Aggie Roundup Tournament Central

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After returning from the three-day Princeton Invitational, the Santa Clara men's water polo team heads off to the Aggie Roundup, which begins Saturday.

The Broncos play Whittier at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in their first of four games during the two-day tournament.

The Broncos (3-2) who posted a 3-1 record at the Princeton Invitational face Redlands at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Santa Clara will conclude the weekend with a pair of games on Sunday, facing San Jose State at 9 a.m. and USC at noon.

Games in the 11-team tournament will be played at both Schaal Aquatics Center and Woodland Community Swim Center in Davis, California.

"Last weekend, we got much better as a team from the very first game to this weekend," said head coach Keith Wilbur. "We had a couple of closer games where we did a better job in the second half. In the game against Fordham, we were down 5-2, but worked our way back and won it."

Wilbur discussed the Broncos plans and preparation for this weekend.

"We're focusing on composure in close games, playing consistently in defense, making good decisions on offense and having good energy on our counter attack throughout the game. I think the team really saw they could do that and it carried through the weekend, which will hopefully be something that will carry over this weekend and going forward."

Santa Clara has four positional starters back from last season in DeMarco Orella, Mac Carey, Shane Hughes and Sam Toriggino, but is still experimenting with rotations.

"I think we have different things that work together," Wilbur said. "If we need, we can go with the faster line up. If we want better defense, we can have a stronger defense group out there. I think last weekend was a good chance to work on different rotations, seeing what works out there and have that going into next weekend."

The tournament features a rematch with local rival San Jose State, which downed the Broncos, 11-7, in this year's season opener just a couple weeks ago.

"They're certain things that they did on offense and defense," Wilbur said. "We were in the preseason and only had a couple weeks of practice before that first game and a lot of that was conditioning. We definitely are able to game plan a little bit more, and we will have some adjustments."

The tournament offers an opportunity to face a wide array of competition.

"Whittier and Redlands are very good teams," Wilbur said. "It's also going to be a great opportunity to play USC, which is the No. 2 in the country."

Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
• Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Men's Water Polo: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram