By Nate Person — Staff Writer
San Jose State’s men’s water polo heads to Davis this weekend to compete in the Aggie Roundup.
The Spartans (0-1) will play four matches: two on Saturday against Chapman University (1-5) and Cal-Baptist University (4-4), followed by two more on Sunday against George Washington University (6-1) and Fresno Pacific University (0-3).
On Saturday, SJSU faces the Panthers at 9:15 a.m. SJSU and Chapman have an even record facing off at 1-1.
The Spartans won the last time the two teams played and will look to carry that momentum into the match. The Panthers have had a poor start to their season and the Spartans will look to keep it that way.
The second match in Saturday’s doubleheader will be against the Lancers at 2:15 p.m.
SJSU has a 3-0 record against Cal-Baptist. CBU has already played eight matches this season, including four wins.
The Spartan defense will have to keep an eye on Lancers’ redshirt junior driver Dominick Nevarez, as he leads his team with 10 goals this season.
On Sunday, the Spartans will face the Colonials at 8:15 a.m. SJSU won the only match between the two in 2016.
George Washington University is off to an excellent start this year, thanks to utility player Atakan Destici. The junior is the top goal scorer for his team with 21 in seven games.
The SJSU defense must have another stellar performance to guarantee themselves a win.
The final match of the weekend will be against the Sunbirds at noon. SJSU and FPU have an even all-time record of one game apiece.
The last time the two programs faced off was in 2016 in a game that Fresno Pacific won. The Sunbirds have yet to win a game this season and will be eager to change that.
One of the many notable SJSU players to keep an eye on throughout this long weekend is the freshman attack Neil Arnett. Arnett had two goals in the season opener against UC Davis, which was also his first game as a Spartan.
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