The thought of not winning the City Section title is foreign to the seniors on the Palisades High boys varsity water polo team. That’s because none of them has ever experienced it.
“I think we have the potential to be even better than last year,” said one of those seniors, Zach Senator.”We don’t have any more depth, which was our weakness last year, but everyone’s gotten better.”
Senator is one of the projected starters along with Kian Lotfi, Mitchell Kim, Quinn Godfredsen and Lucas Silva. Matt Affeld, Brandon Epp and Ross Aronson will be the goalies.
“Our movement and our chemistry are better,” Senator said. “We’ve been practicing since Aug. 18. In addition to winning City we really want to do well in the tournaments.”
The first of those is the Conejo Classic on Friday and Saturday in Ventura.
“Conejo would be a great tournament to get top five in,” Senator said.
Senator will look to pass a little more this season, especially when double- or triple-teamed.
“I’ve become more flexible, which has really helped my shot,” added Senator, who led the Dolphins in goals (71), assists (69) and drawn penalties (59) and was third in steals (61). “My overall IQ is higher. I tried to shoot too much last year. Now, I’ll try to feed someone else more.”
One of the keys to Palisades notching its fourth straight City crown is the growing chemistry between Senator and Lotfi, who seem to feed off each other’s energy.
“We kind of have a connection,” Senator said. “We both see the game in a similar way, from a basketball standpoint.”
Lotfi agreed: “It’s sort of like an immediate connection we have that [Coach Adam Blakis] noticed right way. It comes from watching sports like basketball and soccer.”
Although Gabby Fezbakhsh won’t be back and senior captain Griffin Koffman and goalie Blake Levine graduated, Lotfi believes the experience he and his teammates got playing in the Junior Olympics over the summer gives them a leg up on the competition.
“Our goalies are not as experienced so Zach and I will have to do a little more,” Lotfi added. “We’ll be creating more than having set plays.”
Lofti enjoys being back in the pool after having surgery in December for a torn ACL.
“After JOs, me, Zach and Sammy Speiser attended a camp at Brown University and did some bonding and growing,” Lotfi said. “Being away for five or six months I really missed it so I can’t wait for the season to start.”
Rounding out the varsity squad will be Isai Elias, Greg Vitous, Orson Spence and Will Schwertfeger.
“It’s always important for us to win and we want to keep the dynasty going,” Lotfi said. “I think the tournaments we’ve entered will be tougher and that should prepare us for the playoffs.”
In addition to the Conejo Classic, the Dolphins will also play in the Mira Costa Tournament in Manhattan Beach as well as the Hank V. Tournament in Orange County in October. League play begins Sept. 28 against Venice at Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center.
— Steve Galluzzo
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