IRVINE, Calif. — For the second week in a row, The Big West Men's Water Polo Player of the Week calls Santa Barbara home. The conference announced that Gaucho goalie Levi Lentin was the recipient of this week's honor on Wednesday, the second such nod of his career. Brock Zamanian collected the award last week, as UC Santa Barbara is now one of three schools with multiple honorees this season. 
 
The La Jolla native Lentin once again haunted his hometown team over the weekend, making 10 saves and recording three steals to help Santa Barbara upset UC San Diego in their Big West opener, 11-10. It was just the fifth time all season that a team had held the Tritons to 10 or fewer goals in a match and only the second time by a team not named USC, Stanford or UCLA. Lentin's third and final steal helped seal the match, putting an end to the Tritons' final full possession of the game as the Gauchos defended their one-goal lead. Thanks to Lentin's intervention, the next time the Tritons got the ball they had just 11 seconds to find an equalizer, which they failed to do.
 
Saturday was not Lentin's first great performance against the Tritons; his first career Big West Player of the Week award also came after an incredible 13 save, five steal outing against UC San Diego in November of 2023. Just over two weeks later, he bettered that game by making 14 saves against the Tritons in The Big West Semifinal in La Jolla. Saturday's game was Lentin's sixth double-digit-save outing of this season and the 24^th of his career. Earlier this season, he became just the eighth goalie in program history to record 500 saves in the Blue and Gold.
 
Lentin and the Gauchos moved up to No. 10 in this week's Collegiate Water Polo Association poll, their highest ranking of the season. They remain at home for another crucial Big West matchup this weekend, hosting No. 16 UC Irvine at Dos Pueblos High School on Saturday.