Indiana University Athletics
Water Polo Opens Season Ranked No. 11
1/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Jan. 26, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana women's water polo team opens the 2006 season where it began the 2005 campaign - ranked No. 11 in the National Collegiate Women's Top 20 Poll released on Jan. 26. The Hoosiers were 11th in the preseason poll a season ago before they went on to spend the rest of the season in the top 10. IU also is ranked fourth in the preseason College Water Polo Association (CWPA) poll.
Last season, the Hoosiers reached their highest ranking in school history. IU climbed to No. 6 in the poll on Feb. 16, 2005 and Feb. 23, 2005. Indiana finished the year 10th after falling in the CWPA Eastern Championship game to rival Michigan in a tough, 7-6, affair. The championship was held at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center for the first time since IU joined the CWPA in 2001. IU finished the season ranked second in the CWPA poll.
The 2006 squad returns a trio of starters including two of its top playmakers. Senior Janis Pardy and junior Kristin Zernicke topped the team in assists a season ago with 39 and 34, respectively. Those numbers are the fourth and sixth-best single-season totals in school history. Pardy is also the team's top returning goal scorer after she found the back of the net on 30 occasions a season ago. Zernicke, who earned CWPA Western Division Player of the Week honor on April 7, 2005, led the Hoosiers in steals for the second straight season with 45 swipes in 2005.
The Hoosiers will host the CWPA Western Division Championship on April 22-23, 2006. The top two teams at the divisional championship earn a sport in the CWPA Eastern Championship. The CWPA winner will earn one of five automatic bids to the NCAA Championship in Davis, Calif., May 12-14.
Indiana opens the season at the Michigan Kickoff Tournament, Feb. 4-5. IU will have a difficult opening to the season with its first three contests coming against ranked foes. Indiana opens against No. 17 UC-San Diego on Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. In the nightcap, the Hoosiers will face host No. 8 Michigan at 6 p.m. On Feb. 5, Indiana battles No. 7 Long Beach State at 8 a.m., before closing the tournament against Colorado State at 12:30 p.m.
National Collegiate Women's Top 20 Poll Preseason
1. UCLA
2. USC
3. Stanford
4. Hawaii
5. Loyola Marymount
6. California
7. Long Beach State
8. Michigan
9. San Diego State
10. UC-Santa Barbara
11. INDIANA
12. San Jose State
T13. Hartwick
T13. UC-Davis
15. UC-Irvine
16. Arizona State
17. UC-San Diego
18. CSU-Northridge
19. Princeton
20. Santa Clara
Women's CWPA Top 10 Poll Preseason
1. Hartwick
2. Michigan
3. Princeton
4. INDIANA
5. Harvard
6. Bucknell
7. Brown
8. Maryland
9. George Washington
10. Gannon
