With the last game of the regular season upon it, the UCLA men’s water polo team will look to defeat Pepperdine and secure momentum heading into the postseason.
The No. 2 Bruins (15-5, 5-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are scheduled to face the No. 5 Waves (18-6, 5-2 MPSF) this Saturday in Malibu with the hope of taking over the No. 2 spot in the MPSF. Right now there is a three-way tie among UCLA, Pepperdine and Stanford for the second spot in the conference behind USC (24-0, 8-0 MPSF).
With a win over Pepperdine, the Bruins will hold onto their current position and could possibly hold it alone if Stanford (21-4, 5-2 MPSF) loses to California (17-6, 3-3 MPSF). However, if Stanford beats Cal this weekend, the Cardinal will remain deadlocked with the Bruins. It is likely that in such a scenario, Stanford will get the higher seed in the MPSF Tournament, because the Bruins have fallen twice this season to the Cardinal.
Only the top two teams from the MPSF Tournament will advance to nationals, so seeding is pivotal.
“The No. 2 spot would be very advantageous for us,” said assistant coach Matt Flesher. “I don’t think that there are any easy games come conference tournament, but I think that it would be better for us to be on the other side of the bracket.”
Pepperdine stands as the last hurdle for the Bruins who have been on somewhat of a win streak, prevailing in seven out of their last eight matches. Both teams are coming off wins over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, and with two teams fighting for a high seed, it should prove to be an exciting match.
“They (Pepperdine) have really good players that have been playing together for four years,” said redshirt senior attacker Krsto Sbutega. “They are going to be really excited, they’re a good team, they play well together, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
Pepperdine boasts three players in the MPSF’s top-10 leading scorers and is ranked fourth overall in goals scored and fifth in team defense.
“They have a lot of players that are versatile and can do a lot for them,” Flesher said. “So it’s going to take really good team awareness and communication and just handling everything they bring at us.”
For the Bruins, who rank sixth in goals scored and third in team defense, the focus will remain on the play in front of their own goal. Lately, UCLA has put a lot of emphasis on defense and how they can work from out of their defensive set to create offensive opportunities.
“They play a particular type of defense, so we’ve been working a little bit on breaking that,” Sbutega said. “We’ve been working on 5-on-6, and with general defense we are just fine-tuning. On our attack it’s just being patient and working for our centers.”
Sbutega has been the leading scorer all season for the Bruins and ranks third in the MPSF. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Chay Lapin will also play a huge role for the Bruins, already having notched 175 saves in the season.
With the MPSF Tournament just around the corner, all teams are looking to hit their peak and enter the postseason on a high note. The Bruins are no different.
“We have to be playing good water polo on Saturday, which is how you want to end the season,” Flesher said. “You want to be playing your best water polo right now and next week.”
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