Teams: No. 13 UC Davis vs. No.12 Santa Clara
Records: Aggies, 6-8 (4-2); Broncos, 8-5 (4-2)
When: Saturday at noon
Where: Schaal Aquatics Center
Who to watch: Although seniors Paul Wilson and Adam Bennett have done the bulk of the scoring for the Aggies, one man is doing the majority of the passing.
At the UC Santa Cruz Slugfest, senior Grant Muenter had 17 assists in four games. He has 30 assists in just 17 games this season, which shatters the school record of 23 he set last year.
Did you know? These two squads squared off just 13 days ago. Santa Clara prevailed by a score of 10-8, thanks to the dominance of Bronco junior Jack Wall‘s six goals in the match.
Preview: After taking a full week off from competition, the Aggies dive right back into things against a Western Water Polo Association foe.
The Aggies have had the taste of defeat in their mouths since falling to Santa Clara, and will come out looking for some sweet revenge this weekend at home.
“The guys are doing a good job getting up and down the pool.“ Head coach Steve Doten said, “but taking these two weeks to work on conditioning takes the focus off worrying about how our offense is working or how our 6-on-5s are working.“
Before their last weekend of play, the Aggies had been struggling to score from anywhere in the pool. But in the past four games the Aggies have scored 55 goals – the same amount they scored in their eight games before that.
Defense might be the focus this week, though, as UC Davis will take its second crack at shutting down Wall.
The weekend matchup with the Broncos starts an 11-game homestand for the Aggies.
– Sammy Brasch
