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Men鈥檚 Water Polo repeats as West Coast Conference regular season champions
For the second year in a row, the men鈥檚 water polo program at 色虎视频 won the West Coast Conference Regular Season Championship.
The victory came Sunday for the eighth-ranked Tigers when they defeated No. 12 Cal Baptist at the Douglas M. Eberhardt Aquatics Center in their final home game of the year, capturing their fourth championship in four seasons without ever trailing in the contest.
The Tigers also secured the No. 1 seed for the 2025 West Coast Conference Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 21-23 and hosted by Air Force.
鈥淭he amount of improvement we鈥檝e seen over the course of the year from such a young team has been remarkable. They鈥檝e truly grown together, supported one another and learned what it takes to win games at this level,鈥 said Head Coach James Graham. 鈥淭o win at our home pool against the team that ended our season last year means a lot. I can鈥檛 thank everyone enough who came out and supported us today and over the course of the season so far.鈥
Pacific won its eighth consecutive game and third straight home match. The Tigers were picked to finish third in the WCC Preseason Poll.
鈥淲e knew coming into the season that we could beat teams that were picked above us, and this team played with a lot of confidence all year,鈥 said sophomore Ori Buzaglo 鈥28, an electrical engineering major and member of last year鈥檚 championship team. 鈥淲e wanted to prove to everyone that we could do it with this group, and I鈥檓 super proud of these guys. Winning this championship two years in a row is an incredible accomplishment.鈥
Buzaglo was one of three student-athletes to score a hat trick in Sunday鈥檚 win. The Tigers got out to an early 5-1 lead in the first quarter and remained ahead 8-4 at the half. Pacific extended it to 12-6 late in the third and successfully ran out the clock in the final minutes.
The Tigers improved to 18-2 all-time against CBU.
After the match, Pacific honored 10 seniors in a special Senior Day ceremony. The group included Ethan Braga 鈥26 (communications), Nash Brandon 鈥25 (business finance), Charlie Donlin 鈥26 (communications), Declan McJilton 鈥25 (sport management), Alek Newman 鈥26 (business analytics), Filip Norell 鈥25 (communications), Manuel Pembertty 鈥25 (finance), Eli Sternweiler 鈥26 (business analytics), Daniel Viscia 鈥25 (health and exercise science) and Daniel Warman 鈥26 (sport management).
All 10 seniors had been on the team for at least four seasons. Viscia led the seniors with 28 goals this year, which included two on Senior Day.
鈥淲inning the conference is always a goal for us, and I鈥檓 really happy we won the regular season, but our focus now is winning the conference tournament,鈥 said Viscia, who鈥檚 been on the team the last five seasons. 鈥淭his is a close group of guys outside of the pool, and we鈥檙e more than just teammates鈥攚e鈥檙e a family. I鈥檓 proud to be able to win with them, but there鈥檚 more we want to achieve this year.鈥
Pacific continues the regular season Friday when it travels to No. 2 UCLA for a 5 p.m. match. The Tigers wrap up the regular season Sunday, Nov. 9 in a 1 p.m. road match at No. 3 Stanford. .