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Water polo waves goodbye to their season in playoff loss to UC Davis

Emily Maciel, Sports Editor

April 11, 2026

Goalkeeper Marin Byars gets set to pass to her teammates at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on April 10, 2026, in Northridge, Calif.

In a rematch of the regular season finale, the No. 6 seeded CSUN women’s water polo team took on the No. 3 seeded UC Aggies in the quarterfinals of the Big West Water Polo Championship on Friday afternoon, where the Aggies won big.

Although CSUN held Davis to a close game in the first half, a huge fourth quarter by the Aggies secured their ticket to the next round on account of a 16-4 win.

Attacker Claire Summers looks for an opportunity to pass the ball to one of her teammates at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on April 10, 2026, in Northridge, Calif. (Aiden Hinojos)

With this loss, CSUN finishes the season 17-9 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Matadors have not won a playoff game since 2014, excluding consolation games, and have not had a winning conference record since 2015

To start the game, CSUN scored the first goal, but UC Davis (15-12 overall, 5-2 conference) gained a lead on two penalty shots. The Matadors were able to get right back into the game after a successful penalty shot of their own followed by a goal.

UC Davis followed up with another quick goal to give themselves a one-point lead heading to the second quarter.

The Aggies scored within the first 25 seconds of the quarter, but the rest of the stretch was quiet. CSUN narrowly trailed UC Davis 5-3 at the half.

Both teams picked up the pace and had some back and forth scoring to start the third quarter. UC Davis scored within the last minute to give themselves an 8-4 heading into the final quarter.

The Aggies continued their hot streak, inching themselves closer to a victory. They tallied another eight points while the Matadors slowly watched their season come to an end. The Matadors were unable to get any more points on the board.

Goalkeeper Marin Byars gets set to pass to her teammates at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on April 10, 2026, in Northridge, Calif. (Aiden Hinojos)

UC Davis head coach Kandace Waldthaler spoke about how fun it’s been to coach a gritty team throughout the season. She said she didn’t think the team met their peak until recently.

“The last three, four weeks we’ve been playing some of our best water polo, even though, you know, it’s been sometimes slow starts, but we were able to extend away and get the wins,” Waldthaler said.

CSUN head coach and players were not made available for comment.

UC Davis will advance to the semifinals against No. 4 seeded Long Beach State on Saturday, April 11, at 4 p.m. at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center in Long Beach.