ASU water polo looks to stay hot in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational

(Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

Arizona State Water Polo looks to redeem its disappointing ninth-place performance in the Triton Invitational in its second knockout-style tournament of the year, the Barbara Kalbus Invitational.

The No. 10 Sun Devils (13-3, 0-1 MPSF) travel to Irvine, California, for a stacked tournament featuring the sixth highest ranked teams in the nation and ten of the top eleven.

In its previous knockout-style invitational, the Triton Invitational, ASU was upset in the first round by no. 10 UC San Diego in an overtime thriller before ASU beat three lesser opponents. ASU is coming off a four-win weekend in its round-robin tournament, the Cross Conference Invitational.

In this tournament, ASU will play four games. Its opponents will be based on their record within the tournament.

This will be ASU’s eighteenth appearance in the tournament. The team has historically finished 36-32 in the tournament, with a best finish of fourth in 2013. It averages just over seventh place all-time in the tournament.

In the 2025 edition, ASU squares off against No. 8 Long Beach State on Friday at 12:20 pm AZT. The Sun Devils are 9-9 all-time against the Sharks, with the Sharks winning the last three matches, all of which came in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in the past three years.

Historically the Sharks’ attack against ASU has been from two returning players. Junior attacker Elisa Portillo has eight goals scored against ASU and senior attacker Martina Cardona has netted five.

ASU will have to use different players to score as the only current players who scored against Long Beach State are Allison Kokorowski and junior center Sophie Shorter-Robinson who scored twice. ASU will hope junior attacker Millie Quin and freshman Itziar Almeda, the team’s leading scorers, will step up.

This year ASU and Long Beach State have played five common opponents. Long Beach State is 4-1 compared to ASU which has a 3-2 record, the difference being ASU lost to UCSD where Long Beach State beat the Tritons. Both teams have comparable numbers against those teams with the Sharks scoring 72 and allowing 51 with Sun Devils playing a smidge closer games scoring 68 and allowing 53.

On Saturday, ASU will play two games, against unknown opponents since this is a knockout-style tournament. Their first game of the day will be either against no. 1 USC who is a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival or Biola who ASU beat 19-5 in the Hawaii Invitational.

Their second game on Saturday will be against a team that appears on the Sun Devils schedule twice. They could play MPSF conference rival No. 2 Stanford, who ASU will play later in the season, no. 8 UC Davis who ASU beat in the ASU Invitational, No.11 UC San Diego who was ASU’s lone loss in the Triton Invitational or Cal State Fullerton who ASU beat in the Cross Conference Invitational.

ASU will wrap up the tournament on Sunday with one game. ASU could play an MPSF conference foe such as No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Cal or No. 17 Indiana among other teams.

Notably, ASU junior goalie Sanne Keijzer has not appeared since the Triton Invitational. If she can return, it will help ASU lean on her experience in these tough games. If she cannot return, freshman Keri Glad will likely start in net for the Sun Devils.

This tournament will serve as a final test for the Sun Devils before MPSF conference play. If ASU plays well, they could make some noise down the road.

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