Unbeaten through its first 13 matches, Ceres High's varsity girls water polo tasted defeat for the first time this past week.

Los Banos avenged a 12-9 loss with an 8-6 home victory on Wednesday and moved into a tie for first place with the Bulldogs atop the Western Athletic Conference standings.

"The girls aren't discouraged," Ceres High head coach Stephen Dias said. "We have a great shot at winning the league title and going to playoffs."

Camryn Silva led the Bulldogs in scoring with three goals.

Julia Pata, Kaitlyn Foster and Noelia de Leon all tallied one goal.

Camryn Elness totaled six blocks.

"Los Banos played a good game," Dias said.

"We played catch up the whole time."

Ceres High outscored Los Banos 2-0 in the final period.

"We finally found out what worked for us in the fourth quarter," Dias said. "We played more of a defensive game and shut them down. We had to work for our goals."

The Bulldogs had four matches left on their regular-season schedule as of Sunday.

Ceres High will play host to Los Banos at 4 p.m. on Oct. 24.

The match could determine the WAC champion.

"I don't think there's added pressure," Dias said. "We've already beat them once. I'm not going to count on Los Banos doing the same thing. They're going to mix it up. We're going to have to find a way to free Julia. Camryn (Silva), Kaitlyn and Noelia need to continue to do what they're doing."

Ceres High pounded Pacheco 17-4 on Oct. 10 in Los Banos.

Pata led the Bulldogs with five goals.

Noelia de Leon added four goals.

Silva and Foster both contributed three goals.

Savannah Zielke had one goal.

Elness tallied two blocks.

Ceres High used multiple lineups while dominating Pacheco from start to finish.

"I tried different combinations of girls in the water," Dias said.