Bruins host a weekend of w.water polo

Friday, April 26, 1996

Top-ranked UCLA looks to qualify for national championship
tourneyBy Mark J. Dittmer

Daily Bruin Contributor

If anyone is upset at how few home games the UCLA women’s water
polo team has had this season, this is their weekend.

The Bruins (20-0) host the Western Regional Qualification
Tournament this weekend, and water polo fanatics are in for a
treat. Die hard fans can catch 12 straight hours of water polo on
Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Sunset Canyon Recreation
Center.

Water polo continues at the Sunset pool from 7:30 – 11:30 a.m.
on Saturday, and resumes, after a long break, from 3:30 – 7:30 p.m.
And if spectators still want more, the best games will probably be
played on Sunday, once again at Sunset, from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.,
with the tournament championship being played at noon.

This is also the last opportunity to see the undefeated and
top-ranked Bruins at home this year. UCLA plays its first game at 2
p.m. against USC, and plays again at 6 p.m. against UC Irvine. If
the Bruins perform as expected and win those two games, their
Saturday games will be at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

"We want a lot of people out there to cheer us on," UCLA
freshmen Coralie Simmons said. "It’ll be fun. We’re just gonna go
and try hard and fight through our games and give it our all."

The tournament is an important one as well. Of the 12 teams
playing, seven will move on to the national championships, which
will be played at UC Davis in two weeks.

Most of that will be decided on day one. Eight of the twelve
teams will move into the winner’s bracket, and four teams will go
to the consolation part of the draw, which will be played at the
Men’s Gym pool. Seven of the eight teams in the winner’s bracket
will move on to the championships in Davis.

Since the Bruins are almost sure to qualify for the national
championships, the most interesting facet of the tournament may be
whether or not they can keep their perfect record intact. But
that’s not what they’re focusing on.

"What we’re focusing on is taking it one game at a time," said
Bruin head coach Guy Baker. "We just want to play well. I like our
chances if we play well, but if someone goes out there and plays
better than us, then we just tip our hats to them."

The tournament is a round robin event. On day one, there are
four brackets of three teams each, and the top two teams from each
bracket advance. UCLA is in the bracket with USC and UC Irvine.

On day two, the eight remaining teams are divided into two
brackets of four. The Bruins’ possible opponents on day two ­
if they are not sent to the consolation round ­ are Stanford,
UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They are likely to play two
of those three teams.

On Sunday, the first-place teams in each bracket meet in the
championship. Look for the Bruins to be in the championship on
Sunday. Look for the Bruins also to enjoy playing at home.

"It should definitely boost our morale," hole set Catherine von
Schwarz said of having the home crowd advantage. "It’s always a
damper on a team to be on the road, and have the crowd going
against them."

"We like hosting a tournament," agreed Baker. "UCLA does a good
job hosting tournaments, and I have a feeling this will be the best
tournament in women’s water polo history."

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Freshman Coralie Simmons hopes to hear cheers for the Bruins
this weekend.