Musselman, Three Others Earn MPSF Praise
April 26, 2018 | Women's Water Polo
WOODLAND, Calif. โ On the eve of the MPSF Championships in Berkeley, Calif., four members of the No. 4 UCLA women's water polo team received recognition from the conference.
For the second time in as many years, attacker Maddie Musselman was named a member of the All-MPSF First Team. Earning honorable mention accolades, meanwhile, were attacker Devin Grab and goalkeeper Carlee Kapana. Attacker Lexi Liebowitz rounded out the list of honorees as an MPSF All-Newcomer Team pick.
Musselman has posted team-high totals of 46 goals and 28 assists. She is second on the team in field blocks (11). The Newport Beach, Calif. native has notched 17 multi-goal games, including six hat tricks. Musselman earned her second MPSF Player of the Week nod Feb. 20, following an 8-7 double-overtime road win over No. 7 UC Irvine that saw her post three goals, including the game winner. She also became the fastest Bruin to 100 goals, reaching the milestone in her 44th game.
Grab also joined the 100-goal club in 2018, doing so by way of a hat trick in a March 24 win over No. 14 Long Beach State. A stalwart offensively, she currently sits third on the team with 23 goals and scored in nine of the last 10 regular-season contests. The South Pasadena, Calif. native has also dished out 14 assists and registered 13 takeaways. The honor marks the first of the senior's career.
A constant on the conference's leaderboard, Kapana collected her second All-MPSF honor. The junior holds a goals-against average of 5.53, good for fifth in the league. She's also swatted away shots at a rate of 9.57 per game to place third. The Newport Beach, Calif. native had an impressive three-game stretch from Feb. 25-March 11, during which she averaged 14.3 saves per game and knocked away a career-best 18 shots at No. 8 Pacific (March 11). Kapana also surrendered just five goals to a potent California offense on back-to-back occasions during that run.
Liebowitz has quietly found herself among the top five Bruins in goals scored (17), assists (17), earned exclusions (19), sprints won (14), steals (11) and field blocks (12). She was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week for April 10, as the Danville, Calif. native illustrated her importance without scoring a goal. During a four-goal run over 8:09 versus top-ranked Stanford (April 7), Liebowitz assisted on two of the scores and went on to win a pivotal opening sprint, pick up an earned exclusion and knock down a Cardinal attempt.
The fourth-seeded Bruins will take on five-seed Arizona State Friday (12:45 p.m.) in an MPSF Championships quarterfinal contest at Cal's Spieker Aquatics Complex. All games are set to be streamed live at www.mpsports.org/collegesportslive/.
