Women’s water polo defeats Cal, prepares for single-game matches
The Bruins’ win Sunday snapped a three-game losing streak against the Golden Bears.
It also snapped the streak of tournaments that made up the majority of No. 4 UCLA women’s water polo’s (17-3, 1-0 MPSF) nonconference schedule, which meant shifting its approach in preparation from tournaments to single-game competition.
“The nice thing about a single-game weekend is that you can just focus on that team,” said junior attacker Bronte Halligan. “(Coach Adam Wright) and the coaching staff team put in the work to make sure we were prepared, and we were and it showed.”
UCLA scored five times in the first half before No. 3 Cal (10-3, 0-1) got its first goal minutes before halftime in their second meeting of the season.
The first meeting, though, was the exact opposite.
Cal pitched a shutout against UCLA the entire first half while scoring four goals of its own Feb. 24. The loss was also the Bruins’ first and only overtime one this season, and the Bears came out on top in the end.
UCLA played both No. 7 Michigan and No. 2 Stanford the day before. The Bruins dropped 15 goals on the Wolverines in the win but had to turn around and go up against the Cardinal later that day, scoring just four times en route to a loss.
The Bruins’ three losses have all come from the last two tournaments they appeared in.
The Triton Invitational brought UCLA its first loss of the season against No. 1 USC, and then the Barbara Kalbus Invitational resulted in the Bruins’ first and only back-to-back losses of the season so far.
Freshman attacker Bella Baia said playing in tournaments is not always easy and that fatigue was a factor in the first matchup against Cal.
“It was a lot of what we saw last week, so we were very prepared,” Baia said. “We studied a lot of their plays and their tendencies, and obviously it’s easier to do that for one team instead of four or five teams.”
Preparation ties into consistency and progression – the two aspects of the game Wright said he addresses after every week.
“If we’re going to be serious about the team that we ultimately want to become, then we have to be able to concentrate on one game at a time,” Wright said.
UCLA will not have any more tournaments until the conference championships and the NCAA championships in April and May, respectively.
Wright said he believes the Bruins are fortunate to compete against the kind of competition they have played in both tournaments and conference play. He also said that in order for UCLA to be where they want to be at the end of the season, its game has to be consistent in both formats.
“It’s easier as a whole to just worry about one team, but the reality is that we have to be able to do both,” Wright said. “There’s going to be a time and place where we have to prepare for multiple teams, but this week it was great the way the team really focused in on Cal.”
Giving pitchers more equal playing time has helped lead softball to success
This season’s rotation looks a little different from 2018.
No. 2 UCLA softball (17-1) has reworked its pitching staff this season, transitioning from a rotation centered on a single pitcher to one focused on balancing time between the whole group.
“I think that what you see is more of a calculated approach versus anything else, making sure everyone has the experience so they can help, and be successful in 2019,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.
The rotation is led by redshirt junior pitcher Rachel Garcia – the reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year – who is picking up right where she left off last season, going 7-0 so far with a 0.58 ERA and striking out at least 10 in five of her six starts.
Garcia was also responsible for the bulk of the pitching duties in 2018, going 29-4 with a 1.31 ERA in 208 innings. In comparison, sophomore pitcher Holly Azevedo only pitched 115 2/3 innings over the course of her freshman season, and Selina Ta’amilo and Johanna Grauer – who have both since graduated – pitched just 105 innings combined.
But so far this season, the Bruins have shifted the division of labor in a more equal direction, as each pitcher has started six games. And while Garcia has still pitched the most innings at 48 2/3, Azevedo and freshman Megan Faraimo are not far behind with 33 2/3 and 32 2/3 innings, respectively.
“We have the pitchers, period. With (Garcia, Faraimo and Azevedo), they’ve all done an outstanding job so far,” Inouye-Perez said. “We also know it’s not easy for one pitcher to do it alone, so we want to give everyone as much experience as possible – all three of them.”
As the second-most used pitcher after Garcia, Azevedo was an integral part of last season’s rotation. She went 15-0 in 2018, and is already off to a similar start this season, going 6-0 with a decisive win over No. 3 Florida.
“I think she has one of the best change-ups in the country, if not the best,” Inouye-Perez said. “She was a big part of our very successful season last year, and now she’s a year older.”
The team has also benefited from the addition of the 2018 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year in Faraimo. In nine appearances for the Bruins, Faraimo has gone 4-1 with a 1.29 ERA, and has already recorded two no-hitters against Fresno State and Colorado State.
The pitching staff has also been able to pick up the slack when the Bruin offense has been unable to produce runs.
In UCLA’s game against UConn in the Judi Garman Classic, Azevedo gave up just a single base runner over her five innings of work, holding off the Huskies until the Bruins were able to break through late in the game.
“It definitely is a confidence booster and reassuring to know that our pitchers have our backs,” said junior outfielder Bubba Nickles. “Just seeing that their hard work is paying off, and how it’s really helping us on the defensive side of the game, it’s really encouraging us to work even harder.”
With Pac-12 play under two weeks away, this new rotation will be tested as the Bruins fight to return to the College World Series.
“As a staff we need to have each other’s backs, especially if we’re not on our A-game,” Azevedo said. “It’s just that, knowing that we can depend on each other.”
Baseball to play Pepperdine following first home loss this season
After surrendering their first home loss of the season, the Bruins will have a chance to get back on track at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
No. 2 UCLA baseball (9-2) will square off against Pepperdine (3-6) on Tuesday, coming off a 2-1 loss to Sacramento State that put an end to the team’s five-game winning streak and undefeated home record.
In their loss to the Hornets, the Bruins’ one run was their lowest total of the season, and their eight base runners tied their season low as well.
“We just didn’t do enough offensively to win the game,” said coach John Savage. “It was a tough series. They gave us everything we could handle.”
UCLA has had key members of its starting lineup go through slumps recently.
Junior first baseman Michael Toglia is hitless in his last 14 at-bats, including 0-for-9 with five strikeouts during Sunday’s doubleheader. Meanwhile, junior second baseman and No. 3 hitter Chase Strumpf is three for his last 17 at-bats with 10 strikeouts.
“Some guys, including me, had some uncharacteristic days this weekend,” Strumpf said. “We don’t want to worry about what’s going on with each other individually, but just worry about finding ways to win games. We can use this past weekend as a lesson for what doesn’t work.”
Strumpf will have an opportunity to break out of his slump against a team he has seen success against in the past. Last season, the Bruins defeated the Waves 2-1 on Strumpf’s walk-off double in the ninth inning.
“Pepperdine’s got a great program that they run over there,” Strumpf said. “Maybe not always the most talented guys, but as a team, they’re always competitive. They always put up a good fight and we have good games against them.”
While UCLA had its home winning streak end Sunday, Pepperdine has been on a losing streak since Feb. 17. The Waves have dropped six games in a row and have yet to win a game on the road this season.
The weather has affected Pepperdine’s schedule during its winless stretch, with four games being either postponed or canceled. Last weekend, a split home-away series against UC Santa Barbara saw both the Saturday game at Pepperdine and the Sunday game at Santa Barbara get rained out.
The Bruins had their own schedule change with the doubleheader Sunday, but Savage said that they would not miss a beat.
“We have a schedule and it’s pretty well set,” Savage said. “We play four games a week, we practice twice and we have a day off. This doesn’t disrupt any schedule whatsoever.”
Freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini will take the mound for his third Tuesday start, looking to notch his first win. With freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin surrendering a run Sunday, Nastrini is now the only starter with a 0.00 ERA, having pitched 10 2/3 scoreless innings to begin his collegiate career.
However, the shutout streak will be the last thing on Nastrini’s mind Tuesday.
“I’m not focused on that at all,” Nastrini said. “I’m just going out there, pitch to pitch, trying to execute all of my pitches.”
Savage said the loss Sunday, while disappointing, could be helpful for the team in the long run.
“It’s all about getting better at this stage and really evaluating guys to see what they can handle and what they can’t handle,” Savage said. “A lot of those guys have passed a lot of tests so far. We’ve won three series and had a tough loss, but we can use this loss in our favor at the end of the day.”
First pitch will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Women’s basketball adapts to different playing styles entering quarterfinals
Four of UCLA’s five starters logged double-digits in at least one game this weekend.
“We were a new team, a lot of people weren’t experienced with this type of basketball,” said senior guard Kennedy Burke. “But looking back now, we’ve developed a lot and still have room to grow.”
No. 25 UCLA women’s basketball (19-11, 12-6 Pac 12) hadn’t held a losing record since 2014, but it was at .500 as recently as Jan. 20. Now, after defeating Utah (20-9, 9-9) and then Colorado (12-17, 2-16) this weekend, UCLA finished fourth in the Pac-12 conference – the same place it did last year when it was the No. 9 team in the nation.
Coach Cori Close said communication – something the Bruins had been working on all season – enabled them to be aggressive on defense Friday and Sunday.
“We switched all the screens with the exceptions of ones (senior guard) Japreece Dean was involved in so the communication was so huge,” Close said. “I was really proud with the way they came out and stuck to our defensive game plan and took away what Colorado wanted to do first.”
Sophomore forward Michaela Onyenwere logged 29 points against the Utes and 18 against the Buffaloes. The forward leads the Bruins in scoring – logging at least 20 points 14 times this season.
Onyenwere said her improvement in communicating is what enabled her to find success in shooting and playing with her teammates.
“My voice has a little bit more power than I think it does,” Onyenwere said. “I’m still learning that as I grow into this role and grow with relationships with my teammates.”
Last season, Onyenwere averaged 17.1 minutes per game. The forward is the second most active Bruin this year, nearly doubling her playing time to an average of 32 minutes a night.
Onyenwere isn’t the only Bruin to play a new role this season.
Two of UCLA’s other starters – Dean and redshirt freshman guard Lindsey Corsaro – are playing over 10 more minutes more than they did last season.
Close said the Bruins had to create a new approach heading into this because they were such a different team.
“We have a very different style of how we guard, how we play offense,” Close said. “We’re a lot more versatile and a lot harder to scout.”
Despite victories in four of UCLA’s last five matchups, the Bruins lost three straight games in November. After a loss against Indiana and a winless trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, UCLA was 5-3 going into December.
“We had the third-hardest schedule in the country in terms of nonconference, with a brand new team, with not one person playing the same role,” Close said. “I think it was really sort of a faith-building year in terms of believing what could happen if we stay committed over the long haul.”
UCLA will open the Pac-12 tournament in the quarterfinals against the winner of No. 5-seed Arizona State (19-9, 10-7) and No. 12-seed Colorado on Friday.
Gymnastics aims high after low individual performance scores against Oklahoma
Coach Valorie Kondos Field said the Bruins are looking at the positives.
No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (7-1, 6-0 Pac-12) saw its undefeated season come to an end versus No. 1 Oklahoma (7-0, 1-0 Big 12) on Sunday in Norman, Oklahoma. Though the Sooners did not record a single perfect score, the Bruins notched three 10s − two of which belonged to junior Kyla Ross.
“This revealed what we need to go home and work on,” Kondos Field said. “(The loss) is okay because there is value in it. It is a great learning experience for them, especially now. It’s not a bad time for them to be a little ticked off with themselves and disappointed, as we are ramping up to championship season.”
UCLA scored lower on uneven bars, vault and balance beam than it did last weekend when it faced then-No. 4 Utah. The Bruins have only scored below 49.300 on bars − their score on Sunday − twice in nine competitions this season.
Many of Sunday’s individual performances were uncharacteristically low for the Bruins as well.
Freshman Margzetta Frazier posted her lowest bars score of the season Sunday with a 9.800.
Junior Gracie Kramer − who made her second vault appearance of the season − and freshman Sekai Wright both posted season lows on vault. Sophomore Pauline Tratz’s vault score was also tied for her second-lowest of the season.
“I feel like the biggest lesson is for the freshman,” Ross said. “Especially since they have come in and have never lost a meet. It is a good reality check to show them that we are not the best at this moment, we need to keep working.”
UCLA has only posted two total floor exercise scores higher than the 49.675 that it posted against Oklahoma behind another perfect 10 from senior Katelyn Ohashi.
Following two perfect scores, Ross recorded a career-high score on floor of 9.975.
Despite three high scores, the junior posted her third-lowest beam score of the season. Senior Brielle Nguyen’s beam score was tied for her second-lowest of the year while freshman Norah Flatley posted her second-lowest beam score of the year against the Sooners.
“I felt frustrated after beam,” Ohashi said. “But, we have a good idea of what we need to work on now. We were the top in the nation last year on beam and we’ve only lost one girl, so we need to think about how we shift that and get back to where we were last year. Nothing has changed.”
Oklahoma now has an uneven bars Regional Qualifying Score that is .005 higher than UCLA, allowing the Sooners to surpass the Bruins for the No. 1 ranking on the event. UCLA is still ranked first on beam and floor.
UCLA’s RQS is now 197.800 − .140 below Oklahoma and .255 above No. 3 Florida.
“We are going to make sure that we are intentional with our diet, our sleep, our water intake, our studying, all of it,” Kondos Field said. “If I don’t go in and tell them that there is a refresh button that we all need to hit, it would be natural for them to coast and wait to ramp back up, but we can’t do that. We’ve worked too hard to surrender to fatigue.”
UCLA has three days of practice this week to put its new knowledge to the test before it faces No. 24 Stanford in Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.
Students now work longer hours than before to afford college, study finds
UCLA students said they need to work long hours to cover high costs of living and other school-related expenses.
A study conducted in September by HSBC, a banking and financial services company, found students in the United States are spending more time working paid jobs than studying or going to class.
The survey also found the U.S. has the largest funding gap between parents and students across the surveyed countries, with college students spending six times more money than their parents on their education over the course of their college years.
The study found parents have had to reduce spending and more students have had to work paid jobs to afford college.
Paul Mullins, the regional head of international banking at HSBC, said in an email statement that researchers found 85 percent of current U.S. college students work paid jobs, with 37 percent of students looking for jobs to improve chances for employment after college. However, 57 percent of students said they work simply because they need the extra income.
The study also found students spend about 4.2 hours a day working on average, compared to 2.3 hours a day in class, 2.8 hours studying at home and 1.5 hours visiting the library.
Mullins added in the statement that parents’ misjudgment of the cost of higher education is a major factor in students’ need to work paid jobs. The survey reported 62 percent of parents are forced to reduce nonessential spending to afford college education.
Patricia Gandara, a research professor of education at UCLA, said she thinks students feel compelled to work more hours because of increasing tuition and costs of living. Gandara added students may feel more obligated to work due to insufficient financial aid.
“Students are having to bear a whole lot more financial responsibility than they’ve had to in the past,” Gandara said.
However, Gandara said working does not always negatively interfere with students’ schoolwork. She added studies have shown that working about 15 hours a week can actually benefit students, especially if the student’s work is related to what they are studying.
“I think it helps them to organize their time better and helps them to focus,” Gandara said.
However, working upwards of 15 hours a week can become harmful to students’ academics, Gandara said.
“Once you get much over 15 hours a week, then it starts being really detrimental, and it really slows people down and gets in the way of studies,” Gandara said.
Emma Torres, a fourth-year history student, said she works at Kerckhoff Coffee House about 15 hours a week and sometimes up to 47 hours in two weeks. Torres added working so many hours interferes with her studies because she has less time to study.
She added working tires her out more and causes her to put off studying when she gets home.
Torres said the number of hours she works in a week depends on how much money she needs. She added she works many hours to afford textbooks, groceries and a reasonable standard of living.
“I find that when I need a little more money, I put off studying,” Torres said.
Hanna Almalssi, a third-year political science student who works for Associated Students UCLA Events Services, said she only works about nine hours a week, which does not interfere with her studies.
“If I worked more, it would definitely be interfering,” Almalssi said.
Almalssi said she knows many people who need to work long hours to cover rent, adding she thinks she is lucky to not have to worry about working to make ends meet.
“A lot of people are independent, so they do have to work a lot of hours,” Almalssi said.
Gandara said she thinks students are working long hours to avoid building up debt in college, but working too much can interfere with their studies. She added more financial aid should be provided for low-income students so they do not have to sacrifice their academics to work long hours.
“I think we need to be able to ensure that if students are willing to work hard and study, that they should not have to either graduate with huge debt or work too many hours, which could get in the way of their studies,” Gandara said.