Four Waves Earn WCC Postseason Honors

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Four Waves earned West Coast Conference postseason honors, the conference announced this afternoon.

Following an incredible debut season, Erik Ionescu garnered the Freshman of the Year award in addition to making the honorable mention squad. Christian Hosea made the All-WCC first team, Adam Csapo received a second team nod and Sandor Gal also made the honorable mention team.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Making an immediate impact as a true freshman, Ionescu (Budapest, Hungary) earned the Freshman of the Year award in addition to an honorable mention honor. During the regular season, he collected 46 goals and 34 assists for a total of 80 points, all while posting a .442 shooting percentage. Additionally, he's tallied 20 steals, 13 drawn exclusions, eight sprint wins and five field blocks. Ionescu also earned three WCC Newcomer of the Week awards this year.

ALL-WCC FIRST TEAM

After being named to the WCC All-Tournament Team in 2023, Hosea (San Clemente, Calif.) earned a spot on the All-WCC first team for his stellar 2024 campaign. He leads the Waves in goals (70), and he's assisted on 17 other Pepperdine scores. He's drawn 43 exclusions, tabbed 24 steals and posted an impressive .609 shooting percentage. Hosea earned the WCC Player of the Week award on October 1 after tallying a career-high seven goals in the win over #9 Long Beach State. He has a career total of 181 goals and sits 14th on the Waves all-time scoring list.

ALL-WCC SECOND TEAM

Earning second team honors for the third year in a row, Csapo (Budapest, Hungary) leads the team in points (106) and assists (45). He's also collected 61 goals, 29 steals, 16 drawn exclusions and six field blocks. Csapo has earned plenty of awards over his first three years of collegiate water polo as he was named to the All-WCC second team last year, and the All-GCC second team and the GCC All-Freshman Team in 2022. He currently has a career total of 174 goals and is 19th on Pepperdine's all-time scoring list.

HONORABLE MENTION

Along with Ionescu collecting an honorable mention award, Gal (Budapest, Hungary) earned an honorable mention nod this year. The attacker has posted 35 goals and 32 assists for a total of 67 points. He also has a .449 shooting percentage and has tabbed a team-high 39 steals to go along with 17 drawn exclusions and 14 field blocks. Previously, Gal made the GCC All-Freshman Team in 2022.

UP NEXT

The Waves will be the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference tournament and play on Friday, November 22 at 10 a.m. against the No. 7 seed and 19th-ranked Loyola Marymount Lions.

The WCC tournament will be in Stockton, Calif., and all games will be streamed on ESPN+ and have live stats. Links to the live stats and streams for all Pepperdine games can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.

2024 WCC MEN'S WATER POLO ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

Player of the Year: Mihailo Vukazic (Pacific)
Newcomer of the Year: Oliver Fodor (Pacific)
Newcomer of the Year: Erik Ionescu (Pepperdine)
Coach of the Year: James Graham (Pacific)

First Team
Mateja Bosic (San Jose State)
Reuel D'Souza (Pacific)
Zach Fales (Santa Clara)
Brendon Gyapjas (San Jose State)
Christian Hosea (Pepperdine)
Tom Leggett (Air Force)
Mihailo Vukazic (Pacific)

Second Team
Bodhi Bowden (California Baptist)
Jeremie Cote (Pacific)
Adam Csapo (Pepperdine)
Bae Fountain (Pacific)
Abel Romero Corbalan (Loyola Marymount)
Bence Szabo (San Jose State)
Caleb Teraoka (California Baptist)

Honorable Mention
Luke Baird (Santa Clara)
Riccardo De Simon (Santa Clara)
Sandor Gal (Pepperdine)
Matthew Hosmer (Pacific)
Erik Ionescu (Pepperdine)
Toring Stanley (California Baptist)
Jacob Yi (Air Force)

FOLLOW

Follow @PeppWaterPolo on X for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/PeppWaterPolo) for releases and more information. Find the Waves on Instagram @peppwaterpolo.

Players Mentioned

Adam Csapo

Sandor Gal

Christian Hosea

Erik Ionescu

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