The Ohlone Men’s Water Polo team will play in the Coast Conference tournament starting Friday, Nov. 6. The Renegades will play as the fourth seed, taking on top-seeded West Valley, who are the defending state champions and are pushing for their twentieth conference title. In order for Ohlone to advance to the Nor Cal Playoffs, Ohlone would have to beat West Valley, a difficult, yet not improbable task considering the Renegades lost to West Valley 17-10. The winner of the Conference Championship Tournament will head to the Nor-Cal Playoffs. This will be the final scheduled tournament of the season for Ohlone, who finished fourth in the Coast Conference overall. At the beginning of the season, Coach Gene Kendall said that he felt Ohlone was among the top three in the Conference ranking with West Valley and Cabrillo. “I wanted to finish third in conference that would allow us to play the number two seed in conference. And if we would have won that game we would have had a chance at the championship,” Kendall said. This season for The Renegades has been a mixed bag, with many big wins and a couple losses that spelled disaster for Ohlone’s chance to take over the division. The crowning jewel of the season was Ohlone’s trip to the Cuesta College Tournament in San Louis Obispo. The Renegades took down a Merced team, afirst in the 35 years that Ohlone has had a water polo program. Scott Harvey, leading player for the Renegades this season, led the team in scoring, assists, steals, and field blocks. “He’s just a good overall player, and I’ll be nominating him for All American, and hopefully he gets enough votes,” coach Kendall said about Harvey. Starting Left-Hander Joey Declerq was among the top goal scorers on the year as well for Ohlone, and was a leader on defense. One of the bright spots for next season is Austin Fish, a freshman this season and key member of the Renegades this year. “He’s probably the most improved player on our team. He’s showed that he can play in big games and make things happen.” The tournament will be held all day Friday and Saturday at De Anza.
By Jacob Schabert
Staff writer
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