Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BERKELEY, California – The #12 Pepperdine men's water polo team split its two contests at the MPSF Invitational on Saturday, defeating #18 Pomona-Pitzer 13-8 but falling to #11 San Jose State 10-9.
 
The Waves (6-7) will play for 11th place in the tournament on Sunday.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore Nico Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) had a team-high five goals on the day, with three against the Sagehens and two more against the Spartans.
• Five different players scored three goals today: senior utility Sean Ferrari (Redwood City, Calif./St. Francis HS), senior center Nicholas Fichman (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Golden West College), sophomore attacker Christian Hosea (San Clements, Calif./San Clemente HS), sophomore attacker Jake Howerton (Cardiff, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) and senior attacker Balazs Kosa (Budapest, Hungary).
• Senior goalie John Claude Marco (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) had 10 saves against the Spartans and nine against the Sagehens.

GAME #1 RECAP
 
The Waves scored the first three goals of the game, two of them by Ferrari, though the Sagehens (6-5) would eventually tie the game at five during the second quarter. But the Waves went ahead 7-5 at halftime and went back up by three on a Kosa goal early in the third period. Tierney put the Waves up by four at 10-6 at end of the third quarter. Howerton scored twice in a row to make it 12-7, and the Waves went on to win from there.
 
P-P 1-4-1-2---8
PEPP 3-4-3-3---13
Pepperdine goals: Nico Tierney 3, Sean Ferrari 2, Christian Hosea 2, Jake Howerton 2, Balazs Kosa 2, Zach Arthur 1, Nicholas Fichman 1.
 
GAME #2 RECAP
 
The Waves only trailed the Spartans (5-8) for 13 seconds in the first quarter, and then for the final minute of the contest. Pepperdine led by two goals on multiple occasions, including 5-3 at halftime, and later 8-6 with 7:30 to play after a Tierney goal. San Jose State tied it at eight, but Ferrari put Pepperdine back ahead with three minutes to play. That would be Pepperdine's final tally, however, and the Spartans scored twice with 1:34 and 1:04 left on the clock. The Waves were unable to equalize on their final two possessions.
 
SJSU 2-1-3-4---10
PEPP 3-2-2-2---9
Pepperdine goals: Nicholas Fichman 2, Nico Tierney 2, Sean Ferrari 1, Christian Hosea 1, Jake Howerton 1, Kaden Kaneko 1, Balazs Kosa 1.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Waves will play #13 UC Irvine in the 11th-12th place game on Sunday (Sept. 26) at 11:30 a.m. at Cal's Legends Aquatic Center.