2022 Ventura College Women's Water Polo News
Ventura College student athletes excelled once again in the classroom in 2022-23, achieving an overall 3.29 grade point average in the fall and following that up with a 3.19 overall GPA in the spring semester. A total of 108 Pirates achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher, earning mention on the Dean's List in the fall 2022 term while taking in 12 or more units of study, with 53 student athletes recording a perfect 4.0 GPA. In spring 2023, 110 VC student athletes were named on the Dean's List with 45 posting perfect GPA's.
Ventura's Kendal Santos and Kendall Ribbers were each named second-team All-Southern California in voting by the region's women's water polo coaches last month. Santos' honor came on top of a first team All-Western State Conference honor while Ribbers had previously been named second team All-WSC for the Pirates.
The Ventura College women's water polo team had four Pirates earn first-team All-Western State Conference honors in voting by the league coaches last month. Additionally, two student athletes earned second-team nods and two were awarded honorable mention All-WSC. Emily Baughn, Ahna Davis, Daphne Neilan and Kendal Santos led the VC all-conference honorees.
In the playoffs, the 8-9 game in a bracket is supposed to be close. The Ventura College women's water polo playoff game against Mt. San Antonio followed the script. The No. 8-seeded Mounties upended the No. 9 Pirates 13-12 with a last-minute goal in the Southern California Regionals Thursday in Long Beach. Kendal Santos, Gabrielle MacNeill and Kendall Ribbers all scored three goals in the balanced attack, and Ahna Davis turned back six Mt. SAC shots i goal, but the Pirates were unable to advance to the next round.
The VC women's water polo team is headed to the playoffs. The Pirates (15-10) received the No. 9 seed in the Southern California Regional Playoffs and will face No. 8 Mt. San Antonio (16-9) in a first round game on Thursday in Long Beach. The first sprint is slated to begin at 9:00 am at Long Beach City College.
The VC women's water polo team battled, but fell in the Western State Conference Championship to top-seeded Santa Barbara Saturday in San Luis Obispo. Daphne Neilan and Gabrielle MacNeill each scored goals for the Pirates (15-10, 4-3) but it was not enough to keep up with the state's No. 1-ranked team. Neilan, Emily Baughn and Caitlyn Hilgenberg all pulled in two steals each.
Pirate attacker Daphne Neilan scored four times and Kendal Santos scored a goal with 2:03 remaining in the game to help the Pirates' women's water polo team to an 8-7 victory over Cuesta in the semifinals of the Western State Conference Tournament in San Luis Obispo Friday. Ahna Davis had 10 saves in the cage for VC (15-9, 4-2) as the Pirates advanced to the conference title game for the second season in a row and the fourth time in the past six campaigns.
Call it the "Tour de San Diego." The VC women's water polo team completed a 3-0 road trip at the Dia de los Muertos Tournament in Chula Vista with an 11-3 victory over Grossmont Saturday. The triumph completes a clean sweep for the weekend for the Pirates (13-9, 3-2), all over San Diego area teams. Kendal Santos led the way with three goals and three steals while Daphne Neilan and Yazmeen Gonzales each scored twice in the win over the Griffins. Neilan also added four steals and an assist.
The Pirates' women's water polo team broke out in a big way Friday with a pair of victories at the Dia de los Muertos Tournament at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. VC defeated the host Jaguars 10-7 in their morning game before rushing past San Diego Mesa 18-5 in the afternoon affair. Daphne Neilan and Gabrielle MacNeill each scored six goals on the day while Kendall Ribbers, Kendal Santos and Caitlyn Hilgenberg netted five, four and three goals, respectively.
Trailing for nearly the entire game, the Pirates' women's water polo team came back to force overtime at Citrus on Wednesday, only to fall in the extra period, 9-8. Kendal Santos had an outstanding day offensively with six goals along with six drawn ejections and three steals while Kendal Ribbers netted a score with three thefts and a pair of drawn ejections. Daphne Neilan scored the other goal for VC (11-9, 3-2). Ahna Davis turned back 12 Citrus shots in the cage.
The VC women's water polo team won a pair of games against Western State Conference foes on the second day of the Battle of the Beach Tournament on Saturday. Playing at Cerritos College, the Pirates defeated Los Angeles Valley 8-4 in the morning before besting Cuesta 14-6 in the afternoon game. Goalie Ahna Davis was on fire with 31 saves in the two games while Kendal Santos netted five goals with a pair of assists and four steals. Daphne Neilan scored four times with two helpers and nine thefts.
The Ventura College women's water polo team dropped a pair of games Friday at the Battle at the Beach in Long Beach on Friday. VC fell to the host Vikings 18-6 in the opener before dropping a close 9-7 decision to Palomar in the nightcap. Kendall Ribbers had four goals on the day with two assists, two steals and two drawn ejections and Daphne Neilan also netted four scores with a helper, three thefts and a drawn ejection for the Pirates (9-8, 3-1).
The Pirates' women's water polo team scored on their first possession of the game and never looked back i their 16-1 victory over Santa Monica in VC's final home appearance of the 2022 season.Ventura had a balanced attack with 10 different players scoring, led by four goals from Daphne Neilan and three scores by Jessica Garcia. Emily Baughn and Shella Norman each handed out three assists in the game while Kendal Santos and Gabrielle MacNeill recorded five and four steals, respectively.
The Pirates' women's water polo team dropped a pair of games Saturday to conclude their tournament at the Ventura Aquatic Center. VC dropped the first game of the day 11-5 to Mt. San Antonio before falling in a heartbreaking 9-8 sudden-death overtime loss to Merced. Daphne Neilan scored five goals in the two games while Ahna Davis turned back 13 shots while protecting the cage.
The Pirates' women's water polo team split a pair of games Friday at the Ventura Aquatic Center on the first day of the Ventura Tournament. VC defeated Pasadena 18-4 in the morning contest before falling to Golden West 9-6 in the nightcap. Daphne Neilan totaled five goals on the day while Kendal Santos scored four times with seven steals. Ahna Davis totaled 19 saves and five steals in the cage in the two contests.
The Ventura College women's water polo team had a difficult day, dropping their Western State Conference game at Santa Barbara 16-4 Wednesday. Kendall Ribbers scored a pair of goals to lead he Pirate offense and Emily Baughn had two assists, four drawn ejections and a pair of steals in the game.
