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Women’s water polo works on sharpening counter defense in preparation for San Jose State

DAILY BRUIN FILE PHOTO
Senior utility KK Clark scored a team-leading nine goals at the UC Irvine Invitational championship. Clark and UCLA will host San Jose State on Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center.

By Allison Collins

March 9, 2012 12:45 a.m.

After being on the road for the last three weeks, two of which were tournament-style matchups, the Bruins are coming back home this weekend to take on San Jose State.

“It does feel good to come home and play,” said senior attacker Sarah Orozco. “We only have four home games this year, so each one we play here makes it really special.”

Two weeks ago, the Bruins gained the No. 1 ranking in the country after taking down then-No. 1 Stanford and then-No. 2 USC. They continued that momentum as they beat USC again last weekend in their second conference match of the season.

Until this weekend, the Bruins have been playing some teams that they had already squared up against earlier in the season. This weekend, however, will be the first meeting with San Jose State, and UCLA has done its best in preparing for the unknown.

One aspect of the game that the Bruins have been working on all season and will continue to work on for this game is their counter defense.

“We are always working on converting six-on-fives and five-on-six because that is typically where games are won and lost. We have a pretty solid half court defense but are really trying to improve on our counter attack where we are a little weaker,” said senior utility KK Clark.

In preparation for this weekend, the Bruins have been focusing on improvement of their game as a whole and their ability to be adaptable to an unpredictable team like San Jose State.

“Most of this week will be focused on trying to sharpen some of the things that we are trying to do,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “We’ve put in a good amount of things to our offense and extra man and defense. Spending this week trying to sharpen up all facets of our game will hopefully prepare us for Saturday.”

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