FRESNO, Calif. — One day out from the start of competition at the Western Water Polo Association Championships, Biola Women's Water Polo found out its student-athletes earned some well-deserved recognition. 

The league announced its annual all-conference teams, all-freshman team and special awards on Thursday, with the opening round of its tournament set for Friday at Fresno Pacific.

Veralie Naranjo headlined the recognition for Biola as the Eagles' standout freshman took home the league's distinction as Newcomer of the Year. She also was one of two Eagles featured on the conference All-Freshman team, alongside Lizzy Birch.

The Eagles had four of their players earn all-WWPA selections with Hanna Jordan leading the way as an All-WWPA First Team selection. Kourtney Pyle and Rachel Spadt were named to the second team and Maria Roldan Gonzalez was tabbed as an honorable mention for the honors. 

All told, that's six different Eagles getting some form of recognition from the league for its standout very first regular season of play. Biola finished its regular season with 11 wins, a 4-2 mark in WWPA contests and earned the No. 2 seed in the West Region at this week's championship.

Jordan's first team selection was powered by 47 goals and 11 assists over the Eagles' 26 matches. The graduate transfer from Concordia Irvine celebrated her senior day with a win over Fresno Pacific just last week. For her career, between Biola and CUI she has over 130 goals scored. 

She scored twice in the senior day win and comes into the tournament red-hot with multiple goals in each of the last three matches and in seven of the last 10 matches overall.

Two other transfers found their spot on the second team, including Kourtney Pyle who led Biola in goals and points this year. She notched 55 goals and added 13 assists to compile the team-best 68 points. 

The other second-team selection was the team's lone NCAA Division I transfer, Rachel Spadt. Spadt found the back of the net 41 times and added 12 assists. She was one of six Eagles with 49 or more points. Spadt has scored at least one goal in her last nine appearances and has scored in all but three matches since Valentine's Day.

Coincidentally, the six individuals with 49+ points are all the award-winners that found their spot on these WWPA teams. 

Maria Roldan Gonzalez was third on the team in points and tied with Birch for the team-lead in assists. She had 20 dimes to go along with 44 goals to make her a big part of the Biola offense. She also, though, led the team with 37 steals this year to help pace the defensive effort. 

Everyone on this Biola team could be counted as a newcomer in 2022 as it was the first season of Biola Women's Water Polo in the WWPA. But, it was Naranjo who stood out among the WWPA coaches as worthy of the Newcomer of the Year selection.

She was second on the team with 47 goals and second in total points, just two back from Pyle with 66 points total. Naranjo made just about 50 percent of her shots as the year rolled along and was as effective as anyone at setting up 6-on-5 chances for her teammates. She led the team with 39 drawn exclusions.

Her 19 steals was actually fourth-best on the team as well, which is impressive for the position she played.

Naranjo was joined on the All-Freshman team by Lizzy Birch, who served as one of the most consistent cogs for Head Coach Sarah Orozco during this inaugural year. Birch had at least one point in 21 of Biola's 26 matches this year and happened to have 15 multi-point matches.

She had one of her most productive outings of the regular season in the Eagles' neutral-site home match against Brown, where she set up four goals and scored one of her own. It was one of two 5-point matches Birch had this season.

The Eagles begin their postseason slate with a matchup against the East Region's No. 3 seed, Gannon (9-12). Biola faces the Golden Knights at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at Fresno State Aquatics Center in Fresno.