Boogie Ellis scored 21 points, Kobe Johnson and Reese Dixon-Waters added 15, and USC breezed to an 84-65 victory over Colorado on Thursday.“You don’t think you’re going to hear those words at 22, 23,” Hallgren said recently sitting in UCLA’s Acosta Center. “But honestly, I was really relieved. … Everyone else was kind of freaking out but I was like, ‘Thank God, there’s something you can do about this.’ I don’t have to feel this way anymore.
Facing the possible end of her athletic career, Hallgren didn’t fret. There was so much else happening, she said. Hallgren credited Michigan coaches and teammates for their support after she received her diagnosis and their perfectly lighthearted reception when she returned. When Hallgren was finally playing in Big Ten matches that she missed the previous season, her Michigan teammates would sometimes be struck by what she went through.
“In my mind, it was worth taking a chance just because of the caliber player she is,” Metzger said. “Her mentality I figured would be a benefit to our team just to add to our culture with the fact that she was going to have a ton of gratitude just being able to play after going through something like that.”
Not only was she transitioning back to the beach from indoor, but Hallgren was figuring out a new style of beach volleyball at UCLA, where the Bruins rely on handsets out of the middle to run their offense through set plays. USC, the defending national champion and where Hallgren’s younger sister still plays, relied on physical wide attacks. To make the transition, Hallgren has become one of the “most coachable” players UCLA has ever had, Metzger said.