Ceres High School's varsity boys water polo team strengthened its grip of second place in the Western Athletic Conference standings this past week.

The Bulldogs improved to 2-1 in the WAC following their 13-9 victory over Los Banos on Oct. 6 in Ceres.

"This puts us in good shape," Ceres High head coach Tracy Bull said. "It was our strongest game all year, from start to finish. We pretty much dominated. We were never really in danger of losing. It was pretty surprising."

Ceres High improved its all-time record versus Los Banos to 4-3.

The Bulldogs have won their last three meetings against the Tigers dating back to 2014.

"We've had some success against Los Banos," Bull said. "They beat us three of the first four times we played them. We swept them last year. They're always good matches. We have mutual respect for each other."

Tim Campbell led Ceres High in scoring with five goals.

Fernando Olmos tallied four goals.

Bobby Baransky, Xavier Camarillo, Tristan Freitas-Scott and Logan Kier all scored once.

First-year goalkeeper Blake Borba had 13 blocks.

The Bulldogs led 8-5 at halftime.

Ceres High accounted for the game's first four goals, including three by Olmos and one by Campbell.

Campbell scored one minute into the contest.

All three of Olmos' goals were scored on counterattacks.

He usually contributes from the hole set or wing.

"Fernando's our most complete player," Bull said.

Los Banos cut the deficit to 8-7 with three minutes left in the third period.

Ceres High answered with a 5-1 run over the next nine minutes of the game.

"We approached it as a playoff game," Bull said. "We came out on fire. I knew they were tired going into the fourth period. They don't have a deep bench. We kept countering and pulled away. We're a finesse team with speed. We have to play to our strengths."

The Bulldogs defended their home pool last week.

"All we did was hold serve," Bulll said. "We have to play Los Banos down there. We should be able to beat them again."