UCLA Continues Reign as Top Men’s College Water Polo Team

LOS ANGELES, California, October 2. PROVING that last week’s No. 1 ranking was no fluke, the UCLA men’s water polo team stands atop the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s coaches’ poll again this week ahead of crosstown rival USC.

The Southern California Trojans had enjoyed 100 weeks at the top of the coaches’ poll, dating back to November 2011, but when the Trojans lost to the Bruins on Sept. 21 in the final of the NorCal tournament, the top two schools on the poll flip-flopped.

UCLA maintained its ranking thanks to a trip of wins over the weekend. First, they handled Pepperdine on Friday with a score of 8-7 then trounced Loyola Marymount on Saturday with a 17-4 tally. The Bruins rounded out the weekend with a 15-3 win over Princeton later on Saturday.

Those three wins were deemed better than USC’s victories over Princeton (22-4) and Whittier (23-2) on Saturday.

The rest of the top 10 rankings in the coaches’ poll also experienced a shakeup in a couple of slots, with some teams suffering big losses that resulted in some drops in placings.

College Division I top 10: (number in parentheses is last week’s rank)
1. UCLA (1)
2. USC (2)
3. Pacific (5)
4. Stanford (3)
4. California (4)
6. UC-Santa Barbara (6)
7. Long Beach (7)
8. Pepperdine (9)
9. UC-Irvine (10)
10. Loyola Marymount (8)

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