Ripon and Sierra kicked off the boys and girls Valley Oak League water polo campaigns Wednesday and split the two contests.

Sierra won the girls at 26-8, and Ripon the boys, 18-4.

The girls teams play together more than just in the VOL.

“We have been a sister club and a sister program with Ripon for a long time,” Timberwolves coach Lauren Koury said. “In this game, we wanted to lift up our second and third lines from our bench and also play Ripon with some class.

“We hope to build both programs up. We are very familiar with each other. We play summer and winter together, and tonight we opened league together.”

Phoebe Burke led Sierra (1-0 VOL, 5-2 overall) with six goals.

“I’m really proud of the team today,” Burke said. “We all worked together and implemented what we did in practice.

“We have grown overall, we are all really good teammates, and we have a strong bond.”

Molly Allen added five Timberwolves goals and tallied four assists in the fourth quarter.

“It is very much a team effort to get those shots in,” Allen said. “And defensively, really reading the pass and seeing the ball come in helps you decide of you want to go for the steal or not.”

Bianca Fraser and Kenidee Bauer added three goals apiece for Sierra, Rylee Danel chipped in two goals with one each for Jazlynn Martinez and Peyton Nultemier.

Ella Wright tallied six saves, and Abby Garcia five for the Timberwolves with Hunter Brown-Lyles making five saves for the Indians (0-1, 0-1).

This year will be one of rebuilding for Ripon.

“We did not have a girls team last year,” Indians coach Lauren McGowan said. “And this is my first year coaching.

“All the starters are freshmen as is 90 percent of the team. We are starting from the bottom and building the team back up again. They did pretty good for their first league game. I am proud of them.”

Cooper Russell paced Ripon with four goals. Rori Staley added two goals with one

On Monday at 4 p.m., Sierra hosts Sonora and the Indians travel to Mountain House.

The defending NorCal State champion Ripon boys found themselves in an unfamiliar position to start the game — behind.

The Timberwolves (0-1, 0-3) took a quick 2-0 lead and led 3-2 behind a pair of goals from Bayan Ballew and Kiral Tran before the Indians (1-0, 4-3) scored the next nine goals and never looked back.

“I challenged the boys to start off hot and energetic,” Ripon coach Jeremy West said. “And I think we went 0 for 4 on our first four shots.

“I think it was a wakeup call, and we eventually took back control of the game, and this was a good start to the league season.”

Matthew Lee scored four of Ripon’s first five goals and finished with six goals.

“I was just trying to get out momentum going,” Lee said. “We weren’t expecting the start we had, but then we got into our groove.”

Indians goalie Andrew Hanker made six saves and with time running out in the first half, hurled the ball the length of the pool into an empty net for a goal. He notched an assist after playing in the field in the fourth quarter.

“I was just swatting balls,” Hanker said. “And then I wanted to go in the field and shoot.”

Lucas Rietkerk and Boen West scored two goals apiece for the Indians with Trevor Bell, Jaiden Chandar, T.J. Corgiat, Ethan Hsieh and William Butler each added a goal.

Ripon finished on a 16-1 run.
“It was a tough one,” Sierra coach Corey Winter said. “Our JV teams just played, so we kind of knew what to expect.

“I think we did a great start to the game, and I’m happy with the score. I’m happy with the way we were setting up and passing.

“I was pleased with the way everyone played, especially against Ripon.”

Kody Stone posted the other Timberwolves goal, and goalie Noah Valdivia was busy with 10 saves.

The Indians kick off the Grizzly Classic at noon on Friday at Granite Bay High School and on Monday at 5 p.m. Sierra hosts Sonora.