Women's Water Polo will battle for conference title and a playoff berth this weekend when Cuesta College hosts the 2022 Western State Conference Tournament.  The Cougars are the #3-seed and also host a play-in game against #6-seed Santa Monica on Wednesday for the right to advance to Friday's (11 AM) semi-final versus #2-seed Ventura (11 AM). During the regular season Cougars earned a pair of wins against Santa Monica, but also suffered two losses to Ventura.  The Cougars beat the Corsairs, 16-4, in their season-opening Central Coast Tournament and received a WSC forfeit win (5-0) at the Citrus Tournament a month later.  Against Ventura, Cuesta opened their conference schedule in late September with a loss at Ventura, 16-9, and also fell to the Pirates, 14-6, in the TruWest Battle at the Beach Tournament in Long Beach.  4th-ranked Santa Barbara is the WSC Tournament's #1-seed and shall play the winner of the other play-in game, #4-seed Citrus and #5-seed LA Valley.  The two semi-final games are scheduled for Friday (11 AM/12:15) and the Championship and Third Place game are set for Saturday (11 AM/1:30) at Cuesta College.  

Women's Water Polo is chasing its fifth conference title and wants to return to their pre-pandemic run of playoff berths in Coach Rachel Gruetzmacher's first season at the helm.