Sept. 22, 2016
The San Jose State University men's water polo team could face at least two top-10 ranked opponents as one of 16 teams in the Mountain Pacific Invitational hosted by the University of California. The three-day tournament begins Friday, September 23, at the Spieker Aquatic Center on the University of California campus and at Northgate High School in nearby Walnut Creek.
The Spartans (2-4) open the four-match tournament against #5-ranked Stanford (5-1), Friday, September 23, at 5:15 p.m. in the Northgate High pool. San Jose State and the Cardinal are two of the four teams in Bracket D. #4-ranked Pacific and unranked Air Force comprise the rest of Bracket D. The winners of these two matches face each other on September 24 at 9:25 a.m., in Berkeley while the losers play at the same time in Walnut Creek.
San Jose State seeks to end a three-match losing streak when it takes on the Cardinal. The Spartans notched their second win over a top-20 ranked team, #16-Cal Baptist, at the Aggie Roundup in Davis, Calif., but lost to unranked Fresno Pacific, Redlands and #11-ranked UC Davis.
Davor Koret and Ivan Stefanovic share the team lead in goals scored with seven each. Koret and Marc Webber are the team's leading scorers with 10 points apiece.
Head coach Bruce Watson continues to divide the goalkeeping duties between Todd Palmer, Cole Williams and Corey Valencia. Palmer has the best goals against average (7.83) and is second in save percentage (.511) on the team.
Besides Pacific, Stanford and Air Force, UCLA, Pepperdine, UC Irvine and Pomona Pitzer in Group A; USC, Long Beach State, UC Davis and Santa Clara in Group B; and Cal, UC Santa Barbara and Whittier in Group C complete the field.
Collegiate Water Polo Association national weekly coaches poll
September 21, 2016
| Rank, Team | Points |
| 1. UCLA | 99 |
| 2. USC | 96 |
| 3. California | 91 |
| 4. Pacific | 85 |
| 5. Stanford | 81 |
| 6. UC Santa Barbara | 73 |
| 7. Long Beach State | 72 |
| 8. Harvard | 58 |
| UC Irvine | 58 |
| 10. Pepperdine | 56 |
| 11. UC Davis | 47 |
| Princeton | 47 |
| 13. Bucknell | 41 |
| 14. UC San Diego | 39 |
| 15. Brown | 34 |
| 16. Cal Baptist | 17 |
| George Washington | 17 |
| 18. San José State | 15 |
| 19. Santa Clara | 8 |
| 20. Fresno Pacific | 7 |