Monday, September 28, 1998
Bruins storm waters with strong start
PREVIEW: More experienced team builds confidence, NCAA hopes
with early season victories, talent
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
September has been good to the UCLA men’s water polo team.
Several weeks ago, the Bruins beat last year’s NCAA championship
team from Pepperdine, 11-7, in a scrimmage tournament. The
following weekend, they narrowly won over the No. 2 preseason
ranked team, UC Irvine, 5-4.
With these early victories, this year’s team is challenging the
top teams for the No. 1 spot. Ironically, it’s been a while since
the Bruins have been the ones challenging instead of the ones being
challenged.
Here’s a three-year championship chronicle of the UCLA men’s
water polo team: they won, they won again and just when things
couldn’t get any better, things didn’t. They ended up in No. 6
overall in 1997, and they were definitely left dissatisfied.
Especially with the high expectations this team had for itself,
the sting of yesterday’s blow still lingers.
"For lack of a better word, we struggled," head coach Guy Baker
said. "We had a young team because the ’96 championship team lost
10 out of 16 players. So almost everyone that played was in their
first year of competition."
As a result of inexperience, the ’97 squad ended up with a 14-12
season record, a far cry from the glorious standings in the
previous couple of years.
This year, things are definitely going to be different,
especially with the early season wins over Pepperdine and UC
Irvine. But last year’s ghosts are all but forgotten, as this team
sets on a mission to prove to everyone that it is still a key
player in the collegiate circuit.
The same players who were so inexperienced the year before are
now the players with more skill and better team chemistry.
"We were always talented. We just needed time to get used to
playing our opponents and playing with each other," said senior
team co-captain Sam Grayeli.
"During the off-season in winter quarter we spoke to the team
and reminded them we couldn’t just come to practice for the sake of
practice," Grayeli said. "We have to go out there and compete and
prove ourselves every day, not just go out there and show up."
That attitude set the tone of motivation for a team which
subsequently improved in more ways than one. From the pool deck,
assistant coach Adam Krikorian has seen a noticeable change for the
better.
"How do I know they’re getting better?" Krikorian asked.
"They’ve been doing better in practice. They did well in off-season
competitions over the summer and they improved in every aspect –
offense, defense, power play, 6-on-5, etc."
Nothing breeds confidence as well as success, and the success
they had this summer is definitely spreading its genes.
"The games we won tell us we have a legitimate shot in competing
and doing well against the top teams," said senior team co-captain
Eric Helfer. "And we know we’re only going to get better by the end
of the season. We’re aiming for nothing less than to go to the
NCAAs."
The Bruins start two out of three seniors, two juniors and three
sophomores. Two of the sophomores, Sean Kern and Adam Wright, are
All-Americans.
For a team still considered young by its coaches, it started its
season with a bang. Even more assuring for the future is its
capacity for improvement.
"It’s still a young team, so it’ll mature to its best in the
next two years," Baker anticipated. "It’s going to be a fun team to
watch."
Fun team to watch, yes. But NCAA champions? For a coach who
usually doesn’t like to play fortune teller, Baker makes an
assertive forecast.
"I’ll give you a prediction. We’ll do better than last year," he
joked. "We have the talent. We can make a serious run at it."
BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin
UCLA’s Eric Helfer passes the ball during the Southern
California Tournament held in Newport Beach.
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