Men's Polo Continues Improvement at Cuesta Tournament

The VC men's water polo team continued to show improvement on the first day of the Cuesta Tournament Friday in San Luis Obispo. VC avenged an earlier loss to Modesto by defeating the Pirates 14-12 in the first game before a 16-10 defeat to a strong Cuesta side. Ventura (8-8, 2-2) finished the day with a 16-13 loss to Ohlone after a six-goal setback to the Renegades in September. Ryan Reardon had 16 goals in the three contests and Austin Brunk had nine goals and seven steals.

Ventura 14, Modesto 12
Ventura turned a 14-13 loss to Modesto on Oct. 5 to a 14-12 victory over the Pirates of the Central Valley on Friday. Ventura led 3-2 at the end of one quarter, 6-3 at halftime and 11-8 after three periods. Modesto came back to tie the score at 12-12 with 3:20 remaining in the game before Reardon scored twice in the last two minutes to set the final margin. Reardon totaled six goals in the game with three drawn ejections while Brunk found the back of the cage three times. Brandyn Robles had two goals and three assists and Dru Coronado, Carlos Lugo and Gabriel Ibarra each recorded one goal. Daniel Mclean had nine saves, three blocks and two steals in goal for VC.

Ventura 10, Cuesta 16
The Pirates dropped the Western State Conference game to the hosts in their second game of the day. VC trailed 5-1 at the end of the first period and 9-4 at halftime in the loss. Reardon led he offense once again with six goals and three drawn ejections. Robles scored a goal with an assist and four steals and Brunk handed out three helpers with two steals. Lugo, Ibarra and Trevor Campbell also recorded goals for Ventura. Mclean had two saves and five blocks in the game.

Ventura 13, Ohlone 16
After a 16-10 loss to the Renegades on Sept. 6, VC closed the gap to three goals against Ohlone in their final game of the day. The teams were tied at 4-4 following the first quarter before the Pirates fell behind 10-6 at halftime. After trailing 16-11 in the fourth quarter, the Pirates were able to close the gap in the final four minutes of the game. Brunk led the Pirates with six goals and four steals while Reardon put in four scores with three field blocks defensively. Ibarra, Coronado and Julian Larios also scored goals and Luga handed out three assists. Mclean had five saves and a block in the cage.

VC completes the Cuesta Tournament on Saturday Oct. 19 with games against American River and Merced.