Yes, The Beach was a tough team. But, we beat them w a backup outside hitter. Not only that, our best player, didnt play. Ben came in for half the match Saturday, but the difference was clear. We won w Stanley running our offense. We lost w Durkin running things Saturday. Stanley played better and got the middles more involve on Friday. He put the ball in better spots for hitters to finish (especially for Sander). Durkin was setting Sandwr too low on Saturday. Notice Sander put more balls down on Friday than Saturday? His hitting percentage was drasstically different on each night. Will was the reason we won.

Plus, this is the perfect time to lose a match. A couple yrs ago we went to the championship game and played uc irvine. We'd beaten them 3 times that year. Now, we were playing them in the national championship. Uc irvine was hungry and used the losses to find a way to beat us and it had motivated them. This year, long beach has the target on their back. Everyone will be gunning for them. The Cougars will analyze what worked and what needs to be done to beat them and if and when we meet again, we will be better. We are the only team thats beaten them in the conferance and that was without our best player. Things will be different the next time we play them.