BOX SCORE

FRESNO, Calif. – Every conference game is key and California Baptist University certainly came out hungry in its third Western Water Polo Association game at Fresno Pacific on Thursday.

The 15th-ranked Lancers scored 10 of the first 11 goals of the game en route to a 15-8 win over the Sunbirds at the Sunnyside Aquatics Center. CBU improves to 13-9, 2-1 in the WWPA this season, while FPU drops to 4-13, 0-5.

"With a team like that at their home pool, if you let them hang around it will be a dog fight at the end. It was nice the way the guys came out and got up on the counter attack," Coach Kevin Rosa said. "We had good defensive pressure, got on the counter attack and made the game fun."

Five players scored multiple goals for CBU on Thursday, with Logan Mena and Dominick Nevarez each netting hat tricks. Hunter Barnett, Christian Britton and Tanner Shore both scored twice. Nevarez and Zach Lowery both put up a game-high three assists, while Britton added two of his own. The balance allowed Rosa to play everyone who made the road trip.

"We haven't played a game in over a week, so it was nice to get everybody some time," Rosa said. "Our depth has really been a key to us all year long. We got some of our guys some rest because we will need them all this weekend."

Thursday was just the beginning of a tough weekend for the Lancers, who head to Santa Clara for three top-20 games in the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament. CBU starts out against 16^th-ranked Brown Friday at 1 p.m. and then wraps up the weekend against No. 14 Bucknell and No. 20 Wagner Saturday at 9 a.m. and 2:20 p.m., respectively.

"It will be three tough games, and it will be all hands on deck," Rosa said. "We will need as much energy as possible."

Mena had two goals in about the first two minutes of gameplay on Thursday, as the Lancers jumped out to a 3-0 lead right away. Barnett, Shore and Nevarez both scored twice to add to CBU's 10-1 run to start the game, which bled over to the 4:56 mark of the third quarter.