Wolverines Finish 9th at US Open of Water Polo

BERKELEY, Calif. -- A group of 10 University of Michigan water polo players competed together at the USA Water Polo US Opens in Berkeley, California, over the weekend, placing ninth overall.

In the annual open tournament, the Wolverines pieced together a strong final day with victories over Cal (8-4) and the New York Athletic Club B (12-9) to finish in ninth place. Michigan also picked up victories over Santa Barbara 805 (11-5) and Sunset San Diego (7-6) to go 4-2 over the course of three days. Losses came to 680 Water Polo (5-11) and Stanford (5-9).

The tournament gave Michigan a chance to see the individual growth over the last two months since the NCAA Championship. The standout performer for the Wolverines was junior Julia Sellers. After becoming a starter in her sophomore year, Sellers finished third on the team with 56 goals in 2017. This weekend she was the go-to scorer, leading the team with 18 goals and scoring three or more in all four wins.

Senior Christina O'Beck stepped up at the center position and drew 10 exclusions on the weekend. She added nine goals as well, almost matching her 2017 total of 11 goals.

Senior Caroline Anderson continued to run the offense for U-M as she again piled up the assists, finishing with 15 in the six games. She was also a crafty defender with 13 steals.

Sophomore goalkeeper Heidi Ritner finished strong with 39 saves and 20 goals allowed in the final four games. She had 44 total saves on the weekend.

Also competing were junior Delaney Cleveland (three goals, five assists), senior Laura Jimenez (five goals, two assists), sophomore Rachel Sodokoff (one goal, one assist), sophomore Skyler Pyle (three goals, four assists), sophomore Arija Walsh (three goals) and sophomore goalkeeper Cameron Cordial (13 saves).

Three incoming freshmen and one alum also competed for other squads at the US Opens.

Betsey Armstrong, a two-time Olympic medalist and Michigan's career saves record holder, played one game for the champion New York Athletic Club A team. She led them to a 7-5 win over UCLA, making seven saves and allowing four goals.

Armstrong's team topped the USA Junior National Team in the championship game, 7-3. Playing on the junior team was freshman Maddy Johnston. She had one goal, one assist and two steals as the team went 4-1 in competition.

Johnston's club teammate for the summer and fellow freshman Maddie O'Reilly helped lead 680 Water Polo to a sixth-place finish. O'Reilly scored seven goals and had three steals while 680 recorded a mark of 4-2.

Freshman Brittany Prentice played for Santa Barbara 805 and placed 14th overall. Prentice scored four goals to go with four assists as her team went 2-4 overall.

U-M will have the rest of the summer off before returning to campus to start classes on Tuesday, Sept. 5.