The team prepares for a tough rest of the season, in hopes to win its division. Photo by Evan Triantafilidis.From the end of last season to this past week, the ASU men’s water polo team has been preparing hard for this tournament.
The two-day tournament this weekend has caused preparation changes within the team, as the team faces four games in the span of 24 hours.
That’s some serious pool time.
“Preparation for tournaments this year is very different then the past," junior captain Kevin Dunn says. “We are not resting in the week before the tournament but instead pushing hard to get better and just working hard straight through our tournaments until the end.”
The team hopes to build chemistry and develop a team-oriented strategy.
“We are looking to shape our team more on an all around effort rather than trusting on one main player,”Dunn says. “You never know who is going to play the best on our team this year because the ball will be spread around to everyone and we will all get our chances.”
The two-day tournament consists of ASU, the University of New Mexico, and the U of A’s "A" and "B" team. The finale of the tournament, Sunday at 10:45 a.m., features the "A" teams of ASU and U of A.
Last season, ASU captured the Rocky Mountain Division Championship to make it their third title since 2008.
This season, things are different. Dunn says that "this team is very different than the past."
"Even though we aren't quite as deep as last year we feel like we still have some depth on the team and as our new players start stepping into their roles our team will continue getting better,” he says.
Despite the experience lost, the team still has goals and plans on being strictly business in the water. Behind coach AJ Grucky, the Sun Devils should have no problem getting ranked nationally.
“Every player on this team has their own individual goals that all come together and result to one main goal for our team this year and that is to leave everything we have in the pool,” Dunn says.
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