No. 17 Pacific Prepares For Big West Tournament Hosted By UC Santa Barbara

Stockton, Calif. - With a 20-11 overall record and a 2-3 Big West record, Pacific's women's water polo team travels to the 2011 Big West Women's Water Polo tournament hosted by UC Santa Barbara, April 29-May 1.

The Tigers concluded the regular season with a pair of wins over Sonoma State (9-6) and Cal State Monterey Bay (15-7) on Saturday, April 23, at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. In the final home stand of the 2011 season, seniors Bethany Quertermous, Dara Tawarahara, Mandy King, Siobhan Larsen and Meara McCarthy went out on a strong note, scoring a combined 17 goals on the day for the Tigers.

2011 Big West Women's Water Polo Tournament
Pacific enters the 2011 tournament as the No. 4 seed, after a 2-3 showing in regular season action, will face the No. 5 seed UC Davis (18-11, 1-4 BW). This year's tournament has more at stake compared to the two previous conference tournaments as this will be the first time the event will produce an automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Championship. The Tigers picked up wins against Long Beach State and UC Davis, while suffering losses to UC Santa Barbara, CSUN and UC Irvine.

Earlier this season UC Davis defeated Pacific, 10-3, at the Aggie Shootout on March 6. However, Pacific avenged the loss on Saturday, April 16, when the Tigers picked up the road win behind a four goal performance from Tawarahara. Also scoring goals for Pacific were Quertermous and freshman Elise Martin found the back of the net once, while freshman Michele Relton recorded 10 saves in the cage.

No. 17 Pacific takes on No. 18 UC Davis on Friday, April 29 at 3:30 pm at Campus Pool in Santa Barbara, Calif.

2011 BIG WEST WOMEN'S WATER POLO TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Friday, April 29 - First Round
Match 1 - #4 Pacific vs. #5 UC Davis - 3:30 p.m.
Match 2 - #6 Long Beach State at #3 UC Santa Barbara - 5:15 p.m.

Saturday, April 30 - Semifinals
Match 3 - #1 UC Irvine vs. #4/#5 winner - 3:30 p.m.
Match 4 - #2 Cal State Northridge vs. #3/#6 winner - 5:15 p.m.

Sunday, May 1 - Consolation/Championship
Match 5 - Loser Match 1 vs. Loser Match 2 (5th place) - 11:00 a.m.
Match 6 - Loser Match 3 vs. Loser Match 4 (3rd place) - 12:45 p.m.
Match 7 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 (1st place) - 2:30 p.m.

Collegiate Water Polo Association Top-20 Poll