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Women’s water polo tries out lineups, begins conference play with 8 freshmen

No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo is set to begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play after two games compared to nine nonconference games a season prior. (Ellie Tsai/Daily Bruin staff)

By Sam Settleman

March 10, 2021 4:52 p.m.

With conference play on the horizon, the Bruins are trying to quickly acclimate their new players, according to coach Adam Wright.

No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo (2-0) graduated just one player from last season’s roster, but adding eight freshmen to the fold has created an opportunity to test out new lineups ahead of its first conference matchup of the season against No. 6 California (5-0).

Junior attacker Val Ayala said the Bruins will miss the contributions of last year’s third-leading goal scorer and the team’s lone departing player, Emily Skelly, but having an otherwise intact roster has made it easier to adjust to the new season.

“It was super great coming back this year with virtually our entire team,” Ayala said. “Losing (Skelly), obviously she was a great asset to our team – everyone loved her. But having just built the relationship that we did with each other last year and not really having to adjust much from that – other than adding new players in the new freshmen coming in – it’s been great just having those relationships carried through for the past couple of years.”

In UCLA’s season-opening victory against Fresno State, all but two players on the roster saw action in the pool. Two weeks later, in a win over UC Irvine, 12 of the players that competed in the season opener did not make an appearance.

A lot of players were forced to play out of position because of the shorthanded squad, according to Wright. After junior center Ava Johnson left the game because of a cut in the third quarter, the Bruins took a center-by-committee approach behind sophomore center Layne Anzaldo, with Ayala and senior defender Myna Simmons also seeing time at the position.

With lineups in constant flux to start the season, Wright said he is proud of his team’s resilience.

“We’re asking the girls to be flexible,” Wright said. “This week alone, there was a large amount of players that played a couple weeks back that weren’t with us this week. And so they did a great job with the adversity that we faced.”

Five players registered goals in both of the Bruins’ first two contests, including freshman attacker Malia Allen. After scoring one goal on three shots in her collegiate debut, Allen shot 2-of-4 from the pool and added a steal in UCLA’s 13-9 win over UC Irvine.

Allen attributed her early-season success to Wright’s coaching in addition to the support of her teammates.

“The pace of the game is faster, and you have to know a lot more,” Allen said. “But I think, being here at UCLA water polo, the transition has been as smooth as it could have been because, like I said, my teammates are always behind me 100% – they’re always supportive.”

Despite tallying consecutive victories to open the season, Wright pointed out flaws at both ends of the pool for the Bruins. On the offensive end, Wright said his team was rushing shots.

“Part of me didn’t mind because the players were super aggressive and went right in right away off the first shot,” Wright said. “But at the end of the day, if we’re going to go on right away on a power play, you want to put up a high-percentage shot. And that didn’t happen (against UC Irvine).”

The former USA National Team member – who cited lackluster defense in UCLA’s 19-10 win over Fresno State – added that his team missed field blocks on the defensive end and didn’t execute its blocking responsibilities when playing zone defense. While the Bruins gave up 5.9 goals per game a season ago, they have conceded an average of 9.5 goals to start the 2021 campaign.

Wright said he recognizes that in a normal season the team would have already played in three or four more tournaments than it has at this point in the season. However, he said the unusual schedule and fluctuating lineups won’t serve as excuses for his team.

“There’s a lot of things going on right now,” Wright said. “There were a lot of new players this week that hadn’t played yet. So there’s changes there, but that’s no excuse.”

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Sam Settleman | Sports editor
Settleman was the 2022-2023 Sports editor on the football, men's basketball and gymnastics beats. He was previously an assistant editor on the gymnastics, women's soccer, women's golf, men's water polo and women's water polo beats and a contributor on the gymnastics and women's water polo beats.
Settleman was the 2022-2023 Sports editor on the football, men's basketball and gymnastics beats. He was previously an assistant editor on the gymnastics, women's soccer, women's golf, men's water polo and women's water polo beats and a contributor on the gymnastics and women's water polo beats.
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