Men's Water Polo will chase the program's 30th conference title this weekend when Cuesta College hosts the 2022 Western State Conference Tournament. The Cougars are the #1-seed and will bypass Wednesday's play-in round to advance directly into Friday's (2:45) semi-final, where they will face the winner between #4-seed Ventura and #5-seed Citrus. During the regular season Cougars went on the road to beat both teams, Ventura, 16-4, and Citrus, 17-9, in their home pools. On the other side of the bracket, #2-seed LA Valley and #3-seed Santa Monica will battle it out in the other semi-final (1:30). The Cougars beat Santa Monica, 19-4, in their first meeting and also own a pair of wins against LA Valley, 8-5 & 10-8, however the second seeded Monarchs are hot on the Cougars' tails. Cuesta is currently ranked #3 in the CCCAA State Rankings and LA Valley is ranked #4. The Cougars and Monarchs have shared the past 11 WSC Crowns, with the Cougars in the lead with six. Cuesta, after snapping the Monarchs five-year title run (2014-18), have won the past two. LA Valley's half-decade run during the "twenty-teens" also marked the first time in Cuesta's 44-year history that the Cougars spent longer than two seasons out of the WSC's top spot. A three-peat by the Cougars this weekend will give the program its 30th conference title and vault them into the playoffs for the 43rd consecutive season.
1-seed Cuesta (25-6, 4-0)
2-seed LA Valley (18-7, 3-1)
3-seed Santa Monica (9-17, 2-2)
4-seed Citrus (7-20, 1-3)
5-seed Ventura (0-16, 0-4)
