Women's water polo to take on Indiana in first round of NCAA Tournament
Senior attacker Priscilla Orozco enters the NCAA Tournament as UCLA’s leading scorer. The No. 3 seed Bruins will take on No. 6 seed Indiana today in the first round.
Women’s water polo
Indiana
Today
Ann Arbor, Mich.
No live stats
By Liz Schneider
May 13, 2011 12:42 a.m.
Despite a team loaded with talented veterans and the postseason experience they bring, there is a sense of caution among the UCLA women’s water polo team when it comes to the NCAA Championships.
“We know how serious this tournament is, so we’re not taking anyone for granted,” said senior attacker Priscilla Orozco, who has been with the Bruins through two national championships and last year’s shocking first-round loss to Loyola Marymount. “That was a mistake we might have made last year.”
No. 3-seeded UCLA will begin its campaign back to the top when it faces off against No. 6-seeded Indiana today in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The tournament, which runs through Sunday in Ann Arbor, Mich., pits the champions of five of the nation’s conferences against one another and against the three at-large contenders.
When UCLA matches up against Indiana, it will do so for the first time since February, bringing to the game an element of uncertainty very different from the familiarity of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.
Although the Bruins emerged with a 9-4 victory in the last matchup between the two teams, the Hoosiers’ strong postseason play has the Bruins wary.
“They beat Michigan in their conference championship,” coach Brandon Brooks said of the Hoosiers. “I think they’re a really solid team, and they’re going to come out fighting for everything.”
While the Bruins are attempting to take the tournament one game at a time and focus exclusively on today’s matchup, they are also all too aware of the tough weekend that lies between them and the title.
Should everything play out as expected, the Bruins will face No. 2-seeded California on Saturday. It’s been less than two weeks since the Bears bested the Bruins in the MPSF title game, but the team is staying optimistic.
“We didn’t play our best water polo against Cal,” senior center Grace Reynolds said. “We had two tough games before that. Not that I’m using that as an excuse, but I think we can do better.”
On May 1, Cal exhibited a slowed-down, controlled style of play quite different than the intensely physical style more common among the other conference teams, and UCLA struggled to adjust.
Since then, the Bruins have focused on refining their offensive strategy and employing specific plays to set the pace of the game. This preparation has the team ready to move forward from the disappointment of MPSF into the familiar combination of excitement and anxiety that marks NCAA play.
“There’s always a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, a lot of motivation going into NCAAs,” Brooks said. “There’s also always anxiety, but I don’t think that nervousness is a bad thing ““ it just shows how much you want it.”
