NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! the Men’S Water Polo, Gymnastics and Beach Volleyball Teams Each Captured NCAA Team Titles During the 2017-18 School Year
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2017-18 IN REVIEW NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! The men’s water polo, gymnastics and beach volleyball teams each captured NCAA team titles during the 2017-18 school year. Men’s Water Polo Outlasts USC, 7-5 Gymnastics Wins NCAA Title in Dramatic Fashion UCLA earned its third NCAA Championship in the last four seasons Peng-Peng Lee scored two perfect 10s to help UCLA secure the win Senior Alex Roelse and Matt Farmer each scored a game-high two goals to lead the Trailing two-time defending champion Oklahoma by .175 heading into the final men’s water polo team past USC, 7-5, to win the NCAA title on Sunday, Dec. 3, at rotation of the night, UCLA turned in a performance for the ages at the NCAA Women’s USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The victory helped land the 11th national title for Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, April 21. the men’s water polo program (and NCAA title No. 114 for the athletic department). Behind an NCAA Championship record score of 49.750 on balance beam, the Bruins Sophomore Alex Wolf played the entire game in the cage for the Bruins, recording 10 rallied to win the NCAA title, their seventh team championship, with an overall score saves and limiting the Trojans to just five goals (two on power plays). of 198.075, just 0.0375 ahead of the Sooners. The championship was decided on the event’s final routine, where senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee needed to score at least a With the contest tied, 5-5, early in the fourth quarter, Farmer scored the tie-breaking 9.975 to give UCLA the title. She scored a perfect 10 to secure the win. Prior to Lee’s goal with 6:05 to play. The Bruins led USC throughout the final quarter by a 6-5 performance, Kyla Ross kept UCLA in it with an impressive 9.9875. margin. Both teams made several defensive stops down the stretch, but none proved more important than UCLA’s stop in the final seconds during a power play by USC. Competing in her final collegiate meet, Lee tallied two perfect 10s that evening, also With time winding down in the final minute, Wolf collected the ball from a teammate scoring one on the uneven bars, the second time during the season that she scored and noticed that USC goalkeeper McQuin Baron was out of the cage at the other end. two 10s in one meet. UCLA’s major comeback was keyed in rotation five by a season- Wolf scored on a long-range heave with just two seconds remaining in the game, high 49.6375 performance on uneven bars. UCLA counted four scores of 9.9 or better putting the Bruins ahead 7-5. – a 9.9 from JaNay Honest, a season-high 9.9375 from Madison Kocian, a 9.95 from Ross and a 10.0 from Lee. The big scores brought the Bruins just .175 behind the USC led the match 3-2 at halftime and had claimed a 2-1 cushion after the first first-place Sooners going into the final event. quarter. The Bruins trailed twice in the opening two quarters by two goals – 2-0 in the first quarter and 3-1 in the second frame. Consecutive scores midway through the Redshirt freshman Grace Glenn led off the final rotation with a monster score of match by Roelse (0:21, second quarter) and Farmer (3:33, third) tied the game, 3-3. 9.9375 on beam. A fall by the Bruins’ second competitor put some pressure on, but UCLA thrived under that pressure. Brielle Nguyen scored 9.875, and Katelyn Ohashi Max Irving, Roelse and Wolf earned first-team All-NCAA Tournament acclaim, while scored 9.950. Although Oklahoma finished up on uneven bars with a 49.5375, big Wolf was recognized as the tournament’s MVP. Farmer and freshman Nicolas Saveljic scores in the final two routines would put UCLA ahead. Ross turned in a 9.9875, secured second-team All-Tournament honors. receiving four perfect 10s, setting the stage for Lee’s 10.0 heroics. Beach Volleyball Downs Florida State for NCAA Championship Top-seeded UCLA captured its first-ever NCAA of Molly McBain and Brooke Kuhlman would soon tie Championship in beach volleyball on Sunday, May 6, the dual up at 1-1 with a 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 defeat defeating fourth-seeded Florida State, 3-1, in the title of Elise Zappia and Mac May on court four. contest. The Bruins avenged an earlier loss to the UCLA’s top three courts came out determined in the Seminoles that had put UCLA in the elimination bracket. second flight, sweeping the first sets to put the Bruins Following the loss to Florida State in the double- on the brink of history. UCLA’s Court 3 duo of Zana elimination tournament, the Bruins won their next Muno and Savvy Simo grabbed their opportunity with a four matches in two days to capture the athletic convincing win over Macy Jerger and Sara Putt, 21-19, department’s 116th NCAA team title. 21-9, to put the Bruins up 2-1 in the dual. Returning to the flight format used throughout the With both Courts 1 and 2 on match point, the duo of regular season, pairs 4 and 5 took to the sand first. Sarah Sponcil and Lily Justine played the part of hero. The Seminoles got off to a hot start, claiming each The second-court pair knocked off Katie Horton/Hailey first set. The Bruins would not go quietly, however, Luke of the Seminoles, 21-18, 21-19, setting off a as each tandem recovered to force a first-to-15 third storming of the court in celebration. set. UCLA’s No. 5 pair of Izzy Carey and Megan Muret UCLA won 35 of its final 36 matches, completing posted a dramatic 24-22 second-set victory and rode a historic season with a 40-4 overall record. The its newfound momentum to a 17-21, 24-22, 15-8 win Bruins’ 40 wins set a new NCAA single-season record, over Madison Fitzpatrick and Francesca Goncalves to eclipsing the mark of 38 established by USC in 2017. get the Bruins on the board first. The Florida State duo 3 2017-18 IN REVIEW Women’s Soccer, Men’s Volleyball Conclude Women’s Basketball Cruises Into Elite Eight Seasons With NCAA Runner-Up Finishes Bruins advanced to Elite Eight for first time since 1999. WOMEN’S SOCCER MEN’S VOLLEYBALL UCLA notched four straight postseason The Bruins won seven of their final wins against San Diego State, eight regular-season matches, picking Northwestern, Virginia and Princeton to up momentum as they cruised into the advance to the Women’s College Cup MPSF Tournament. After a second-place for the 10th time in program history. finish against BYU in the conference The Bruins edged Duke in the semifinal tournament, UCLA rolled past Harvard round with a 4-3 advantage in penalty in Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, May 1, in kicks after playing to a scoreless draw. the NCAA Tournament’s first round. The UCLA received two penalty kick goals in Bruins avenged their loss to BYU with a the shootout from players who had not thrilling four-set victory in the semifinals played the entire game (Julia Hernandez of the NCAA Tournament on May 3. gave UCLA a 2-1 advantage, before Zoey Christian Hessenauer logged a team-high Jordin Canada Goralski made the Bruins’ first penalty 14 kills against BYU. Long Beach State kick attempt). UCLA dropped a 3-2 edged UCLA in a five-set match in the For the third consecutive season, the UCLA women’s basketball team advanced to decision to Stanford in the title game. NCAA championship contest on May 5. the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. But for the first time since 1999, the Bruins punched their ticket to the tournament’s Elite Eight with an 84-75 win over Texas. Jordin Canada scored a game-high 22 points and dished eight assists against the Longhorns, while Monique Billings tallied 17 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Kennedy Burke rounded out UCLA’s list of double-figure scorers versus Texas, totaling 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. The Bruins led Texas by a 19-11 margin after the first quarter and claimed a 39-31 cushion at halftime. Texas chipped away at UCLA’s lead in the third quarter. A three-pointer by Ariel Atkins followed by three consecutive baskets by the Longhorns put Texas ahead, 40-39, with just over eight minutes to play in the quarter. The Bruins responded with a 17-4 scoring run and had built a 59-49 lead heading into the fourth period. UCLA’s first and second-round victories in the NCAA Tournament came against America and Creighton in Pauley Pavilion on March 17 and 19. The Bruins had previously reached the tournament’s Sweet 16 in 1999, 2016 and 2017. Both Canada and Billings were honored as WBCA Division I All-Region selections at season’s end, while seventh-year head coach Cori Close was named the United States Marine Corps/ WBCA Division I Region 5 Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons (she Hailie Mace Daenan Gyimah had previously earned that award in 2016). Josh Rosen, Kolton Miller Headline UCLA’s Draft Selections Softball Advances to Women’s College Rosen became UCLA’s first quarterback to be selected among the top 10 in the draft World Series for Fourth Straight Season since Troy Aikman went No.