Jan. 23, 2004
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State's women's water polo squad is ranked fifth in the preseason Collegiate Coaches Water Polo poll. The Aztecs are coming off a 21-12 season in 2003. They finished the season ranked sixth in the country.
SDSU returns 13 letterwinners and five starters from the squad, including three time All-American Holly Hartzell. In the nine seasons of SDSU water polo, the team has never finished lower in eighth in the final national rankings.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation boasts each of the top five schools in the poll and seven of the top eight. Defending NCAA Champion UCLA was picked first, followed by USC, Stanford, and Long Beach State. Loyola Marymount, the lone squad not from the MPSF in the top eight, is tied with SDSU in fifth position with 77 points. California-Berkeley and Hawaii are the final schools from the top conference in the nation, while Indiana and Michigan round out the top 10.
The Aztecs will face the SDSU Alumni on Jan. 31 to open the 2004 season. The contest will be at the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center beginning at noon. The regular season kicks off at the UCSD Invitational on February 7-8, while the home opener is against No. 8 Hawaii on Feb. 26 at 6:00 p.m.
2004 Preseason Collegiate Coaches Water Polo Top 20 Poll
1. UCLA (98)2. USC (95)3. Stanford (91)4. Long Beach State (86)5. San Diego State (77) Loyola Marymount (77)7. UC-Berkeley (73)8. Hawaii (63)9. Indiana (57)10. Michigan (54)11. UC-Santa Barbara (49)12. UC-Davis (45)13. San Jose State (43)14. UC-San Diego (35)15. Brown (29) UC-Irvine (29)17. Arizona State (18)18. Princeton (15)19. Hartwick (11)20. California Baptist (7)