Women’s water polo captain Carla Harvey believes the team is ready for its back-to-back conference games against Rio Hondo College (6-10, 3-3) and East Los Angeles College (4-10, 3-3) on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Cerritos.

She sees no negative effects that the 3:00 and 5:15 game times will have on the team’s mindset. “It’s mental because if you think you’re tired even if you have an hour or a 3 hour break, then you’re going to play like you’re tired.”

Attacker Kristina Ramirez agrees with Harvey. “I just think we’re really prepared, I think we’re ready for it and hopefully we can pull out some wins,” she said. “It’s all mental. We have to continue telling ourselves that we can do it and that we can keep going. We have to push ourselves.”

As preparation, the team has intensified their practices to improve their overall conditioning. Harvey said, “We’re running a lot. We have harder practices, we’re conditioning more, getting ready for the week.”

Coach Sergio Macias added, “It’s my job to get them in shape and if I feel they’re being lazy in the pool then we’ll do something different than they’re used to. I want to make sure I get them into water polo shape first because being in shape in the water is different than dry land, and once I felt that they’re in okay swim shape, we want to get them stronger mentally by doing something different, so I want them to be challenged every practice, whether we’re in the pool or out of the pool.”

He hopes that the stronger conditioning will prepare the women for the consecutive games. “I think our [women] should be a bit tired, but that’s why we train and they knew this ahead of time, so it’s not a surprise.”

The Falcons hope to bounce back from their previous loss as they face each team for the first time this season.