Waves Open MPSF Tournament Against Stanford
11/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: The No. 10 Pepperdine men's water polo team opens MPSF Tournament play on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against No. 2 Stanford. The Waves are the #7 seed in the tournament the Cardinal are the #2 seed. The entire tournament will be held at Long Beach State.
Multimedia: All games of the MPSF Tournament will be streamed live on longbeachstate.com. Fans can also follow @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for updates on both games.
Last Week: The Waves dropped a pair of road games to end the regular season, falling at No. 16 Santa Clara and No. 7 Pacific. Pepperdine was able to avoid the play-in game of the MPSF Tournament, though, getting a late goal against Pacific to win the goal-differential tie-breaker. Wesley Sherburne led the Waves with seven goals on the week.
Postseason Tie-Breaker: Sunday, Pacific defeated Pepperdine, 11-7, forcing a 3-way tie with UC Irvine. Each of those 3 teams are 1-1 against the other. The next tiebreaker used was straight goal differential within the official MPSF games between the tied teams. UCI gets the #6 seed (plus 5 vs. Pepperdine/Pacific), Pepperdine gets the #7 seed (minus 2 vs. Pac/UCI) and Pacific (minus 3 vs. UCI/Pepperdine) faces UCSB in the play-in.
Waves in the Rankings: Pepperdine dropped one spot to No. 10 in the most recent rankings this week. The Waves started the season ranked No. 9.
Finishing Strong: Wesley Sherburne has come on strong late in the season to help the Waves grab the #7 seed. Sherburne has scored 14 goals in the team's last four games including wins over UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. He has scored at least three goals in each game and is second on the team with 46 goals this year.
Freshman in Net: Freshman goalkeeper Zack Rhodes has started 22 games so far for the Waves, recording 228 total saves. His 10.54 saves per game are good for fifth in the conference.
Follow the Waves: Follow Pepperdine Water Polo on Twitter at @PeppWaterPolo and like the Waves on Facebook at Pepperdine Water Polo to get updates on everything happening with the program. Also follow Pepperdine Athletics on Instagram at @PepperdineWaves.
Schroeder File: Water polo icon Terry Schroeder returned last season for his second tour of duty as the Pepperdine men's water polo head coach. In his first stint with Pepperdine (1986-2005) he amassed 340 wins and a national championship in 1997. The head coach for USA Water Polo at the last two Olympics, Schroeder has been inducted into the Capital One Academic All-America Hall of Fame (2013), International Swimming Hall of Fame (2005), U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame (1998) and the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame (1985).
Moses File: Two-time U.S. Olympian (2008, 2012) and former Pepperdine All-American Merrill Moses returns for the 2014 season as an assistant. A 2013 inductee into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame, Moses led the United States to a gold medal at the 2007 and 2011 Pan American Games. Moses also led the Waves to the 1997 national championship where they captured their first title.
About Pepperdine: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports -- one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat -- and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
