The Bruins are set to play in their final tournament of the regular season in the historic Barbara Kalbus Invitational.

No. 1 UCLA women’s water polo (10-0, 1-0 MPSF) will begin the weekend against Cal State Fullerton (4-4), where it will then go on to face either No. 8 Michigan (9-5, 1-0 CWPA) or No. 10 UC Irvine (4-6). While the rest of the Bruins’ opponents will be determined based on the results of each of the matches, they could face high-ranked teams such as No. 2 Hawaii (8-1), No. 3 Fresno State (10-3) or No. 4 Stanford (7-2).

Barbara Kalbus was an iconic water polo figure who managed the U.S. Men’s National Team and served as president of USA Water Polo. Because of her contributions to the sport, the UC Irvine Invitational was renamed in her honor in 2017 after her passing.

“Barbara Kalbus is such a huge person in water polo, and she paved the way for all of us to be playing right now,” said freshman utility Natasha Kieckhafer. “It’s really inspiring to be playing a tournament with so many great teams, at such a high level, that’s representative of such a big important thing in water polo history.”

Only UCLA, USC and Stanford have won this invitational, with UCLA taking home the victory three of the 17 times it has been competed. The Bruins’ last victory was nine years ago.

Coach Adam Wright said that while he is motivated for a tournament win, victory is not the only thing that matters going into this weekend.

“This is the big midseason tournament. There’s one every year, and we definitely want to try to position ourselves to be in that last game, and then have a chance to win it,” Wright said. “But for me, more importantly is: Are we growing week by week?”

The tournament will feature four games spread out over three days.

Freshman utility Olivia Ouellette said support between the members of the team will contribute to their ability to persist throughout the tournament.

“If one person is down, … the team will pick them back up,” Ouellette said. “The support throughout the team, throughout the weekend, is kind of what keeps us going. And this drive, we all have to be the best.”

There is a chance UCLA may face some Pac-12 opponents, which Wright said could serve as good insight for the rest of the season.

“There’s a good possibility we’ll be playing some of our conference opponents,” Wright said. “It’s a great tournament to gather a lot of information as we head into the thick of our conference season.”

The Bruins are going into this weekend with an undefeated record and a No. 1 ranking to defend as they look to bring home their first Barbara Kalbus Invitational victory in nine years.