League champion Uni opens CIF boys water polo playoffs

University High School’s boys water polo team had a regular season to remember.

The Trojans went a perfect 12-0 and captured their first league title in 30 years and now are ready to open the CIF Division 2 playoffs.

Coach Jesse Briggs’ team (21-5) opens play Tuesday, hosting the South Coast League’s third place entry Capistrano Valley at 5 p.m. at Woodbridge.

“University had to beat Beckman twice who has been at the top of our league the past few years,” Briggs said.

“The first time we played them, we had a good size margin but the second time was much closer but we pulled it off. Our team is very small this year and our top players carry a lot of minutes. Victor Martin (senior), Jaden Chen (senior), Oleg Shatskikh (sophomore) and goal keeper Ryan Watson (junior) each contributed huge in the game to win.

“Overall our team this year are very tight together and have had a blast being each others teammates.”

Briggs said his squad was never ranked in the top 10 of the CIF polls, despite defeating several Divison 1 teams.

The winner of Tuesday’s match goes on to face the winner of the Arlington vs. Servite match in the second round Thursday.

Top-seeded Servite plays on the road against Arlington Tuesday.

Three Orange County teams, including Crean Lutheran, are seeded first in their divisions.

To see the brackets for all divisions, please click here.