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Colorado State University Athletics
Rams ready for conference tournament
4/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
April 22, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
By Zach Balside
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The CSU Rams (14-15, 9-5 Western Water Polo Association) enter this weekend's Western Water Polo Association tournament seeded sixth, the highest they have ever been ranked in program history. The Rams will play Chapman on Friday and hope to advance to play host Santa Clara Friday afternoon.
After finishing sixth in the regular season with a conference record of 9-5, the Rams are hoping to finish higher than ever before in school history with a strong showing in Santa Clara.
Coach Mike Moody feels confident going into the Chapman game. With a win against Chapman, the Rams would play third-seeded Santa Clara in the afternoon.
"Our girls are looking good right now," Moody said. "We're excited to hopefully get the first game out of the way and move on. If we can win the first one, it would be a nice tune-up for us, and set us up well for Santa Clara."
Moody also reiterated that they will not overlook the lowest-seeded Chapman squad.
"We're not going to look past anyone," Moody said. "We're just going to stick to the game plan that has gotten us here."
All season long Moody has emphasized strong team play, and that doesn't look to change for this tournament.
"We're not changing much," Moody said. "We've trained hard. Our main focus is to play four periods each game. We've had a really good season and we're just hoping to continue that."
In looking ahead to a potential Santa Clara matchup, Moody was rather optimistic. The Rams looked impressive in a close 8-5 loss at Santa Clara on April 4.
"It should be a really good game," Moody said. "We're ready for them and they'll be ready for us. It's probably one of the most important games in school history."
Individually, the Rams have gotten incredible performances from multiple players this season, notably sophomore Ali Pavlik, junior goalkeeper Krystyna McCright, and freshman Kallie Berry, who were all recognized with individual honors this week by the WWPA. Pavlik was named second-team all-conference, McCright honorable mention-all conference, and Berry made the all-freshman team. Pavlik's honor was the highest individual honor ever received by a CSU water polo player.
Moody expects those three plus the rest of the team to step up big this weekend.
"I think everyone is going to step up this weekend," Moody said. "I look for a total team effort, including off the bench with Katy Armstrong and Aspen Rapp."
The Rams will kick off the WWPA tournament with the Chapman game at 9 a.m. MT Friday. If they win, they will play Santa Clara at 5:20 p.m. MT Friday.
In all, the team feels really good going into the tournament.
"We were ranked sixth in the preseason," Moody said. "And we're sixth going into the tournament, but we feel we can do a lot better than that. Do we feel confident we can go farther than any other time in school history? Yes."
2009 WWPA Women's Championship Seedings:
1. LMU
2. CS Bakersfield
3. Santa Clara
4. UC San Diego
5. Sonoma State
6. Colorado State
7. UC Santa Cruz
8. CS East Bay
9. CS Monterey Bay
10. CS San Bernardino
11. Chapman
2009 WWPA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
On each day of the championship, games will be played at the Sullivan Aquatic Center on the campus of Santa Clara University.
Friday, April 24
Game 1 8:00 am: No. 6 Colorado State vs. No. 11 Chapman
Game 2 1:20 pm: No. 7 UC Santa Cruz vs. No. 10 CS San Bernardino
Game 3 2:40 pm: No. 8 CS East Bay vs. No. 9 CS Monterey Bay
Game 4 4:00 pm: No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 Sonoma State
Game 5 5:20 pm: No. 3 Santa Clara vs. Winner Game 1
Game 6 6:40 pm: No. 2 CS Bakersfield vs. Winner Game 2
Game 7 8:00 pm: No. 1 LMU vs. Winner Game 3
Saturday, April 25
Game 8 9:00 am: Loser #3 vs. Loser #1 (9th-11th round robin)
Game 9 10:20 am: Loser #5 vs. Loser #6 (Consolation Semifinal #1)
Game 10 11:40 am: Loser #4 vs. Loser #7 (Consolation Semifinal #2)
Game 11 1:00 pm: Winner #5 vs. Winner #6 (Semifinal #1)
Game 12 2:20 pm: Winner #4 vs. Winner #7 (Semifinal #2)
Game 13 3:40 pm: Loser #2 vs. Loser #1 (9th-11th round robin)
Sunday, April 26
Game 14 8:00 am: Loser #2 vs. Loser #3 (9th-11th round robin)
Game 15 9:30 am: Loser #9 vs. Loser #10 (7th Place Game)
Game 16 11:00 am: Winner #9 vs. Winner #10 (5th Place Game)
Game 17 12:30 pm: Loser #11 vs. Loser #12 (3rd Place Game)
Game 18 2:00 pm: Winner #11 vs. Winner #12 (Championship)
Note: Winner earns automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Higher seeded teams in all games wear DARK caps.
Lower seeded teams in all games wear WHITE caps.
