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Three Tigers Named To Big West All-Conference Team
Stockton, Calif. - As announced by the Big West Conference office on Wednesday, May 11, the Pacific women's water polo team was represented on the post-season all-conference awards list as three Tigers earned awards. Senior Mandy King (Benicia, Calif.) and freshman Michele Relton (Beaconsfield, QC, Canada) were named to the Big West All-Conference Honorable Mention Team while senior Dara Tawarahara (Honolulu, Hawaii) earned Big West All-Conference First Team accolades.
King, who was the tenth leading scorer in conference, proved to be a force in the pool for the Tigers. The senior center concluded the year leading the Tigers in earned ejections (40) while racking up 32 steals, 17 field blocks and 42 goals. Twice this season Mandy recorded career-high five goals against opponents. The first came against Marist on March 18 at the Lancer Invite, the following day she had her second five-goal performance against Pomona-Pitzer. This is Mandy's first all-conference award during her time at Pacific.
As a freshman in the cage for the Tigers, Relton set new program records for single season saves and single game saves. With 10 saves in Pacific's 6-5 win over UC Davis on April 16, Michele moved to the top of the single season saves list with 299 blocks. Recording 35 saves in the Tigers' final four games of the season, Relton brought her season saves total to 334 blocks. Earlier in the season she also moved to No. 1 on the single games saves list when she racked up 18 saves against Santa Clara on February 26. This is Michele's first all-conference selection in her career at Pacific.
Tawarahara concluded her four year career at Pacific earning her fourth all-conference selection. In her final season in orange and black, the Hawaiian native led the team in goals (50) and was second in steals (36). She also recorded 19 assists and 13 drawn ejections. Appearing in 127 games in four seasons, Dara finished her career time at Pacific as the program's No. 2 career goal scorer with 229 goals. In addition to earning her second All-Conference First Team distinction, Dara's list of athletic achievements while at Pacific also includes Big West Second-Team All-Conference and All-American honors in 2010, Big West All-Conference First-Team honors in 2009 and Big West Player of the Week awards during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
