Cal Withdraws From UCI Water Polo Event

California’s water polo team, in mourning after the deaths of three students in a fire at the fraternity house where some team members live, has withdrawn from the UC Irvine tournament this weekend.

Cal Coach Steve Heaston notified Irvine on Wednesday that his team would not participate, said Bob Olson, Irvine sports information director. Team members have spent much of this week attending memorial services for the students, and a memorial is scheduled for Friday.

A fire of unknown origin swept through the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house early Saturday. Members of the water polo team were competing in a tournament in Fresno at the time of the fire. A number of Cal football players are also members of the fraternity, but were playing a game in Madison, Wis.

Cal, which lost to national champion Irvine in the NCAA water polo championship game last year, is ranked No. 1 in the nation. Friday’s first round of pool play in the Irvine tournament was to have featured a rematch of the two teams.

Cal is the only school ranked among the nation’s top eight that will not participate in the Irvine tournament, which will be held at the Marian Bergeson Pool at Corona del Mar High School. Other ranked teams competing are the host Anteaters, UCLA, Stanford, Cal State Long Beach, USC, Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara.