FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State water polo team enters the 2025 season ranked No. 9 in the preseason Collegiate Water Polo Association national team rankings, announced on Wednesday.
Fresno State is the highest ranked Golden Coast Conference team in the preseason announcement with LMU next at No. 10.
The Bulldogs are a little over a week away from their season opener against Michigan, who was ranked 14th in the preseason poll. Fresno State is coming off of its fourth-consecutive GCC tournament title, and a 21-8 overall record in 2024.
The Bulldogs return all three All-Americans from a season ago in Hailey Andress (second team), Brooke Ochoa (honorable mention) and Abbey Simshauser (honorable mention). The Bulldogs added seven new faces to the roster for 2025, including six true freshmen and one transfer.
Fresno State is led by head coach Natalie Benson, who earned her 100th win as head coach in the GCC Championship win last April. Benson enters her eighth season at the helm of the program, hired to lead the 'Dogs in their inaugural 2018 season. She has a 100-71 overall record at Fresno State.
The Central Valley program looks to extend on the success that it saw in 2024, its best season in program history. The 2024 season was a big year of firsts for the program as the Bulldogs opened the season by winning six in-a-row, including a win over then-No. 1 Stanford. It was the first time in program history that the 'Dogs took down a top-ranked opponent and the first time they defeated Stanford. Two weeks later, the Bulldogs would again defeat the nation's No. 1 team, this time in USC. The win on Feb. 3 was the first time the Bulldogs defeated USC in program history. Before defeating USC at the Triton Invite, the 'Dogs defeated UC Irvine – the first win in the series for the Bulldogs.
With a record of 8-3, and having defeated seven ranked teams in that span, the Bulldogs earned themselves the highest national team ranking in program history, checking in at No. 3. Fresno State earned the highest ranking by any program in Golden Coast Conference history at No. 3.
The 2025 season kicks off with the Polopalooza, Fresno State's premier home-hosted tournament. The Bulldogs open the season against No. 14 Michigan on January 17 at 5 p.m.