Derek Remsburg/File

Editor’s Note: Over summer, the Daily Californian will be releasing its power rankings of Cal’s sports as decided by the Daily Cal sports staff. Stay tuned for No. 8 and No. 7 next week!

At first glance, being ranked the No. 7 team in the country seems pretty incredible for the Cal men’s gymnastics team.

But that number looks much less impressive when put into context, as there are only 17 men’s gymnastics programs in the country.

So is the team one of the best in the country or nothing more than a middle-of-the pack program that couldn’t even make the NCAA finals last year? The rankings can be deceptive, but going beyond the numbers, there can be no mistake about it — the Cal men’s gymnastics team is one of the top programs in the country and has an incredibly bright future in front of it.

Let’s consider how the team earned its No. 7 ranking.

Two and a half years ago, the men’s gymnastics team was one of five programs scheduled to be cut by the university. Almost eight months later, in May 2011, the team was saved by a fundraising effort that raised more than $2.5 million.

Although the program itself was saved, the proposed cut had a detrimental effect. It’s no surprise that recruiting for the 2012 season was nearly impossible, as for most of that recruiting season, the program appeared to be doomed. No aspiring athlete wanted to risk joining the team, and only one freshman was on the squad in 2012.

But in 2013, the program’s recruitment picked up, and the squad of 21 players featured 13 new freshmen.

Considering that more than half of the team’s roster constitutes freshmen and that the team nearly didn’t exist a few short years ago, a No. 7 national ranking is incredible. Though the squad, which used to perennially rank within the top five, has seen a drop-off in recent years, the team has done more than enough in the face of such unprecedented diversity to warrant the Daily Cal’s No. 10 power ranking.

And the Bears came unbelievably close to ranking much higher than No. 7. In a qualifying section for the NCAAs, Cal earned a fourth-place finish by just a tenth of a point, knocking the team out of the NCAA finals for the first time since 1999 and ending the Bears’ season. Had the team made the finals, there’s no telling how well they could have done.

But the strength of this team is in its youth. Though the squad will lose star senior Steven Lacombe to graduation, the team will retain a core of young, talented players who are expected to return the team to its usual spot within the top five. Among those returning are freshmen Takahiro Kawada, Kyle Zemeir, Jonathan Liu and TJ Bzoskie, all of whom qualified for the NCAA individual finals. The team will be led by incoming senior Jeffrey Langenstein, who also qualified in floor, his top event.

So by just looking at the rankings, it appears that 2013 was a down year for the Bears, who finished in fourth just last year. But looking beyond statistics, is it clear that this squad is not only one of the best in the country now but that it will be for a long time.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @riley_mcatee

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Derek Remsburg/File

At the second qualifying session of the NCAA finals late Friday night, the scoreboard was littered with names and numbers, but two figures stood out above the rest.

Cal and Iowa were locked up at 426.450 with no events remaining. The two teams were tied for third.

With only three teams advancing to the Saturday’s team final, the tension in the tiny gym in State College, Penn., could be cut with a knife.

Suddenly, Iowa’s score jumped to 426.550. A Hawkeye inquiry awarded a bonus tenth of a point for a successful landing that the judges had missed earlier in the contest. As Iowa celebrated, the Bears looked on, shocked at the sudden change of circumstances.

The Cal men’s gymnastics team’s season came down to a tenth of a point, but the Bears were on the wrong side of the decision.

The night began with Cal and Iowa paired in the same rotation, setting the stage for an exciting finish. As in a tennis match, the two teams went back and forth, matching each other event for event.

When a Hawkeye would nail a floor routine, the Bears would come right back with a strong stick of their own, leveling the point difference.

In four of the six events, all of Cal’s scores were higher than 71.250. While scores above 71 usually bode well for any squad’s chances in the NCAA prelims, the Bears were sunk by two poor events — a 68.800 in the pommel horse and a 69.150 on the high bar.

In the pommel event, freshman Takahiro Kawada did all he could to help his team advance. Kawada, who has been consistent in the pommel event all season, scored second in the event with a 14.950. However, his teammates couldn’t follow suit, with three of them scoring below a 13.400.

Senior Steven Lacombe also did his part to carry the Bears, finishing in the top 10 in most of his events. Lacombe, who has made the NCAA finals in his last three seasons, took care of business in rings, his signature event, with a first-place score of 15.500.

But then, Lacombe pleasantly surprised many with a sixth-place finish in both the vault and the floor exercise, despite neither being his strength.

The Bears, as a team, finished the strongest in the floor exercise. Junior Jeffrey Langenstein’s third-place performance of 15.150 and Lacombe’s 14.900 paced Cal, which posted a 73.500 total on the floor, the second-best, behind Stanford, in the qualifying session.

After the dust settled following the evening events of the qualifying session, Penn State, Stanford and Iowa advanced. The Bears, ranked ninth coming into the 12-team meet, beat out No. 12 Temple and No. 5 Ohio State.

On Saturday night, the Bears watched Michigan take the overall title and, on Sunday, cheered on their teammates who had qualified for the individual finals.

But the lasting memory from the NCAA weekend occurred on the first night — the moment that Iowa’s 426.450 changed to a 426.550.

Contact Austin Crochetiere at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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Derek Remsburg/File

1998. That was the last time the Cal men’s gymnastic team hoisted the national championship trophy.

This year, the team qualified for the NCAA meet for yet another year, but the chances at capturing that elusive fifth title look slim. Cal goes in as the ninth-ranked team out of 12 and will compete in the same group as top-ranked Penn State, the school hosting the championship in State College, Penn.

However, Cal has one thing going for it this season that was absent in years past.

For the first time, the national championship is using the five-up, five-count format in which only five gymnasts compete per event and every single competitor’s score is counted. As a team whose strength is in its depth, Cal could benefit greatly from the new meet structure.

“With this new formatting, it gives an opportunity to teams that are more consistent over the more powerful teams that may not always hit,” said assistant coach JT Okada.

The Bears will suit up against No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Iowa and No. 13 Temple, as well as to the Nittany Lions, at 4 p.m. on Friday night. The top three teams out of the evening qualifying session will move on to the second day of competition. Cal lost to the Cardinal five times during the regular season but beat Temple in their only meeting on March 10.

Although the odds do not seem to favor the Bears, the squad is coming off a successful start to postseason competition with a third-place finish at the MPSF meet on April 6, losing only to title-winner Oklahoma and Stanford. Although the Bears lost to two teams, they will have to beat this weekend, the MPSF result was subtly encouraging.

“At MPSF, we didn’t get off to the best start, but we stuck with it,” Okada said. “We want to underscore the resilience factor going into (NCAAs).”

Senior Steven Lacombe carried the Bears at MPSFs and will now be counted on further. Lacombe, ranked 10th nationally in the still rings, will be relied upon to turn in a stellar performance on the big stage, considering that the senior has been to the national meet every year during his Cal career.

“Even though the freshmen have been on the national stage in high school, there is always the factor of experience in the title competition,” Okada said.

Another event the Bears will hope for big points from is the floor routine. The floor team is ranked fifth nationally and is led by redshirt junior Jeffrey Langenstein. Known for his double layout dismount after his floor exercise, Langenstein will need to do better than the fourth-place finish he recorded at MPSF if Cal is to have a chance at the title.

Yet no matter how well Langenstein and Lacombe perform, they will need the help of the whole squad if the Bears hope to make it to day two of championship weekend. With the new format, anything is possible.

“No event will make or break us,” Okada said. “It’s not just one event, one routine. It’s the culmination of persevering through events that don’t go well and shining in events that do go well.”

Contact Austin Crochetiere at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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The the last day of NCAAs was a fitting end to the 2012 season for Cal — a day full of individual triumphs coupled with an inability to win as a team.

Senior Glen Ishino won the national title on pommel horse in the individual competition and was joined by juniors Donothan Bailey, Dennis Mannhart and Steven Lacombe in receiving All-American honors.

Though the team was healthy in time for NCAAs, the Bears still struggled in their season finale. But in a season of disappointing performances and injuries, the fourth-place finish wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

“Overall, I was happy with the season,” said coach Tim McNeill. “Our scores were a little lower all year, but having our highest scores at NCAAs was the goal all along.”

Hampered by injuries to key gymnasts — Bailey, Ishino and Mannhart — Cal powered through the season by resting its athletes for weeks at a time. Two meets into the season, the team lost Mannhart for two meets when a freak accident left his hand infected and swollen.

Ishino, in an attempt to be healthy in time for NCAA championships and Olympic qualifiers, competed only on the pommel horse until the MPSF conference finals. Bailey continuously led the team as an all-around competitor, but his performances and training were limited because he was constantly battling injuries.

Ishino and Bailey turned out to be disappointments as they were unable to time their successes with the rest of the team. Despite rewarding moments that culminated in the pommel horse national title, Ishino never performed at the level that was expected of him on the other events. The MVP of the team was Mannhart, according to McNeill.

“He showed up every single competition and did his job,” McNeill said. “He placed fifth all-around at NCAAs even with a fall on rings. All year long he was solid for us.”

McNeill planned the season to peak in the postseason, but the team struggled going into NCAAs.

The MPSF meet threw the team for a loop as Ishino and Bailey had their worst performances of the year. Ishino fell on the pommel horse routine, after neglecting other aspects of his training to perfect his pommel horse performance. Yet, McNeill was confident that his team would perform better than they had all year at NCAAs. The fourth-place finish attests to the team’s improvement.

McNeill knows that next year will be very different. Eight seniors are graduating this year, and 14 new freshmen will join the team. Key contributors such as All-Americans Bailey and Lacombe will return next year.

“There’s a lot of talent,” McNeill said. “I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know if we’ll be better or worse than this year. It’s certainly going to be exciting to see what we’re capable of.”

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The senior struggled in the team competition, but found his footing when it meant the most, winning pommel horse both individually and in the team finals, while placing a disappointing  33rd on parallel bars in the team event. The Bears wrapped up the NCAA team competition on Friday in Norman, Okla. with a fourth-place overall finish.

The Bears fell to Illinois, Oklahoma, and Penn State in the finals but beat Stanford and Michigan. The Bears were content with their finish, but Cal coach Tim McNeill knew that his team was capable of more.

“Placing fourth was good but I certainly think we could have placed higher,” McNeill said.

The Bears struggled with some mistakes before stumbling on parallel bars, the last event of the competition. Ishino and junior Donothan Bailey had their worst performances of the competition on the parallel bars.

The team did its best to move on from those mistakes and perform at a high level on Saturday for the individual finals.

Ishino put forth his best pommel horse routine of the season and won first place in the event. Despite being one of the best Americans on the pommel horse, this was Ishino’s first national title.

“Glen dominated the pommel horse,” McNeill said. “He didn’t add any extra skills or do anything better than he does every single day in practice, and he still won the event by a large margin. Anyone who watched the meet could tell he was the best gymnast on pommel horse.”

Ishino also finished second on high bar with a score of 15.050. Ishino’s second-place finish was enough to win him All-American honors for both pommel horse and high bar.

Ishino wasn’t the only Bear to garner All-American honors. Steven Lacombe was named an All-American for still rings and vault, while Dennis Mannhart received All-American recognition for parallel bars and high bar.

Lacombe’s performance was a highlight of the meet for McNeill, especially on the vault.

“Steve did  incredible on all three days,” McNeill said.  “He did three perfect vaults. Fifth place is an incredible accomplishment.”

Lacombe made just one mistake in the meet when he struggled to hold a strength element on still rings on the final day of competition. McNeill admitted that his routine involved so much precision that it would have been nearly impossible to perform it well three days in a row.

Among other competitors in the individual finals, freshman Jonathan Liu was a pleasant surprise for the Bears. After generating little attention throughout the year he qualified in his first year with the Bears. Nonetheless, he was the only Cal gymnast to make a large mistake on Saturday.

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Michael Tao/File

Following its most disappointing performance of the year two weeks ago at the MPSF championships, the Cal men’s gymnastics team has spent its last days of practice before the NCAA championship regaining its confidence and becoming as healthy as possible.

“Since not doing as well as we were capable of (at MPSFs),” Cal coach Tim McNeill said, “we’ve been fixing things and simulating the days of back to back competition.”

Those simulations have been vital in restoring the proper attitude and poise. McNeill brought in a professional judge and had two consecutive practice competitions. Scores from both days were the highest of the year, ensuring the team that it is better than it performed at MPSFs, where the team placed third but had many flawed routines.

“Both of those meets were phenomenal,” said McNeill. “The guys are now aware of how good we can be if we have the competition that we are capable of having.

For McNeill’s team, it really does all come down to this. The No. 8 Bears head into this week’s NCAA Championship meet in Norman, Okla., after a season of ups and downs, well prepared for their chance to compete for a national championship.

The meet, which runs Thursday through Saturday, consists of the top 12 teams in the country, as well as individual invitees from teams that did not qualify. Thursday’s meet is a qualifier, followed by team championships on Friday and individual finals on Sunday.

The Bears will compete in the second session of qualifiers on Thursday against top teams like  No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Minnesota. To qualify for Saturday’s team finals, the Bears must finish in the top three in their session. Despite having three teams ranked in front of his team, McNeill is confident that the Bears will be one of the six teams competing on Saturday.

“I expect us to advance easily enough to day two,” McNeill said, “but right now everyone’s focus needs to be on the first day. Then we’ll let everything loose on Friday.”

The team will benefit from the deepest lineup that it has had all year. Assuming that the team qualifies on Thursday, senior Glen Ishino will compete in all six events on Friday, the first time all year that the All-American has been healthy enough to compete all-around. Captain Donothan Bailey and fellow junior Dennis Mannhart will also compete all-around.

“Any of those three could contend for the (individual) all-around championship,” McNeill said.

McNeill recognized that several other Cal gymnasts are capable of winning their own national titles in individual events. For now, however, the focus is on competing as a team for the NCAA championship.

“We just have to have a good meet,” McNeill said. “We’ll let the guys’ routines, all of the hours of work they’ve put in, do the work. I’m sure that if we can do that, we’ll end up on the podium, and maybe just win the whole thing.”

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Michael Tao/File

As his team got ready to travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., last week for the MPSF Championships, Cal men’s gymnastics coach Tim McNeill was expecting one of team’s best performances of the year.

Saturday, McNeill’s team disappointed him so much that he struggled to find words to describe it. The No. 7 Bears took third place behind No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Stanford, but the team did not perform at the level that it had in previous competitions. 

“It was not that we got third place, but it was the team’s performance,” McNeill said. “The team is much more prepared than they showed at this meet. The mistakes came out of nowhere—they never happen in practice.”

One of the most disappointing moments of the meet came when senior Glen Ishino fell during his pommel horse routine. The three-time All-American placed sixth despite being widely regarded as the event’s best American. Ishino had been plagued by a back injury this season, limiting him to competing only on pommel horse.

Saturday’s meet began Ishino’s process of returning to all-around competition in time for the NCAA championship meet April 19-21 in Norman, Okla. Ishino competed in four of the six events this weekend but failed to meet the expectations of his teammates and coaches. He placed outside the top five in all of his events.

“Glen had a bad meet,” McNeill said. “He missed all of his routines except for floor.”

Seemingly a savior for the Bears all season, team captain Donathan Bailey battled through a recurring wrist injury to lead the team in all six events. Bailey won the pommel horse and finished third in the all around.

“Donothan had a very good meet,” McNeill said, “and that was good to see since he is still coming back (from the wrist injury).”

McNeill had previously acknowledged the meet as a final tune-up for the NCAA meet. After seeing his team fall apart in its biggest test of the season so far, he just wants to keep a positive mindset.

“This biggest thing is to just learn from our mistakes, put them in the past, and move on,” McNeill said. “This was just a fluke meet and it doesn’t mean anything. The most important thing is to keep up that mentality and make sure that nobody gives up.”

The Bears will have the next two weeks to straighten out mistakes that arose in Colorado and to perfect their routines. Bailey and Ishino, as well as the rest of the team, will also take the opportunity to make sure that they are as healthy as possible for the NCAA Championship.

McNeill will make sure his team’s disappointment does not linger once they return to the gym this week.

“We’re still in contention to win NCAAs,” McNeill said. “We lost this meet because we did poorly. I don’t think the other teams are any better than us.”

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The Bears will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend to compete in the MPSF Championship meet on Saturday. Their focus, however, is on the NCAA championship two weeks away.

The top 12 teams in the country will compete in the NCAA meet. The rankings are based on a team’s best three performances out of four meets. The MPSF Championship is one of those four meets, but with the No. 7 ranking the Bears are almost guaranteed to remain in the top 12.

“It’s a given,” said head coach Tim McNeil. “We’re definitely going to qualify. Even if we stayed home from MPSFs we’d still qualify. It just counts as a meet that goes into the ranking system.”

The Bears are more prepared for this Saturday’s meet than any other competition thus far. Senior Glen Ishino will put his body to the test after having been limited to competing on pommel horse for the most of the year due to a back injury. He is trying to work his way back to all six events by the NCAA meet. Even not at his best, his team is glad to have him back.

“It does a lot for our confidence knowing they have such a good leader and teammate competing with them,” McNeil said. “We’ve really protected Glen this year with the idea that he would be able to do more for us later in the season, and I’m really glad we stuck to that plan.”

In contrast, the Bears may be without junior Donathan Bailey. The team captain has carried the team for most of the season, battling through pain so that his teammates could rest their own injuries. Lately, Bailey has been bothered by a wrist injury, but McNeil expects him to still compete in at least five events, possibly all six.

“He’s still not 100 percent,” McNeil said. “But he is such a phenomenal competitor that even in pain he’s able to still perform incredible routines and get good scores.”

McNeil hopes that others will help support Bailey if he is unable to compete through the pain.

Junior Dennis Mannhart could do just that. Now fully recovered from a hand infection that plagued him early in the season, he will be a major factor for the Bears both the MPSF and NCAA championships.

“(Mannhart) looks incredible,” McNeil said. “He’s in contention to win the all-around.”

The biggest competition for the Bears in the MPSF Championship will be No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Stanford. They will also be the teams to beat in the NCAA tournament.

McNeil has not ruled out beating those two teams and winning the meet. Cal has met Stanford five times this season, coming away with three victories. The only competition with Oklahoma was at one of those Stanford meets, when Oklahoma bested both the Bears and Cardinal on Feb. 12 at Haas Pavillion.

“We know it could be anybody’s meet,” McNeil said. “Based on what I know now, we could easily go in, have a good meet and come out with the conference title.”

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Jan Flatley-Feldman/Staff

For Glen Ishino, the perfect routine can never happen. However, that has not stopped him from dreaming about it.

“I envision this ridiculous routine with things that I could never do,” says the Cal senior. “The perfect routine at the Olympics, with millions of people watching — that would be cool.”

Ishino will have the chance to attempt that routine over the next three months. His time at Cal and his entire gymnastics career have led up to this point — this summer, he is trying to qualify for the Olympics in London.

When he talks about the Olympics and the competitions that will decide his fate in the next few months, Ishino is surprisingly calm. He has been on the big stage before, competing for the U.S. men’s national team for the past three years.

As he thinks about embarking on this final leg of a journey that has engulfed the last 18 years of his life, his eyes wander, undoubtedly imagining his perfect routine. Excitement, coupled with anxiety, radiates from his voice. He says he is not nervous, but there is a sense of the unknown in the way he talks. The one thing that stays constant is a smile that tries to hide the anticipation that cannot be covered up. His mind is racing as he talks about it.

Anything can happen and Ishino knows it. After a lifetime of work and dedication, there are no promises — just the chance to do what Ishino’s always done best: compete.

Ishino began gymnastics at the age of three, taking “mommy and me” classes to learn tumbling and balance.

“My mom was dealing with four kids, so she was was like ‘Let’s take them all,’” Ishino says. “So we all jumped in the car and we went.”

Ishino looked up to his older siblings. When they had success, he pressured himself to compete with them.

“They were always working hard in the gym. I was like, ‘Cool. I got something to strive for.’”

From that point on, Ishino never stopped. Practices took up more than 20 hours per week, leaving time for little else. At home, the family had a balance beam and a mushroom for the siblings to practice on. Ishino used the mushroom to develop the pommel horse skills that make him one of the few Americans who excels in the event.

Ishino’s motivation paid off as he was recruited to compete for Cal, where he has been a three-time All-American. Even though his focus has shifted largely towards an international career with the Olympics quickly approaching, Ishino’s collegiate experience has guided him to the forefront of the gymnastics world. He is regarded by many as the best American on the pommel horse event and considered one of the country’s best all-around gymnasts. Ishino has worked hard to deserve this recognition.

“The first thought that comes to mind about Glen is that he’s a workhorse,” says Cal head coach Tim McNeil. “He’s not in the position that he’s in because he’s super talented and that paved the way for him.”

That hard work has allowed Ishino to battle through pain and injuries that would have sidelined most of his competitors. He has been recovering from a back injury this season, which has limited him to competing on the pommel horse in hopes of being healthy for the NCAA championships and Olympic qualifiers. Barring further setbacks, McNeil and Ishino both believe that he will be ready to compete at full strength at the NCAA Championships.

Those NCAA Championships will be over by the end of this month. Ishino will then compete at the Visa Championships to qualify for the Olympic trials which will consist of 15 gymnasts competing for only five spots. Ishino holds an advantage because he is best in pommel horse and the United States is generally weakest in that event.

“Being better at pommel horse helps my chances,” Ishino says. “The issue is that I need one or two other strong events that I’m trying to get back into. That would be a lot better.”

His work ethic does not stop at the pommel horse. Nearly an hour after practice ended two weeks ago, Ishino was still up on the still rings practicing while his teammates were eating tacos outside with coach McNeil.

The Bears, a relatively strong all-around team, do not rest on Ishino’s back this year, allowing him to pursue individual training and compete in fewer events in order to stay healthy. Ishino wants to help his team to a national title this year at the NCAA Championship, but he admits that this summer’s competitions are never far from his mind.

“It gets my heart beating and my hands a little sweaty,” he says. “I think about it all the time. I get too into it.”

Listening to Ishino talk about his upcoming competitions is enough to know that it is not about winning a gold medal. For Ishino, it is and always has been about competing and giving it everything he has to give. No matter what happens this summer, Ishino knows that he will be satisfied, confident that he has done everything that he can.

Ishino has prepared as well as any athlete can. But his career and hours in the gym come down to an event where any mistake could ruin everything. There are no second chances. One mistake this summer, anywhere, and Ishino goes home with nothing.

“I’ve given 18 years of my life for a one-minute routine on four events,” he says. “Hit or miss, nobody’s perfect. So just knowing that I’ve done everything that I could would be good enough for me.”

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Michael Tao/File

After five weeks of hibernation, the Bears are ready to come roaring back.

The No. 8 Cal’s men’s gymnastics team is set to face off against No. 13 University of Illinois, Chicago in the RSF Field House this Saturday at 7 p.m.

It will be the team’s first meet since Feb. 18, when the Bears narrowly upset No. 4 Stanford, 344.900-343.600. The 1.300 point difference was Cal’s smallest margin of victory this season, having previously beaten Stanford by 5.700 and 6.100 points.

The five weeks of rest were not unwelcome. The Bears have been suffering from injuries lately and crucially needed this recovery period. Senior Glen Ishino, a U.S. men’s national team member, has been limited to only one event, the pommel horse. Even in his last performance, the effects of his back injury were obvious: He surprisingly placed fourth in an event in which he is ranked No. 6 in the nation.

Donathan Bailey, the team’s captain, has also suffered through injuries. Despite this, he was able to compete in all six events in the last meet. With the long break and the MPSF Championships on the horizon though, Bailey and Ishino’s participation should still be limited.

“I think our health is pretty good,” Bailey said. “Obviously in gymnastics no one ever feels perfect, but we’ve had a nice long break and I think our outlook is pretty good.”

Even with their reduced involvement, the Bears should go into the match expecting to win. They’re coming fresh off a five-week rest, while UIC has been in and out of matches consistently since January. Its last match, just on Saturday, was a difficult loss against No. 7 Michigan. If anything, the Flames have been cold, having dropped all eight of their meets this season.

Nevertheless, Cal should be aware of how dangerous the Flames can be. UIC hopes to heat up for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships and has the tools to do it. Dan Zerbel is the fifth-ranked player for individual events overall, with the same ranking on floor exercise. No. 7 Lukasz Adamczyk closely follows No. 6 Ishino in the pommel horse rankings.

Though this match is important for every Cal gymnast, the MPSF Championships are the ultimate goal. And in order to be fully competitive for that, the Bears will have to be running at full health. Adding in momentum from a win wouldn’t hurt, either.

Ultimately, the onus to perform will be on the team as a whole. Considering the fact that it’s Senior Night too, the pressure to win at home will be huge. Despite all of this, Bailey expects the Bears to keep their cool against the Flames.

“Obviously for (the seniors), it’s important and nostalgic since it’s their last competition at Cal,” Bailey said. “But at the same time, they understand that it’s another competition and they have to do their job. So I do think that the crowd will help motivation, but making them nervous, I don’t think so.”

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