Opening a season of high expectations, the West Valley men's water polo team came away with two solid victories at the Merced North vs. South Showdown Aug. 17. Both games, convincing 23-8 and 20-5 wins over Riverside and Citrus, respectively, saw the Vikings (2-0) jump out to big early leads, spread the scoring across Coach Willo Rodriguez's roster and get significant time in the water from a trio of goalkeepers.

Nine different Vikings scored in the opener against Riverside (4-1), led by Carlos Zayola with six. West Valley roared out to a 7-1 first quarter lead and never looked back, heading into the fourth with a 20-7 advantage. Ante Buzov found the back of the cage four times and Bendeguz Aubeli netted three. Kai Seed earned the win in goal, stopping seven Tiger shots, while Casey Ocallaghan minded the net in the second half and had three saves.

The "team" recipe was much the same against Citrus (1-2). Eight Vikings scored and a 10-1 first quarter featured four goals from Jacob Hatch and three from Hamish Bonnar. Hatch would finish with a game-high six scores, while Bonnar had five. Alec Mortensen, Jacob Muncy and Jordan Will each found the back of the cage twice. All three WVC keepers in uniform played. Ocallaghan led the way with seven saves, followed by Seed with six and Wyatt Beymer with two. Beymer highlighted the second half with a penalty shot stop.

West Valley host NCAA D1 squads San Jose St. and Santa Clara Saturday (9/3). The ball drops at 9:10am against the Spartans and at 2:00pm against the Broncos.