UCLA women’s water polo misses championship, earns third place
Despite not making it to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship for the first time since 2013, UCLA was awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Along with the tournament berth, five Bruins took home All-MPSF awards including Mackenzie Barr who was the sole first-team awardee. (Keila Mayberry/Daily Bruin staff)
By Claire Fahy
May 4, 2016 12:58 a.m.
It’s been a fairly busy week for UCLA women’s water polo. The Bruins capped off the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament with a third-place victory, earned an NCAA Tournament berth and had five players named to All-MPSF teams.
The team’s third-highest scorer, junior utility Mackenzie Barr, was the sole UCLA player named as first-team All-MPSF. The second-team featured senior center India Forster and junior center Alexa Tielmann, while freshman attacker Lizette Rozeboom made the All-Newcomer team and senior defender Charlotte Pratt earned an honorable mention.
READ MORE: Tielmann brings national team experience to the Bruins
Pratt had something of a breakout season in 2016, seeing game time in 26 games after playing in just 16 as a junior. Rozeboom is the highest scorer in a single game for the Bruins after netting seven goals against George Washington on March 5. The rookie also has 32 goals on the season, making her UCLA’s fourth-highest scorer.
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Notably missing from the list was sophomore attacker Devin Grab, who leads the Bruins in scoring with 39 goals and also secured the game-winning score in UCLA’s triple-overtime win against Stanford on Senior Night April 23.
Building off the momentum of that victory, UCLA was looking to defend its 2015 MPSF title when it traveled to Bakersfield last weekend. Despite pulling out the last-second win over Stanford just one week before, the Bruins couldn’t overcome the Cardinal for a second time and failed to reach the MPSF championship for the first time since 2013.
After pulling off a win in the third-place match against California, UCLA was awarded one of three at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins will play the winner of a play-in game – either UC San Diego or Whittier College.
UCLA has lost just four times this season – three times to USC and once at the hands of Stanford, two teams the Bruins will want to avoid as the tournament progresses. The Bruins will have home-pool advantage in their bid for an NCAA title as the tournament is scheduled to take place at Spieker Aquatics Center.
