Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific men's water polo team earned five All-American awards from the AWPCA, the most in program history, while senior Balazs Erdelyi earned National Player of the Year honors.
Erdelyi, redshirt senior Goran Tomasevic and senior Alex Malkis were named First Team All-American, while junior Alex Obert earned second team honors. Kevin Oliveira was named All-American Honorable Mention.
Head Coach James Graham also earned National Coach of the Year accolades in guiding the Tigers to the NCAA Championship finals, where Pacific finished as the national runner-up. Pacific went 23-5 with the MPSF regular season title and the program's second-ever NCAA berth. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Championship game before falling to six-time champion USC in overtime. Graham becomes the fourth different coach in Pacific athletics history to win a national coach of the year award, joining volleyball's Taras Liskevych (1979, 80, 84) and John Dunning (1985) and football's Amos Alonzo Stagg (1943).
With the AWPCA Player of the Year Award, Erdelyi completed his collection of awards, winning every major honor at least once in his career: All-Conference, MPSF Player of the Year, NCAA Championship Most Valuable Player, Freshman All-American, MPSF Freshman of the Year, All-American, Peter J. Cutino Award, and now ACWPA NCAA Player of the Year.
With a modern-era record of seven goals in the NCAA title game, Erdelyi was named Most Valuable Player of the 2013 NCAA Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship. Erdelyi's seven goals in the final are the most since the two-point line was removed. He also became the fourth player to win solo MVP honors while bringing home the second place trophy.
Erdelyi set Pacific's single-season record for goals with 96, a mark which was third best in MPSF history. His 3.43 goals per game led the MPSF in scoring. He scored in each of the final 78 games of his collegiate career, dating back to season opener of his sophomore campaign. He finished with 287 career goals, second all-time in Pacific history.
Tomasevic earned First Team honors for the third time in his career after taking home the award in 2010 and 2011. The First Team All-MPSF award winner scored 66 goals this season in his return to the pool after redshirting last year. He ranked eighth in the MPSF in scoring at 2.44 per game. Tomasevic's 202 career goals is fourth all-time at Pacific.
Malkis was stellar in net for Pacific as he earned First Team honors for te first time in his career after earning Honorable Mention accolades in 2012 and 2010. He turned in 14.41 saves per game, second in the MPSF. He posted 17 saves in the National Championship game, and tallied 19 saves against Stanford on Sept. 21 at the NorCal Tournament, while adding 14 against the Cardinal in Pacific's regular season MPSF victory.
Malkis turned away 16 shots in Pacific's upset of then-No. 1 USC on November 2. Against No. 2 UCLA, in the must-win MPSF Tournament Third Place game, Malkis made 13 saves, including a pair of five-meter penalty stops, and a last-second flurry to preserve the one-goal win that sent Pacific to the NCAA Tournament. He finished his career second all-time at Pacific in saves with 1,057 career stops, four back of the Tigers' career record.
Obert, a Second-Team All-American last season, scored 44 goals in 28 games, which ranked 19th in the MPSF. With Tomasevic and Obert both primary centers, Obert shuffled between a variety of different roles to allow both players to be in the pool simultaneously. He posted a pair of goals in the NCAA Semifinal win over Stanford, including the game-winner.
Kevin Oliveira earned his first All-American honor. The senior scored 41 goals in 28 games, 28th in MPSF, including three goals in the NCAA championship tournament. He also tallied three goals in the MPSF Third Place game, pushing Pacific into the NCAA Tournament. He scored multiple goals in a game 13 times for the Tigers.
Pacific set a program record for most All-Americans for the second-straight season. The Tigers had a then-best four in 2012 (Erdelyi, Malkis, Obert and Aleksandar Petrovic).
