Valley Wins WSC Title; Three WSC Teams Advance to SoCals

Los Angeles Valley College won their first ever Western State Conference Men's Water Polo Championship Tournament and will be the #3 seed in this weekend's SoCal Playoffs.
Los Angeles Valley College won their first ever Western State Conference Men's Water Polo Championship Tournament and will be the #3 seed in this weekend's SoCal Playoffs.

Glendora, CA -- The Los Angeles Valley College Men's Water Polo team won it's first ever Western State Conference Championship Tournament title this past weekend at the 2014 WSC Water Polo Championships. The Monarchs knocked off #2 Citrus College, both of whom along with Cuesta College will represent the WSC at the 2014 SoCal Regionals also hosted by Citrus.

LA Valley started off the weekend with a comfortable 15-10 win over #4 Ventura College. The Monarchs scored seven goals in the first quarter and allowed just one Pirate goal before settling in on cruise control the rest of the match. Valley would outscore Ventura in each of the second and third quarters before a big rally by the Pirates in the fourth put the game at the five goal difference. Giorgi Kartevelishvilli led the way in the win with four scores.

After the win on Friday, the Monarchs took on Citrus in the Championship Game. Valley staked themselves to a 3-1 lead after the first and then staked themselves to a four point lead at the break by outscoring Citrus 7-5 in the second. The Owls would crawl back in with a 3-1 third, but the Monarchs pulled away with a 4-2 fourth for the 15-11 victory. Kartevelishvilli once again paced the Valley effort with six goals.

With the win, Valley also positioned themselves as the #3 seed in Southern California for this weekend's post-season tournament. The Monarchs will take on #6 Palomar College in the quarterfinals on Friday at 5:45 PM. Citrus College meanwhile earned the #4 overall seed and will play #5 Orange Coast College on Friday at 3:15 PM. Cuesta College also got into the post-season and will open up on Thursday as the #9 seed against #8 Fullerton College at 2:30 PM.