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LOS ANGELES - The UCLA Bruins, the 2014 defending NCAA Champion, will open the season on top of the sport as the squad holds the No. 1 position in the 2015 Preseason CWPA Top 20 Poll.
The Bruins (99 points) fell one point shy of being a unanimous top selection, and lead a Preseason Top 10 in which only three teams held onto their final spots from the 2014 season.
USC (93 points) clings to the No. 2 slot after falling to the Bruins in the 2014 NCAA title tilt, while the California (90 points) jumps up to No. 3 after finishing last season ranked fifth. Stanford (87 points), Pacific (78 points), Long Beach State (75 points), UC Santa Barbara (66 points), Pepperdine (54 points), UC Irvine (53 points) and UC San Diego (52 points) wrap-up an All-West Coast Top 10.
The sports' Eastern contingent breaks into the Top 20 at No. 11 as defending Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion Brown (45 points) and league runner-up Princeton (45 points) are tied just outside the Top 10.
UC Davis (44 points), Loyola Marymount (41 points) and Navy (26 points) rate at No. 13-to-15, respectively.
San Jose State (17 points), which will field a men's varsity water polo team for the first time since 1981, will restart its program with a national ranking as the Spartans are rated at No. 16 in the preseason balloting.
St. Francis Brooklyn (15 points) and Air Force (15 points) stand tied at No. 17, while MIT (14 points) and Bucknell (14 points) complete the Top 20 by tying at No. 19.
Harvard (9 points), Whittier (9 points), Santa Clara (8 points) and Cal Baptist (7 points) all received votes.
UCLA returns six All-Americans, led by first-teamers Gordon Marshall and goalkeeper Garrett Danner. Marshall scored the game-winner in the 2014 National Championship to finish the year with 39 goals, while Danner has led the MPSF in goals-against average for the past two seasons (5.91 in 2014; 6.32 in 2013).
UCLA also returns All-American Danny McClintick, a senior utility who was named 2014 NCAA Tournament MVP after scoring four goals in the championship game.
First sprint to the 2015 season is September 5, while MPSF Conference action kicks-off September 26. UCLA will host the NCAA Championship December 5-6, following the NCAA Play-In games on November 28. Since its inaugural season of 1992, the MPSF has captured all 23 NCAA titles in men's water polo.
2015 CWPA PRESEASON TOP 20 POLL
| Rank | Team | 2014 Final Poll | Points |
| 1 | UCLA | 1 | 99 |
| 2 | USC | 2 | 93 |
| 3 | California | 5 | 90 |
| 4 | Stanford | 3 | 87 |
| 5 | Pacific | T-8 | 78 |
| 6 | Long Beach State | 4 | 75 |
| 7 | UC Santa Barbara | 7 | 66 |
| 8 | Pepperdine | 10 | 54 |
| 9 | UC Irvine | 12 | 53 |
| 10 | UC San Diego | 6 | 52 |
| T-11 | Brown | T-8 | 45 |
| T-11 | Princeton | 11 | 45 |
| 13 | UC Davis | 13 | 44 |
| 14 | Loyola Marymount | T-14 | 41 |
| 15 | Navy | T-14 | 26 |
| 16 | San Jose State | NR | 17 |
| T-17 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 16 | 15 |
| T-17 | Air Force | 18 | 15 |
| T-19 | MIT | NR | 14 |
| T-19 | Bucknell | 17 | 14 |