2024 Gannon women's water polo team photo

Women's Water Polo Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Championship Preview: Gannon to Face Western Top Seed Biola in Opening Round of WWPA Women's Championship

GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (10-9) at WWPA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
DATE/TIME: Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28, 2024 | All Day
POOL/LOCATION: Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center l La Mirada, Calif.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
 
WWPA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times ET)
Friday, April 26
Game 1 -- 4W Cal State Monterey Bay (4-20) vs. 1E McKendree (13-9) – 11 a.m.
Game 2 -- 3E Salem (8-20) vs. 2W Cal State East Bay (17-11) – 12:45 p.m.
Game 3 -- 3W Fresno Pacific (10-11) vs. 2E Mercyhurst (5-23) -- 2:30 p.m.
Game 4 -- 4E Gannon (10-9) vs. 1W Biola (11-16) – 4:15 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Game 5 -- Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 6:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, April 27
Game 6 -- Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser – 4:00 p.m.
Game 7 -- Semifinal 1 -- Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 5:45 p.m.
Game 8 -- Semifinal 2 -- Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner – 7:30 p.m.
Game 9 -- 7th Place -- Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser – 9:15 p.m.
 
Sunday, April 28
Game 10 -- 5th Place -- Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 12:45 p.m.
Game 11 -- 3rd Place -- Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser – 2:30 p.m.
Game 12 -- Championship -- Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner – 4:15 p.m.
 
 
ERIE, Pa. -- The Gannon women's water polo team makes the cross-country journey to California this weekend to participate in the 2024 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championship Tournament. The eight-team, three-day tournament is taking place in La Mirada, Calif. and is being hosted by Biola University at the Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center. Competition gets underway on Friday, April 26 with five games.

The Golden Knights come in as the fourth seed in the WWPA Eastern Division with a 10-9 overall record and 2-4 in the conference. For the third straight year their first-round opponent is Biola, the top seed in the Western Division and the host school. The Eagles have a 11-16 record and were 5-1 in the conference. The match is the fourth of the opening day and is set to begin at 4:15 p.m. ET.  This will mark the third meeting between Gannon and Biola. The Eagles handed the Golden Knights a 14-8 defeat in the opening round in 2022 and a year ago won 17-7.

Friday's winners will move into Saturday's semifinals, while the losers will play with a chance to finish as high as fifth. The championship is set for Sunday at 4:15 p.m. in the east.

Gannon has enjoyed a successful season at 10-9 under first-year head coach Zarko Sadikovic. The Golden Knights have not played since hosting the WWPA Erie Classic on April 6-7. Since that time they have worked on preparing for the WWPA Championships and cleaning up some issues that contributed to three losses in the last four matches.

"We struggled in the last couple weeks but we have worked hard since then to correct some things," Sadikovic pointed out. "We are 100 percent healthy and have no injuries. We look to potentially surprise some teams. Water polo is such that between the west and the east there isn't a lot of difference. Everybody can beat everybody."

As for playing Biola, Sadkovic is looking forward to the challenge. "It will make it very interesting playing Biola," he commented. "Obviously going in there is some extra motivation playing the number one team in the West." 

A LOOK BACK AT LAST YEAR'S WWPA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gannon finished in eighth place at last year's WWPA Championships which was hosted by McKendree in O'Fallon, Ill.  The Golden Knights were the number four seed out of the Eastern Division and opened up against top-seeded Biola. Gannon would drop a 17-7 decision. Day number two saw the Golden Knights face crosstown-rival Mercyhurst, the number three seed from the East. The Lakers would prevail 9-6. In the seventh-place match Gannon met the second seed in the East, Salem. Salem handed the Golden Knights a heart-breaking 7-6 defeat on a penalty shot with 19 seconds remaining. Jade Strickland (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) earned a spot on the WWPA All-Tournament Second Team after contributing six goals and five assists in the three games.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS TO WATCH
Jade Strickland (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) is Gannon's leading scorer for the second straight season with 33 goals and 21 assists for 54 points. In addition she is tied for the team lead in steals with 35. A year ago she finished with 56 goals and 31 assists for 87 points after totaling 64 points as a freshman (37 goals, 27 assists). Earlier this year she reached 100 career goals and her total now stands at 126 goals. Strickland earned ACWPC honorable mention All-American honors a year ago and was a WWPA first team All-Conference honoree.

After scoring 35 goals with 14 assists to earn WWPA All-Freshman Team accolades Molly Fehr (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria) has contributed 30 goals and seven assists for 37 points this year. That is good for second on the team. Strickland and Fehr are among eight players with 10-or-more goals. Ellie Velasco (Bronx, Calif./Arlington) adds 21 goals and 14 assists, the latter figure second on the team. Freshman Emma O'Gorman (Johannesburg, South Africa/St Stithians College) is third in the team in goals with 26, adding seven assists for 33 points.

Molly Sebunia (Erie, Pa./McDowell) has seen most of the action in goal while starting all 19 contests. The junior has a 10.32 GAA and a .434 save percentage. She has recorded 149 saves.
 
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Players Mentioned

Molly Fehr

#12 Molly Fehr

2M
Sophomore
Molly Sebunia

#1 Molly Sebunia

G
Junior
Jade Strickland

#2 Jade Strickland

UTIL
Junior
Ellie Velasco

#8 Ellie Velasco

UTIL
Junior
Emma O

#9 Emma O'Gorman

2M
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Molly Fehr

#12 Molly Fehr

Sophomore
2M
Molly Sebunia

#1 Molly Sebunia

Junior
G
Jade Strickland

#2 Jade Strickland

Junior
UTIL
Ellie Velasco

#8 Ellie Velasco

Junior
UTIL
Emma O

#9 Emma O'Gorman

Freshman
2M