26-24, 25-18, 25-19 as reported below.

On paper this looks like a pretty good statement win. My take on this win and how the team is looking this year and its prospects with letter grades:

Middle Blockers: Braun and Cryst started, pretty much have all year. Braun got subbed out midway through the match for Marquadt. This should end Braun starting and Marquadt was pretty awesome! I like Ben Braun but he's not very dynamic. Solid backup. Cryst was hot at the service line, 5 aces and one incredible upward sailing error that landed 12 rows up. We also have Pruitt who was legit last year in our nat'l championship run down the stretch. GRADE: A+

Opposites: Gajek started surprisingly, and had a huge match. I think he gets most the starts from now on, he's very dynamic, was super involved in net defense with 4 blocks including a huge solo block, and 6 digs. He puts a lot of service pressure on as well with 2 aces. Daniil the backup now, and he was subbed in at times and could certainly spell Gajek if he struggles or has an injury, and could even set a play or two, and plays exceptional on the net. GRADE: A

Outside Hitters: Varga led us in kills but only hit .208, he struggled but still has a big impact every game doing all the little things. Some of his struggles were some bad sets from Pazanti. Kandev started looked fine then got pulled for Bloom midway through, no idea why although Bloom is better at serve receive, but I didn't notice Kandev having issues with that. Bloom is our super senior calm the team down guy this year. GRADE: A

Setter: Its all Pazanti, and boy is he hot and cold right now. A mix of everything, great sets on bad passes, bad sets on solid passes, serves with pressure, can play some good net defense. He's struggling with pedestrian serves sometimes, which is interesting to see if he can clean that up. He's a bit of a liability right now. His backups Doty and Peluso are solid but just stopgaps. B-

Libero: Larson is the real deal. Great on serve receive, on court leader type, great defense. I think Hillis and/or Peluso are backups. GRADE: A

Coaching: MacRae has been fine so far, I've questioned a few things but last night I thought his coaching was great, some very rewarding substitutions, calm demeanor, etc. The coaching staff is still one of the best: GRADE A- (MacRae has to prove it over time though to get that A or A+ and I am positive he will)

Environment: while not a huge crowd, maybe 2,000, we were loud but could have used the usual student crazies especially the young ladies wearing colorful wigs who shout at the opposition's servers. GRADE: A

Honoring Legends: not only did we retire Paul Lotman's #2 last night and hung another banner, we honored retiring legendary Penn St. coach Mark Pavlik who has like 700+ wins over 30+ years. It was a fun night for honoring legends and we have plenty more to go the next handful of years. GRADE: A

So what's left? All those good grades its no wonder we are #2 and only a very good UCLA team stands between us and another national championship. But wait, one more grade and some explanation.

Intangibles: one thing this younger than usual team doesn't have yet is an edge, a killer instinct, which is something I've become accustomed to with guys like TJ DeFalco, Josh Tuaniga, the Nikolov's, and a few others. This team is very nice, almost too nice, I've seen so so little barking across the net, which in some ways is good but sometimes you just need to posture and strut and excude utter confidence to push the team over the edge and into the highest levels possible. I hope Varga and Kandev step that up a bit. Cryst is young but has that edge. Marquadt might as well. Gajek has some kind of emotional volatility that if directed well could become that edge. Part of this are the players themselves are all pretty mellow dudes overall, and the other part is MacRae is super mellow. So I doubt the team ever gets super edgy like they could under Knipe, but they need more: GRADE: C+

We have 4 huge matches left, two at home v Hawaii and home and away v UCI, and we can't overlook UCSD and CSUN who are probably every bit a challenge that Penn St was. The score last night looks like it was easy but it wasn't. This year's squad needs something to push them over the edge and I hope it happens v Hawaii those matches can always be testy.

Right now I forecast this team just can't win the Natty due to spotty setting and lack of a killer instinct / edge. Very curable defects as Pazanti has regressed and just needs to get back to form, and MacRae should develop more fire with himself and the team. My two cents. GO BEACH!!!