UCLA women’s water polo to play Hall of Fame alumnus, Fresno State coach Natalie Benson
Senior attacker Hannah Palmer rises out of the water to take a shot. (Anya Yakimenko/Daily Bruin staff)
Women's Water Polo
No. 9 Fresno State
Thursday, 12 p.m.
Spieker Aquatics Center
No TV info
No. 15 Arizona State
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Mona Plummer Aquatic Center
ASU Live Stream-2
By Felicia Keller
April 5, 2023 2:24 p.m.
The Bruins will welcome program royalty to Spieker Aquatics Center on Thursday.
No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (16-4, 2-1 MPSF) will face No. 9 Fresno State (14-7, 6-0 GCC) at home on Thursday before traveling to face No. 15 Arizona State (8-10, 0-3 MPSF) in Tempe on Saturday. The Bulldogs are coached by UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Natalie Benson.
For coach Adam Wright, Thursday’s contest is an exciting opportunity to not only play a competitive team, but also reunite with a UCLA alumnus. Benson, who played for UCLA from 2001-2005, helped lead the team to three national championships and earned the Cutino Award for the best collegiate player in the nation in her senior season.
Wright called Benson’s playing career in Westwood a storied one, and he had high praise for Benson’s team at Fresno State.
“She’s done such a wonderful job with that program and she has them playing and competing at a really high level,” Wright said.
The Fresno State game will mark just the third home game for the Bruins this season, and freshman center/defender Lily Gess said the team is excited to be in its own pool.
Gess, one of seven freshmen on the roster this season, said the team has learned how important it is to work hard in practice, in addition to games.
“The past few weeks our team has really focused on putting in the work,” Gess said. “We’ve learned if you put in the work, you’re going to set yourself up for success. So I think that the mindset of putting it all out there and leaving it all out is something that we’re definitely getting better at.”
The blue and gold will head to Arizona to face the Sun Devils on Saturday. Senior attacker Hannah Palmer said she’s looking forward to the Bruins’ only game this season outside of California.
“I think that traveling away to another state is really fun, just because it’s a new environment,” Palmer said. “Water polo is pretty popular in mostly California, so it’s really cool to play in a different state that doesn’t necessarily have a lot of attention on water polo.”
Palmer added that UCLA will look to continue to utilize its depth across both upcoming games.
“We do have a really deep team, and many teams don’t necessarily have that,” Palmer said. “So it’s playing to our advantage of how deep our team is and how many great players we have (on) our team.”
UCLA will play Fresno State on Thursday at noon and Arizona State on Saturday at 1 p.m..
