DAVIS, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific men's water polo team battled against two of the top teams in the NCAA Division I on Sunday and fell twice at the Aggie Roundup in non-conference action. FPU suffered a setback in the opener to #19 San Jose State, 10-7, despite scoring four times in the final period. In the nightcap, The Sunbirds jumped out to a 3-1 lead against #4 Cal and tallied 10 goals before the Bears proved too much to handle in a 25-10 decision.

The Sunbirds (2-5) couldn't overcome a slow start in the opener against San Jose State. FPU trailed 7-2 at halftime and faced a deficit of 8-3 after three periods. The Sunbirds tallied four goals in the final period, but the comeback fell short in the 10-7 loss.

David Maes led the charge offensively with a hat-trick, while Kyle Madel tallied two goals for FPU. Zlatko Vlasic and Greg Bracamonte rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Dillon Robinson amassed 11 saves in the defeat.

"We started the morning off slow," said head coach Bryan Suhovy. "We came out sluggish against San Jose State and they took advantage of that. We made a second-half run at them, but the hole we dug was just too much to make up for."

FPU came out firing in the second game of the evening and gave one of the nation's top teams a scare for the first half. The Sunbirds used a 3-0 run to lead 3-1 with two minutes left in the opening period and trailed 5-4 with six minutes to go in the second quarter. Cal responded, however, with a 6-0 run to take control of the game and eventually put the Sunbirds away in the second half.

Daniel Seymour, Maes and Vlasic led the offensive with three goals apiece for the Sunbirds. Madel tallied the final goal. Robinson made 10 saves in the setback.

"I'm really proud of how we played and how we represented the university," said Suhovy. "The team never backed down and opened up strong against a DI powerhouse. Dillon held strong in the cage, and Zlatko, Daniel and David were great offensively. We will use this as a building opportunity as we head into our next conference game against Cal Baptist. Al-in-all, today was a good experience."

The Sunbirds are back in action on Thursday, October 1 at California Baptist. The WWPA matchup is slated for a 7 p.m. start.