't want to really look past widening right now. It's going to be tough. They're competing to finish in the top five. So I'll take any of those five slots to advance to the playoffs. Well coach, we wish you the best of luck. Because you begin conference play this weekend. And we'll see you back here soon. Thanks, Sam. For Head Coach Aldous Persons, I'm Sam Burry. And this has been the Aldous Persons Show.