UCLA men’s water polo season opener marks first collegiate game for Biola
UCLA men’s water polo opened its season with a 21-2 win over Biola, which was playing its first game in program history. Coach Adam Wright said the Eagles’ entrance onto the collegiate water polo scene is a positive step for the growth of the sport. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Kyle Boal
Sept. 8, 2021 12:13 p.m.
The Bruins’ season opener was more than just the first game of the year to their opponent.
No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo (4-0) opened its season against Biola (0-4), a team making its inaugural collegiate water polo appearance. The Eagles will be the ninth Division II team in NCAA water polo and a member of the Western Water Polo Association.
While the blue and gold jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match, Biola managed to stop UCLA on its first two possessions. The Eagles’ utility Dominic Hidalgo-Valecillo scored the program’s first goal only one minute and 45 seconds into the game to knot the contest at one goal apiece .
The Bruins would go on to score 19 unanswered goals, including a 10-0 shutout in the second quarter. Coach Adam Wright said he reached out to Biola’s head coach, Rick Nordell, after the game.
“We’ll be the first team that (Biola) ever scored on which I have no problem with,” Wright said. “Like I said to their coach after the game, if he ever needs anything, we’re here for them. We want to help these programs … You can just see the excitement on the staff’s faces and on the player’s faces. For the sport of water polo, it’s really great. We have to continue to grow.”
Currently, collegiate men’s water polo features roughly 50 schools, of which less than half are Division I programs. UCLA’s conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, only contains six participants, including Penn State Behrend and Austin College .
Sophomore goalkeeper Garret Griggs said he noted the disparity between water polo and more popular sports, but added he remains optimistic that his sport will continue to grow in the United States.
“Shoutout to Biola,” Griggs said. “With basketball or football, you have tons and tons of colleges, and even high schools. But for water polo, there’s only 20 NCAA D-I teams or something like that. Water polo is definitely on the rise in the United States, and I’m really happy to see more and more teams popping up – and hopefully that just makes for better competition.”
At the Olympic level, the United States has never won a gold medal competing against other countries. Wright was a member of the U.S. water polo team that won the most recent medal and only podium finish for the country this century – a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The country won gold in 1904, but the event only included American teams. A European team has won all 27 other tournaments.
MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week and freshman attacker Chase Dodd said despite the United States trailing behind Europe at the Olympic level, seeing schools like Biola entering the collegiate scene is encouraging for the sport’s future across the country.
“With all of these new schools coming into (collegiate water polo), it’s super exciting,” Dodd said. “The culture of water polo and the sport of water polo is growing all around the world. It’s super good to see it growing all around the United States, which is way behind Europe. I feel like the more colleges start adopting a team, the faster the sport will grow.”
