MERCED, Calif. – University of California, Merced men's water polo sophomore center Altug Misirli Jr. has been named the WWPA Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Wednesday afternoon.

This is Misirli Jr's. first career weekly honor and men's water polo's first of the season. Overall, he is the second WWPA Offensive Player of the Week in program history, joining Andrew Jones who earned the award twice last season.

Misirli Jr. was selected after scoring ten goals on the Bobcats East Coast road trip over the weekend. He scored in four of the Bobcats five games and had three multi-goal performances, including tying his career-high with four goals against NCAA Division One foe LIU.

The Cameron Park, Calif., native opened the cross country trip with a hat trick in UC Merced's 11-8 win over Connecticut College, the Bobcats first win of the season.

On Saturday, Misirli Jr. scored a goal in the first quarter against MIT.

Misirli Jr. then tallied a career-high tying four goals against LIU and dented the twine twice against NCAA Division One opponent Brown on Sunday.

The sophomore has four hat tricks or better this season and has five multi-goal games. He ranks second on the team with 20 goals in 2026.

Up next, the Bobcats will start a seven-game in four-day stretch against Iona on Friday, October 23 at the Julian Fraser Memorial hosted by Santa Clara.