The UCLA women’s club water polo team has had one goal since fall quarter: to make it to nationals. This weekend in Oregon they will see that dream realized.
For the first time since the program’s creation seven years ago at UCLA, the No. 10 Bruins will be among the 16 teams vying for the spot at the top.
“We’re all really excited,” starting whole set junior Kelli Bouman said. “We’ve worked really hard all year for this and it feels good to have our hard work pay off.”
The team started practicing just a few weeks into the fall quarter and has not let down, even upping their practices to five times a week in preparation for the regional tournament and nationals.
“I’m happy with the output they’ve given me this year,” coach Adam Vick said. “A lot of girls have really improved their game and I have to be really excited about that.”
One thing that makes the team so unique is that there are no seniors. With only three juniors, the majority of the team is made up of freshmen and sophomores. This means that during any given game there are four or five underclassmen starting, including sophomore standout Catrina Gallardo.
“I’d like to see them go there and get the experience,” Vick said. “We are such a young team; we only have room to grow and we are only going to get better.”
The Bruins have not let the age factor hurt them, and co-captains Bouman and junior Jenni Marchisotto have worked hard to play the role that seniors normally would.
Bouman said the lack of seniors has helped because it “put us all on an equal playing field and made us closer as a team.”
“We don’t rely on any single player,” Bouman said. “All of us are in the pool so we work really well together as a team.”
It also means next year the entire team will be returning to play together, another year wiser and with their eyes set on a second consecutive nationals bid.
To get the to nationals this year, the team had to finish in either first or second place in the Pacific Coast Division. Each division gets one bid, unless it is home to the first- or second-placed team from the previous year, in which case it gets two bids.
With the returning national champions from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in their league, the Bruins were assured there would be two bids, but also that they would have their work cut out for them.
“We lost a really close game to (Cal Poly) earlier in the season and we want to beat them,” Bouman said.
That game was the division championship two weeks ago. Both teams already had a lock on bids to nationals so the game was only for seeding and pride. The Mustangs edged out UCLA by one goal, but the Bruins have not let it affect them too much. Losing such a close game to the reigning champions only solidified the team’s desire to be at the top.
That uphill journey will not be easy for the Bruins, however. They begin play Friday against No. 4 Michigan State.
With such tough competition from here on out, UCLA will have to leave it all in the pool every game.
The Bruins don’t feel they are going in as underdogs, however, and are very optimistic about what they can do.
“If they go and play at the level that I know they’re capable of playing, then we stand a good chance of doing really well at this tournament,” Vick said.