Men’s Water Polo Splits and Reaches Third-Place Contest

The Riverside City College men's water polo team entered into the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Championships as the fourth seed. They matched up against sixth-seeded Cypress in the morning game in the hopes of winning and having a chance to qualify for the championship showdown in the afternoon ballad.

The Tigers took care of business in the first game by defeating Cypress, 15-7. They took control of the contest from the get go as they posted six goals in the opening eighth minutes. Each score came from a different weapon aside from two scores at the hands of sophomore Reese Starkey.

Starkey struck again in the second quarter to keep the Tigers in the driver's seat, while sophomore Louis Grandi chipped in his second score of the game to kick off the second-quarter melee.

The third quarter was all Riverside highlighted by two netters from Grandi, backed by scores from sophomore Colin Tormey, freshman Connor Lynton and Starkey.

Grandi added one more in the fourth, backed by a goal from sophomore Tommy Dempsey leading to the win.

Sophomore Seth Zarn earned the win in the cage after inking six saves. Grandi led with five goals, while Starkey fired home four.

The win sent the Tigers to the semifinal match against top-seeded Golden West, but the juggernaut of a program was too much from them to handle. They ultimately faltered, 20-8.

Riverside will face off against third-seeded Orange Coast tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. in a battle for third place.