Mann named MVP

The high from beating the top-ranked men’s water polo team in the nation has subsided, but that doesn’t mean John Mann is not enjoying the results.

A day after leading the Cal Bears to a 6-5 win over USC that snapped the Trojans’ 44-game win streak, Mann, the Corona del Mar High product, was named MVP of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament.

Mann, a senior two-meter player for Cal, was also named to the All-MPSF first team.

“I was really excited about that [MVP award],” Mann said in a phone interview as he came out of practice Tuesday. “We’re down off the high of beating USC. As soon as we got to the airport, the patting on the back was over and it was back to business. The celebration is over. We haven’t accomplished our true goal.”

Mann and the Bears (29-4) will face UC San Diego (25-5), which includes former Newport Harbor player Nathan Weiner, 5 p.m. in the four-team NCAA national tournament Saturday at Loyola Marymount. USC (25-1) will play against Navy (24-5) at 3 p.m. The championship game is Sunday at 5 p.m.

Cal earned an automatic bid to the tournament by defeating USC and winning the MPSF tourney. Mann led the Bears to their first MPSF title since 2002 by knocking in a team-high six goals with six ejections earned.

In the opening round, he scored three goals against Long Beach State, followed by a team-high two goals against UCLA in the semifinals.

In the championship match against USC, Mann added another goal and was a huge factor in the Bears’ upset of the defending national champions. He drew a key penalty with 1:12 remaining, which led to Jeff Tyrrell’s game-winning goal from the penalty shot.

Mann, who is a top candidate for the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation’s top collegiate water polo player, leads the Bears in scoring this season with 76 goals.

UCLA’s Michael March, also a former Corona del Mar star, earned first-team All-MPSF and all-tournament honors. March, a senior, helped lead the Bruins to a third-place finish in the MPSF tournament at UC Irvine by scoring five goals in three games.

March recorded one goal in UCLA’s 17-1 rout of Pacific and also scored two goals each in an 8-5 loss to Cal and in the Bruins’ 9-8 overtime win over Stanford on Sunday. March scored at least one goal in 10 of UCLA’s last matches, including the final seven games.

UC Irvine’s Collin Mello, who led the MPSF in scoring with 87 goals, earned second-team All-MPSF honors. The Anteaters finished 10-21 and tied for sixth in the eight-team MPSF. UCI will feature more of a veteran squad next year led by the return of Mello.

The Anteaters will also receive a boost from the return of Tim Hutten and Cole Bitter, who both redshirted this year. Hutten was a second-team All-American in 2005.

UC Santa Barbara’s Ross Sinclair, a junior driver and a Newport Harbor product, was named to the All-MPSF second team. He helped the Gauchos to a 21-14 record, marking the first season since 1990 that UCSB has finished with 20 or more wins.

He was the only player from UC Santa Barbara named to any of the All-MPSF three teams.

The Gauchos finished fifth at the MPSF tournament, defeating Pacific, 15-12, on Sunday.

USC sophomore Jovan Vranes, a product of Newport Harbor High, received All-MPSF third-team honors. He played two-meter defense for the Trojans.

USC senior driver Juan Delgadillo, who led the Trojans with 48 goals, was named the MPSF Player of the Year.