Coming down the home stretch, the Bruin men’s water polo team continues to surge toward a photo finish.
No. 3 UCLA winds down the regular season with two games this weekend: a home match against No. 6 Pepperdine and a road test at No. 7 Long Beach State.
Saturday’s home game will serve as senior day for five Bruin players: Matt Kellogg, Justin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Marco Santos and Matthew Jacobs. Despite the emotions that come with such a moment, UCLA is focused on capturing two more victories heading into the crucial Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.
“It’s definitely not just another game,” Jacobs said. “I expect to go out of here with a good game under my belt. It will be a fun game to watch.”
The Bruins are coming into the game riding the momentum of four straight victories, including a triumph over then-No. 1 USC. Confidence is high at this point in the season.
“Things are good,” assistant coach Matt Flesher said. “We’re just playing good water polo and doing the things we want to get done.”
Coach Adam Krikorian spent Wednesday on a recruiting trip and was not present at practice.
The Bruins, however, remained focused, intent on their goal of capturing the conference crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“The season was looking (difficult) in the beginning, but we’ve pulled it out,” Jacobs said. “We’re looking strong right when we need to be. We’re playing our best water polo right now.”
If the Bruins are to overcome a tough Pepperdine squad, they will have to neutralize a strong inside presence. UCLA has faced the Waves twice this season, winning both games, including an 11-6 victory a month ago at the SoCal Tournament.
“Pepperdine is a really good team,” Jacobs said. “They have a lot of matchup problems (for us).”
This weekend will be the Bruins’ first contest against Long Beach, which is 17-11 on the year.
“Long Beach plays a different style of water polo,” Jacobs said. “We need to come with 100 percent effort or they will beat us.”
Right now, the Bruins are surging and confident that they could make a push for a conference title.
“There’s no limit to how far we could go,” Jacobs said.
For now though, the focus is on Pepperdine, and the effort to send the Bruin seniors out with a victory may provide an edge.
“(Senior Day) is definitely exciting, seeing all of these players come through the program,” Flesher said. “There’s a little more excitement in the air.”