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#1 or #2 all season long. NCAA finalist - beat UCLA in remarkable fashion on their home floor again

a remarkable phenom with Nikolov, and overall a great showing

a dissapointing day no doubt - maybe the most was just that we weren't able to make it close and the LB crowd never got fully engaged like the Hawaii counterparts

huge kudos to the Hot Dog again, unlike UCLA, couldn't implore the Beach to overcome, and 300-400 students can't outshout 3000 Hawaii fans, especially situated right next to them, with that incessant drumbeat from their throngs

one thing that struck me, was our dance team is fabulous this year, but they are a dance team, not cheerleaders, they almost look lost at a VB match ...because they can't really dance!- Hawaii had their yell squad, but didn't bring their dancers

oh well

the year long experiment, and what to do with our 4 middle blockers - was in full display this week (and year) - first Marocchi starting vs. UCLA seemed out of the blue, I almost get it, then in the 2nd guessing department, maybe overacting a bit and not going with our best blocker in Moody for the finals, and by the time he came in, couldn't help get the block going. Unedrstandable Knipe went with more serving and Towrie after UCLA, and for the very first point worked like a charm as he got the 'back to back' ace carryover from Thursday....bus alas, it was all downhill after that first raucous point and reality set in

the key turning point, up 10-5 and Thelle's serving run, especially that ace specifically targetted at Nikolov - to me that point was key to killing our momentum - the Big West POY had the last word over the AVCA POY.

Hawaii played fantastic, almost flawless, our serve I thought was good, we got them to make bad receptions, but Hawaii made some of the best bump sets from all over the floor to get their OHs good swings, and we just could not get decent blocks on so many of them especially cause we had not reason not to get good blocks

1 block in 3 sets, and that's the scorecard

I do wonder if Knipe's hand wasn't 100% after that 5th set injury vs. UCLA, just not a great match, and he just made a few more poor sets or decisions than usual

Hawaii was relentless and deserving - It's not like we served poorly, or receiving was atrocious, just every rally point was pretty much all Hawaii, relentless at every position, and receiving miscues they turned into quality out of system attacks

all but Moody come back, maybe let some time pass

I do wonder if Holdaway, Marocchi, and Olivier will return for certain for their extra year of elgibility, hoping they do ....and wouldn't surprise if one or a couple move on.

we had a great block all year, even with a revolving door, and what Knipe does with Towrie assuming as he trains to get quicker as a blocker

then the highly rated setter/opp recruit Rosenblum who red-shirted and how he assimilates into the team next year

on paper we return a potential juggernaut, and so does Hawaii, just will have to develop a much better setter-middle consistency especially next year