College Roundup: Cal Poly picked for 3rd in men’s basketball race

The Cal Poly men’s basketball team was selected to finish third in the Big West Conference preseason media poll Thursday.

The Mustangs were picked to finish behind defending regular-season champion Long Beach State (picked No. 1 with 20 first-place votes) and UC Santa Barbara (second with four first-place ballots), which is looking for its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Senior forward David Hanson was the lone Cal Poly player selected to the preseason all-conference team.

Hanson, who averaged 14.2 points per game a year ago, is one of four returning starters for the Mustangs.

Each of the five other players chosen to the all-conference team were also seniors, including Long Beach State point guard Casper Ware, the reigning Big West player of the year and defensive player of the year, and UC Santa Barbara small forward Orlando Johnson, who recently had a stint with Team USA’s college squad.

Cal State Fullerton was voted behind the Mustangs in fourth place, followed in order by UC Riverside, Pacific, UC Davis, Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine.

Cal Poly will host Division II Notre Dame de Namur in an exhibition at Mott Gym on Nov. 6 before tipping off the season at home against San Jose State on Nov. 12.

MEN’S TENNIS

Cal Poly at ITA Southwest Championships

Two Mustangs singles players advanced to the round of 32, and four doubles teams advanced to the round of 16 in Malibu, led by No. 4 seed Andre Dome, who defeated Kento Tanaka-Tamaki of Pepperdine, 6-0, 6-2.

Dome will face 17th-seeded Thibaut Visay of San Diego today.

Jurgen De Jager also advanced for Cal Poly, defeating Kelly Dickson 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 128 before defeating UC Santa Barbara’s Alexander Gyazanov 7-5, 6-0. Jager will face Clay Thomson of UCLA in the round of 32.

The doubles team of Sebastian Bell and Marco Comuzzo defeated Max Glenn and Mons Knudtzon of UCSB 9-7 to advance to the round of 16, where they will face No. 1-seeded Sebastian Fanselow and Jenson Turner of Pepperdine today.

Cal Poly’s teams of Dome and Jordan Bridge, Jager and Brian McPhee and Jordan Keplar and Naveen Beasley all received byes into the round of 16.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

Cuesta 11, Citrus 9

The Cougars (15-8, 3-0) sprinted out to a 6-1 lead after the first period in a Western State Conference match and then held on.

Cuesta pulled some of its starters after its early lead, and Citrus was able to cut the deficit to 7-6 after the third quarter.

Loren Kasenberg made 12 saves for Cuesta. Alex O’Connor had four goals to lead the Cougars. Erin Hasenkamp had three goals, Alexandria Bernard scored twice, and Amanda Brown and Haylie Fry each had one goal.

“I tried to get our starters some rest because all four games this weekend at the Long Beach Tournament are against teams ranked ahead of us,” Cuesta head coach Pete Schuler said. “We’ve got to sharpen up or it’s going to be a long weekend for us.”