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Friday, October 30, 1998

Bruins guard undefeated conference record, rank

PREVIEW: Team faces tough competition against the Cardinal, 49ers in weekend matches

By Steve Kim

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The second-ranked UCLA men's water polo team will attempt to maintain its clean conference record when they play Stanford and Long Beach State this weekend.

The Bruins host a rematch with the Cardinal Saturday at noon at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. The No. 4 Cardinal have a 14-4 overall record and are 4-1 in conference games. Stanford lost both of their games against the Bruins this season, the latest being just last weekend, when the Bruins beat both Stanford (6-4) and Cal (7-6) at their home pool.

"We got a lot of confidence (coming) out of last weekend," UCLA assistant coach Adam Krikorian said. "One of the hardest things to do is to beat Cal and Stanford in the same weekend at their place."

Losing twice to the Bruins, Stanford is in a position to prove itself against UCLA and also better its conference record. The team is capable of upsetting the Bruins, and UCLA head coach Guy Baker remembers a time when it did.

"In 1996, we had the same scenario when we beat Cal and Stanford up north and we had to play Stanford the following Saturday," Baker said. "And we lost in the Rose Bowl pool. It was one of our worst games that year."

The Bruins are aware of that incident and are mentally prepared to prevent history from repeating itself. Their focus is to not slack on their game play after such big win.

"Hopefully, we can match the intensity of our last game," said sophomore defender Andy Bailey. "We expect Stanford to be more intense than last week because it's like a make or break game for them."

Bailey, whose nose was broken during last week's Stanford game, is a scorer and is expected to play this weekend. He joins the ranks of numerous water polo players who have broken their noses in practice or competition.

"Yeah, my brother Sam had his nose broken and some other people, like our assistant coach Adam, had too," Bailey said. "It's put back in place now, and I have a black eye because of it. It can get hit again but you can't really worry about that."

UCLA carries a 12-2 overall and undefeated conference record. It will give the Bruins a significant lift in ranking and tournament seeding if it can keep a perfect conference record against Stanford and Long Beach State this weekend.

They host eighth-ranked Long Beach State Sunday at noon at the Sunset Recreation Canyon pool. The 49ers feature leading scorers Jeff Colyer with 32 points and Corey Dolley with 26 points. They have more losses than wins, with a 7-9 overall and 1-3 conference record but have beaten Cal this season, a formidable victory.

With that in mind, Baker again stresses that the team to keep up its guard; he wants the team to play the opponent with the respect, as if the Bruins were playing a higher-ranked team.

"If we take the attitude like we just have to show up and play just because we beat them last time, it can be a let down game for us," Baker said.

Baker played at Long Beach and coached there under head coach Ken Lindgren. Both coaches currently take part in the U.S. women's national team of which Baker is the head coach and Lindgren is the assistant.

Beside that, Baker says he doesn't take playing Long Beach personally.

"It's been so long ago, coaching at Long Beach," he said. "Most people I've worked with are long gone.

Baker added, "It's a conference game and it's just as important as the Stanford game, so we never want to let down."

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