MALIBU, California — The #9 Pepperdine men's water polo team has one of its most challenging weekends of the season ahead, as the Waves go to Northern California to face #4 Stanford and #1 California in non-conference play.
GAME #5 — Saturday (Sept. 10) at the Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto, Calif.: #9 Pepperdine (2-2) at #4 Stanford (4-0) at 12 p.m.
GAME #6 — Sunday (Sept. 11) at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif.: #9 Pepperdine at #1 California (4-0, hosts Pacific on Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday) at 1 p.m.
WATCH/ONLINE — Both games will be streamed via Pac-12.com. Links to any broadcasts and/or live stats can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
OPPONENTS — Pepperdine is 12-82 all-time against Stanford. The Waves' last win against the Cardinal was in 2008, and their last time beating Stanford on the road was in 1997 ... Pepperdine is 16-61-1 all-time against California. The Waves have won each of the last two meetings, with a 16-14 home victory last year over the eventual national champions, and a 13-12 overtime win in Berkeley in 2019.
LAST WEEK — On the opening weekend of play, the Waves won twice on Saturday to advance to the semifinals of the Triton Invitational, but fell twice on Sunday to a pair of top-10 teams to finish in fourth place. The Waves routed Whittier 34-5 and edged host and #13 UC San Diego 16-15 in overtime.
Adam Csapo scored with 10 seconds left in regulation to send it to OT, and
Curtis Jarvis scored the go-ahead goal with about a minute left. But, Pepperdine fell to #2 USC 12-8 and #7 UC Davis 15-10 to close out the tournament. Csapo had a team-high 13 goals for the weekend and was followed by
Dennis Blyashov's 10.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS — Pepperdine's 34 goals against Whittier in the season opener was a school record, beating the previous high of 31 set against Occidental in the 1997 national championship season.
ROSTER NUMBERS — The Waves' 27-man roster breakdown is one graduate student, seven seniors, six juniors, five sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and six true freshmen. Sixteen of the 26 letterwinners from the spring season are back this fall, and they account for 58.0% of last year's goal-scoring (200/345). The top three goal-scorers from last year are gone, but the other nine who finished in double-figures have returned (led by 35 goals apiece from
Nicholas Fichman and
Nico Tierney). Pepperdine also got back 2020 All-American
Curtis Jarvis, who sat out last year, and added Harvard grad transfer
Dennis Blyashov, a two-time All-American.
WATER POLO HISTORY — Pepperdine won the NCAA title in 1997, which was the last time a school other than California, Stanford, UCLA or USC won the championship. The Waves' exceptional water polo history also includes 12 conference titles, a top-10 ranking in 45 of the last 46 years, and a top-five finish 21 times. Pepperdine has had 59 players earn All-American honors a total of 107 times. Three Waves — Mike Grier (1984), Geoffrey Clark (1991) and Alan Herrmann (1997) — were named the national player of the year.
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool hosted the 1984 Olympic water polo competition and the 2000 NCAA Championships.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 20 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 26 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2021-22). Located in scenic Malibu, California, the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #49 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
