Women’s water polo battles three nationally-ranked teams at Wolverine Classic

Clayton Keller, Contributing Writer

The Bison women’s water polo team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich. to compete with some of the best water polo teams in the country from March 4–5, including three nationally ranked teams. Despite winning their first game, the Orange and Blue closed the weekend with a record of 1-3.

The team started out with a clutch win against Santa Clara on March 4. The winning effort was led by Gigi Rojahn ’20 who touted a career-high three goals, including the game-winning goal which sealed a 6-5 victory. Manuela Herrera ’18 started in the cage and was able to make three saves during the tight game to preserve the lead.

Later in the day, the Bison faced the sixth nationally ranked UC Irvine. In the first half, Irvine came out strong with the first four goals of the contest. The Bison fought back, netting three goals before halftime, making the score 6-3 at the break. Once the second half started, UC Irvine caught the Bison off guard and blew ahead to a 16-4 win.

The Orange and Blue contended on March 5 with the 13th nationally ranked UC Davis. The teams were fairly evenly matched in the first half with the Bison only facing a two-goal deficit at halftime. The Orange and Blue closed the gap to one goal after the third period, but UC Davis held its lead and notched a 10-7 win.

The Bison’s last game was their biggest challenge yet. They played against fifth nationally ranked Arizona State. The Orange and Blue held their opponent to only three goals in the first two quarters, but then lost their grip, letting in eight more in the second half. Despite the Bison’s impressive game total of 14 steals, they ended up losing 11-0.

Although the Orange and Blue ended the weekend with a losing record, the team seemed proud of their hard work during the tournament and optimistic about the lessons they took away from competing against nationally ranked teams.

“We played all really good California teams and competed. We had a really good start to the tournament and we played confidently and passionately and really shocked the other teams, and I’m really proud of that,” Matylda Zaklicki ’20 said.

The Bison will travel to San Diego on March 11 to spar in the Aztec Invitational.

(Visited 91 times, 1 visits today)