By Pete Borello

Rebecca Dreyfuss was disappointed, but not discouraged, when she failed to make the varsity girls water polo team at St. Francis High as a sophomore.

“It made me want to make it even more,” she said.

A determined Dreyfuss made the team as a junior, helping the Lancers capture the Central Coast Section title last fall.

Now Dreyfuss has earned a spot on a water polo team that’s even more difficult to make: the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team.

The Los Altos resident earned the right to play with the country’s elite 17-and-under players by surviving a grueling three-day tryout last month in Utah called the National Zone Selection Camp.

The only downside: she didn’t have enough energy to celebrate.

“I was exhausted,” Dreyfuss said. “I went home and slept the rest of the day. I’ve never been so sunburned.”

The tryouts started with 136 top-notch high school players from across the nation, including 14 from the greater Bay Area. Three of Dreyfuss’ St. Francis teammates - Dana Saign, Natalie O’Farriell and Molly Hayes - were among this group.

Three rounds of cuts and 21 games later, Dreyfuss found herself on the final list of 24.

Dreyfuss, a center who’s only been playing water polo for three years, figured she wouldn’t get past the second round of cuts.

“I didn’t expect to make it to 48 at all,” the 17-year-old said. “I was completely shocked.”

One person not surprised by Dreyfuss’ selection is Youth National Team coach Kyle Utsumi.

“Her development over the past two years has been tremendous,” said Utsumi, who also coaches at Menlo School, “and this opportunity should give her a good taste of international-level competition.”

Dreyfuss is one of only two Bay Area players on the team, with goalie Taryn Appelblom of Atherton the other.

The two will travel to Southern California this week to meet up with the rest of their new teammates at the USA Water Polo Training Facility in Los Alamitos.

It won’t be all fun and games there, though, as the players will be battling it out for an even greater honor. After 10 days of training, 14 players will be selected to travel Down Under in August to take on Youth Australia.

Dreyfuss will have her work cut out for her. Utsumi said center is the team’s deepest position, with three players returning from last year’s Youth National Team.

However, the coach seems confident Dreyfuss can hold her own against the other centers.

“Rebecca has great strength and speed for a center,” he said. “When she gets into the offensive end quickly she puts a lot of pressure on defenses to play zone, which frees up our perimeter shooting.”

Dreyfuss doesn’t expect the team to take more than three centers to Australia and she knows what she has to do to be among them.

“I think it’s going to take a lot of mental strength and endurance,” she said. “Whoever makes the least amount of mental errors will have an advantage.”

Dreyfuss is building her endurance by practicing twice daily on weekdays with club teams at St. Francis. She’s been training with the girls in the morning and the boys in the afternoon, a regimen she plans to continue when she returns from Los Alamitos.

“Water polo is basically my summer,” Dreyfuss said.