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Women’s water polo to face four ranked opponents in Michigan Invitational

Junior goalkeeper Jahmea Bent has allowed nine goals in three halves of action this season. No. 5 UCLA women’s water polo has yet to settle on a main goalkeeper in 2020. (Daily Bruin file photo)

Women's Water Polo


Michigan Invitational
Saturday, 7:30 a.m.

Canham Natatorium
No TV info

By Kyle Boal

Jan. 24, 2020 1:41 a.m.

Four ranked teams await the Bruins.

No. 5 UCLA women’s water polo (4-1) will travel to Ann Arbor to compete in the Michigan Invitational this weekend. The Bruins are slated to face No. 11 Pacific (1-0) and No. 7 Michigan (2-2) on Saturday, followed by games against No. 24 Marist (0-3) and No. 21 Wagner (0-0) on Sunday.

Freshman utility Abbi Hill was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week following her performance at last week’s UCSB Winter Invitational.

Hill, first in points, goals and steals for the Bruins, said she was honored to be recognized, but without her team, she wouldn’t be where she is now.

“Obviously it’s an honor to be named player of the week,” Hill said. “But we as a team don’t value these awards. It’s a team effort, it’s not just any one person. I wouldn’t be who I am during the game without my team.”

Coach Adam Wright said this weekend’s slate of top opponents will be a good experience for his young roster, as 19 of the Bruins’ 25 active players are underclassmen.

“It’s a great situation for us,” Wright said. “As a new and young team, to have to play a really good (Pacific) team, then have to come back four hours later and play Michigan at home, some people wouldn’t want this, but we want it because we’ll really find out a lot about ourselves.”

UCLA has had 17 players score through five games this year, including a three-way tie for second place in scoring between sophomore utility Katrina Drake, senior attacker Emily Skelly and sophomore center Ava Johnson – all of whom have seven goals.

The Bruins’ depth allows them to try multiple rotations, including at goalkeeper, where UCLA has played three players each for nearly identical amounts of time.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Georgia Phillips leads the Bruins with two games played, including playing the entire game in the loss to UCSB. Freshman Quinn Winter and junior Jahmea Bent both have a game and a half under their cap.

Bent said the team practices for big back-to-back games, and isn’t worried about being fatigued despite playing four ranked opponents in two days.

“We work really hard here at Spieker (Aquatics Center) for these games,” Bent said. “For the competitive games, for the games where we know it’ll be tiring. We’ve built our reserve and we’re here. We practice for stuff like that.”

UCLA fell three spots in the rankings after last weekend’s loss to No. 9 UCSB. The Bruins were shutout for two quarters and only had four players score against the Gauchos, but had no fewer than seven players score in any other game so far.

Wright said he expects the team to be in a similar situation this weekend, but he’s excited to see how his team performs as compared to the previous tournament.

“Our back is going to be against the wall for sure on Saturday,” Wright said. “We’ll be in a position at some point where things aren’t comfortable, and who we choose to be will be interesting. Last weekend, we chose not to concentrate on ourselves and we let external things bother us so that will be a big test for us.”

The Michigan Invitational kicks off in Ann Arbor at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 25.

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Kyle Boal | Sports senior staff
Boal is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's water polo beat. He was an assistant Sports editor on the gymnastics, rowing, swim and dive, men's water polo and women's water polo beats. Boal was previously a contributor on the men's water polo and women's water polo beats.
Boal is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's water polo beat. He was an assistant Sports editor on the gymnastics, rowing, swim and dive, men's water polo and women's water polo beats. Boal was previously a contributor on the men's water polo and women's water polo beats.
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