This post was updated Feb. at 8:47 p.m.

In their final regular season tournament of the year, the Bruins couldn’t secure a podium finish, ending in fourth over the weekend.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (12-3, 1-0 MPSF) lost to both No. 2 USC (12-1) and No. 4 California (12-3) this weekend to finish fourth in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at the Anteater Aquatic Complex. To reach the semifinal, UCLA defeated No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (13-5) and No. 21 San Diego State (3-9). The pair of losses marked the Bruins’ second and third of the season to top-four ranked competition.

Graduate attacker Val Ayala, freshman utility Anna Pearson and sophomore attacker Emma Lineback headlined the scoring sheets with six goals each over the weekend.

Despite a last-minute scheduling change that took UC Irvine out of UCLA’s group, the blue and gold sailed past UCSB and San Diego State with double-digit victories in both matches.

Associate coach Jason Falitz said the schedule change didn’t affect the team because they value flexibility.

“There’s certain opponents that you’re preparing for more than others, and we thought we would run into Irvine,” Falitz said. “But you still have to play the games, and at the end of the day, you have to be flexible. And I thought we did a good job of that.”

The Bruins got off to a strong start in both games, leading the Aztecs by 11-4 at the half. Four hours later, they led the Gauchos by four points after the first quarter and six after the second.

However, when faced with both USC and Cal, UCLA struggled with convincing starts. Despite tying both teams throughout the last three quarters, the deficit in the final score equaled that of the first stanza.

Falitz said the stress over the weekend was a contributor to the rough starts.

“We try and enter the game with the same mentality every time, and as the weekend goes on, the games become a little more stressful,” Falitz said. “We didn’t do the best job of handling that stress. And unfortunately, we put ourselves in a deficit in both of those games.”

For the big games during the rest of the season, Falitz added that the team will look to perform better in the critical moments.

In the semifinal against the Trojans, the Bruins looked to close the gap from when the teams faced off in early February, where they made it to overtime before losing 10-8. But this time, a five-goal Trojan first quarter proved insurmountable for the blue and gold.

For graduate student center Ava Johnson, the weekend represented her first action since Jan. 28, as she returned from an injury. She picked up four goals across the four games, with two of those coming against Cal.

“I missed it so much. It’s a completely different feeling being on the bench versus being in the water, obviously, but I just missed being in the pool competing with my friends and my teammates,” Johnson said. “The adrenaline and everything kicked back into gear, and just leaving it all out in the pool.”

Despite closing the deficit in the third quarter to one point, the Bruins fell against the Golden Bears in their first showdown of the season.

The team stayed behind to watch the final between USC and Stanford, in which Stanford emerged victorious on the back of a last minute goal. Senior attacker Brooke Doten said it left the team hungry to be out there in the final next time.

“It’s good for us to keep moving forward,” Doten said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for us to keep getting better, so (we’re) just keeping each other motivated and focusing on getting better these next few weeks.”

UCLA will have another week off before it travels to take on No. 1 Stanford (12-0) and No. 20 San Jose State (9-10) on March 11 and March 12, respectively.