Golden West Sets Sights on State Titles

The Golden West women’s water polo team will try to continue its run of titles and the Rustler men’s team will attempt to start a new streak at the community college state water polo tournament, beginning Friday at Diablo Valley.

The Golden West women’s team, which has won the last two state titles, has a 30-2-1 record and is the top-seeded squad from Southern California.

The Rustlers, led by sophomores Chelsea Rowlands (72 goals) and Sharon Vanderpas (58), open against Merced (25-9) in a 1:15 p.m. game.

The Golden West men’s team had won nine consecutive state titles before being upset by West Valley last year.

But the Rustlers (29-1-1) are back in the state tournament, along with Orange Coast (24-8-2). Freshman Kevin Marsh leads Golden West with 94 goals and sophomore Nenad Praporski has 57.

Golden West, the top-seeded team from Southern California, opens play Friday at noon against Modesto (15-15-1).

Orange Coast has the difficult task of taking on West Valley (23-4-1), which has not lost to a community college team this season. The Vikings beat and tied Golden West in two meetings.

The men’s and women’s tournaments continue Saturday with the semifinal and title games. The men’s final is at 2:30 p.m. and the women play at 3:45.