From the Editors: New Year’s resolutions for every UCLA athletic program

The last year brought one new national championship to Westwood, as the men’s water polo team completed its perfect 30-0 season to snag No. 113, but what can Bruin fans expect in 2016? Here are New Year’s resolutions for each team.

Baseball: 2015 was a mixed bag for the Bruins. They cruised through the regular season, earning the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. But a couple of losses to Maryland in the regional bounced UCLA from the tournament on the opening weekend. After losing the core of the lineup – Ty Moore, Chris Keck and Kevin Kramer – as well as two star pitchers – James Kaprielian and David Berg – coach John Savage’s team enters the season on the fringes of the top 10. While a regular season as dominant as last year’s is likely out of reach, the Bruins will certainly look to go farther in the postseason. A trip to the College World Series is a reasonable New Year’s resolution. – Matt Cummings

Men’s basketball: Men’s basketball will try to continue putting that season-opening Monmouth loss as far behind it as possible. With upsets over then-top-ranked Kentucky and then-No. 20 Gonzaga, UCLA is on a roll heading into conference play. The goal now is to integrate the Bruins’ rookie talent with their veteran leadership. Junior guard Bryce Alford is UCLA’s leading scorer, while senior center/forward Tony Parker anchors a big-big lineup that is proving to be hard to beat. If the Bruins can start to get freshmen guards Aaron Holiday and Prince Ali as well as freshman forward Alex Olesinski going in the new year, this team could look to have the best record of coach Steve Alford’s career. – Claire Fahy

Women’s basketball: Last year’s WNIT winners should not only make the NCAA Tournament in March, but go far – like, Elite Eight far. The goal of a quarterfinal might seem lofty for a team in a conference that didn’t produce any elite squads last year, but this is a UCLA team that is playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of fight. The Bruins have played two very close, competitive games against the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country. – Korbin Placet

Beach volleyball: The fledgling beach volleyball program will look to continue its recent success in 2016. UCLA lost Zoë Nightingale and Julie Consani from its lineup, two major talents who anchored the Bruins’ success for the past two season. Freshman Elise Zappia and junior Kamila Tan will be back having graduated their partners at the end of last season. – Claire Fahy

Cross country: The men’s team finished 14th at the national championship, but will graduate a significant portion of its lineup, including All-American Lane Werley. Coach Forest Braden does have a host of talented underclassmen returning, though, so the Bruins should aim for another trip to the national meet. The women’s team is in much worse shape, having struggled through the 2015 season and failed to reach the national meet. But with the leadership of star freshman Carolina Johnson, the women could reasonably place in the top half of the Pac-12 next season. – Matt Cummings

Football: UCLA football is missing the X-factor required to become an elite team, and 2016 could be the year coach Jim Mora finds it. The Bruins need to start with their coaching staff, making new hires and letting go of certain personnel, but also need to start developing inexperienced players quickly during their spring practice. The departures of running back Paul Perkins, offensive lineman Caleb Benenoch and defensive tackle Kenny Clark leave UCLA with serious holes to fill in the lineup. While quarterback Josh Rosen has the throwing game covered, the Bruins need another strong running back to ensure a successful ground game. – Claire Fahy

Men’s golf: The men’s golf team needs to start looking down its roster in the new year. UCLA relies on senior talent in Jonathan Garrick and Jake Knapp, who consistently place well for the team. Freshman Cole Madey, however, showed sparks of potential during the Bruins’ fall outings, leading the first day of the Gifford Collegiate back in November. UCLA should resolve to continue developing its young talent in order to ensure the longevity of the team’s success. – Claire Fahy

Women’s golf: This team should resolve to capitalize on the potential of junior golfer Bronte Law in the spring season. Law led UCLA to a dominating win at the Pac-12 Preview in Hawaii just two weeks after winning the Stanford Intercollegiate and helping the Bruins place third. UCLA should look to optimize Law’s talent as the team moves into the main season in February. – Claire Fahy

Gymnastics: As the Bruins enter the new year, they’ll have to face life without the graduated Samantha Peszek, who earned 17 All-American honors throughout her career in Westwood. UCLA will lean on the leadership of Christine Peng-Peng Lee, a second-team All-American on bars and beam. Ranked No. 6 in the preseason polls, the Bruins should have a shot at reaching the Super Six team final. – Matt Cummings

Rowing: In a stacked Pac-12, the women’s rowing team should be looking for small but steady improvement. A berth into the 16-team NCAA Championship is an achievable goal after narrowly – and, arguably, controversially – missing the cut in 2015. – Tanner Walters

Men’s soccer: The Bruins need to translate the individual talent they have into something much bigger. Attacker Seyi Adekoya and midfielders Jose Hernandez and Jackson Yueill could create a championship core, but that didn’t go too well in a historically bad 2015 season. – Tanner Walters

Women’s soccer: The last time the Bruins didn’t make the NCAA Tournament was in 1996. That 18-year streak was broken last fall in what was one of the worst season on record. The team had the excuse that the loss of nine seniors was difficult to transition from, and that is why its 2016 resolution should be learning how to deal with the turnovers better. – Korbin Placet

Softball: Reaching the Women’s College World Series made 2015 a great year for the softball team. They only way to top that is to win the WCWS, but UCLA knows the task is insanely difficult with such a high turnover, including pitching ace Ally Carda. That is why its resolution should be working on patience. That means being patient with a much younger roster, and being patient with freshman Rachel Garcia, the Bruins’ highly touted pitching recruit who was injured over the summer. She is expected to be healthy for the season, but better to play it safe and cautiously for the pitcher that is expected to take over for the likes of Carda. –Korbin Placet

Swimming and diving: The Bruins will be relying on their divers in 2016, and coach Tom Stebbins needs to look no further than Maria Polyakova. The sophomore Russian is already in the UCLA record books and is well on her way to international stardom. This could be a monster year for the underclassman. – Tanner Walters

Men’s tennis: Winning the Pac-12 and the league tournament is very much in reach for this year’s squad. But they also have their sights on some greater than a conference title and championships – a national championship. A big ambition for team that only made it to the third round of the tournament, yes. Though with little turnover, some decent recruiting and arguably the nation’s best player, it is a goal to have. – Korbin Placet

Women’s tennis: The Bruins will need senior Catherine Harrison to step up in her new role as the No. 1 singles player after the loss of four of the top six players from last year’s national runner-up team. With a severely decimated corps, UCLA should be focused more on the conference level than the national level this spring. A top-four finish in the Pac-12 is a reasonable goal. – Matt Cummings

Track and field: If this program is going to see a revival, its 2016 resolution needs to include more than just hopes for individual success. Both the women and the men need improvement across the board to improve on their fifth and fourth place Pac-12 finishes, respectively. – Tanner Walters

Men’s volleyball: There’s lots of youth on this team, so a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship might not be out of the question. Is that a lofty resolution for a team that barely made the conference tournament last year? Certainly, but it just might be achievable under coach John Speraw. – Tanner Walters

Women’s volleyball: If the Bruins see a little better injury luck in 2016, they should have a chance to move into the elite class of the Pac-12, along with stalwarts like USC and Washington. UCLA’s entire offensive core will return, as coach Michael Sealy will have a heavily experienced frontline full of seniors and juniors. They’ll need to replace the defensive presence of graduating seniors Rachel Inouye and Karly Drolson but if they can do that, the Bruins should challenge for a spot in the Elite Eight. – Matt Cummings

Men’s water polo: Another national title. Nothing less is going to be good enough for the back-to-back reigning champs, who are losing just three seniors in 2016. With goalie Garrett Danner back in the cage, my main question is whether the Bruins can repeat perfection. – Tanner Walters

Women’s water polo: The women’s water polo team will have to find replacements for last season’s top talent, namely graduated goalie Sami Hill. Hill had a career season in her fourth and final season with the Bruins, averaging 8.87 saves per game during UCLA’s run to the NCAA final. Senior attacker Rachel Fattal will also be absent for the team in 2016, as she takes an Olympic redshirt year to train for Rio 2016. The Bruins will be looking to avenge last year’s loss and claim a national title for the program this season, but will have to do so without the players that defined both ends of the pool for UCLA in 2015. – Claire Fahy

Email the editors at [email protected] or tweet them at @DBSports.