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Think about it...

As UC Davis heads into Thursday's NCAA men's water polo tournament, it is just three wins from a Division I national championship. Pretty heady stuff.

The Aggies are in a particularly intriguing situation as the No. 10 locals meet No. 3 Pepperdine on Thursday (2:45 p.m.) at Chris Kjeldsen Aquatic Center at Pacific. No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 USC are both on the other side of the now six-school bracket.

"I think as for the three teams on (our) side of the bracket, we're astonished the seeding came out the way it did," admits Child and Meisel Families Director of Men's Water Polo Daniel Leyson. "One of these three teams — UC Davis, Pepperdine or Pacific — is going to end up in the finals, while No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 USC have to play each other in the semis…

"It's been this crazy year, and it's exciting and we're super-excited to be there."

The Aggies are in the midst of a nine-game winning streak. They finished 7-0 in Western Water Polo Association play and have played well against highly ranked foes, beating then-No. 5 Cal and avenging two early season losses to UC San Diego with a 9-7 victory and a 14-5 WWPA-winning effort on Nov. 24.

UC Davis went 16-7 in the regular season and, in addition to taking out the Golden Bears, twice scared well-regarded Long Beach State and dropped a 12-9 decision at Pacific. In the final polls, Pepperdine, Pacific and mighty UCLA wound up in a tie at No. 3 — but so competitive were the ranks of men's water polo in 2019, the 11-time national title-winning Bruins had to stay home.

Even with the pool gods flashing a smile Davis' way, Leyson knows a herculean task remains at hand. Nonetheless, confidence is high at Schaal Aquatics Center...

"I think without a doubt we've improved as the season has gone on," reports Leyson, that current win streak serving as empirical evidence. "We're confident with how we're playing right now. But I'll tell you what, Pepperdine has also improved as the season has gone on.

"We face a formidable opponent, but we feel like we've earned the right to be confident with the game we're playing. Not over-confident or arrogant, but certainly comfortable with the level that we've played at because our results have helped us with that — plus we've worked really hard. We've been grinding for a long time.

"Our players deserve the right to feel comfortable going into this game. Then we'll see what happens."

Pepperdine (24-7) slipped by Long Beach State, 14-12, in the Golden Coast Conference finale to qualify for the Big Splash for the first time since 1997. In that year, the Waves won the national crown, leaving UC Davis in its wake after a 13-8 victory in the semifinals.

This fall the Aggies twice met Long Beach State, losing 13-12 in double overtime and 11-10 in regulation. Those comparative scores give UC Davis another stoking of confidence.

Leyson also likes the fact that his 2019 crew is a tight-knit, complete team. No superstars. Everyone shares the ball and opponents just never know from whom the next net-bender will come.

While Israel native Nir Gross leads Aggie scorers with 54 goals, Leyson notes that UC Davis has nine other players with at least 15 goals — not to mention the towering 6-foot-6 Jonah Addington in goal. The Hanford product helped limit Aggie opponents to 17 goals in the WWPA three-game tournament run.

"That's kind of the beauty of our group this year is we don't have one player who necessarily stands out hyper-dramatically in terms of statistics," explains Leyson. "Then we have all those guys in the 20-30-goal range, so we have depth; a lot of depth and we use it to our advantage.

"We strive so hard here to build a familial team-type environment where we play as a team and interact as a team in a special way because I personally feel that that's the beauty of team sports.

"I think it's more beautiful to see the team working together with synergy than it is to feed just one guy the ball and let him shoot it every single time. I see that in some other teams, but that's not what we're trying to do here."

That's not to say if there was a goal-scoring central figure that Leyson wouldn't feed the kitty, but he's delighted with the teams like his that "share the ball, share the load, share the burden."

Leyson is in his seventh year at UC Davis after assistant gigs at his alma mater USC and UCLA. A sterling playing stand with the Trojans, was followed by a pro career in Spain.

So, given his 127-65 career Aggie mark and the accomplishments of recent teams (his 2016 squad won a program record 23 contests), where does this edition sit in the Leyson Pantheon?

"With the frame of reference the team we had (we I arrived), I think we're significantly better across the board," the coach explains. "Really, it's like the program is just better. We continue to improve year-by-year … we'll be good again next year.

"This is one of the best teams we've had here, for sure. This is one of the deepest teams, more well-balanced teams with good, solid players at every position. So, yeah, I'd have to say it's one of our best teams — and I guess we'll see (where it fits) when we play the third-ranked school in the nation in an important game."


One of the most well-known and respected sports writers in the industry, former Davis Enterprise sports and managing editor Bruce Gallaudet joined the UC Davis Athletics staff as its feature writer in the summer of 2018. Since then, visitors to UCDavisAggies.com have enjoyed his unique perspective on campus student-athletes, coaches, teams, individuals, programs, events and projects that represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.