Aug. 17, 2010

LONG BEACH - The 2010 Long Beach State men's water polo team was picked to finish No. 7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation preseason coaches' poll the league office announced Monday. California was selected to win the MPSF conference championship in the preseason poll.

Last year the 49ers were 9-12, but head coach Gavin Arroyo welcomes back 12 letterwinners and five starters including juniors Alexsandr Petrovic, Taylor Clute and Jordan Koeppen. Petrovic, who led The Beach in scoring, was an all MPSF performer last season finishing tenth in the conference in goals scored. Petrovic scored a team high 35 goals in 21 games last season. Clute was fifth on the team in scoring with 11 goals and is the second leading returning goal scorer for The Beach. Koeppen was selected last season to the MPSF All-Academic team and was sixth on the team in scoring with 10 goals.

The Beach will officially begin the 2010 season the weekend of September 4, along with several other MPSF teams, opening at the UC Irvine Invitational.

California received four of nine first-place votes and 58 total points in taking the No. 1 spot in the 2010 MPSF Men's Water Polo Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Bears are coming off a 22-6 season, culminating in a second-place finish at the conference tournament last November. Four returning All-Americans highlight their roster in seniors Brian Dudley and Zach White, along with juniors Ivan Rackov and Cory Nasoff. The Beach will travel up to Berkley twice this season first for the Norcal Tournament on September 18-19 and again on November 7 to play the Bears in a MPSF match.

2009 MPSF Tournament Champion UCLA collected 55 points and a pair of top votes for second-place in the poll, led by a group of veterans this year that include Ben Hohl and Cullen Hennessey. Stanford also earned two first-place votes and was just one point behind the Bruins with 54, returning two-time First Team All-American Sage Wright. Defending back-to-back national champion USC picked up one first-place vote with 44 points. All-Americans Joel Dennerley (GK) and Peter Kurzeka return from last year's unbeaten regular conference season.