Water Polo Splits Two in Santa Barbara

Thursday, September 15

Santa Barbara, Calif.

2:30 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

3-4

Westcliff

6-6

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pepperdine	4	5	6	8	23
Westcliff	0	4	1	2	7

Dennis Blyashov

Photo by: Catharyn Hayne

9/15/2022 7:06:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: by Athletic Communications

SANTA BARBARA, California – The #9 Pepperdine men's water polo team had mixed success on a short trip up the coast on Thursday, routing Westcliff 23-7 before falling to host and #8 UC Santa Barbara 12-8.

The Waves (3-5), who have their home opener coming up next, have seen all of their losses come against higher-ranked teams this season.

BIG WAVES

Junior center defender Nico Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) scored two goals in each game, giving him a current streak of five consecutive multi-goal games.
Graduate attacker Dennis Blyashov (Carlsbad, Calif./Harvard) matched Tierney with four goals on the day, with a hat trick coming against Westcliff.
Senior center Austin Smit (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic HS) also had two goals in both contests.

GAME #1 RECAP

Fourteen different Waves scored in an easy win over Westcliff. The Waves built a 5-0 lead and kept the Warriors off the scoreboard for nearly 11 minutes of play. At no time did Pepperdine allow Westcliff to score back-to-back goals, and the squad increased its goal total in each quarter. Three Waves – redshirt freshman Adam Humbert (Newport Coast, Calif./Bellarmine College Prep) and freshmen Conor Brough (Dana Point, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS) and Milo Joseph (Malibu, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS) – scored their first collegiate goals.

WEST 0-4-1-2---7
PEPP 4-5-6-8---23
Pepperdine goals: Dennis Blyashov 3, Adam Csapo 2, Nicholas Fichman 2, Milo Joseph 2, Xavier Marco 2, Austin Smit 2, Kyle Thomas 2, Nico Tierney 2, Conor Brough 1, Anthony D'Ambra 1, Sandor Gal 1, Christian Hosea 1, Adam Humbert 1, Curtis Jarvis 1.

GAME #2 RECAP

The Gauchos scored the first two goals, and the Waves managed their only tie at 2-2 after Smit and Tierney scored. UCSB scored the next four goals, and Pepperdine had to play catch-up the rest of the contest. Three straight Wave goals made it a one-score game at halftime at 6-5, but the Gauchos scored the next two goals to reclaim control. Tierney scored on the power play early in the fourth quarter to make it 9-7, but the Waves would only get one more goal the rest of the way.

UCSB 4-2-3-3---12
PEPP 2-3-1-2---8
Pepperdine goals: Austin Smit 2, Nico Tierney 2, Dennis Blyashov 1, Adam Csapo 1, Christian Hosea 1, Kaden Kaneko 1.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine has its home opener on Saturday (Sept. 17) against PCH Cup rival and #15 Loyola Marymount at 11 a.m. The Waves will also host #18 Brown on Sunday (Sept. 18) at 10 a.m. Both games will be streamed on the WCC Network. Both days are also doubleheaders, with exhibitions against West Valley College on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Golden West College on Sunday at 2 p.m.