Waves Take Fourth Place at Triton Invitational

Sunday, September 4

La Jolla, Calif.

10:45 a.m. PT

Pepperdine University

2-0

USC

2-0

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Southern California	3	3	5	1	12
Pepperdine	1	1	2	4	8

Nico Tierney

Photo by: Jeff Golden

9/4/2022 5:18:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Triton Invitational

By: by Athletic Communications

LA JOLLA, California – The #10 Pepperdine men's water polo team settled for a fourth-place finish at the Triton Invitational on Sunday after losses to #2 USC (12-8) and #7 UC Davis (15-10).

On the opening weekend of the 2022 season, the Waves (2-2) beat Whittier and #13 UC San Diego on Saturday, but unfortunately could not take that momentum over to Sunday's action against the two top-10-ranked foes.

BIG WAVES

Graduate attacker Dennis Blyashov (Carlsbad, Calif./Harvard) scored two goals in both matches today.
Junior center defender Nico Tierney (Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake HS) had a hat trick against the Aggies.
Freshman attacker Adam Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) had a team-high 13 goals for the weekend, with one in each game today. Blyashov was second with 10 goals total.

GAME #1 RECAP

The Waves never led as the Trojans broke out to a 5-1 lead midway through the second quarter. USC's lead was 6-2 at halftime and it grew to 11-4 at the end of three quarters. At 12-4, the Waves made things interesting by scoring four consecutive goals, but couldn't put any more past the Trojan keeper in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

USC 3-3-5-1---12
PEPP 1-1-2-4---8
Pepperdine goals: Dennis Blyashov 2, Curtis Jarvis 2, Adam Csapo 1, Nicholas Fichman 1, Clay Kaneko 1, Matty Walsh 1.

GAME #2 RECAP

Pepperdine's only lead came at 3-2 in the first quarter after a Csapo goal. UC Davis went ahead 5-3 before a pair of Tierney goals made it 6-5 at halftime. Blyashov scored twice to get Pepperdine back within one goal at 8-7, but an extended scoring drought let the Aggies build a 12-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Waves got no closer than three the rest of the way.

UCD 3-3-5-4---15
PEPP 3-2-2-3---10
Pepperdine goals: Nico Tierney 3, Dennis Blyashov 2, Adam Csapo 1, Christian Hosea 1, Clay Kaneko 1, Kaden Kaneko 1, Matty Walsh 1.

UP NEXT

The Waves next have a challenging trip to Northern California planned, with games at #4 Stanford on Saturday (Sept. 10) and #1 California on Sunday (Sept. 11). Both will be streamed via Pac-12.com.