Barbara Kalbus Invitational Next Up for Wolverines

THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., Feb. 22-24 -- Barbara Kalbus Invitational (Irvine, Calif.)
Friday, Feb. 22 -- vs. No. 12 Loyola Marymount, 3 p.m. PST
Saturday, Feb. 23 -- vs. No. 3 UCLA or No. 17 Long Beach State, 11:45 a.m. PST
Saturday, Feb. 23 – TBA, 4:00 or 5:15 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 24 -- TBA

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Barbara Kalbus Invitational (Feb. 22-24) brings together the top teams in the nation each year, and this year also will serve as the final tournament away from home in 2019 for the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan water polo team.

The Wolverines will look to continue its success from its most recent tournament, the Triton Invitational (Feb. 9-10) in San Diego, California. U-M defeated two top-10 teams and placed third at the event to move up from No. 8 in the rankings.

This weekend, Michigan will start the tournament in Bracket C along with No. 3 UCLA, No. 12 Loyola Marymount and No. 17 Long Beach State.

Team 19

• Michigan is 6-5 on the season and ranked No. 6 in the country.
• The Wolverines have played one of the toughest schedules in the country with three wins over top-10 teams and four of their five losses coming to teams ranked in the top three in the polls.
• The No. 6 ranking is Michigan's highest since May 10, 2017. It is the 16th week under Dr. Marcelo Leonardi that the Wolverines have been ranked No. 6 or higher in his five seasons.
• Freshman Abby Andrews was named CWPA Rookie of the Week after each of Michigan's three tournaments this season. She leads the squad with 15 goals, 15 assists, 30 points, 13 steals, four field blocks and 13 sprints won.
• Junior Heidi Ritner has started all 11 games at goalkeeper for U-M; she has 59 saves on the season.
• Andrews and junior Maddy Steere are Michigan's leaders in points, but also have the highest shooting percentages on the team. Andrews is converting 45.5 percent of her shots into goals and Steere is close behind with a .444 shooting percentage.
• Freshman Erin Neustrom and senior Kim Johnson have had a knack for drawing exclusions, with 37 combined on the year. Neustrom has drawn five or more in three different games this season, while Johnson has drawn at least one in nine of the 11 games and has a season high of six against CSUN on Feb. 9.

Last Time Out

• Michigan placed third at the Triton Invitational in San Diego, after knocking off a pair of ranked teams, No. 9 Arizona State (6-5) and No. 6 UC Irvine (9-8).
• Andrews led Michigan with six goals, eight assists and 14 points at the tournament. She came up big in the third-place game with three goals and three assists against No. 6 UC Irvine.
• Michigan beat Arizona State to reach the semifinals, but lost to No. 1 USC for the second time on the season. Ritner had a season-high 12 saves in the loss to the Trojans.
• Sophomore Emily Ritner came off the bench to score a career-high three goals against No. 21 Cal State Northridge in the opening game of the weekend.
• Johnson had a great all-around performance with five goals, nine drawn exclusions and six steals in the four games.

Opponents

• Three of the last five meetings between Michigan and UCLA have been decided by one or two goals, including a 9-7 Bruins win at the UCSB Winter Invite on Jan. 20. Despite the recent nailbiters, UCLA has never lost to the Wolverines in 21 games. This season, the Bruins are 14-1 with the only loss coming to No. 1 USC on Feb. 10 at the Triton Invitational, 10-3.
• LMU holds a 15-8 lead in the all-time series with U-M, but all five meetings with Leonardi as Michigan's coach have gone in favor of the Wolverines. The last matchup was a 13-3 U-M win on March 17 of last season. This season, the Lions are 4-5 overall with three losses by two goals or fewer against top-10 teams.
• Long Beach State holds a 10-6 advantage over the Wolverines in the all-times series. In his first season as head coach at Michigan, Leonardi's Wolverines lost, 6-5, the first time he faced The Beach, but has since won four straight matchups. Both games last year finished in 8-6 Michigan wins. LBSU is 2-6 on the year with one win over a ranked opponent.

Milestone Watch

• Junior Maddy Steere is six assists away from 100 for her career. She is also 14 points away from moving into the top 10 in career points at Michigan.
• Senior Kim Johnson is three goals shy of becoming the sixth player in program history with 200 career goals. She needs three assists to move past Sharayah Hernandez into ninth all-time and needs two points to pass Ali Thomason for fifth most in school history. Johnson also is eight drawn exclusions shy of the 150 mark in her career. Only four other Wolverines have reached that total.

Home Opener

• Michigan will host a home tournament March 2-3 with six schools coming to Ann Arbor for the Wolverine Invitational.
• The participating schools include Fresno State, Long Beach State, Marist, Pacific, Saint Francis (Pa.) and UC San Diego.
• Admission to all U-M home games is free of charge.