UCLA women’s water polo sweeps Michigan Invitational to maintain perfect record

No team in the country has amassed more wins than the Bruins this season.

Sweeping its invitational slate for the second straight weekend, No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (9-0, 1-0 MPSF) picked up its first conference victory of the season after outlasting No. 10 Indiana (5-3, 0-1) on Saturday 12-6 before securing a season-high margin of victory in a 24-3 win against Salem (0-4) at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The blue and gold defeated Long Island University (2-2) on Sunday 17-3 and ended the weekend with a 13-9 victory over No. 6 Michigan (5-3) three hours later.

Outscored 3-1 in the second quarter against the Hoosiers, the Bruins entered halftime tied for the first time this season. UCLA proceeded to score five unanswered goals in the third quarter, each coming from a different player.

In her first appearance of the year, junior utility Abbi Hill scored two second-half goals against Indiana and said the team focused on being aggressive after halftime.

“When we play passive, it’s not good and it’s not what we want to do,” Hill said. “We need to put fear into our opponents on the offensive side and be able to make big stops on the defensive side. But I think that game was good for us to have. For people who tend to get really nervous, we need to learn to use our nerves in a positive way and not a negative way.”

Named a First-Team All American as a freshman in a truncated 2020 season, Hill’s production dipped as a sophomore despite still being the Bruin responsible for the most points over the last two seasons.

Now in her third year, Hill said she feels self-assured in the pool this season.

“Last season was kind of hectic, … I felt like there were a lot of things in my head at all times,” Hill said. “I feel a lot more clear minded than last season and just really confident and hungry to play.”

Fourteen different UCLA players registered a point in the win over Salem on Saturday afternoon, with freshmen attackers Emma Lineback and Molly Renner combining for 14 points. The Bruins shot 64.9% while holding the Tigers to under 10% shooting as redshirt junior goalkeeper Georgia Phillips racked in 18 of her 54 saves on the weekend.

Against LIU, senior utility Katrina Drake and freshman attacker Grace Myers paced UCLA with a pair of hat tricks. Drake said the Bruins’ depth creates a stimulating practice environment.

“It’s a very competitive environment at the pool,” Drake said. “Adam always stresses that we’re always playing ourselves, so every day is like a game. We push everyone to be accountable, to try to learn, try to get better and be the best that we can be for each other.”

In the weekend finale, 2020 Tokyo Olympics MVP and redshirt senior attacker Maddie Musselman tallied six scores against the Wolverines to lead the Bruins to victory. She finished the road trip with 15 points, six steals and a perfect sprint record.

Coach Adam Wright said Musselman’s presence in the pool as a leader allows her to take over and dominate in crucial moments of contests.

“Her experiences are vastly different from any of our other girls,” Wright said. “She’s a special player. We’re going to need her to do that at times. The other thing is, in a lot of games, she’s trying to facilitate the growth of our team.”

UCLA will now turn the page to its home opener and second conference game of the season against No. 12 San Jose State on Friday before hosting the UCLA Invitational on Saturday, when it will face No. 8 Fresno State and No. 1 USC.

Averaging a 12-goal margin of victory through nine games, Wright said his team still has plenty of room to improve.

“We have got a lot of work to do,” Wright said. “We got a really good group here, but we have got a lot of work to do.”