Thanks to a second-place finish at the Coast Conference Championship tournament and an 18-14 overall record, the Las Positas College men's water polo team has advanced to the Northern California Regional Championships for the first time in program history.

Las Positas, seeded No. 4 out of the six-team field, will take on No. 5 Merced College in an opening-round game on Friday (Nov. 11) at San Joaquin Delta College. The contest is set to begin at 2:20 p.m.

Head coach Jason Craighead, who helped start the water polo programs as an assistant coach for the Hawks in 2015, led his squad to its best-ever finish at the Coast Conference Championships this past weekend at West Valley College.

The Hawks opened the tourney with an impressive 8-7 victory in overtime against Merced on Saturday morning.

That led to a spot in the championship final against state No. 1-ranked West Valley later in the day. The Hawks put up a valiant effort before suffering a 16-7 loss to the Vikings. Kyle Young and Patrick Aiello both scored two goals each in the final to lead LPC.

Friday's match up between Las Positas and Merced will mark the fourth meeting of the season with LPC winning all three previous games. On Sep. 16, the Hawks defeated Merced 12-9 at Delta College's William Anttila Tournament. That was followed by an 11-6 Coast Conference victory on Oct. 5 at Las Positas. And LPC prevailed in their Coast Conference semifinal contest 8-7 in overtime.

A win by Las Positas on Friday would set up another match up against No. 1 seed West Valley on Saturday at 11:40 a.m. in the Northern California semifinals. A pair of victories are needed for the Hawks to advance to the CCCAA State Championships on Nov. 18-19 at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.