PRINCETON, N.J. — Bella Baia, a member of three National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament teams at the University of California-Los Angeles – including a national runner-up and two semifinalist berths – has joined the Princeton University water polo programs as an assistant coach under men’s head coach Dustin Litvak and women’s head coach Derek Ellingson.
“I look forward to joining the men’s and women’s programs at Princeton alongside Dustin, Derek and the rest of the team to continue their run of success,” said Baia.
“Both teams have made representing Princeton in the NCAA tournament a standard for their programs, and I am honored to have the opportunity to help uphold this level of excellence. Having competed regularly in the NCAA tournament myself, and then going on to serve as an academic mentor, I know well the kind of balance that the student-athletes at Princeton have chosen to undertake.”
Baia scored 56 goals and had 32 assists across four seasons with the Bruins, helping the team reach the NCAA finals in 2021 and the semifinals in 2019. Baia was a four-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF)/Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and was a Scholar-Athlete on the Director’s Honor Roll every quarter at UCLA.
“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Bella to our men’s and women’s water polo staffs,” Litvak said. “Bella has played at some of the top water polo schools, both in high school and in college, and has been coached by Olympians who are considered some of the best coaches in our sport. She will make an immediate impact on both programs here with her tremendous work ethic and passion for working with driven student-athletes. With a masters in transformative coaching and leadership, authorship of a book on emotional independence and recent coaching experience, Bella is poised to help both programs reach our greatest potential.”
Baia began coaching in 2014 with the SOCAL Water Polo Foundation, working with girls youth teams, through 2021. Following her graduation from UCLA, Baia was the lead girls assistant coach at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, was a youth and high school assistant coach with the Premier Water Polo Club, and was a Coastal Zone youth assistant coach with the Olympic Development Program. During the 2023-24 school year, Baia was an Academic Mentor with UCLA’s Office of Academic Excellence, assisting student-athletes with managing their academic commitments and building academic skills.
A native of Orange, Calif., and a graduate of Mater Dei High School, Baia matriculated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2022 and added a master’s degree in education, focusing on transformative coaching and leadership, in 2023.
Release courtesy Princeton University Athletics Communications
