MALIBU, Calif. – The #5-ranked Pepperdine men's water polo team defeated San Jose State 13-10 in the opening match of the Golden Coast Conference schedule on Friday morning. Nico Tierney led the Waves with three goals.

The Waves (5-2, 1-0 GCC) and Spartans (0-1, 0-1 GCC) were tight in the first half, but Pepperdine pulled away in the second half. 

PLAY-BY-PLAY

San Jose State got the scoring started, but the Waves quickly answered, getting a goal from Kaden Kaneko (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS) to tie the game. Curtis Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) then scored to give the Waves the lead, which was extended by Balazs Kosa (Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola és Gimnázium) with his first of the game. The Spartans scored to end the quarter down just a goal, at 3-2. Kosa got his second goal of the game to open the scoring in the second quarter. Jake Howerton (Cardiff, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) scored with just a minute left in the half to give the Waves a 5-3 lead at halftime. 

Howerton got his second goal of the game to open the second half, giving the Waves a 3-6 lead. Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) put the Waves up 7-4 after a Spartan goal. San Jose State scored three goals in a row to tie the Waves, but Pepperdine got answers from Jarvis, Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) and Travis Reynolds (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif./Loyola HS) to take a 7-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. Tierney got two goals to complete his hat trick and Jarvis got his second of the game to cement the victory for the Waves.

STATS

SCORING: PEPP—3—2—5—3—13 ; SJSU—2—1—4—3—10

GOALS: PEPP— Tierney (3), Howerton (2), Kosa (2), Jarvis (2), Reynolds, Smit ; SJSU— Pardon (5), Hofmeijer (3), Arnett, Kis

SAVES: PEPP— Emden (14) ; SJSU— Smith (5), O'Brien (2)

UP NEXT

The Waves and Spartans meet again on Saturday for the second game of the first two-game set of the GCC season. The match is set to start at 10 a.m.