IRVINE, Calif. — For the second time this season, Brock Zamanian has been named The Big West Men's Water Polo Player of the Week after leading UC Santa Barbara to an upset of the no. 6 team in the country, the conference announced on Wednesday. The redshirt senior collects his second career player of the week award after an offensive outburst of four goals and three assists in the Gauchos' 16-13 win at UC Davis on Saturday.
 
Zamanian scored three of his four goals in the second half of Saturday's match, helping the Gauchos turn what was a three-goal halftime deficit into a three-goal win at the final buzzer. Adding his three assists to his four-goal haul, he finished with a game-high seven points, making Saturday his highest-scoring day of the season. The result is just as pivotal in Santa Barbara's season as Zamanian's performance was in earning it; the Gauchos remain in contention for a first-round bye in The Big West Championship heading into the season's final day, when they will host last-place Cal State Fullerton. The win was also a remarkable third of the season over a team ranked sixth in the nation for Santa Barbara, with Zamanian being the team's leading scorer in all three. No other Big West program has as many wins over teams ranked ninth or higher this season, let alone sixth. He collected his first career player of the week honor after scoring five goals to power the Gauchos past then-No. 6 San Jose State at the beginning of October.
 
A redshirt senior, Zamanian has two regular-season games left in what has become a remarkable Gaucho career, at USC on Saturday and hosting Cal State Fullerton for his Senior Day on Sunday. As a team, UC Santa Barbara is still chasing that potential first-round bye for the conference tournament, but Zamanian is chasing some personal landmarks on top of that. With 51 goals on the season and 154 in his career, he needs to put the ball in the net just two more times in order to both break his single-season career high and become one of Gaucho Water Polo's top 10 all-time career goal-scorers, a target well in reach for a man averaging 2.55 goals per game this season.