Check out a breakdown of the UCLA sports stories you might have missed this week.
Women’s water polo
After recording 13 saves against No. 6 UC Irvine on Friday in No. 3 UCLA’s home opener, sophomore goalie Carlee Kapana garnered the honor of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week.
The first underclassman to be the go-to starting goalie for the Bruins since 2010, Kapana held the Anteaters to just one goal, which came on a rebound put-back after a lob in the third quarter. UC Irvine had eight man-up opportunities on offense, but Kapana and the defense held strong and UC Irvine did not convert a single one.
The UCLA defense is averaging a nation-best 2.625 goals allowed per game.
Gymnastics
After notable performances at the triple-header between No. 4 UCLA, Utah State and Bridgeport on Monday and against No. 5 Utah on Saturday, sophomore Katelyn Ohashi and freshman Kyla Ross were named Pac-12 Specialist of the Week and Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, respectively.
Ohashi scored two 9.95s for UCLA on the balance beam over the two meets, in addition to a 9.85 and 9.9 on floor exercise. Her 9.95 on the beam on Monday was the second-best on the team behind Ross’ perfect 10 – one of two for the freshman over the weekend.
Ross’ first perfect 10 – her second of the season – was on the uneven bars against the Utes. The only gymnast on the weekly Pac-12 honor roll not from UCLA, Utah’s MyKayla Skinner, did some damage against the Bruins in the two schools’ dual meet on Saturday.
Skinner won the all-around with a score of 39.675. The Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week hasn’t lost an all-around all year.
Softball
Redshirt freshman Rachel Garcia took home Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors for her appearances in four of UCLA’s six games last week.
Garcia totaled 20 innings across her four appearances, only surrendering one run on a solo shot to Kentucky’s Jenny Schaper. Garcia struck out 22 over the span and earned two wins and a loss.
After the impressive week, Garcia is 4-1 with a 0.23 ERA, striking out 35 in 30 innings of work.
No. 6 UCLA has only faced one ranked team in 2017 thus far, but will face a gauntlet of them – including No. 11 Georgia. No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 7 LSU and No. 1 Florida State – at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic II, which starts Thursday.
Men’s water polo
Competition for the 2017 USA Water Polo National League begins this weekend in San Ramon, California, and there will be a Bruin in each of the eight games.
The first game on Friday evening between USA Junior and USA Collegiate pits rising third-year goalie Alex Wolf and incoming freshmen Felix Brozyna-Vilim and Quentin Osborne against fellow incoming freshmen Bailey Jarvis and Chase Travisano.
Patrick Fellner, leading scorer for the 2016 UCLA men’s water polo team, and Paul Reynolds will take on the Alumni early Saturday morning, who will be missing UCLA women’s water polo coach Brandon Brooks as the women’s team has their own tournament in Irvine.
Game three has USA Collegiate going up against the reigning champion New York Athletic Club, which has UCLA alumni and 2016 Olympian Josh Samuels in addition to 2016 senior defender Chancellor Ramirez, while game four has the other Friday night team – USA Junior – up against rising redshirt seniors Alex Roelse and Max Irving, and rising junior Warren Snyder on USA University.
The new Los Angeles Athletic Club, which has multiple repeat All-Americans in goalie Garrett Danner, Ryder Roberts and Danny McClintick, is the last of the teams to get a start in 2017. They’ll face off against the Olympic Club before the weekend ends with games between Alumni and USA Collegiate, NYAC and USA University, and USA Junior and LA Athletic Club.