UC Davis Takes Back Title, Headed to Nationals
Tournament Central
Box Score
DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis recaptured the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) title with a 14-9 win over California Baptist in the WWPA Championship game on Sunday afternoon at Schaal Aquatics Center.
The Aggies receive an automatic berth into the National Collegiate Water Polo Championship, Dec. 2-7 at Spieker Aquatics Center. The Aggies face Golden Coast Conference champion Long Beach State in the quarterfinals on Thursday, December 2 at 12pm. The winner moves on to the semifinals to take on USC. Click here for the full bracket.
Logan Anderson scored a game-high four goals, WWPA Player of the Year Nir Gross added a hat trick and Tournament Most Valuable Player Aaron Wilson registered nine saves as the top-seeded and No. 11-ranked UC Davis (18-8) never trailed in their dethroning of defending conference champion No. 3-seed CBU (20-14).
It marks UC Davis' fourth title in the last six seasons and hands back a WWPA crown that the 2019 champion Aggies were not able to defend due to opting out of the 2020-21 season.
All-Tournament Teams
First Team
MVP: Aaron Wilson, Jr., UC Davis
Calder Hilde-Jones, Sr., UC San Diego
Robert Halligan, Gr., Loyola Marymount
Tyler Harvey, So., Loyola Marymount
Zach Lowery, Gr., California Baptist
PJ McDonough, Gr. California Baptist
Nir Gross, Sr., UC Davis
Logan Anderson, Jr., UC Davis
Second Team
Bodhi Bowden, Fr., Fresno Pacific
Kenny Wulf, Jr., Biola
Jeff Runyan, Sr., Concordia
Grant Snyder, Jr., Air Force
Zach Fales, Fr., Santa Clara
Karlo Krmek, Sr., UC San Diego
David Carrasco, Sr., Loyola Marymount
Joseph Griffin, Jr., California Baptist
Aleix Aznar Beltran, So., UC Davis
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Game summary courtesy of ucdavisaggies.com.
UC Davis needed only 63 seconds to break the scoreless deadlock as Gross scored down low for his first of the day and Holden Neach followed that up two minutes later with a score for a 2-0 lead. The Lancers clawed one back, but Aznar beltran and Gross closed out the first period with scores for a 4-1 advantage after the first eight minutes.
CBU answered the bell and opened the second quarter with a pair of goals by Hunter Barnett to make it a one-goal contest before Anderson scored his first to stop the bleeding. Zach Lowery found the back to the cage at the 3:18 mark of the quarter to bring the Lancers back to within one, but goals by Neach and Levi Murtaugh allowed the Aggies to inch away, giving the home team a 7-4 lead at the break.
Both teams traded goals in the third, with Anderson completing the hat trick at the 3:25 mark for the 10-6 lead with one period to play and the Aggies turned away any hopes of a CBU comeback from there. Will Nomura scored twice in the fourth, while Murtaugh and Anderson each tacked on one more to their respective totals to ice the victory and set off the celebration.
UC Davis held a 35-34 advantage in shots, but hit on 40 percent of its attempts to just 27 for the Lancers. The Aggies also stifled the CBU powerplay, holding the Lancers to just 3-for-10 with a man advantage and denying a 5-meter attempt in the fourth quarter.