BruinMP61-67
Joined: 10/21/06 Posts: 4,452
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Posted Fri, Apr 30 3:44 pm
(Edited Fri, Apr 30 3:47 pm)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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Thanks for the info. Is there any other school that has such a successful athletic department? I hope the baseball team picks up a bit of momentum and starts winning again. Go Bruins! |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sat, May 01 6:02 pm
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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The Bruins beat Southern Cal twice today in the Pac-12 championship to take the tournament title. This was the first time all season that UCLA beat Southern Cal, but also the first time that both teams played at full strength.
The Bruins now head to Gulf Shores for the NCAA championship next weekend. Remember that UCLA lost to Southern Cal in the Pac-12 championship two years ago, but came back to beat them in the NCAA championship. So, last thing the Bruins want is to be at the receiving end of that kind of reversal.
One thing to watch out for in the NCAA championship is the weather and the effect it might have on the west coast teams. Gulf Shores can get hot and humid, and upsets by the southern teams over the west coast teams tend to happen on the first day of the tournament. One more reason why I hate permanent sites for NCAA championship tournaments, because they tend to locate in the midwest and southern states, where the weather can become a factor this time of year. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, May 07 8:21 am
(Edited Fri, May 07 8:25 am)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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#1 Beach Volleyball
The Bruins got the #1 overall seed in the NCAA championship thanks to their Pac-12 win over Southern Cal last weekend. They began the NCAA tourney this morning with a 3-0 sweep over #8 TCU. They play again at 1pm PT on Friday. A win will position them to advance to the Sunday's championship dual with a win on Saturday. A loss will drop them into the elimination bracket and a Saturday doubleheader. All duals will be broadcast on ESPNU and ESPN2, with the championship on ESPN.
#2 Softball
UCLA has won 8 in a row, and has two remaining series against Stanford and #8 Arizona before the postseason begins. UCLA is one of the preselected NCAA regional sites, so they should be in line to host both the regional and super regional rounds, unless the NCAA mandates that these sites be "neutral."
#3 Women's Soccer
UCLA needed another late goal to avoid elimination in regulation on Wednesday. But, that was only a temporary reprieve as Clemson secured the upset over the Bruins on penalty kicks. So, the Bruins' season is over.
#3 Women's Water Polo
UCLA lost in the MPSF semis to Stanford. They will host the NCAA championship starting next Wednesday with an opening round match against Hawaii. Southern Cal is the favorite, but the Bruins handed them their only loss of the season a couple of weeks ago. With the top teams missing players because of the Olympics, this could be a crap shoot like the men's tournament.
#4 Women's Tennis
UCLA hosts the NCAA 1st and 2nd rounds at LATC. The Bruins play Grand Canyon today, and a win would advance them to a 2nd Round matchup against the Texas Tech-San Diego winner.
#7 Women's Golf
UCLA will travel to Louisville next week for the NCAA regional. They need to place in the top 6 (out of 18) to advance to the NCAA championship the following weekend.
#25 Baseball
UCLA got a much-needed series win over OSU last weekend. But, they didn't move up in the RPI and have a lot of work left to do to get better positioned for the regionals. The NCAA will predetermine the regional sites this year, so top seeds don't automatically get to host. But, it doesn't sound like they're trying to create neutral sites either.
Men's Golf
UCLA placed 12th in the Pac-12 championship. The team did not qualify for the NCAAs, but senior Devon Bling was selected to play in the regionals as an individual.
Men's Tennis
The Bruin men are in Austin for the NCAA 1st and 2nd rounds, which begin on Saturday. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sun, May 09 8:32 am
(Edited Sun, May 09 8:39 am)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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The Bruins had to play out of the elimination bracket after losing to LMU on Friday. But they bounced back with wins over Cal Poly and LSU yesterday and a sweep over LMU this morning.
Now, they’ll get Southern Cal for the championship final. This is the reverse of what happened two years ago when UCLA cruised through the winner’s bracket and Southern Cal played through the elimination bracket including a grueling 3-2 morning dual against LSU to advance.
But, the ESPN commentator that day said that playing an early dual is an advantage against a team playing their first dual. The guy who said that was Dain Blanton who now happens to be the Southern Cal coach. He was actually wrong that day as UCLA jumped on Southern Cal early and swept them.
But, UCLA was in an identical spot in 2018 when they played out the two extra duals out of the elimination bracket and proceeded to beat Florida State for the program’s first national championship. This was after a tense morning dual against Hawaii. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Wed, May 12 5:53 pm
(Edited Wed, May 12 6:04 pm)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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More of the spring sports are now deep into the postseason, with UCLA hosting the NCAA Championship in women's water polo this weekend. The best chance at #120 remains with softball, where the Bruins are now 38-3 with 12 straight wins.
#1 Beach Volleyball
The beach volleyball team had to play through the elimination bracket to reach the championship dual against #2 Southern Cal, where they lost 3-1. Depending on which players use their extra year of eligibility, next year's team should be deeper and again in the hunt for the national championship.
#2 Softball
Bruins conclude the regular season with a four-game series at #8 Arizona. NCAA regional selections will follow. With Oklahoma's loss this past weekend, the Bruins could start the postseason as the #1 overall seed if they sweep the Wildcats.
#3 Women's water polo
UCLA starts the NCAA tournament against #10 Hawaii on Friday.
#4 Women's Tennis
The Bruins cruised through the NCAA opening rounds. They will now travel to the USTA National Campus in Orlando for the NCAA championships. The Round of 16 matchup will be against #13 Georgia Tech on Sunday at 1pm. NCAA.com will stream the matches.
Women's Golf
UCLA tied for 2nd in the Louisville Regional today, so they advance to next weekend's NCAA Championship in Scottsdale.
#22 Baseball
UCLA won its 2nd straight Pac-12 series and beat LMU on Tuesday. The team is now 28-15 with weekend series remaining against UCSB, Cal, and ASU. Barring a late collapse, they're probably a lock for the postseason, but have a lot of ground to make up to better position themselves for the regionals. The bullpen remains an issue.
Track & Field
The Bruins start the Pac-12 championship meet this weekend, with the NCAA championship meet the following week.
Women's Rowing
The Bruins begin the Pac-12 championship on Sunday.
Men's Tennis
The Bruins lost the NCAA opener against Northwestern, so their season is over. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, May 14 10:44 am
(Edited Fri, May 14 10:52 am)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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Maya Brady slugged a ginormous moonshot in the Bruins' 8-0 mercy rule win over #8 Arizona on Thursday (the non-reaction of the Zona outfielders is priceless). That was Brady's 2nd homer and the Bruins' 5th of the night. This was Uncle Tommy's shout out to teammate Rob Gronkowski (UA alum). (Tom Brady is always quick to praise his niece like any obnoxiously proud uncle would)
https://twitter.com/TomBrady/status/1393202668257021958
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sat, May 15 5:44 pm
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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The #3 UCLA women’s water polo team advanced to the NCAA championship final with a 9-7 win over #2 Stanford. The Cards had beaten UCLA in the MPSF semis two weeks ago. But, the Bruins won the match that counted more.
UCLA will now go for #120 against #1 Southern Cal on Sunday afternoon. Streaming video on NCAA.com. The men’s team won #119 as a #3-seed against Southern Cal after a semifinal win over Stanford. Hopefully, history will repeat itself tomorrow. Remember that Adam Wright coaches both the men’s and women’s teams. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sun, May 16 6:43 pm
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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#120 will have to wait for at least another couple of weeks, as the women's water polo team got routed in the championship final against top seeded Southern Cal. The Bruins had just routed Southern Cal a couple of weeks ago to hand the women of troy their first loss of the season. But, the Bruins got into a hole in the 1st half and could never mount any meaningful comeback. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sun, May 16 7:03 pm
(Edited Sun, May 16 7:05 pm)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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Aside from the women's water polo team advancing to the NCAA championship match, where they lost to top seeded Southern Cal, a lot of other things went on this weekend.
#2 Softball
As expected, UCLA received the #2 seed in the NCAA tournament, and they will host the regional round against Fresno State, Long Beach State, and Minnesota. The Bruins should be able to get through this round without much trouble. If the tournament goes according to the seedings, the Bruins will face Pac-12 rival #15 seed ASU in the Super Regional. The Bruins swept a four-game series from the Sun Devils in the regular season.
#4 Women's Tennis
UCLA swept Georgia Tech 4-0 today in the Round of 16. They will now face Pepperdine in Orlando on Wednesday in the NCAA quarterfinals.
#22 Baseball
The Bruins came back to win their weekend home-and-home series against UCSB, after getting blown out in the first game on Friday night. They now head into the home stretch of the regular season with a midweek game against Nevada, followed by conference series against Cal and ASU. The Bruins are playing for regional positioning, but they have a long way to go before they can earn a spot among the top 16.
Track & Field
The T&F program is still in a rebuild phase, as the men placed 8th and the women came in 6th in this weekend's Pac-12 championship.
Women's Rowing
UCLA placed 6th in the Pac-12 championship |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Wed, May 19 12:18 pm
(Edited Wed, May 19 12:21 pm)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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#2 Softball
The softball team will host the NCAA regional this weekend starting on Friday night with a game against Big West champion Long Beach State. The Bruins swept LBSU in a doubleheader a couple of weeks ago. Other teams in the regional are Mountain West champion Fresno State and Big Ten runner up Minnesota. The Gophers were in the WCWS a couple of years ago (where they lost to UCLA), and the Big Ten got shafted in the RPI this year because they played no out-of-conference games. The Big Ten teams are the big enigma going into the postseason. UCLA is the #2 overall seed and if the regionals go according to the seeds, UCLA will play #15 ASU with a trip to the WCWS at stake next weekend in the Super Regionals.
#4 Women's Tennis
UCLA has a NCAA quarterfinal matchup against Pepperdine today at 2:30pm PT. The winner will play the #1 UNC-Duke winner on Friday in the NCAA semifinal.
Women's Golf
UCLA plays in the NCAA Championship tournament this weekend in Scottsdale starting on Friday. They will have 4 days of stroke play, with the top 8 teams then advancing to a two-day match play playoff to decide the national champion. The format of the match play final is a made-for-TV mockery to give the Golf Channel some live programming to fill the Tuesday and Wednesday time slots. The regular season and the regionals follow the same stroke play format where the individual scores are tallied up and the lowest number of total strokes wins. But, the championship final switches to a completely different match play format. It would be like deciding the MLB playoffs switching up the scoring only for the World Series to count who wins each inning instead of totaling up the runs. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, May 21 6:22 pm
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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Women's golf also began their quest for #120 tonight, but tied for 15th after today's 1st Round. But, they are only 6 strokes back in the race for a top 8 finish and a spot in the match play final that starts on Tuesday.
But, the best odds for the next Bruin national championship remains with the softball team. They begin the postseason against Big West champ Long Beach State tonight starting at 7:30pm. The pathway through the regional might be clearer because Minnesota is on the verge of losing to Fresno State, which would drop the Gophers into the elimination bracket. Gopher ace Amber Fiser is the best pitcher in that regional not named Rachel Garcia or Megan Faraimo, and she was an All-American two years ago when the Bruins faced her (and beat her) at the WCWS. Potentially not having to face her just make the odds that much better for UCLA to advance.
Tonight's game gets the primetime spot on ESPN2. This is Rachel's final go-round as a collegian. She's the odds-on favorite to win national POTY for the 3rd straight season. Capping off her career with another national championship would put her into the argument for the next GOAT. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sun, May 23 9:16 am
(Edited Sun, May 23 9:34 am)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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Softball
The Bruins have won their first two games in the LA Regional. One more win today against Minnesota, and the Bruins advance to next weekend's Super Regional against Virginia Tech (#15 ASU was the presumed opponent, but they lost twice on Friday). UCLA has two chances to advance, while Minnesota is in an elimination situation. Game starts at 3pm PT on ESPN2. The if-necessary game is scheduled for 6:30pm PT, TV TBD.
The Bruins averted the elimination bracket with a close win over Fresno State yesterday. The Bruins were down 1-0 and down to their last two outs. But, Rachel Garcia came through with the tying RBI hit in the 7th. On the day, UCLA stranded 12 baserunners. The Bruins broke through against Fresno State starter Hailey Dolcini (who was outstanding, pitching nearly 14 straight shutout innings against Minnesota and UCLA) in extra innings when they scored 4 runs in the 8th. But, Rachel was also gassed by that point, and she gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th before retiring the last batter with the winning runs in scoring position.
Today, the Bruins will likely face All-American Gopher pitcher Amber Fiser, who pitched both elimination games on Saturday, shutting out Long Beach State and getting a very precarious save against Fresno State (she left the bases loaded in the one inning she pitched). Rachel threw 128 pitches in yesterday's win, while Megan Faraimo pitched Friday's opening shutout win. In both 2018 and 2019, the Bruins advanced to the Super Regionals while losing a game in the regionals.
Golf
UCLA is halfway through the NCAA championship. They start play today tied for 12th place and 26 strokes behind 1st place Stanford. But, the Bruins are only 7 strokes out of a top 8 placement, which would qualify the Bruins for the match play final that starts on Tuesday. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Thu, May 27 9:25 am
(Edited Thu, May 27 9:27 am)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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The final march to the Women's College World Series begins tonight at 6:30pm PT when #2 UCLA plays Virginia Tech in the 1st game of the Super Regional. UCLA is favored, as the Hokies won the Tempe Regional as an unseeded team. #15 ASU might have been an easier matchup for the Bruins because UCLA already swept the Sun Devils in the regular season, and ASU does not have a dominant power pitcher like VA Tech does.
VA Tech's pitching ace Keely Rouchard averages 1.44 strikeouts per inning. This is higher than the Bruin tandem of Rachel Garcia (1.33) and Megan Faraimo (1.36). A quality ace can steal a Super Regional series, and VA Tech has that. But, the Bruins have better hitting, more depth, and they can rely on more than one pitcher.
According to the official release, in the 16 years since the NCAA created the Super Regional round, UCLA has advanced to that round 12 times. They have advanced to the WCWS out of the Super Regional 10 times. The last time they lost in the Super Regional was in 2014 against Kentucky. The Wildcats had a young ace Kelsey Nunley who pitched every inning of that series (and was named the SEC Pitcher Of The Year a couple of years later) and kept the #2-ranked Bruins under control after a late eruption by the UCLA lineup won the 1st game.
I expect the Bruins to advance. This is a more complete team than in 2014, and the Bruins have advanced to the WCWS in every postseason since that 2014 loss. As they say, this is why we play the games. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, May 28 3:07 pm
(Edited Fri, May 28 3:13 pm)
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In response to Spring Sports Update (Woochifer)
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That was the Bruin softball team's mantra during the 2019 postseason, and I heard that from the beach volleyball team as well. They've said this many times before, but right now the Bruins are facing elimination and will have to take that to heart. That championship team won both an elimination game and the if-necessary game in the regional. The first step to taking back the Super Regional is tonight at 6:30pm PT. The game will be on ESPN2. |
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