STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific women's water polo team opens the season at the Lancer Joust, hosted by California Baptist at the Lancer Aquatic Center in Riverside.
The Tigers will face two of the top five teams in the country in the event, starting with the opening match when they tangle with the #2 USC Trojans at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27. USC (0-0), who was the national runner-up a year ago, is coming off a 20-4 season. The two programs have not met since the 2018 season.
The Pacific squad has four seniors or graduate students on its roster, including graduate students
Brianna Utas and
Lucy Davis. Utas has been a regular in the lineup for in four previous seasons, including the COVID-shortened 2020 season. She led the Golden Coast Conference in field blocks with 23 and ranked second in steals last season. Davis led the team and was ninth in the GCC in assists with 31, while scoring 14 goals.
Redshirt senior
Clara Vulpisi will be in goal for the Tigers after earning First-Team All-GCC honors in the net last year. The final senior is
Aristiana Modica, who played in 19 games a year ago.
The program has added three freshmen: twin sisters
Dora Alaksza and
Noemi Alaksza from Budapest and
Alicia Petkov from Quebec. Petkov participated in the same Quebec club program as Vulpisi.
The second Friday contest will match Pacific and Fresno Pacific. The Tigers captured a 15-5 win over Fresno Pacific (0-0) at home last season, improving the all-time series to 17-0 against the Sunbirds. Fresno Pacific is looking to improve from last season's 5-23 mark.
On Saturday, Pacific will face #5 UC Irvine (1-1) in an 8 a.m. match at the Lancer Aquatics Center. The defending Big West champions opened the season with a 15-10 loss to #4 California and a 16-9 win over #8 Fresno State. The Anteaters were 22-7 a year ago. Pacific has won three straight in the series with UC Irvine, including a 13-11 win in 2019 in the most recent matchup. The Anteaters lead in the all-time series, 22-8.
The final match of the opening weekend will be a 3:30 p.m. contest against Biola (1-4). The Eagles, who are 0-4 against Division I schools, defeated Whittier, 15-5, last week for their first win of the season. Pacific faced Biola for the first time in program history last year, recording a 15-5 win in a contest at Fresno State. The Eagles were 13-16 a year ago.
