Doug Oakley (2) led Bellevue to a 2-3 weekend
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10/24/09 -- The Bellevue Boys water polo team won their first two games but dropped their last three to finish in 15th place at the San Diego Invitational.  The tournament featured 40 of the top teams in the San Diego area.

Bellevue faced Valley Center in their first game of the tournament.  The Wolverines jumped out to a 6-0 first quarter lead and never looked back, winning by a final margin of 12-5.  Six Wolverines scored in the victory.  Senior Doug Oakley led the way with two goals and one assist.  Senior Conrad Preston added the first varsity goal of his career in the victory.

After beating Valley Center, Bellevue was pitted against Mount Carmel, who had earlier defeated Monte Vista High School.  With a victory, Bellevue would win its preliminary bracket and move on to face 2008 tournament champion Bishops.  In the first half, Mount Carmel used an array of outside shots to keep pace with the Wolverines.  But in the second half, they could not find an answer for Chase Middlesworth.  The junior scored six goals and helped the Wolverines break the game open in the third quarter.  Mount Carmel scored three quick goals in the game's final minutes, but the Wolverines captured a 13-11 victory.  In addition to Middlesworth's six goals, Doug Oakley filled up the stat sheet with three goals, two assists and two ejections drawn.  Senior Justin Dellinger led Bellevue's defense with eight steals, one shy of the school record that he tied earlier in the season.

On Friday afternoon, Bellevue played Bishops with a berth in the quarterfinals at stake.  Given Bishops' speed and depth, the Wolverines knew that they could not fall behind early in the game.  Led by Chase Middlesworth's two first quarter goals, Bellevue found itself tied 2-2 after the first quarter.  Thanks to a handful of spectacular saves by senior goalie Dan Ellis, the Wolverines held Bishops to just two goals in the second quarter and entered halftime trailing 4-3.  However, Bishops was able to make several halftime adjustments and went on a dominating 6-1 run in the third quarter.  Bishops added three fourth-quarter goals to Bellevue's one to finish the game at 13-5.  Middlesworth led Bellevue with two goals, and Oakley, Dellinger and senior Peter Linton added one goal in the loss.

After falling to eventual tournament champion Bishops, the Wolverines looked to rebound against Westview, a team that they had lost to in the same tournament a year ago.  Though the Wolverines led 5-3 after the first quarter, Westview took advantage of several Bellevue defensive lapses to win the game 13-12.  Middlesworth led Bellevue with seven goals and three ejections drawn in the loss.

In their final game of the tournament, Bellevue faced Torrey Pines.  The first three quarters proved to be a back-and-forth affair.  At the end of the third quarter, the Wolverines trailed 10-8 despite an 11-1 ejection deficit.  Bellevue went on a late run to tie the game at 10 with less than two minutes in the game.  Unfortunately, two more ejections led to two Torrey Pines goals, and the Wolverines fell 14-11.  With the loss, the Wolverines settled for 15th place.

Bellevue (21-6) returns to Washington and faces Mercer Island on Friday in its final league game of the season.