The Cerritos College women's water polo team got their first real test of the season when they faced two-time defending state champion Riverside College on the first day of the Chaffey Tournament on Friday. The Falcons, who opened the tournament with a 16-5 win over San Diego Mesa College, played to a 7-7 tie by halftime, but were unable to pull ahead and suffered a 13-9 setback. They responded on the second day with wins over Cypress College (17-6) and Citrus College (22-10) to improve their season record to 9-1. The team will now travel to Long Beach City College for a 3:00 p.m. South Coast Conference match on Wednesday.

In the opening win over San Diego Mesa, Cerritos jumped out to a 9-1 first quarter lead and never looked back. Balanced scoring led the way, as the trio freshmen Angelica Hernandez (El Rancho HS), Carla Harvey (Potomac Falls, VA HS) and Jasmine Villalpando (Montebello HS) all scored three times, with sophomore goalkeeper Sharon Ku (Cerritos HS) posting three saves. Sophomore Katherine Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) and freshman Bianca Serrano (Cerritos HS) each added a pair of goals in the win.

Against the Tigers, who have not lost a game since the 2010 season, Cerritos led in the second quarter, 7-5 after Villalpando and sophomore Yuridia Vela (Schurr HS) scored consecutive goals to take their largest lead of the game. Vela's goal came with 2:24 left in the first half, before Megan Guerts countered with a pair of Riverside goals before the end of the half. The Tigers went on to score four more consecutive goals before Gabayeron got the team to within 11-8 with 5:07 remaining. Harvey, Gabayeron and Hernandez each scored twice, while Ku turned away a career-high 16 shots.

On the second day, the Falcons received five goals from Gabayeron and four from Hernandez in the win over Cypress, as they outscored the Chargers 4-0 in the first quarter and 7-0 in the third quarter. Ku made five saves, with Vela chipping in with three goals. The tournament closed out with Cerritos scoring a season-high 22 goals against Citrus. Harvey opened the scoring in the first quarter and went on to score a team-high five goals, while Gabayeron (four goals) and Villalpando (three goals, two steals) also played well. In addition to her five goals, Harvey also recorded a pair of steals and assists, with Ku making 10 saves and registering a couple of steals.