The only thing that is remaining between UCLA and national championship No. 111 is three water polo games. The UCLA women’s water polo team will play in the NCAA tournament this weekend.
After losing to Stanford in the final of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, UCLA has had two weeks to prepare for the NCAA tournament and according to some of the athletes, practice has shown an increased intensity.
“After MPSF we are so fired up; we are ready to go,” said sophomore defender Alys Williams. “We are going as hard as we possibly can because that is the only way in which we get better. We are all ready to go and ready to practice and train for the weekend.”
Senior utility Becca Dorst echoed many of the same sentiments regarding practice intensity ahead of the big weekend.
“Intensity definitely picks up in practice before big tournaments, but we are intense all season,” Dorst said. “This shows how competitive we are as athletes.”
The Bruins are the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament. This seeding allowed for a first-round matchup against No. 7 seed UC San Diego. The weekend has the potential to show if the Bruins can play three games over three days.
Their focus will be solely on their first game for now though, according to junior attacker Emily Donohoe.
The Bruins are also not concerned about the number of games. Dorst cited the UCLA practice schedule as being extremely beneficial in preparing the team for a bracket like this.
“UCLA’s practice schedule is one of the best because we do have double days throughout the season. I feel that this has helped us to match up well with teams in the fourth quarter and overtime of games,” Dorst said.
The way the bracket is set, UCLA could face potential matchups against both USC and Stanford, which the Bruins are ready and excited for according to Williams.
“We have been preparing since fall quarter,” Williams said. “We are ready for it and we are excited to play.”