Women’s water polo ready to make weekend waves against Hawai’i, LMU and Fresno State

The Bruins are playing at their home pool for the first time this season.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (7-0) will face No. 5 Hawai’i (4-0) on Friday, and will also host the UCLA minitournament, at which it will face No. 15 Loyola Marymount (2-0) and No. 14 Fresno State (2-6).

“Here we are in the third weekend of games, and after the first two weeks we gathered a lot of information about ourselves,” said coach Adam Wright. “I think the girls have done a nice job from weekend to weekend as far as figuring out things we need to concentrate on.”

Hawai’i is fresh off a 10-7 win against then-No. 5 Arizona State. With the victory, the Rainbow Wahine and the Sun Devils traded places in this week’s updated rankings.

Hawai’i’s attacker Irene Gonzalez is entering Friday’s contest with a four-game streak of at least three goals. Six other players have posted at least one multigoal game, including attacker Maxine Schaap, who is second on the team in goals behind Gonzalez.

Hawai’i has found the back of the net on over half of its shot attempts and is 14-for-20 on power play opportunities. Despite this being the first top-five matchup of the season for the Bruins, junior attacker Emily Skelly said UCLA stresses the idea of having the same routine for every game, especially in big games.

“I think it really comes down to the fundamentals, specifically how we play on defense,” Skelly said. “It’s all about consistency, and defense wins games, so if we shut down how (Hawai’i) works, they won’t be able to get shots up and we’ll be able to put it away from there.”

In their only matchup last season, UCLA handled LMU 11-2. Current junior attackers Maddie Musselman and Bronte Halligan as well as sophomore attacker Roxy Wheaton all found the back of the net twice.

The Lions started their season last weekend, and scored goals at will in their first two games. LMU blew out Chapman 18-1 thanks to four goals from driver Hana Vilanova and a hat trick from driver Brianna Quade. The success continued against Pomona-Pitzer after seven different Lions scored, including attacker Marialena Seletopoulou who dropped five on the way to a 13-6 win.

This weekend will be round two between the Bruins and Bulldogs this season. UCLA took round one Sunday in a 14-9 win with hat tricks from freshman attackers Val Ayala and Bella Baia.

In order to complete another weekend sweep and the sweep of Fresno State, Wright said the Bruins need to improve on their power play opportunities.

“If we want to make our lives easier, then we have to do a better job on our 6-on-5,” Wright said. “There’s been a lot of times where we don’t even get a shot off and that’s impossible. We’re working so hard to earn those ejections and then we’re turning the ball over and just making our lives difficult.”

In 6-on-5 opportunities, the Bruins were just 3-of-10 against No. 13 UC Davis – their worst man-up performance this season. UCLA followed that by finishing 4-of-8 on power play chances in its win against Fresno State to close out the Cal Cup.

With these next three games being the first time the Bruins are competing at home, Baia wants the Spieker Aquatic Center to be packed and loud this weekend.

“We would love all the support,” Baia said. “We’re so excited to be playing at our home stadium for the first time this season and I know I am too for my first home games (at UCLA) ever.”