Correction appended
It’s a countdown 56 years in the making ““ ever since
men’s tennis won UCLA’s first NCAA title way back in
1950.
Just a few weeks ago, UCLA’s prospects for winning its
100th NCAA title seemed bleak.
Two quarters had gone by and no sport had yet won a national
championship. Moreover, only one of the spring sports ““
softball ““ was the favorite to go all the way.
It seemed as if the Bruin community would simply have to wait
another year to become the first school in history to reach the
century mark.
But then came the men’s volleyball team, which might have
even shocked its coach, Al Scates, by coming back from a 12-12
season to reel off 14 straight wins and claim UCLA’s 98th
NCAA title in a remarkably dominating fashion.
The focus then shifted to the women’s water polo team.
After going undefeated and winning a national championship last
season, the Bruins had already dropped two games to Stanford and
USC this season.
Sure enough, it was USC and Stanford standing in UCLA’s
way on the path to this year’s NCAA Championships. But the
Bruins rose to the occasion, defeating Stanford in the semifinals
and squeaking by USC with a game-winning goal in the final second
of regulation to bring home title No. 99.
Now attention has turned to the remaining spring sports, to see
which team can complete an unprecedented run. Eight sports still
have a chance to capture a championship. Each team is excited for
the chance to be No. 100, but the athletes are also grounded with
humility as they reflect on how many champions came before
them.
Race to 100
Senior golfer Susie Mathews remembers thinking about what being
one of the players to clinch No. 100 would feel like, after the
women’s golf team won UCLA’s 92nd NCAA title at
Opelika, Ala. in 2004.
“After we won No. 92, well, there’s a couple of
years and then we could be No. 100,” Mathews said.
The No. 2 women’s golf team watched women’s water
polo’s title match last Sunday, hoping a Bruin win would
position them for a run at the statistical benchmark.
“We’ve been kind of looking at the number all year
and hoping it would pan out,” Mathews said. “Now we
have that chance. It’s amazing.”
“Any national championship is as sweet as it could be.
Just to be No. 100, we’ve had our eyes on it for a couple of
years. It certainly brings more to the table.”
The return of junior Hannah Jun from spinal cord injuries might
also make the women’s golf team the sentimental favorite to
win No. 100.
Last year, UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin finally
chased away his unofficial title of best tennis coach not to win a
championship. His team’s comeback, a 4-3 win over Baylor
““ which had swept the Bruins in the title game the year
before ““ was the stuff of fairy tales. Would winning No. 100
top that? Either way, Martin knows what it means to be a part of
such a winning tradition, and acknowledges the pressures that come
with such prestige.
Given the number of coaches who have guided dynasties to not one
but several titles, the bar for any UCLA coach has been set
high.
“It sort of goes with the territory here,” Martin
said. “To see (women’s water polo coach) Adam
(Krikorian) win his eighth is incredible. To see (men’s
volleyball coach) Al (Scates) win his 19th is incredible. It puts
pressure more on the coaches than the players, quite
honestly.”
When it comes to the thought of winning No. 100, though, Martin
welcomes it as a fun challenge rather than a heavy burden.
“We’ll certainly fight our hearts out to do it, but
it’s not adding any pressure,” Martin said.
And then, of course, there’s softball. The team has
already raked in a good portion of the trophies that sit in the
J.D. Morgan Center, having won titles in two of the past three
years. But even for players for whom hoisting trophies is business
as usual, the idea of pushing UCLA into triple digits makes this
spring a little bit different than previous ones.
“The whole school has so much history and so much
tradition, that to be the team that wins 100 would be just
amazing,” senior utility Alissa Eno said.
“It would be something that you could talk about forever
and brag about when you get older. … I can’t even explain
it,” she said.
Compiled by Bruin Sports senior staff.