Cuesta Men Water Polo closed out the 42nd Cuesta Arena Water Polo Invitational with wins over Western State Conference rivals LA Valley, 18-7, and Ventura, 12-5.  The Cougars jumped out to quick lead, 4-1, against LA Valley in the opener and never looked back.   Cuesta held a five-goal lead at the intermission and led 14-7 going into the final period, where they tacked on four more unanswered goals.  Cuesta's victory demonstrated both the depth and quality of the Cougars' roster, as a dozen different players scored in the win over the Monarchs.  In the tournament finale, Cuesta, again, relied on its depth to take down Ventura, as eight different scorers combined for a dozen goals.  The Cougars and Pirates were knotted at 2-2 early in the initial period, however Cuesta got hot and ran-off nine straight goals to take a 10-2 lead at the intermission.  The second half began with each team scoring just one goal in the 3rd quarter, but the Bucs scored twice in the final period to close the gap to 12-5. Freshman Dean Moody (Oxnard) led the Cougars with nine goals in the four-game tournament, while fellow Freshmen Danilo Vujovic (Nis, SRB) and Nick Taylor (Porterville) each added seven more.  Vujovic leads the Cougars with 27 goals this season

Today's victories improve Cuesta's record to 15-3 on the season and, after five straight weeks of action, the Cougars will enjoy a bye next week.  Cuesta begins its official Western State Conference schedule on October 6 (3:30) at LA Valley.  The Cougars and Monarchs re-match in Van Nuys will hold more weight, because conference play is a major factor in playoff seeding.