For many competitors, coming up short only strengthens the desire to win.

One year after a second-place finish in the 2025 NCAA Championship, the Bruins have an opportunity to one-up themselves and their competition.

[Related: UCLA gymnastics secures runner-up at 2025 nationals for highest finish in 7 years]

No. 4 seed UCLA gymnastics will face No. 1 seed Oklahoma, No. 9 seed Arkansas and No. 13 seed Minnesota in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday at the NCAA semifinals. The two top-scoring teams will then advance to Saturday’s national championship. They will compete for the NCAA title against the first- and second-place teams on the other side of the bracket, which includes No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 seed Florida, No. 6 seed Georgia and No. 7 seed Stanford.

“Yes, we are known as one of the underdogs,” said senior Jordan Chiles. “But again, we fight, and we continue to stay in our ‘Bruin Bubble,’ and that is what makes us so unique.”

The last No. 4 seed to win the national title was Michigan in 2021, but its regular-season NQS of 197.800 barely trailed then-No. 1 Oklahoma’s 197.944. In 2026, on the other hand, the No. 1 Sooners concluded the regular season with a 197.980 NQS, over four-tenths higher than the Bruins’ 197.540.

Nevertheless, No. 5-seeded UCLA finished as national runner-up last season, nearly taking home its first title since 2018.

“The rest of the team knows we could taste a national championship last year,” said senior Ciena Alipio. “It was so close, and that has fueled the team a lot this year.”

The Bruins have already proven themselves capable this postseason, capturing their 25th regional title and first since 2019, exceeding last season’s second-place regional finish.

[Related: Led by Jordan Chiles, UCLA gymnastics wins regional title]

But with 2025’s performance fresh in mind, expectations have only grown.

However, as UCLA coaches and gymnasts have repeated time and time again this season, expectations do not equal pressure – at least not when the squad is locked into its Bruin Bubble.

No group better illustrates this than the freshman class, as Tiana Sumanasekera, Ashlee Sullivan, Nola Matthews and Jordis Eichman helped propel the team to Texas.

“Regionals was an amazing competition for our freshmen who were being thrown into some big pressure situations,” said coach Janelle McDonald. “That really bodes well for us heading into NCAAs.”

Beyond the team’s results, the Bruins will be vying for individual titles, of which they rank first all-time with 44. Just last year, alumnus Brooklyn Moors captured the floor title, and Chiles earned her second uneven bars title and third event title of her career.

This season, Chiles will likely be competing for individual titles on each apparatus after ending the season with top-five rankings in each category. With a nearly perfect floor NQS of 9.995, the No. 1 floor worker in the nation could be the favorite in her home state.

Alipio, who finished one place behind Chiles on beam rankings at No. 5, will also be in the running for her first individual title.

Nevertheless, the ultimate prize is team glory, and individual victories can only help push the Bruins toward that goal.

“I have dreamed since the day I got this job of doing that 8-clap for the eighth national championship,” McDonald said. “So we are going to fight for it. That is for sure.”