wow, that crowd was beyond impressive, and 95% Beach fans and the student section has to be top 5 in the nation if not vying for #1.

and we were entertained throughout, yep not the best VB by both teams at times

backcourt I thought was really good Izzy and Jelinek, more confident and covering even more ground. & they know how to place their serves. Jelinek I think was a difference maker

serving. whoever is coaching serving last two years deserves credit, the placement is really good. yes, UCLA didn't look too impressive on alot of receptions, contributing to that first set win, still Beach serves strategically very well.

Hamaker, was nervous, but she looked sharp especially at the beginning. unfortunately as the game wore on she had trouble scoring. her serve was improved and does do damage. hopefully keeps confidence just she is gonna need help from middles getting more production to get attempts.

Maxwell as well improved and obviously gonna be a key to improve upon some sets. her Hybrid game to hit from the right and her ability to score at setter is such a huge dynamic to throw teams off.

The block looked ok, the good thing is improvemetn from here.

Stamina/strength. just seemed UCLA's physical play (those players had some bulk behind the height) felt like it eventually wore on Beach like a boxer. Not making some plays and blowing leads sets 2-4 results from not making 3 or 4 plays here and there in the middle of runs, especially that 19-15 lead that got erased with all sorts of plays made by UCLA. combo mental but also strength. are the practices / weights gonna get more rigorous, the skill level is ok, but we were not good enough to grind out UCLA.

tonight will be interesting, I'd like to think they can rebound, just they are going to have to adjust and not sure where the adjustment will be & UCLA has some pins/middles that can bash.

this team will need more than to ride and die with the serve game getting other teams out of position, even some middle lower Big West teams will not be pushovers cause they'll be able to receive.