The 2025-26 year saw momentous occasion after momentous occasion take place for UCLA Athletics. From championship banners to program records, Westwood saw another year of history being made. Daily Bruin Sports highlights some of the best moments from the past year.

Women’s Basketball wins NCAA championship

Sinclair Richman, Assistant Sports editor

Last year was supposed to be the season UCLA women’s basketball went all the way.

It secured the Big Ten Tournament Championship, reached No. 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in program history and was the No. 1 overall seed entering March Madness.

But the team fell short, losing to UConn in the Final Four.

Entering the 2025-26 season, UCLA returned its three leading scorers – seniors center Lauren Betts and guards Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice – and gained graduate guards Charlisse Leger-Walker – following her medical redshirt year – and Gianna Kneepkens from the transfer portal.

But the polls counted them out. Although the Bruins did not fall below No. 4, they never reached the first-place ranking during the regular season.

However, Coach Cori Close’s squad went undefeated in the Big Ten, defeating Iowa 96-45 in the conference championship to capture its second Big Ten Tournament title in as many years.

The Bruins entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, with just one loss to their name.

UCLA advanced to the Final Four, where it faced off against Texas, the squad that handed UCLA its only loss of the season, in November. But the 51-44 game swung in favor of the Bruins, allowing them to advance to face South Carolina in their first national championship game in the NCAA era.

And the team was not going to fumble its opportunity.

[Related: Finally champions: Women’s basketball dominates in program-first NCAA title win]

Westwood’s squad held a 21-10 advantage after the first quarter, a lead it would not give up for the rest of the game. A 25-9 third quarter in favor of the Bruins cemented the victory. UCLA’s six graduating players were the only scorers in the game, as Jaquez – a four-year Bruin – led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

UCLA walked away with a dominant 79-51 win in its first championship in the March Madness era. The Bruins’ determination led to a storybook ending for a program that Close began building four years ago.

Men’s Water Polo wins NCAA championship

Jacob Nguyen, Sports editor

Sports are often joked about as following an alleged script.

So whoever wrote UCLA men’s water polo’s storyline might deserve an Oscar.

The Bruins were coming off winning the 2024 national championship over crosstown rival USC.

The Bruins had already dropped two games to the Trojans – one in October and another in the MPSF championship about a month later – entering the 2025 NCAA tournament.

If there was anyone best positioned to take down the reigning champions, it was the team from across town.

But after UCLA overcame Stanford in the NCAA semifinals 9-7, coach Adam Wright made it clear.

He said he would bet on his guys.

And that gamble paid off.

As the seconds ticked off the final game clock, with the teams tied at 10 apiece, the ball found its way into the hands of attacker Frederico Jucá Carsalade.

And when the redshirt junior fired his final shot of the year, the ball headed straight to the back of the net as the buzzer sounded, clinching a walk-off national championship for the Bruins.

I still remember standing up at my table along the pool deck, too in shock to focus on writing.

[Related: UCLA men’s water polo sinks USC 11-10 for back-to-back national championship win]

The victory was a culmination of hard work, dedication and perseverance.

Wright and his squad made it clear that they weren’t just looking to go back-to-back – they wanted a new opportunity to show what they were capable of.

Time and time again, the Bruins found a way to win.

And with five of the team’s top seven leading scorers, as well as the starting goalie, retaining eligibility, a three-peat is well within reach.

Beach Volleyball wins NCAA championship
Grant Walters, Daily Bruin senior staff

Coach Jenny Johnson Jordan helped lead UCLA beach volleyball to two championships throughout her stint as an assistant coach for the program.

But 2026 marked her first title as the Bruins’ head coach.

[Related: UCLA beach volleyball secures 3rd national championship after besting Stanford]

And it only took her three years in the squad’s head honcho role to do it.

UCLA fell to USC – a team the Westwood squad swept this year – in 2024’s title match, and the Jordan-led bunch was upset by LMU in the semifinal round of the 2025 tournament.

And UCLA was tracking toward a similar fate after the squad lost to Texas 3-2 in the MPSF championship, a contest during which the Bruins took a 2-0 lead but squandered three chances to secure the team victory.

Yet, UCLA responded when it mattered most: the NCAA tournament.

Freshman Mallory LaBreche and redshirt junior Kenzie Brower, who had lost on court five in the Bruins’ previous two faceoffs against the Longhorns, closed out the second set of their straight-set triumph against Texas in the semifinals 28-26 to clinch UCLA’s 3-2 team victory, along with a spot in the championship game.

Then came the ostensible juggernaut – No. 1 seed Stanford.

UCLA had split four prior Stanford affairs heading into the title match, dropping two one-point matches during the regular season.

But this time, the game swung in the Bruins’ favor.

UCLA notched a wire-to-wire outing against Stanford in their ultimate matchup, with senior Maggie Boyd and sophomore Sally Perez securing the first NCAA title of their respective Westwood careers with a sweep on court one.

With that, UCLA secured its 127th title – along with Jordan’s first as head coach.

Gymnastics wins Big Ten championship
Kate Bergfeld, Assistant Sports editor

Back to back.

The Bruins won both the 2025 regular season and Big Ten titles in their first year in the Big Ten conference. This year, they defended both, winning the conference championship with a score of 198.100 on March 21. The score was their second-highest – and the second time they surpassed the 198.000 bar – all season.

[Related: Jordan Chiles wins all-around, floor champion in UCLA Big Ten victory]

The night began on the beam, on which juniors Katelyn Rosen and Sydney Barros, along with sophomore Mika Webster-Longin, logged a trio of 9.850 marks. The team put together a 49.425 on the event, thanks to freshman Tiana Sumanasekera’s 9.925 and senior Jordan Chiles’ 9.950, the latter of whom won the individual beam title.

And then came the floor party.

When the judges showed Chiles’ floor score, it felt like deja vu, as she reclaimed her Big Ten floor title with her seventh perfect 10 of the season. Three other Bruins notched 9.900-plus scores, with Sumanasekera and Webster-Longin collecting a pair of 9.925 marks and freshman Ashlee Sullivan hitting her fourth career 9.950. They took the lead with a total of 49.675 before starting vault, the Bruins’ weakest event of the season.

Sophomore Riley Jenkins had her third consecutive stick with a Yurchenko 1.5, scoring a career-high 9.950, which tied her for first in the individual vault title. Chiles also broke the 9.900 mark with a 9.925, and the squad’s 49.450 on the rotation helped it keep the lead.

The Bruins ended the night on uneven bars. Webster-Longin collected a 9.900 to secure a 39.550 in the all-around. Barros hit a career-best 9.950, which was followed by a 9.850 from Sullivan, securing the squad a 198.000 score. Chiles closed the night with her second 9.950 of the meet, tying with Barros and four other athletes for the individual bars title.

At least one Bruin made the Big Ten All-Championship Team for each event. Chiles alone was named to all five, given her conference-record all-around score of 39.825 to take her fourth Big Ten individual title. She tied a Big Ten record for most individual titles and earned the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year award.

The UCLA squad remains undefeated in the conference, having dominated since its first season in 2025.

And the Bruins earning their second title with a score above 198.000, aided by yet another perfect 10 from Chiles, is certainly a moment to remember from 2026.

Men’s Soccer wins Big Ten championship
Willa Campion, Daily Bruin senior staff

It was seven games into the 2025 campaign before the Bruins had finally logged a collective five goals.

Outlasting its opponents with defense – and somewhat ineffectively at that – seemingly defined the opening of the year for UCLA men’s soccer, which went six contests before notching a win.

But the slow start for coach Ryan Jorden’s freshmen- and transfer-dominated squad proved to be the growing pains of a talented team that was lacking chemistry.

Once two transfer forwards – redshirt sophomore Sergi Solans Ormo from Oregon State and junior Oliver Roche from Virginia Tech – began connecting with veteran defender-turned-midfielder junior Philip Naef, the team’s assists leader, the Bruins’ season picked up steam.

Despite scoring at least four goals in each of the final three games of the regular season, a 5-3-2 conference record meant a No. 4 seed was the best the Bruins were going to get in the abbreviated four-team Big Ten tournament.

Beating No. 1 seed Maryland, which sat atop the national rankings at the time, in a 2-0 semifinal shutout alone would have been a triumphant victory for UCLA. But Jorden’s squad was far from done, dismantling No. 3 seed Michigan 5-0 in the final. A hat trick from Solans Ormo and a pair of goals from fellow transfer graduate student midfielder Konstantinos Georgallides propelled the Bruins to the title.

[Related: UCLA men’s soccer wins Big Ten tournament, trounces Michigan 5-0]

It was the Bruins’ accuracy on net that proved to be the winning difference.

Jorden’s squad took eight shots across the ninety minutes compared to the Wolverines’ nine, punching in all five of their attempts on goal. In addition, graduate student goalkeeper Kevin Box recorded his fifth clean sheet of the season behind a stalwart backline whose defensive consistency was the one constant of the season.

And so the Bruins walked away with their first Big Ten trophy and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after a campaign that could have easily ended in the first game of the postseason.

While the two-game tournament lacked the length to warrant calling UCLA’s back-to-back upsets a Cinderella run, it certainly gave fans in Westwood enough action to remember for seasons to come.

Men’s Basketball upsets No. 4 Purdue at Pauley Pavilion
Connor Dullinger, Daily Bruin senior staff

[Related: UCLA men’s basketball upsets No. 4 Purdue, stays unbeaten at home]

Everyone seemed to talk about how the Bruins could not play outside the West Coast’s time zone.

And to be fair, they couldn’t.

UCLA men’s basketball amassed a 1-6 regular-season record outside its friendly confines.

But few people mention the Bruins’ dominance at Pauley Pavilion – a sentiment that belongs in the same sentence as its struggles away from home.

UCLA finished 17-1 at home this season, and coach Mick Cronin has gone 96-16 in his home gym during his seven years in Westwood.

And Cronin and co. may have given the Bruin faithful two of its best watches this season.

Between the start of 2026 and when the Bruins played Purdue, UCLA was just 2-3.

Realistically, a matchup against then-No. 4 Purdue on the West Coast was a must-win game to keep UCLA’s NCAA tournament aspirations alive.

Defeating the fourth-ranked team in the nation was no small feat. The Boilermakers were 17-1 overall and undefeated in the Big Ten before entering Pauley Pavilion. And Purdue was led by the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year in Braden Smith, alongside AP All-American honorable mention Trey Kaufman-Renn and All-Big Ten honorable mention Fletcher Loyer.

However, the Bruins dominated both ends of the court. Senior guard Donovan Dent led the offense with a double-double, earning 23 points and 13 assists alongside three blocks and a steal. Defensively, UCLA held the Purdue trio to just 11-for-29 shooting from the field and 27 combined points.

Despite the defensive masterclass, the Bruins still trailed by six with 1:32 remaining on the clock until a 27-foot 3-pointer from Dent and a steal by sophomore guard Trent Perry led to a slam from junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr., making it a one-point game with 1:05 remaining.

After Smith turned the ball over for the second time in the dying embers of the affair, it was only right that Dent concluded his 13-assist night with a pass to senior forward Tyler Bilodeau off the pick-and-roll.

Wide-open from the right wing, Bilodeau rose and let a shot fly as all of Pauley Pavilion seemed to go silent.

That was until his deep 3-pointer bottomed out of the net, eliciting cheers from the blue and gold and giving the Bruins their first ranked win of the year in a moment where it looked like their season could flatline.

Men’s Basketball upsets No. 10 Illinois at Pauley Pavilion
Connor Dullinger, Daily Bruin senior staff

If UCLA needed a win when it faced Purdue, it was desperate when No. 10 Illinois landed in Los Angeles.

The Bruins were coming off back-to-back road losses to Michigan and Michigan State, falling by a combined 53-points between the two affairs, combined with Cronin’s sensational ejection of redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II after a hard foul on Spartan center Carson Cooper.

UCLA had five conference games remaining and boasted just one notable win to its name heading into the postseason.

At the time of the game, Illinois was KenPom’s No. 1 offense, and it played exactly like it for the first 20 minutes of the game, going on a 20-0 run and leading by as much as 23 with 9:27 remaining in the first half.

But a 3-pointer from junior forward/center Xavier Booker seemed to flip the switch, igniting an offense that had seemed lethargic for two and a half straight games.

Double-digit performances from the Bruins’ top six scorers – including a 7-for-8 field goal clip from Booker, 18 points from Bilodeau, a double-double consisting of 14 points and 15 assists from Dent and a game-high 20 from Dailey – propelled the Bruins to the largest comeback to beat a top-10 opponent in AP Poll history.

[Related: Dent’s buzzer-beater lifts UCLA men’s basketball 95-94 over Illinois in overtime upset]

The 23-point comeback itself was illustrative of one of UCLA’s most electric games of the year, but the overtime thriller is what etched itself in the minds of the Bruin faithful.

A lay-up from projected lottery pick Keaton Wagler put the Fighting Illini up one with four seconds left on the clock.

And with 94 feet separating the inbound pass and Illinois’ basket, UCLA’s fate was all but sealed.

But a coast-to-coast run from Dent – eerily similar to former Bruin Tyus Edney’s buzzer-beating finish in the 1995 NCAA Tournament, in which he split multiple defenders and went up and under the last orange jersey – led to UCLA’s play of the year: a lay-up that fell through as the time expired and as the Bruin faithful rushed the floor to embrace its star player.

Men’s Volleyball’s historic 20-0 start
Steven Chaparyan, Assistant Sports editor

For roughly three months, UCLA men’s volleyball sat in a league of its own.

The squad opened the 2026 season with 20 straight wins, the best starting record in program history. Across this span, there truly was no team in the nation that could rival the Bruins’ dominance.

Throughout the win streak, UCLA swept its opponent in 14 matches and dropped just nine sets total. Coach John Hawks’ squad went undefeated in the fourth frame, displaying a consistent ability to bounce back in the rare occurrence that the group lost a set.

The Bruins were led by senior setter Andrew Rowan, who entered the 2026 season as a three-time AVCA First Team All-American and two-time national champion. Rowan tallied at least 40 assists in half of the matches during the win streak, including a 59-assist outing in a five-set victory against USC on March 3. Rowan spaced the floor like no other player in the country, providing consistent attacking opportunities for his teammates.

One beneficiary of Rowan’s assists was sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly, who came out of the gates firing in 2026. Kelly averaged 12.2 kills per match and boasted a hitting percentage of .407 during the win streak. The Manhattan Beach, California, local posted double-digit kills in 13 of the 20 matches, including six straight from Feb. 13 to March 6.

And the Bruins were a brick wall on the defensive end.

UCLA posted a higher hitting percentage than its opponent in all 20 victories, holding the opposing squad to a sub-.200 mark in seven of those matches.

Senior middle blocker Cameron Thorne spearheaded the Bruins’ defensive effort. The Hollywood, Florida, local posted 59 total blocks across the win streak at a rate of 0.91 blocks per set. Each time Thorne pulled out his signature “thumbs-down” celebration, it meant another attacking opportunity by the opponent had been shut down.

Redshirt junior libero Christopher Connelly also anchored the defense in his first season in Westwood after transferring from Long Beach State. Connelly tallied double-digit digs six times during the win streak, including a 15-dig performance Feb. 27 in a victory over UC Irvine.

Simply put, Hawks’ squad had arguably one of the most dominant runs in men’s collegiate volleyball history. While the 2026 season did not end how the Bruin faithful hoped it would, that 20-match run will forever be etched into the history books.

Megan Grant breaks the NCAA home run record
Kate Bergfeld, Assistant Sports editor

There was no doubt.

The ball was lifted up and away, soaring over the fence. And when it finally fell, so did a 31-year-old record.

Senior utility Megan Grant hit her 38th home run of the 2026 campaign against Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament championship game May 9. With that, she claimed the NCAA single-season home run record, taking the title from Lauren Espinoza, who hit 37 four-baggers in her 1995 season at Arizona.

[Related: Megan Grant shatters single-season home run record in Big Ten championship]

Grant has been a powerhouse hitter all season, helping lead the Bruins to multiple program and NCAA records. She ended the season with the top slugging record at a 1.308 clip.

Out of her 71 hits, 59% of those were four-baggers. With 243 plate appearances, she has reached base 157 times and struck out only 12 times. Consequently, Grant has been walked 76 times, the most walks by a player across the last 14 years.

Grant hit her history-defining home run in just 55 games – 17 fewer than Espinoza. Just recently, she reached her 42nd four-bagger of the 2026 season.

With this, she joins Stacey Nuveman Deniz as the second Bruin to hold an individual hitting record for NCAA softball, and is the only Bruin with a single-season hitting record in NCAA softball.

And while Grant has had an incredible softball career with UCLA, the record solidified her as a national standout for years to come.

Football upsets No. 7 Penn State at the Rose Bowl
Jacob Nguyen, Sports editor

UCLA football’s 2025 campaign wasn’t nearly all it was hyped up to be at the start of the season, especially after the excitement of picking up then-redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the top transfer in the portal.

And once UCLA dropped the first three games of the season, its foundation began to crumble.

First, it was head coach DeShaun Foster getting fired.

Then, it was defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe’s departure.

And after losing the fourth game of the year, which gave the Bruins their first 0-4 start since 2018, offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri’s exit from Westwood completed a full overhaul that happened in strikingly quick fashion.

So when former assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel was tasked as UCLA’s interim play caller, the Bruin faithful wouldn’t have been surprised to see a winless season altogether.

Then, when all hope was lost, came a 42-point outburst to take down then-No. 7 Penn State – the first UCLA victory in almost a year and the first time in the 2025 season that the Bruins led at any point in a game.

[Related: UCLA football claims first season win in matchup against No. 7 Penn State]

Fueled by 294 total yards and five touchdowns from Iamaleava, taking down the Nittany Lions on a seemingly random Saturday was a shock to many, to say the least, considering the Bruins had well established themselves as one of the worst teams in the country by this point.

So when UCLA followed that performance up with a 25-point walloping on Michigan State and a victory over Maryland off a walk-off field goal, the Bruin faithful felt an excitement never before experienced in 2025.

The three-game win streak and a positive conference record even invited some small hints of optimism that the blue and gold could maybe even make the postseason.

Alas, after the winning streak was snapped by a 50-point demolition from soon-to-be national champion Indiana, UCLA would go winless for the rest of the year.

Nonetheless, for those three weeks, it was a fun time to be a Bruin fan.

Baseball goes wire-to-wire for the first time in NCAA history
Gabriela Garcia, Daily Bruin senior staff

History made.

The Bruins earned No. 1 preseason rankings from D1Baseball and Baseball America in mid-January and never looked back. It was the first time since the 2008 season that UCLA sat atop a preseason poll.

But becoming the first team in history to maintain the first-place ranking through the entire regular season was not an easily completed feat.

UCLA entered the 2026 season with lofty expectations after a Men’s College World Series appearance during last year’s campaign – its first time back since securing a national title in 2013. The Bruins also boasted a junior class headlined by the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, Roch Cholowsky.

The shortstop has led the Westwood squad with a slash line of .320/.452/.636 and added a team-high 21 home runs. However, Cholowsky did not do it alone. UCLA garnered an entire team effort to pull off a 27-game win streak from Feb. 27 to April 12, setting another program record.

And that is largely due to its four other top-130 2026 MLB Draft prospects.

First baseman Mulivai Levu leads the squad with a .340 batting average and center fielder Will Gasparino finished with a team-high 64 runs knocked in this season. Third baseman Roman Martin has produced a team-leading 18 doubles through the 2026 campaign. And although right-hander Logan Reddemann has not seen action on the mound since April 17, as he deals with arm fatigue, the ace has put up a 2.87 ERA with 84 strikeouts to 11 walks.

Nonetheless, the power of friendship was unable to carry the Bruins through to the end of what was already a historic season.

Michael Pinckney dominates the indoor track and field season
Grant Walters, Daily Bruin senior staff

Michael Pinckney’s run during the 2026 indoor campaign bordered on legendary status.

The senior thrower prioritized the weight throw throughout the indoor slate, earning four straight first-place finishes in the event to kickstart UCLA track and field’s season.

He was seemingly a shoo-in for a medal placement at every competition.

Pinckney logged his peak performance in the 2026 Indoor Big Ten championships, during which he notched a personal-best 22.72-meter throw to earn second place in the conference weight throw competition, tying the team-high individual finish at the meet.

His Feb. 27 performance also marked a UCLA indoor program record in the weight throw event.

Although Pinckney fell short at the 2026 NCAA Indoor championships – earning 15th place off a season-low 20.80-meter performance – the Queens, New York local eclipsed the 22-meter threshold three separate times throughout the 2026 season, a feat he had only achieved once across his prior three years in Westwood.

The Bruin also earned a 2025 First Team All-American selection in the discus competition, a feat he achieved with his 61.39-meter throw in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor championships, securing fifth place.

Despite withdrawing from outdoor competitions this year, Pinckney’s indoor success marks a program pillar that track and field director Joanna Hayes will build upon, bolstering UCLA heading into her third year at the helm.

And Pinckney’s excellence in 2026 will surely define the soon-to-be Westwood legend.