Senior Night is usually an evening focused on endings, but not for this year’s UCLA men’s water polo team. While the eight Bruin seniors said that the regular season finale against Long Beach State will be an emotional final home game, they’re taking it as just another opportunity to fine-tune their play on the way to the playoffs.
“I’m excited to get one more game before we head into the postseason,” said senior attacker Paul Reynolds. “We’ve got some stuff we need to clean up, but we’re on a mission and we’ll keep marching.”
Reynolds, the only senior who isn’t a fifth-year, said that the eight graduating teammates have grown close together over their college years, both through competition in the pool and through life outside Spieker Aquatics Center.
While most of this year’s seniors were redshirt freshmen in 2010, that did not stop them from quickly adopting Reynolds when he joined the UCLA team in 2011, according to the senior attacker.
Looking ahead to Saturday, senior attacker Christopher Meinhold said it’s going to be a night to appreciate what they’ve done together and what’s still to come.
“I’m most excited to be up there with all the guys,” Meinhold said. “It’s pretty special to have seven other guys in your class. We’ve gone through a lot and it’s a fun time to celebrate, but we’ve still got a job to get done.”
Although the team has a bigger goal in sight, Saturday night will present one last regular season challenge against No. 4 Long Beach State before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament begins next week. The Bruins (24-2, 7-0 MPSF) have already clinched the top seed in the tournament, but the 49ers (20-5, 5-2 MPSF) are dueling USC and Cal for the third, fourth, and fifth seeds.
In a season where the No. 1 Bruins have comfortably handled almost all their opponents, the 49ers are the only top-five team UCLA hasn’t faced – and defeated – yet.
Even with the top seed locked up, head coach Adam Wright said that his team will not be easing into the weekend. Wright said there’s no other set of seniors he would rather have leading the team than this year’s eight.
“This group is truly special,” he said. “Many of them are fifth-years that came back for one reason and one reason only: to finish this thing out the right way and to finish something they’ve started the right way. As far as Senior Night, I’m trying not to think about it too much because it’s pretty emotional.”