The West Valley women's water polo team moved a step closer to a return visit to the CCCAA State Championship tournament with its fourth straight Coast Conference Championship tourney title Friday at the West Valley Aquatics Center. The Vikings (27-2, 9-0 Coast) were in complete control from the opening whistle Friday, dispatching Las Positas 19-1 in the semifinal and Ohlone 23-2 in the championship.
Coach Erika Vargas's Vikings now head to Las Positas College Nov. 12-13 for the CCCAA NorCal Championships and a chance to play in the CCCAA Final Four Nov. 19-20, also at Las Positas. WVC is the #1 NorCal seed and will take on #8 Ohlone (11-13) Friday at 11:40am. The Vikings finished third in the state in 2019, the last time a state tournament was held.
In the morning opener, WVC stormed out to a 14-0 lead and didn't give up a Las Positas goal until :16 remained in the third quarter. Kate Craig paced the Viking stat sheet with five goals, three assists and two steals. Marie Lucquet and Fatima Gonzalez Garcia had three goals apiece, while Kianna Melvin, Sarah Phan and Johanna Scheer each found the back of the cage twice. Gaby Thomas finished with a goal and a game-high six steals. Grace Smith started in goal and earned the win, stopping all five Hawk shots in two quarters of work. Aaliyah Lax and Maria Higginbotham each worked a quarter in the cage in the second half, with Higginbotham making seven saves on seven shots.
The afternoon title contest was much the same for WVC. The Vikings led Ohlone 19-1 at the half, behind six goals each from Higginbotham and Scheer. Marija Mijuskovic finished with four goals, while Craig and Melvin had two apiece. Scheer came up with five of WVC's 19 steals, with Mijuskovic grabbing four, Higginbotham three and two each for Lax and Melvin. Smith made 14 saves.
Heading to NorCals, a trio of Vikings sit high atop the CCCAA statistical charts. Scheer tops the state with 113 goals and 229 shots and Melvin is sixth with 79 goals. Smith dominates the goalkeeper stats. She is #1 in saves with 345 (next best was 261), save % with 72.6 (2nd was 63.3) and wins with 24. As a team, the Vikings are #1 in saves (367) and save % (72.5) and were second in goals (382).
Scheer and Melvin, through Friday, are the top two team scorers, followed by Higginbotham with 42. Higginbotham leads the Vikings in assists with 32 and is second in steals with 26. Melvin and Scheer are #1 in steals with 46 each, just ahead of Higginbotham's 44, while Lax has a team-high 17 field blocks. Mijuskovic has logged a team-high 70.8 shooting %, just ahead of Melvin's 65.8%. Garcia is third in assists with 18.
