CBU Battles Top-Seeded UC Davis In WWPA Championship, Three Lancers Make All-Tournament Team

Sunday, November 21

Davis, Calif.

12 PM

California Baptist University

20-14

UC Davis

18-8

California Baptist

UC Davis

CBU Battles Top-Seeded UC Davis In WWPA Championship, Three Lancers Make All-Tournament Team

11/21/2021 1:38:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

DAVIS – California Baptist University men's water polo made more history as it appeared in its second-straight Western Water Polo Association Championship game and first in a full season on Sunday.

The third-seeded Lancers gave the top-seeded host UC Davis a tough time in the Aggies' home Schaal Aquatics Center before falling 14-9. It ended 16^th-ranked CBU's seven-game winning streak, as it concludes its season with a 20-14 record while 11^th-ranked UCD improves to 18-8.

It marks the end of another historic season for CBU, as it advanced to its first-ever WWPA Championship game in a full season.

The Lancers have put together an impressive three-year run in the WWPA after their first-ever top-three finish in 2019, winning the conference title in an abbreviated 2020 campaign and a runner-up performance in 2021.

PJ McDonough doing what he does best! #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/pmxnMHmK5i
— California Baptist Men's Water Polo (@LancerWaterPolo) November 21, 2021

CBU got two-goal games from graduating seniors PJ McDonough, Hunter Barnett, Zach Lowery and junior Angel Sanchez and 10 saves and a steal from Tristan Felberg in the cage.

DENIED 🙅‍♂️

Huge point-blank save from Tristan Felberg! He has two blocks and a steal in the opening minutes. #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/woeWwyGA6t
— California Baptist Men's Water Polo (@LancerWaterPolo) November 21, 2021

A trio of Lancers earned WWPA All-Tournament honors, with McDonough and Lowery being selected for the First Team and Joseph Griffin getting tabbed for the Second Team. McDonough becomes just the second Lancer to make two WWPA All-Tournament First Teams, even without the conference releasing all-tournament teams in 2020, after Joseph Moorman did so in 2014 and 2016.

Zach Lowery shows off the speed and the soft-touch finish 👌#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/zlmf7fBlpV
— California Baptist Men's Water Polo (@LancerWaterPolo) November 21, 2021

All three of CBU's standouts had 10 points on the week. McDonough scored eight goals, added two assists, two drawn ejections and four field blocks. Lowery finished with had six assists, four goals, five drawn ejections, four steals and a field block. Griffin notched a team-high 10 goals and drew four ejections in the conference tournament.

What a way to start the second quarter 👏

Thomas de Wit with the dime and Hunter Barnett with the finish! #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/4lhQeFbuOc
— California Baptist Men's Water Polo (@LancerWaterPolo) November 21, 2021

CBU found itself in a 4-1 hole at the end of the first quarter but cut within a goal, 4-3, after back-to-back scores from Barnett two minutes into the second quarter. Lowery scored his first goal at the 3:18 mark of the second quarter to keep it a one-goal deficit, 5-4, but UC Davis went on a 3-0 run to go up 8-4 two minutes into the third.

The Lancers fought back within three goals twice down the stretch but wouldn't come any closer. UC Davis receives the WWPA's automatic bid for the NCAA Championships, which will be played on Dec. 4-5 at the Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA. The bracket will be released later today.