On Halloween in Malibu, the best treat in town may very well be found at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on the campus of Pepperdine.
UCLA’s men’s water polo team will make the trip up the coast for a crucial conference showdown against the Waves on Saturday and follow that up with an important Sunday tilt at Long Beach State.
After going undefeated in four games this past weekend, the No. 4 Bruins (16-5, 2-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will look to carry some momentum into their matchup with No. 5 Pepperdine (8-9, 1-3), the highest-ranked opponent that UCLA has yet to face this season. The second leg of the weekend doesn’t get much easier as the Bruins travel to face the No. 8 49ers (7-8, 1-3) in a rematch of a game that UCLA won 16-6 at a neutral site earlier in October.
“Those are two really tough games,” UCLA coach Adam Wright said. “Of course we’re changing some things for certain teams, but the preparation will always be the same. It’s good. It’ll say a lot about our team.”
The games are particularly critical as UCLA looks to separate itself from the lower half of the MPSF standings and solidify its ranking among the conference’s top teams. A pair of wins would give the Bruins a two-game lead on both of this weekend’s opponents, giving them a firm grasp of fourth place in the MPSF with just two conference games remaining.
On Saturday they will face a Pepperdine squad that has struggled to hold down some of the MPSF’s elite teams in recent weeks. Losing two of their last three, the Waves dropped a 13-5 decision to No. 3 Stanford and fell 13-7 to No. 2 California, although both games took place away from Malibu, where the Bruins expect to be in for all they can handle.
“Playing on the road, we expect Pepperdine, and really both teams, to have big crowds,” UCLA junior attacker Ben Hohl said. “We’re having tough practices to prepare, and those games should be a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to the weekend.”
The Waves feature a unique blend of experience and youth: The team’s top four scorers are all seniors, but Pepperdine has rotated through four goalkeepers this season, three of whom are freshmen. Whoever gets the start in the cage will face a Bruin attack that has scored in double digits in three of its last four games.
Against Long Beach State, UCLA holds an advantage in that it is already familiar with the 49ers’ style of play and knows what kind of effort it will take to come out on top victorious once again. At the very least, the Bruins know that they will face a reeling team desperate for a victory: Until Saturday, Long Beach State had lost three in a row and six out of eight, dating back to September.
The Bruins’ defense will be focused on slowing down the 49ers’ dynamic duo of senior center Jeff Greenwood and sophomore center Alexsandr Petrovic, who have accounted for more than 41 percent of Long Beach State’s scoring for the season.
With the MPSF boasting the majority of the nation’s top teams, each stretch of games is a grind, and the Bruins know this weekend will be no different.
“Pepperdine at Pepperdine on Halloween? It’ll be crazy,” Wright said. “But it’s good, we know what lies ahead. We put ourselves in a position where we know what we have to do. It’s another new week, another new challenge against two strong teams.”