Teams: UC Davis vs. Air Force or Occidental; vs. TBD
Records: Aggies, 20-10 (11-4); Fighting Falcons, 8-16 (5-7); Tigers 7-22 (1-13)
Where: Canyonview Aquatic Center — La Jolla, Calif.
When: Friday at 1:30 p.m.; TBD
Who to watch: Senior Kevin Peat will be looking to have a strong showing at his final Western Water Polo Association Tournament.
The Walnut Creek, Calif. native has started all 29 games for the Aggies this season and is averaging 9.8 saves per-match.
Peat also has 278 saves so far this season, giving him the fifth best season in UC Davis history for that category.
Did you know? Three Aggies earned WWPA honors this season.
Senior Aaron Salit was named first-team all WWPA while junior Colin Hicks made the second-team. Freshman Chris Richardson received all-freshman honors.
Preview: No. 12 UC Davis enters the WWPA Tournament coming off two straight losses against top competition.
The Aggies fell to No. 3 California and No. 4 Stanford on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Despite the losses, coach Steve Doten has stated all year that playing solid opponents will help his team in the postseason.
The Aggies will need to be at the top of their game this week though.
UC Davis has gone 0-3 this season against the top two seeds in the WWPA Tournament — No. 11 UC San Diego and No. 10 Loyola Marymount. The Aggies also lost to Loyola Marymount in last year’s WWPA Championship game.
For Doten, if the Aggies plan to be more successful this season, it will all come down to poise.
“At the conference championship,” he said, “You have to be mentally sharp.”
Should the Aggies win the WWPA Tournament this weekend, they will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament at Cal beginning Dec. 3.
— Trevor Cramer
