Constantly swimming back and forth, repeating counterattack drills over and over again, men’s water polo players displayed a palpable intensity at Wednesday’s practice.
“The emphasis this week has been getting the intensity level back up,” said coach Adam Wright.
With its focus faltering just a little over the past few weeks, the team has more reason to work twice as hard to overcome the tough schedule it has coming up.
“We’ve been a little banged up. We still haven’t had a training in the last couple of weeks where we haven’t had someone out for being sick or sore and that makes it tough,” Wright said.
Tonight, the team will head down to Irvine, Calif. to face No. 8 UC Irvine and come back home on Sundayto compete against No. 3 University of the Pacific at Spieker Aquatics Center.
“It’s always a nice time to play at home,” said junior attacker Chris Meinhold. “The home crowd definitely gives you a good feeling.”
Pacific (14-2, 2-0 MPSF) may prove to be a challenge, as it is on par with UCLA in games lost, but is undefeated in conference play.
“University of Pacific is a really good team, they’re really dangerous,” said senior center Lucas Reynolds. “We need to come out and play well as a team, or we’re going to have our hands full.”
Wright noted that Pacific has several of returning redshirt players that could potentially pose a challenge.
“They have quality players in all positions and they’re well coached,” he said. “It’s going to be a dogfight and when we play at home, it would be nice to have the support of our fans.”
The Bruins have upped the intensity level tenfold, Wright noted, as they approach the end of the season.
“For me, that is the biggest thing,” Wright said. “Getting back on track with little, simple fundamental details.”
The team had a strong 18-0 start to its season, tying for fifth-longest winning streak in UCLA history.
However, after dropping to 19-2 overall and 0-2 MPSF, how the team recovers from those two losses will determine whether it can compete at the championship level.
“Right now that’s kind of where we are and that’s normal,” Wright said. “Things were going really well and all of a sudden we hit a bump, so we’re trying to dig ourselves out of that right now.”
The Bruins, however, are choosing not to look too far ahead, keeping their focus on this upcoming weekend.
“I’m hoping that we just get back on track,” Wright said. “The result will come, if we do the right things, if we worry about our game and what we can control and not worry about outside influence and not let that affect what we do.”