The first official tournament of the season is always an exciting one. Sending both our A and B teams, we faced off against the best of the West Coast, battling through the first of many two-day tournaments for the season.

On day one, our A-team started out hot, taking down UC Santa Barbara B and USC B both in 2 sets. They would then face off against the top-ranked UCLA A, and would lose in a stubborn battle 0-2. They finished off the first day by taking down Point Loma Nazarene U A 2-0. Their Saturday record ended 3-1. 

Our B-team came into the first day as underdogs, like usual. They were set to face USC A, UCR A, and CSU-Long Beach A. They would go in extra points against USC, never score less than 20 against UCR, and take Long Beach to a hard-fought three-set match, but, unfortunately, ended the day with a record of 0-3. 

On day two, our players came with something to prove. The B-team lost their crossover match to UCI A, then easily took down UCR B and LMU A, securing a copper bracket victory. The A-team would finish their pool by taking down Cal Poly Pomona in two quick sets, and then losing to SDSU A in two. SDSU A and UCLA A would be the only losses for our A-team, and were also the two teams that battled for gold finals. Our A-team tied for 5th in the gold bracket. 

The Fall Classic showed two things about our program: Our A-team can compete with the best in the league, and our B-team doesn’t back down when faced with a schedule littered with A-teams. We will be gathering lessons from this tournament to buff out our weak spots and create the best teams we can. Watch out for UC Slam Diego in winter quarter, SCCVL!