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.
Ventura gained the upper hand in the defensive battle in the first eight minutes of play. Neilan scored an unassisted goal at the 4:11 mark to get Ventura on the board. Santos followed with a goal with 52 seconds remaining and VC led 2-0 at the quarter break.
Neilan put Ventura ahead 3-0 with another goal in the middle early in the second period and Caitlyn Hilgenberg found the inside of the cage to extend the margin to 4-2 at halftime.
VC began to pull away after intermission, outscoring the Griffins 3-1 in the stanza, and they netted another four scores, two by Gonzales, to set the final score at 11-3.
Kiana Casey was solid in goal with 10 saves, and four steals and Shella Norman pulled in two thefts defensively. Kendall Ribbers dished out a pair of dimes and Gabrielle MacNeill had three drawn ejections in the game for VC.
Ventura returns home to prepare for the upcoming Western State Conference Tournament. The Pirates, the No. 2-seed in the draw, will face Cuesta or Santa Monica on Friday Nov. 4 at 11:00 am in San Luis Obispo.