MALIBU, Calif. – Kent Emden of the #5 Pepperdine men's water polo team was named Golden Coast Conference Player of the Year, the league office announced on Tuesday. Curtis Jarvis and Balazs Kosa each join Emden on the All-GCC first team, and Sean Ferrari was named to the second team.
Due to the nature of the 2020-21 season, the GCC decided to award any player from Pepperdine or GCC foe San Jose State who appeared in one of the five conference games with honorable mention honors.
Emden (Chicago, Ill./Naperville Central HS) earned his first career postseason award thanks to leading the conference in saves with 110 saves, which is good for second in the nation behind Bernardo Maruizi of UCLA. In the 10 games he appeared in, Emden had at least 10 saves in all but two contests, with a season-high 18 against San Jose State in the second game of the March 6th doubleheader.
Jarvis (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach HS) was third in the conference in goals scored with 23 goals and third in points with 37. All 23 of his goals were scored during the five conference games. He had a season-high five goals in the second game of the conference schedule on Feb. 20.
Kosa (Budapest, Hungary/Csik Ferenc Általános Iskola és Gimnázium) leads the nation in goals scored with 39 on the season, as well as points with 59 total points. He had a season-high seven goals in the first game of the year against Air Force.
Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS) was tied for fourth in the conference in goals scored with 17. He added seven assists for a total of 24 points, also good for tied for fourth in the conference. He had a season-high three goals on Feb. 27 against Air Force.
Pepperdine had 17 athletes named honorable mention: Zach Arthur, Coleman Carpenter, Rocco Cuttone, Anthony D'Ambra, Michael Dakis, Nicholas Fichmann, Christian Hosea, Jake Howerton, Kaden Kaneko, John Claude Marco, Xavier Marco, Matt Outcalt, Andrew Outcalt, Travis Reynolds, Austin Smit, Max Sprute and Nico Tierney.
The Waves (11-3) finished the year as GCC champions, winning the conference for the second year in a row, the first program in the conference to do so. Pepperdine also has the most total conference championships, with three.
