Alumni Water Polo Club played in the 2017 Central Valleys Tournament Saturday, and Sunday, April 22nd and 23rd at Bullard High School Aquatics Complex in Fresno, CA. This was Alumni WPC's fourth consecutive year in the national tournament and after failing to complete the 3-peat last year as it fell to all-star Fresno club Praetorian Opens, Alumni WPC was looking to regain its title and become the Champions once again.
Nick Fadden, FPU, was absolutely integral in Alumni WPC regaining its Championship in the Fresno Tournament.
Alumni WPC sends two teams to this tournament every year - Alumni Water Polo Club Royal and Alumni Water Polo Club Blue. With the Blue Squad having success in recent years in this tournament, it was ranked highly and as a result the Royal Team and Blue Squad faced off to open the weekend. Fortunately for the Royal Team, they were able to assert their dominance early creating several easy counter attack goals from their stiff press defense. After getting down 5-1 early, the Blue Squad found some offensive rhythm in the second quarter, but the Royal Team kept finding ways to score making 10-5 at half. The second half saw good competition from both sides as the Alumni Royal Team won 21-7.
In the second game of the day, Alumni WPC Royal Team played the Ventura Masters from Southern California. With Ventura Masters having several powerful outside shooters and strong postups, Alumni WPC wanted to use its defense leading to counter attack to put them away early as well. Nick Fadden and Roman Novak led a quick counter attack that created numerous easy chances that got Alumni WPC up big early. While Ventura made some good strikes from distance, they were too few and far between as Alumni WPC rattled off 24 goals in a decisive 24-8 victory.
Vladimir Kazanskiy, SJSU, played big for Alumni WPC scoring a number of goals including 2 important goals in the Championship game.
On day two, Alumni WPC faced off against Fresno Pacific University in the Semi Final game. After watching FPU beat the Alumni Blue Squad the day before using its explosive transition game to break the game open, the Alumni WPC Royal Team did not want to let the game stay close and have to exert any unnecessary energy to get the victory. Andrew Reego scored twice in the first 45 seconds of the game, followed by an onslaught of goals seeing Alumni WPC get up 7-0 at the end of the first. From there, Michael Zellmer was solid in the cage blocking many of the good shots from the college team. Fadden also added a number of goals against his alma mater along with Jt Sarmento who joined Alumni WPC for day two and Vladimir Kazanskiy who scored a number of big goals in every game. Alumni WPC never let up getting a commanding 20-6 victory.
Michael Zellmer, GER, is a 2-time Olympian for the German National Team and despite battling some late leg cramping found a way to make the saves necessary to ensure the Championship victory.
Finally, Alumni WPC was back in the Championship game facing off against Praetorian Opens. Reego won the sprint and scored from the outside on the first possession of the game. Alumni WPC added two more goals from Kazanskiy and high schooler Tyrone Boyer to go up 3-1. Praetorian was able to score on a late 6-on-5 to close the gap to 1.
Moving into the second quarter, Alumni WPC continued to be strong with its defense was hard to beat and Zellmer was very solid. Alumni WPC struck 3 more times in the quarter from Sarmento, Reego, and Novak and held Praetorian to just 1 goal and went up 6-3 at half.
In the second half, Zellmer fought leg cramping and consequently Joey Frantz came in to fill his position. Frantz was strong holding Praetorian to again just one goal in a quarter and Alumni WPC found the back of the net two more times to take a decisive 8-4 lead going in the fourth.
Praetorian was not done though. They came out absolutely swinging offensively to begin the final quarter scoring two quick goals. While Alumni WPC slowed the game down, they were unable to score. Praetorian kept pushing and were able to knot it up at 8. Zellmer, finally fresh enough to play came back in and Alumni WPC finally struck. Kazanskiy made a powerful move out of center to retake the lead. Praetorian again though tied it up and put the pressure back on Alumni WPC. But Alumni WPC's defense locked up the final minutes. Praetorian struggle to create opportunities and on a counter attack late in the game, Reego made a push down the middle opening up the most unexpecting hero high schooler Jackson Macleane who put away the game winner and make it 10-9 Alumni WPC. Praetorian saw two more possessions to try to score, but hardly got off shots as Alumni WPC defense secured its Championship victory.
While , the Alumni WPC Blue Squad only went 1-3 on the weekend, they played both FPU and Praetorian very close 8-11 and 7-10 respecitvely and finished 4th overall in the tournament. More important, it was the number of Blue Squad Alumni WPC players who were moved up to paly for the Royal Team that gave Alumni WPC the depth and talent needed to seal its Championship
picture left to right: Jeremy Pope PEPP, Andrew Reego USC, Michael Zellmer GER, Vladimir Kazanskiy SJSU, Roman Novak WHIT, Jackson Macleane UCD, Joey Frantz UOP, Nick Fadden FPU, Tyrone Boyer GBHS, Jt Sarmento UOP, Michael Plastino UCD, and Logan Swanson
To see more pictures from the weekend please go to the link:
2017 Central Valleys Tournament Roster
1. Michael Zellmer Goalie GER
2. Jt Sarmento Set UOP
3. Phillip James Postup CIT
4. Mike Heberle Postup DJC
5. Nick Fadden Driver FPU
6. Andrew Reego Driver USC
7. Michael James Postup CIT
8. Jackson Macleane Guard UCD
9. Vladimir Kazanskiy Guard SJSU
10. Roman Novak Driver WHIT
11. Michael Plastino Driver UCD
12. Tyrone Boyer Set GBHS
13. Joey Frantz Goalie UOP
14. Logan Swanson Postup BSU
15. Parker Jory Driver CLU
16. Jeremy Pope Postup PEPP
17. Ryan Morrissey Set UCLA
18. Nathaniel Reinke Guard UCSB
2017 Central Valleys Tournament Final Results
ROUND PLAY
ALUMNI ROYAL TEAM 21 | Alumni Blue Squad 7
Andrew Reego, Vladimir Kazanskiy, Roman Novak,
Nick Fadden, Michael Plastino, Tyrone Boyer,
Jackson Macleane, Logan Swanson
| Michael Zellmer
ROUND PLAY
ALUMNI ROYAL TEAM 24 | Ventura Masters 8
Andrew Reego, Nick Fadden, Roman Novak,
Vladimir Kazanskiy, Phillip James, Michael James,
Michael Plastino
| Michael Zellmer & Joey Frantz
*** SEMI FINAL ***
ALUMNI ROYAL TEAM 20 | Fresno Pacific Univ 6
Andrew Reego, Jt Sarmento, Nick Fadden,
Vladimir Kazainskiy, Roman Novak, Jackson Macleane
| Michael Zellmer
*** CHAMPIONSHIP ***
ALUMNI ROYAL TEAM 10 | Praetorian 9
Andrew Reego, Vladimir Kazanskiy, Roman Novak,
Jt Sarmento, Tyrone Boyer, Jackson Macleane
| Michael Zellmer & Joey Frantz