After a sluggish start in the opening quarter, the West Valley men's water polo team turned on the jets and outscored Merced 18-1 the rest of the way to take a 24-5 win over the Blue Devils Wednesday in Saratoga.

Leading 6-4 after one, the Vikings (10-0, 2-0 Coast) blanked Merced (12-6, 2-1) 8-0 in the second for a 14-4 advantage at the break. A 6-1 third and a 4-0 fourth sealed the win for WVC.

Gojko Kapovic paced the Viking offense with a game-high five goal on six attempts, whil Nikola Nikolic, Lucas Romaguera and Carlos Zayola netted four goals apiece. Caven Brown and Ran Souva recorded two goals each, and Jake Mendez, Togan Ozbek and Jordan Will had a goal apiece. Kai Seed turned away seven Blue Devil shots to move to 8-0 on the year in goal.

West Valley travels to De Anza (0-12, 0-2) Oct. 20 for a 4:15pm game against the Mountain Lions.