Waves Close Regular Season Against UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara
11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
This Week: The #9 men's water polo team closes out the regular season this week with a pair of games. Pepperdine continues its road swing on Friday at #7 UC Irvine and then comes home for its regular-season finale against #6 UC Santa Barbara.
Game #24: Friday (November 13) at Anteater Aquatics Complex in Irvine, Calif.: Pepperdine (11-12, 1-6) vs. UC Irvine (13-10, 2-6) at 7 p.m.
Game #25: Sunday (November 15) at Raleight Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (11-12, 1-6) vs. UC Santa Barbara (15-9, 4-5) at 12 p.m.
Follow: Sunday's home finale will be broadcast live on WavesCasts at PepperdineSports.com. Follow @PeppWaterPolo on Twitter for updates.
Last Week: The Waves played a pair of games in the Bay Area last week, falling to both #5 Stanford and #4 Cal. The Waves hung close with Stanford through the first half, but the Cardinal pulled away in the second to win 21-11. Cal downed the Waves 26-3.
MPSF Tournament: The MPSF Tournament will follow the conclusion of the regular season. This year's conference tournament will be held at USC and will run Nov. 20-22.
Waves in the Rankings: The Waves checked in at No. 9 in the most recent CWPA Rankings. It is the seventh straight week that the Waves have come in at No. 9 in the coaches poll.
The Roster: The Waves return 11 players from last year's squad. Pepperdine brings two players off of red-shirt years this season as well. The Waves brought in a total of 11 new faces this offseason, seven of which have made the team's travel roster for the first weekend of play.
The Schroeder File: Water polo icon Terry Schroeder returned in 2013 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). He has a career record of 360-248 and is the winningest coach in program history.
The Moses File: Two-time U.S. Olympian (2008, 2012) and former Pepperdine All-American Merrill Moses returns for the 2015 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, 2011 and 2015 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 25 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 #52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
