Despite a strong performance, the Pirates' women's water polo team made little headway against No. 1-ranked Santa Barbara in dropping a 16-6 decision to the Vaqueros in the Western State Conference finals. Six different Pirates scored, including Emily Baughn who added two assists and two drawn exclusions and Kendal Santos who pulled in five steals defensively. Ahna Davis recorded six saves in the cage as VC played in their third straight WSC final under head coach Linda Wright.
Ventura played solid defensively in the opening quarter, limiting the Vaqueros to three goals over the eight-minute period. VC could not get untracked on offense, however, as they failed to score in the stanza.
SBCC went ahead 6-0 in the second before Kendall Ribbers netted a goal for VC midway through the period. Ella Montano followed with another score to make it 7-2 at halftime.
VC pulled to within 9-4 on scored by Gabrielle MacNeill and Kelsee Espitia and Santos and Baughn added goals in the final quarter to set the final margin.
Ribbers had three drawn exclusions and a steal added to her score and AnnMarie Patterson recorded two drawn exclusions. Montano grabbed a pair of steals and Milla Malesich also had two thefts.
The Pirate now await their playoff seeding. The SoCal Regionals begin Thursday Nov. 9 at Citrus College in Glendora.