MERCED -- West Valley men's water polo survived the first 12 minutes and dominated the final 28 against San Diego Mesa to reach its fifth-straight 3C2A State Championship Semifinal appearance.

While the Olympians (25-11, 7-0 PCAC) led with over three minutes to go in the first half, their tenacious defense could only hold up for so long, as the Vikings (31-3, 7-0 Coast) scored nine unanswered on their way to another dominant performance.

Early on, the Olympians played the brand of water polo they wanted to play -- a slow-tempo, defensive affair -- against a Viking offense that set the recorded program record in goals-per-game. The West Valley offense, which scores just under 20 per game, was held to just one goal in the first 12 minutes.

Mesa took advantage of this, with Santiago Gonzalez scoring two of the games' first three goals, one on a man-up opportunity early in the second. With 6:09 to play in the second, Mesa driver Barrett Satre scored the 97^th goal of his freshman year to extend the Olympians lead to 3-1.

That's where the score stayed until over halfway through the period. With Coast-Conference MVP Makar Salnikov still scoreless, Yonatan Nadler dropped in the first two goals for the Vikings, including one with 3:41 to go in the second that sparked momentum.

The onslaught started there. After scoring two goals in the first 12:19 of play, they scored a pair in the following 1:15, one each from Tristan Grimett and Ali Cinar Nuray, flipping a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.

Salnikov added his first with 1:48 to play. Vittorio Sarra added one on the Vikings' next possession. Cinar Nuray and Peter Kohari both scored breakaway goals in the first half's final minute, with West Valley goalie Lucas Rocha Gentil credited for the assist on both.

Rogers and Grimett tallied the first two goals of the second half, marking nine straight for West Valley before Gonzalez finally answered for the Olympians.

But by then, the deficit was far too much for the Olympians to handle. Thanks to terrific play from Rocha Gentil, who made nine saves on 17 shots, Satre scored just twice.

On West Valley's end, Coast-Conference second-teamers Grimett and Nadler led the way. The former finished with five goals and an assist, the latter added four goals on five shots. Salnikov, Kohari and Rogers both scored twice, and Cinar Nuray added three assists.

The Vikings have one of their toughest challenges of the season on the horizon, taking on Orange Coast College. These two faced off in October at Long Beach City, with West Valley barely eking out an 11-10 overtime victory. Grimett scored the game winner with just 17 seconds to play in overtime.

West Valley and the Orange Coast Pirates play for a spot in the state championship on Friday at 10:30 AM.