Travis Johnson had five goals to lead the San Marcos boys water polo team to a 16-10 victory over San Luis Obispo Saturday morning at the Conejo Valley Classic, but the Royals went on to fall to Dinuba 10-9 and Pacifica 17-13 to close out the day.
San Marcos went 2-3 in the tournament and placed 20th. Coach Jeff Ashton said that despite a couple of disappointing matches, he was pleased with how his team played to start the season.
“These were our first games of the year and started the tournament playing at a higher level than even we thought we would,” he said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t carry that through to the last game of the tournament, but hopefully it’s a situation of taking one step back and two forward.”
The Royals lost to Palos Verdes 15-5 on Friday before finishing the day with a 14-8 decision over Garces Memorial. Johnson was aided by four goals apiece from Tyler Lisea and Travis Frolich against SLO, while Andre Rivera added three scores and Chris Bebb had eight blocks in the cage.
San Marcos led Dinuba 7-4 at halftime, but the lead slipped away due to foul trouble. A drawn-ejection in the final moments gave the Royals a good chance to tie it up but they came up short. A 5-2 lead against Pacifica dissipated due to defensive lapses, according to Ashton.
Next up for San Marcos is a road match at Oxnard on Tuesday.
