In an up-and-down season, the Bears have finally arrived to their home closer. With all eyes on the players, the Cal men’s water polo team hopes to give new meaning to the phrase “saving the best for last.”
The No. 4 Bears host No. 18 Santa Clara on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Spieker Aquatic Complex. They’ll follow that up with a noon matchup on Sunday against No. 4 UC Santa Barbara. The Bears, UCSB and Pepperdine are all tied at No. 4 in the nation.
When Cal men’s water polo opened up the season, no one on — and off — the team was predicting that they would drop out of their No. 3 preseason spot.
A few difficult matchups later, the team found themselves at their lowest ranking – No. 7 – since 2008.
More concerning, confidence was at an all-time low, and players weren’t seeing the results that their hard work should have reaped.
But in the past couple of weeks, and the next games on the schedule should push Cal right back to where the team wants to be.
Starting with a massive statement victory in the Big Splash in late October, Cal has stormed back into the “W” column.
“We need to make a statement and let everyone know we’re not a team they want to face,” senior Marin Balarin said. “We want to beat them before they even play us.”
With its priorities now solely focused on the MPSF tournament, Cal is using this weekend’s games more as an internal gauge than a match to remember. It starts with No. 18 Santa Clara in a nonconference game. Since the Bears won’t be entering the NCAA tournament based off their current record, this game is admittedly just for practice.
“The outcome is less important,” head coach Kirk Everist said. “But it’ll be good to get some experience in with players as well as to work with some other rotations.”
The more important matchup of the weekend is that against the Gauchos. UCSB has performed far above expectations this season, notching impressive wins over Stanford and No. 2 UCLA.
However, lately UCSB has faltered, losing four of the last five by an average four goals per game. Nevertheless, the team still poses a significant threat on offense.
Leading the Gauchos is the dynamic attacking duo of juniors Evan Dellinger and Matt Gronow. The pair has scored 40 and 39 goals, respectively, and are also top five in assists and steals on their team.
The Bears will counter with their own star player, Collin Smith. The junior attacker has 53 goals and 25 assists, both of which lead the team. The All-American has been on a tear lately, averaging 3.25 goals over the past four games.
If Cal hopes to succeed this weekend and going forward, the squad will need Smith’s production to stay consistent.
More importantly, the Bears will need to keep their confidence at peak levels.
“Confidence is important,” Everist said. “There are no easy outs in our conference we just have to be ready every weekend against whoever we play.”
Vincent Tzeng covers men’s water polo. Contact him at [email protected]
Comment Policy
Comments should remain on topic, concerning the article or blog post to which they are connected. Brevity is encouraged. Posting under a pseudonym is discouraged, but permitted. The Daily Cal encourages readers to voice their opinions respectfully in regard to the readers, writers and contributors of The Daily Californian. Comments are not pre-moderated, but may be removed if deemed to be in violation of this policy. Click here to read the full comment policy.