Pirates fall to Cougars in Top-10 Contest

The VC men's water polo team dropped a first place showdown at Cuesta Wednesday. The No. 8-ranked Pirates fell behind early to the No. 10 Cougars and could not recover in the 19-12 decision. Ravi Moolenaar scored three times and Daniel Vadas had a pair of gaols with three steals to lead the effort. Wyatt Dingman and Boaz Biglin each scored once and handed out two assists.

Nico Rosado evened the score at 1-1 with a goal in the first minute of play before Cuesta went on a 6-0 run to take control of the game. Dingman netted a score early in the second quarter to end the skid but the damage had been done. Ventura trailed 12-5 at halftime and never recovered in the 19-12 decision.

Bryce Biglin had 11 saves in the cage with a pair of thefts while Owen Patterson and Thomas Shea also scored single goals in the match-up between the Western State Conference top-ranked squads.

Ventura travels to the Long Beach Mini on Friday Oct. 17 to battle the host Vikings and face a rematch with No. 2-ranked West Valley.