UCLA men’s water polo to open season with both new, familiar opponents

It’s been 726 days since the Bruins last competed in a regular season tournament with no conference foes.

No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo will open its season at the Triton Invitational in San Diego, facing Biola and Whittier on Saturday before closing weekend play versus California Baptist and UC Santa Barbara. The defending national champions played in no regular season tournaments featuring out-of-conference opponents a season ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coach Adam Wright said despite the return to tournament play, nothing is normal about this season.

“Schedule-wise, we’re going back to something similar from the past,” Wright said. “But like I told our guys, let’s not be fooled and think that everything’s normal. Protocols are going to remain the same. Our choices when we’re outside of the athletic bubble here have got to remain steadfast because there’s absolutely protocols in place and quarantines.”

The blue and gold matched up with only two nonconference opponents last season, including California Baptist at the NCAA tournament. Instead, UCLA faced No. 2 USC, No. 3 California and No. 4 Stanford at least four times each in 2020.

Despite the Bruins returning nearly their entire roster from last season while adding both domestic and international student-athletes, the other top teams will return All-Americans, and the Trojans add two Olympians to the mix.

Wright said this season is undoubtedly different from last year’s.

“The landscape has changed drastically since last year, as far as players and teams,” Wright said. “Once we get through the first month and a half or so of the season, at the end of the end of September, we’ll have a better idea of where we are. But the biggest thing, like always, is we can really only focus on ourselves and be concerned with what we’re doing.”

The match against Biola will be the Eagles’ inaugural collegiate men’s water polo game. Meanwhile, the Bruins have a combined 17-0 record versus the Poets and Lancers and boast over 100 victories all-time against the Gauchos.

UCLA’s roster consists of 10 freshmen with no collegiate experience and a handful of sophomores with minimal experience. The Bruins return reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Year and sophomore attacker Makoto Kenney.

With more time to train in the summer, graduate student attacker Chasen Travisano – finishing his final classes toward his political science degree in the fall – said he expects his younger teammates to have an immediate effect.

“They’re all ready to come in and make an impact,” Travisano said. “We’ve been able to train and get in the water together. We’ve had the whole summer together, so it’s nice to get that cohesion together. As we start games now, it’s fine-tuning, and now we’re a group. We’re together as one.”

The 2020-2021 Peter J. Cutino Award winner and graduate student attacker Nicolas Saveljic said with the season only days away, the Bruins are focused on the future.

“There’s no hierarchy here. Every season is a story for itself,” Saveljic said. “I try to be the best version of myself as I can and work for the team. That leads to passion for the team.”