Waves to Play at Kap7 NorCal Classic This Week
9/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
KAP7 NORCAL CLASSIC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
THIS WEEK: The No. 13 Pepperdine men's water polo team hits the road this weekend for the Kap7 NorCal Classic in Stockton, Calif. The Waves open the bracket play tournament on Saturday against No. 6 Long Beach State at noon. The tournament runs through Sunday, with the championship match at 5:20 p.m.
Multimedia: 24 of the 32 games at the NorCal Classic will be streamed live at PacificTigers.com. All Saturday games will be streamed live and all of games held at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the Pacific campus on Sunday will be broadcast live. Click the Tournament Central link above to follow all the action, or check in with @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for score updates.
Last Week: The Waves suffered a pair of tough losses at home last week, falling to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara and No. 12 LMU. The Waves pulled within three scores in the third quarter against UCSB, but couldn't find the comeback they needed late. Jake Schrimpf led Pepperdine with two goals in the game. The Waves and LMU Lions played neck and neck through the first half in the next game, but LMU pulled away with five goals in the third quarter. Luke Hewko scored four goals in the game.
Waves in the Rankings: The Waves checked in at No. 13 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) National Rankings.
A LOOK AT THE 2014 WAVES
Roster Notes:
- · Pepperdine returns 8 players from last year's squad and will bring in three players off of redshirt years this season.
- · The Waves have 15 newcomers joining the squad for the 2014 season.
- · All 15 newcomers are incoming freshmen in their first seasons.
- · Wave returners accounted for 89 of the team's goals last season, 20 of the team's assists and 45 total steals.
- · Pepperdine graduated five seniors from last year's squad.
- · Two key contributors from last year's team will be redshirting; Marko Madaras and Jack Harryman.
Top Scorer:
- · The Waves return their top scorer from last year, junior Luke Hewko.
- · Hewko scored 55 goals last year and recorded 20 steals and eight assists.
- · Has played in 47 total games over his career and scored 69 goals.
- · Hewko has had double digit goal totals in each season he played.
- · Brother Adam Hewko was a two-time All-American, playing four years at Pepperdine and is the Waves' 13th all-time goal scorer.
The Keeper:
- · After having a constant in goal for the past four seasons in All-American Bence Valics, the Waves will have a new face in the net this season.
- · Valics finished his career as Pepperdine's all-time save leader, with 889 saves in the 87 matches he appeared in.
- · Valics was a three-time MPSF All-Academic selection and a 2012 All-American.
- · Getting the nod in goal to open this season will be freshman Zack Rhodes.
- · Rhodes was a 2013 High School All-American and was the CIF Division 6 Player of the Year during his time at Palm Desert HS.
Schedule Notes:
- · The Waves have four non-conference tournament early in the season. Along with the Whittier Tournament, the Waves will compete in the UCLA Mini Tournament on Sept. 13, the NorCal Tournament hosted by Pacific (Sept. 20-21) and the SoCal tournament hosted by UCLA (Oct. 11-12).
- · MPSF play kicks off on Sept. 27 when the Waves host six-time defending NCAA champions USC for a 1 p.m. game.
- · Pepperdine also has conference home games against Cal (Oct. 25), Stanford (Oct. 26) and UC Irvine (Nov. 1) on the schedule. The Waves travel to UCLA (Oct. 3), Long Beach State (Oct. 18), UC Santa Barbara (Nov.8) and Pacific (Nov. 16) for their four MPSF road games.
- · The MPSF tournament will run Nov. 21-23, with the winner advancing to the NCAA tournament Dec. 6-7.
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.
Broadcast Info: All of the Waves' 2014 home games will be streamed live on PepperdineSports.com. Click on the WaveCasts link to access the live feeds for each game.
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.
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.
