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UCLA MEN'S WATER POLO FINISHES UNDER HEAD COACH GUY BAKER The Bruins have won three national championships under Baker. Year   Conference Record   National Finish   1991 3-3 --- 1992 0-6 --- 1993 5-5 --- 1994 2-6 --- 1995 8-0 NCAA CHAMPS 1996 6-2 NCAA CHAMPS 1997 4-4 --- 1998 6-2 --- 1999 8-0 NCAA CHAMPS Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN Web adaptation by MICHAEL PARKER

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Last year after the UCLA men’s volleyball team won the program’s 18th national championship – the second such title for the outgoing class – then-senior setter Brandon Taliaferro mentioned that he had a contest going on with some of the men’s water polo players, including Andy Bailey, who Taliaferro had known since childhood.

“We have this contest going to see who can win the most national championships. Now I’m up one, so he’ll have to win next year to catch up,” Taliaferro said. At that point it was Taliaferro 2, Bailey 1, and fellow water polo senior Adam Wright 1.

It started their freshman year when the three, eating dinner in the dorms, made a bet to see who could win the most national championships.

Loser buys winner a keg.

“He assured himself at least of a tie,” Bailey said of Taliaferro’s volleyball title last year. The fifth-year senior added, “It’s kind of a joke, but it’s kind of serious, too.”

Beginning with the title in 1995 and backed with the one in 1996, the Bruin men’s water polo team made a statement that they are once again a team to reckon with; the kind of UCLA team that – like the record-setting men’s volleyball team – is expected to win titles annually.

The Bruin water polo team won three national titles in four years from 1969-72, but for over two decades, from 1973 to 1994, there was a championship drought. Sure, UCLA had a handful of runner-up finishes, but no title.

But since then, the team has returned to dominance with the Bruins’ back-to-back titles from 1995-96.

Then came two years during which the team, going 14-12 and 17-6 overall, didn’t even finish nationally ranked.

They had their reasons. In 1997, the Bruins had just graduated eight seniors. And in 1998, as explained by senior Blake Wellen, the team choked and were upset in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

“We did really well throughout the season, but it came down to where we needed to win the conference tournament in the end. Everyone thought we were going to,” Wellen said. “We played a terrible opening game and that was it.”

Senior 2-meter man Dave Parker had another explanation.

“I suppose our coach might figure that there was too much time spent in the bars and not enough time in the pool, or not enough time concentrating on water polo,” he said.

Things changed quickly after those two seasons.

“Last season we didn’t party at all,” Parker said. “We came out and did what we had to do.”

Wellen agreed.

“(Those seasons were) enough for us to get rid of the excuse that we’re a young team and we’re still learning,” he said. “That’s why we (won) it last year and that’s why we’ll hopefully do it this year.”

Last season, with a 6-5 victory over Stanford, the Bruins put themselves on top once again.

That was the title that put Bailey at one and tied him with Taliaferro (whose first ring came in 1997).

Recent events, however, actually have Taliaferro behind in the standings. A few weeks ago Wright, also a fifth-year senior, was declared ineligible for the rest of this season because it was revealed that he played in one quarter of one game his freshman year and never got the medical redshirt he thought he had. So if his freshman year, 1996, counts, so does that year’s title.

That means it’s Taliaferro 2, Wright 2, and Bailey 1.

“Technically, Adam’s even with Brandon now, and if we win (this weekend) he could have three wins,” Bailey said. “Yeah, I get a drink from the beer when we win our next championship on Sunday and Brandon has to buy us a keg.”

In a few days, the UCLA men’s water polo program has a chance to win its third back-to-back title. The Bruins just have to do a couple things first. They have to put all the turbulence of the season behind them. They have to put away fourth-seeded Navy of the Eastern Conference in the semifinals. Then they have to beat second-seeded USC, who will be gunning for their second title in three years.

But the Bruins have all the reasons in the world to be fired up. First, a championship might be the only way to begin to redeem a tumultuous season. Second, UCLA would like a couple more titles under its belt to cement its dominance in the college men’s water polo world.

And third, Bailey and Wright want Taliaferro to owe them a keg.

MEN'S WATERPOLO Original Graphic By CONNIE WU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web Adaptation By AVISHAI SHRAGA/Daily Bruin Senior Staff