It takes some perspective to understand why a 16-12 regular season is particularly disappointing. After all, a winning record is a winning record, and given the brutal competition the Michigan water polo team faces, being over .500 seems like an achievement in itself.

Believe it or not, though, the 2013 season will likely go down in the record books as the worst year of Michigan water polo. Ever.

Since the program’s establishment in 2001 — the first year the NCAA sponsored a championship in women’s water polo — the Wolverines have never won fewer than 20 games in a given season. And if you give them a pass for the program’s inaugural year, that number jumps to 22.

In those 12 seasons, the program has won the CWPA Western Division 11 times, the CWPA Eastern Division Tournament five times and made five NCAA tournament appearances.

But this year, Michigan won 16 games in the regular season and failed to win the CWPA Western Division for the first time since 2001. Back then, Michigan coach Matt Anderson was an assistant at Indiana, working for the man who is currently his chief adversary, Barry King, who’s in his 16th season at the helm for the Hoosiers.

Anderson had plenty of talent to work with this season. Senior attacker Kiki Golden, for instance, has consistently dominated this year and currently sits at seventh on the list of all-time Michigan goal scorers.

Senior goalkeeper Alex Adamson also has her eye on the Michigan record books. She has a shot — depending on how far the Wolverines advance in the postseason — to move into second on the all-time saves list. That would place her, interestingly enough, behind former Olympian and current Michigan assistant coach Betsey Armstrong.

So what separated this season from years past?

In short, the Wolverines typically lose many, but not all, of their early-season games against the elite teams, usually West Coast powerhouses in California, Hawaii and Arizona.

This year, though, Michigan lost all of those games. Every single one.

In January’s Michigan Kick-Off Event, held in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines fell in consecutive games to No. 3 UCLA, No. 9 San Jose State and No. 7 San Diego State.

One week later, Michigan traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area, only to fall to No. 1 Stanford in a blowout, No. 9 San Jose State (again) and No. 4 California. It didn’t end there, either. The Wolverines lost twice to No. 10 Long Beach State in the next two weeks, followed by defeats at the hands of No. 8 Hawaii in March and No. 3 Arizona State in April.

Even against No. 20 Hartwick, a league opponent that Michigan beats fairly consistently, the Wolverines fell, 10-6, on April 6.

Michigan’s marquee win this season remains a 10-9 overtime victory against then-No. 12 Indiana in Bloomington on March 30. It was a hugely important victory, no doubt, and in an intense rivalry game to boot. But that was the Wolverines’ only marquee win, an obvious warning sign for Michigan.

In comparison, the 2012 Wolverines pulled off an upset against No. 6 Hawaii, beat No. 14 UC Davis, took care of business multiple times against Hartwick and hung tight in the season’s third game against No. 3 UCLA.

The year before, Michigan was even more impressive, at one point winning eight consecutive games in Southern California, six of which came against top 20 West Coast schools.

This year, the Wolverines relied on their freshman class more than ever. And the freshmen seemed simply too young and inexperienced in the early going to be capable of pulling off a Hawaii or UCLA-type upset.

Understandably, it takes time for a group of rookies to acclimate to college competition and everything that goes along with it. Michigan’s lack of success in the early season seems as attributable to scheduling as anything else — you don’t see many other college teams sporting a freshmen-heavy roster start their season with seven straight games against top 10 competition.

The class did grow into its role, but it took time. Two freshmen, driver Presley Pender and two-meter Bryce Beckwith, ended up finishing second and third in scoring for the Wolverines with 33 and 32 goals, respectively. Freshman driver Ali Thomason was a valuable contributor as well, recording 13 goals and 14 assists.