After wrapping up regular season play with a hard-fought win over USC, the No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo team will be traveling back across town this weekend for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championships.
The three-game tournament marks the start of postseason play for the Bruins (23-3, 5-1 MPSF), and the winner earns an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, also held at USC, in two weeks.
UCLA, which is seeded second in the tournament, will face Cal State Bakersfield (12-20, 0-6) in the first round Friday. Should the Roadrunners continue their MPSF losing streak, the Bruins will face the winner of the game between No. 4 Arizona State and No. 3 USC in the tournament semifinals. The tournament’s third-place game and finals will take place on Sunday afternoon.
UCLA has defeated both ASU and USC this season, including snapping a two-year losing streak against USC last week. The Trojans, however, beat the Bruins in overtime in the last game of the UC Irvine Invitational in February.
Even if the Bruins do not win the tournament, they may still advance to the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid. Last year, Stanford and UCLA advanced as at-large bids after coming in second and third, respectively, in the MPSF tournament.
Compiled by Erik Rehnberg, Bruin Sports contributor.