Unbeknownst to me at the time of this recording I was coming down with a hard case of Influenza A, so forgive my less coherent thoughts than usual! In this episode I discuss both Grand Rapids vs Atlanta and Grand Rapids vs Columbus.

It was interesting to me how very little carried over from the Atlanta win to the Columbus win, even with some exciting things along the way like holding Leah Edmond to just 11 kills or the debut of Raven Colvin!

What do you think led to the victories? What will you be looking for going forward? Sound off on Spotify, Reddit, Instagram, or by writing the show at embersnest@gmail.com. Ember's Nest is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, time to rest up for both the Rise and me!

The Rise falling to 0-3 were somehow not the biggest story of the night for the team as what is in my mind the bell-weather franchise of the PVF, the Omaha Supernovas, announced their departure. I have many thoughts on this, some of which you can hear here, but most of which I'll share when I have more time to compose my thoughts. The original recording of this episode was perhaps a little too passionate!

There were some positives once again from Grand Rapids, but some of the problems that plagued the team against Vegas and Omaha continued into this match against Indy. Listen in to hear more about that.

This was the first episode of the podcast to get some community feedback and thoughts discussed, and it was my favorite segment! If you want to share your thoughts on the team, email the show embersnest@gmail.com, or comment on Instagram (Ember's Nest Podcast) or Reddit!

The opening weekend of the PVF is here! Attendance is up, matches are competitive, and all is well for the league... just not the Rise! After getting reverse swept in Vegas, the Rise return home to a record crowd only to be swept by the defending champs.

Despite the results I see encouraging signs from this Grand Rapids team, and luckily they still have time to figure out how to best fit these talented players together. The matches were still full of surprises, good and bad. I thought blocking is trending in the right direction but we still have too many plays out of system and too few attacks from the back row. I break down both games in this episode of Ember's Nest.

What's your takeaway from the opening weekend? Sound off by writing the show, embersnest@gmail.com, commenting on Spotify or Reddit, or giving the show a shout on Instagram @embersnestpod!