Long before they were assistant coaches for UCLA women’s volleyball, Tony Ker and Kaitlin Nielsen were best friends – they spent time together almost every day as student-athletes at UCLA. Read more...
Photo: Tony Ker and Kaitlin Nielsen were best friends when they both played Division I volleyball at UCLA. The two have reconnected as core members of coach Michael Sealy’s supporting cast for UCLA women’s volleyball. (Keila Mayberry/Daily Bruin staff)
Two weeks are all a freshman volleyball player gets before she’s thrown into fast-paced Division I play. That’s 14 days to adjust to college life, get to know teammates and learn the team’s system. Read more...
Photo: Four of the players on UCLA women’s volleyball played for the same high school, making their volleyball journey together much longer than just their years as Bruins. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
The American water polo recruiting “radar” is most attuned to California – players from the state go on to play for schools all over the country. Read more...
Photo: Redshirt junior center Matt Farmer is one of five centers on the UCLA men’s water polo team, and the only player on any of the Big Four teams from Illinois’ storied water polo tradition. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Most Division I athletes around the country have been competing in their respective sports for years. On the UCLA women’s cross-country team, for example, every single competitor has had extensive track experience, and many have a comparable amount in cross-country. Read more...
Photo: Claire Markey had never competed in a cross-country race until lining up at the Griak Invitational this year. The freshman took second out of UCLA runners, milliseconds behind sophomore Julia Rizk. (Miriam Bribiesca/Photo editor)
Cameron Griffin wasn’t quite sure what to do. The former linebacker had just bulldozed into the end zone for the first touchdown of his career against BYU – off a six-yard Josh Rosen pass – and all he wanted to do was tackle someone. Read more...
Photo: Redshirt sophomore Cameron Griffin is a fullback with the UCLA football team. Before joining the team, he was a rugby standout at View Park High School. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
There’s somewhat of an iron grip on the North. Of all the blue-chip recruits on current Big Four rosters that come out of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, two-thirds of them go to Cal or Stanford. Read more...
Photo: Not many players from Northern California make their way south to one of the two Big Four schools in Los Angeles, but senior attacker Patrick Fellner did four years ago, and he’s now UCLA’s top scorer. (Jintak Han/Assistant Photo Editor)
Alex Roelse didn’t have a typical off-season. The junior utility had just returned from Olympics duty to rejoin the UCLA water polo team for the 2016 season. Read more...
Photo: Junior utility Alex Roelse played for U.S. men’s senior national team in Rio this summer, the culmination of months of intense water polo training that has turned him into one of UCLA’s most dominant players in the water. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
