JV Water Polo Wins Conejo Classic

In its first competition of the season the Palisades High boys water polo program dove into the deep end of the pool, facing top-notch teams at the Conjeo Classic, played at various schools in Ventura County.

The Dolphins’ junior varsity squad went undefeated, outscoring Camarillo (11-4), Granada Hills (20-1), Crespi (14-7) and Thousand Oaks (9-4) on its way to first place out of 12 teams.

Goalie Brandon Epps had 38 saves, including 14 saves along with two steals in the finals against Thousand Oaks at Cal Lutheran University. Also contributing to the JV’s winning effort were Nick Frey (17 goals and eight steals), Hunter Van Duzen (11 goals and seven steals), Isai Elias (seven goals, six assists and six steals), Will Schwerdtfeger (seven goals and four steals), Darain Sasun Noveir (five goals), Orson Spence (three goals, seven steals and four assists), Justin Nahamou (three goals and three steals) along with Nikita Basilyan, Henry Purdam, John Carr, Emerson Duggan, Francisco Rubio and Vladen Ponomar.

New JV coach Sam Elias was a senior when Pali High re-started the program in 2011 and holds the distinction of scoring the Dolphins’ first goal. He was pleasantly surprised by his team’s performance.

Meanwhile, the varsity team was without starters Gabby Feizbakhsh and Jacob Lazaruk and both varsity goalies, resulting in a 1-4 record that landed the Dolphins 12th out of 16 teams in Division 1.

“Not having a bench or several of our starters was tough but when I realized we wouldn’t have them, my mindset changed from winning the tournament to getting our young guys as much experience as possible,” varsity coach Adam Blakis said. “We were third last season and I think we might’ve won this year if we’d had all of our players. We missed a lot of shots but we still pushed [top-seeded] Malibu to the brink and almost beat Yucaipa with our reserves.”

After a 9-4 victory over Newbury Park in their first pool play game, the Dolphins lost to Crescenta Valley (8-4), Malibu (12-9) and Glendale (10-9). Blakis rested starters Zach Senator, Kian Lotfi and Mitchell Kim against Yucaipa, which won 8-7 in the second sudden death overtime period.

Senator was Palisades’ high-scorer with 13 goals, 13 assists and 14 steals. Lotfi had eight goals, 11 assists and 18 steals, Kim and Lucas Silva each added four goals and  Greg and Griffin Koffman had two goals apiece.

Several young players who impressed Blakis were goalie Matt Affeld (24 saves), freshman Sammy Speiser (who scored three goals) and sophomore Quinn Godfredsen (two goals and eight steals).

“Matt was a huge bright spot for us — he made all the blocks he needed to make,” Blakis said. “Sammy was first off the bench and played well. I’m a lot more comfortable putting him in now. I told Quinn not to worry about scoring, just step up on defense and he did.”