TEMPE – The Arizona State University water polo team will host representatives from the Shanghai Water Polo Team this weekend as part of a five-game exhibition series at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe, Ariz., beginning Friday, Jan. 8.
The Sun Devils will host the exhibitions as part of the team’s annual “Hell Week” as the team returns from the winter break to prepare for the coming 2016 season, set to begin Jan. 23 in Tempe against Indiana.
The Shanghai club is a part of the Shanghai Sports Institute and is led by head coach Shenghua Pan. Shenghua was the Chinese National Team’s assistant coach at the 2008 and 2012 Olympiads and is a former Olympian himself, competing at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and helping the squad to a ninth-place finish.
The Shanghai Water Polo team features five former Chinese National team members and will spend a week in Tempe training as part of its stateside exhibition tour.
The exhibition series marks a change of form for Sun Devil water polo in a month of January that will allow fans to see the perennial top-five ASU squad in action nine times before the team debarks on its annual February tournament schedule in California.
A typical ASU season doesn’t see the Sun Devils in the water at Mona Plummer until March, and fans are welcomed to take advantage of the free admission to this week’s contests to get their first look at a 2016 roster that has head Todd Clapper – now in his 11th season at the helm of the program – looking forward to a run at the NCAA Tournament in May.
With a roster featuring several returning starters and reserve players from previous seasons stepping into larger roles, as well as the addition of eight new newcomers, expectations are high for a team that has as much depth as it has seen in program history.
The Sun Devils have established themselves as one of the elite teams in the country in the last couple years. In the last four seasons, the Sun Devils have compiled an 84-34 record under Clapper. In that time, the team has posted 14 All-America honors while earning the first victory over UCLA in program history, beating Cal on the road for the first time ever and matching a program-best upset with a victory over second-ranked USC two years ago.
The weekend’s action will get underway at Friday at 6 p.m. at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The two squads will play a pair of games on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. followed by another set of games to wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 9 a.m. and Noon. Admission is free to the public.