To beat the best, you must play the best. Since California is the mecca for water polo, that’s exactly where the Harvard women’s water polo team traveled to compete against six of the West Coast’s best teams, including two ranked opponents, over spring break.

“Water polo is pretty stacked on the West Coast,” sophomore Devan Kennifer said. “That’s one reason we come out to California, to play against really good competition.”

The Crimson began the break with a 7-4 win over Fresno Pacific on Monday before falling later that day to UC Davis, 12-4. After another day of practice, Harvard faced No. 7 San Jose State on Wednesday, coming away with a 13-7 loss.

“There were a couple of games we could have easily lost, but we fought through and won, and there were also some games that we easily could have won and didn’t quite pull out,” Kennifer said. “There was a lot of learning, but there was also a lot of success and growth too.”

The biggest thrill though, was not the wins but rather California itself.

“We were just so excited to be in California. It took a little bit of adjustment to remember how to play in an outdoor pool,” Kennifer said. “The sun’s different, the wind’s different, but it was a great team atmosphere, since we were sucking up the Vitamin D, and we were so excited to be here.”

“It was a rejuvenating experience for us, and in terms of our record, we did a really great job,” classmate Monica Zdrojewski added.

NO. 7 SAN JOSE STATE 13, HARVARD 7

Wednesday’s game against its second top-10 opponent of the year started with Harvard grabbing a 2-0 lead. While the Crimson put another shot past Spartan goaltender Meagan Minson, San Jose State tallied four of its own, leading by one goal going into the second quarter.

While each team scored twice in the final quarter, the Spartans had put the game away in the third, outscoring Harvard by a 4-1 margin to add to its 7-4 halftime lead.

“That team is mostly the girls that I played last summer,” Kennifer said. “They knew exactly how I played, which was interesting, because they knew exactly how to shut me down. But again, we did some good things too, which is part of the learning experience.”

Kennifer scored three goals while four other Crimson players found the back of the net. Freshman Aisha Price recorded four steals while sophomore goalie Laurel McCarthy deflected three shots.

“Even when you are getting killed, keep fighting, trying things, get creative and try to execute with a really good team in your face,” Kennifer concluded.

NO. 15 UC DAVIS 12, HARVARD 4

Playing its second game of the day, Harvard was unable to score in the first half of Monday’s nightcap. As UC Davis attacked McCarthy and her defense, the tally for the Aggies continued to rise.

“It was our second game of the day, so we weren’t completely fresh,” Kennifer said. “It was interesting, because throughout the week, we were a lot more tired than we expected to be, and we were remembering how much the sun takes energy out of you.”

In the final 16 minutes, the Crimson began to step it up, as sophomore Ita Barton-Kettleborough scored twice while Kennifer and freshman Elise Molnar each put one in the net.

“That’s one of those games that if we played them 10 times, we aren’t going to beat them 10 times,” Kennifer said. “They probably aren’t going to beat us 10 times either, but they have a very strong team and a very strong program. We are playing up to them. We did some good things in that game, but not enough to shut them down and win.”

HARVARD 7, FRESNO PACIFIC 4

Harvard started its spring break on the upswing, beating its first opponent of the week, 7-4 on Monday. McCarthy and the defense stayed solid in the first three quarters as the Crimson grabbed a 6-1 lead going into the final eight minutes.

“We also had a really good defensive game against Fresno Pacific,” McCarthy said. “It was good to see the defense clicking there.”

Kennifer grabbed her first hat trick of the week while classmate Shannon Purcell scored twice. Price and junior Patty Smith each tallied one as well.

But the key to the low-scoring game relied heavily on Harvard’s defense.

“We’ve been trying to work on our defense, especially at the beginning of the game, because at the beginning of the season we weren’t starting as well as we could right from the first whistle,” Kennifer said.

—Staff writer Alex Sopko can be reached at sopko@fas.harvard.edu.