This post was updated Dec. 4 at 11:09 p.m. 

After suffering just its second loss of this season in the final of the MPSF West Championships, No. 1 seed UCLA men’s water polo (23-2, 5-1) failed to claim the conference title for the third consecutive year. Now, the Bruins will turn their attention to a national title, opening NCAA tournament play against Salem (20-3, 4-0 WWPA) for a chance at UCLA’s 124th national title overall. The Daily Bruin’s men’s water polo beat predicts where UCLA will finish in the tournament before the games commence Friday.

Ava Abrishamchian
Daily Bruin staff
Prediction: NCAA Champions

UCLA knows the road ahead.

It is neither foreign nor strange. Rather, it is a yellow brick road UCLA has gone down many times before.

In 2022, the Bruins were stopped in the semifinals – falling to their crosstown rival in USC. In 2023, a fourth-quarter demise led to a second-place finish. While these may seem indicative of another story, I believe 2024 will see the Bruins finish their path to greatness as champions.

Their crew is set. Sophomore utility Ben Liechty has stepped up, leading the way with two goals and five assists in their last matchup. Freshman attacker Ryder Dodd has brought international experience to Westwood after earning a bronze medal in the Olympics this summer, scoring two goals in the last matchup to etch 90 points across the season. Guarding the net, graduate student goalkeeper Garret Griggs has kept an iron lock help the team to maintain a 23-2 record for the season, the only losses being within a margin of two goals.

With heart, bravery and experience, No. 1 seed UCLA has what it takes to push past its fellow top-ranked No. 2 seed USC and return to its redemption match. Though the Trojans handed the Bruins one of two losses in the season, the Bruins have maintained the advantage in overall matchups this season.

The final test of the season will culminate with a do-over match of the 2023 season. And with the Bruins having shown this year that the former champions are not untouchable, the veteran status and fresh faces will stun whatever enemies are in their path.

While it’s been a long and unexpected road, I believe the Bruins will bring home the championship and prove, once and for all, there’s no better place for hardware than Westwood.

Lamar Tuker
Daily Bruin reporter
Prediction: Loss to Stanford in the semifinal

While UCLA has honed its craft well enough to surpass Salem in the first round, its skills won’t survive the following trials.

After losing to the Trojans for the third subsequent year in the MPSF tournament, the Bruins are fueled up to conquer their next match. And the Tigers, with three losses in their system, pose no threat to the No.1 seed.

Similar to last year, the wounds left by USC and Stanford are still fresh. But the Bruins have no time to cradle their injuries before jumping back in the water. Leaving their beloved Westwood behind, the Bruins must dominate enemy territory in order to wear the NCAA crown.

But the team is a stickler for tradition, and based on previous patterns, it is bound to forfeit its upper hand. The only difference is that last season, the Bruins persevered against Biola and Princeton to make it to the championship game.

Their final match against the three-time defending champions – the Golden Bears – did not bode much luck for the Bruins. Even with six players netting the Bears’ cage and then-senior attacker Rafael Real Vergara’s hat trick, the Bruins were unable to surpass. Graduate student attacker Makoto Kenney contributed two goals and three assists, but the Golden Bears countered them and then some.

This time around, defeat may be sooner rather than later.

And unlike last season, the Bruins suffered their first loss prior to the MPSF championships. There’s no saying they won’t suffer a defeat earlier than when they did last season.

Nicolas Greamo
Daily Bruin senior staff
Prediction: NCAA Champions

Take a moment, if you will, to imagine an ocean of letters. If you don’t look too close, it almost seems like every single one is a W.

Indeed, many of them are. But as you step closer, you’ll gradually notice a different outline strewn occasionally throughout.

A handful of Ls, each painful to the touch, disturb the otherwise uniform patterns of Ws that seem to stretch out toward the horizon.

This is what it feels like to survey the win-loss record of UCLA men’s water polo over the past few seasons. The Bruins have won a lot in their time. Since their last national championship title in 2020, UCLA squads have earned 20 victories in four consecutive seasons. They have thrived in the regular season, notching a combined 65-3 record in the past three years.

But the postseason has been a different matter.

Coach Adam Wright’s teams have often struggled to replicate their success in the playoffs, where they’ve accrued six wins and seven losses across the same time frame.

Watching the tide roll in year after year with more heartbreaking defeats on the biggest stage, it can certainly be difficult to trust the Bruins to make it to shore. But I do.

Forget the letters.

Just take in the ocean breeze, feel the waves crest and wane around you and believe.

Olivia Miller
Daily Bruin senior staff
Prediction: NCAA Champions

Only two teams have managed to slow down UCLA’s tidal wave of victories this season, and the top-seeded Bruins are ready to sink everyone else on their path to an NCAA title.

UCLA will open play against Salem in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center. Assuming it advances, the squad will vie for the opportunity for the national title.

With only two losses this entire season, it is likely UCLA will take the championship title. The team is stellar on both sides of the ball, with 170 saves from graduate student goalkeeper Garret Griggs and 90 goals from freshman attacker Ryder Dodd. But will this kind of power be matched by opponents the team will face?

From the games I’ve attended, I’ve noticed a pattern: This team starts conservatively, then undergoes a transformation as the clock winds down. In the latter part of matches, it steps up its offensive game.

After the end of the regular season, the Bruins lost the MPSF West Championship. However, this loss is meager in comparison to what they are soon to gain – the NCAA championship title.

Una O’Farrell
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: NCAA champions

Well, this is a little embarrassing.

Two weeks ago, I – along with every other writer on the men’s water polo beat – confidently predicted the team to take home the MPSF West championship title for the first time since 2021.

But the team I watched take on the Trojans on Sunday did not look like the same team I’ve been watching the entire season. It struggled heavily on defense and – despite outscoring its rivals in the second half – handed USC its third-straight MPSF title.

I’ve since been home, enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with my family and watched Gladiator II – a sequel steeped in themes of redemption and resilience after failure.

Maybe I’m just feeling hopeful, or maybe I’m looking to prove myself after my MPSF prediction went completely awry.

But like the gladiators in the Colosseum and the rebels of the ancient Roman Empire, I’m sensing a comeback.

The Bruins have suffered their losses this season and will enter their own era of redemption in Stanford, California, this weekend.

As finals week looms, I believe UCLA will have added its 124th national championship banner – marking Wright’s second title of the calendar year.