Sometime during David Pietsch's 9-inch growth spurt in high school, something else was transforming as well.

From a player who barely made the varsity boys water polo team at Punahou as a sophomore, he grew into one worthy of playing for one of the best collegiate teams in the nation.

Pietsch leads top-ranked UCLA with 32 goals this season. He was nominated for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week Oct. 4 after scoring a career-high six goals against UC Irvine.

The senior driver and team captain, a 2001 Punahou graduate, is joined on the Bruins (13-4) by sophomore driver C.J. Smith (Punahou '03), who has four goals.

That he is still playing is something Pietsch never imagined when he first started out.

"I started playing in the seventh grade," he said. "I didn't think I was going to play in college and all of a sudden I'm on the college stage."

Pietsch, the 2001 Interscholastic League of Honolulu Player of the Year as a senior, recalled that he "was tiny my freshman and sophomore year, about 5-6. I had a growth spurt and I'm about 6-3. It's all credit to Mother (Becky), who is 5-11."

When his college search began in his junior year at Punahou, "I wrote down the top 10 schools, and I didn't even think about UCLA."

Punahou coach Ken Smith approached Pietsch and asked if he was interested in playing water polo in college.

"I just thought, 'It would have been awesome to go there (to UCLA),' " Pietsch said. "Senior year came along and I kept developing, and I thought it would be a possibility."

Smith said he saw a player with a lot of heart.

"I just wanted him to try for it," said Smith, who sent many All-Americans to UCLA, including Olympians Brandon Brooks and Sean Kern. "He was reluctant at first, but he proved he can."

Pietsch redshirted in 2001, played in one match as a freshman in 2002, then started 22 of 27 games in 2003.

Last season, as a junior, he was fourth on the squad with 19 goals and played in 27 of 28 matches, and helped lead UCLA to the national title.

"At UCLA, you're pretty much expected to win. You dream of winning a championship," said Pietsch, a two-time MPSF All-Academic honoree. "You can't write a better script. I still get goose bumps."

As part of winning the national championship, the Bruins took a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet President Bush in July.

"That was another incredible experience. I thought Hawai'i got humid, but Washington was brutal," he said. "Being able to walk through there, it's like going through the Sistine Chapel, the aura of it all."

Even though UCLA is the defending national champion, "we graduated six seniors last year and an Olympian, and so big shoes needed to be filled," Pietsch said. "I was just working hard in the offseason. I only got to go home for a week, it was bummer, I'll tell you that."

The members of the UCLA water polo team practiced daily and participated in tournaments on the weekends.

But because they lost so many key players, "everyone pretty much wrote us off, saying we lost our seniors and leadership. They were saying we were going to suck," Pietsch said.

Instead, he said players fit into the roles the team needed, and his was to pick up the offensive slack.

"No one pulled me aside and told me I needed to score," Pietsch said. "I took it upon myself and said I need to score more."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.