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Malibu surfside news | September 7, 2017 | 35
Pepperdine Athletics
Men’s water polo gears up for busy September, season start
Pepperdine’s men’s water
polo season started Saturday,
Sept. 2, on the East
Coast.
The Waves began their
season at the Bruno Classic
tournament hosted by
Brown University and Harvard
University.
The team will return 16
players from last year’s
squad. The roster included
Golden Coast Conference
Player of the Year Marko
Asic. Three other GCC
honorees return: Mark
Urban (first team), Zach
Rhodes (GCC tournament
MVP) and Mate Toth
(second team GCC All-
Freshman team). Kenneth
Keller, a senior and the
Waves’ fourth-highest goal
scorer, returns along with
junior Sean Thomas, the
Waves’ fifth-highest goal
scorer. The team has added
five freshmen to bolster the
team’s ranks. Artak Arzumanyan
and Chris Dilworth
are both redshirt additions.
“We have a great team
that has been together all
summer,” said coach Terry
Schroeder. “Not only do I
like the talent the team has,
but I also like their character
and what they stand for. They
have worked really hard the
past couple of weeks, and
we are excited to get some
games under our belt.”
“Our goal for this year
is to win the Golden Coast
Championship,” said assistant
coach Merrill Moses.
“That would give us
an automatic berth into the
NCAA tournament, which
leads to our ultimate goal: to
win the NCAA Championship.”
Pepperdine has a strong
schedule ahead, with 19
games in September alone,
to take on if they wish to repeat
their 2016 success. Last
season, the team nabbed the
inaugural GCC Tournament
title.
“We have a lot of games
in September this year, so
one of the biggest challenges
will be making sure
that guys stay healthy, and
are able to balance all of the
tasks at hand,” said Moses,
of the challenges this season
holds. “Schoolwork, practice,
19 games — it’s a lot.”
GCC play will begin Oct.
13 when the Waves take on
Long Beach State.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Pepperdine downs
Northeastern in four-set
home opener
The Waves netted a win
in the team’s home opener
Thursday, Aug. 31, against
Northeastern.
Pepperdine won the
match in four sets, 25-14,
24-26, 25-21 and 25-20,
to open the Pepperdine-
CSUN Challenge.
Top performances from
the team included a double-double
from Hannah
Fohling and Blossom Sato
and four players putting up
double-figure kills.
Sato posted her second
Pepperdine double-double
with 44 assists and a careerbest
19 digs, all while dishing
out a .237 hitting percentage.
Fohling led the team for the
third match this season with
17 kills and 12 digs.
Pepperdine falls to CSUN in
four sets
The Waves fell to California
State University
Northridge Friday, Sept. 1
during a fourth-set battle at
the Matadome.
Pepperdine faced CSUN
during the second match
of the Pepperdine-CSUN
Challenge, but lost 25-18,
25-12, 21-25 and 25-23 to
CSUN.
Blossom Sato led the
Waves with her third Pepperdine
career and secondstraight
double-double.
Sato had 34 assists and
15 digs during the match.
Heidi Dyer and Nikki Lyons
led the attack with 11
and 10 kills, respectively,
and a .250 and .292 hitting
average. Hannah Frohling
helped the team with nine
kills, two ages and 10 digs.
The Waves had a slow
start in the first two sets. The
team improved their game
during the third set and had
eight tied scores and three
lead changes early on. Pepperdine
built up a lead heading
into the back stretch but
CSUN caught up and tied
at the 21’s. With back-toback
kills from Dyer and an
ace by Frohling Pepperdine
gained the advantage to win
the third set.
The Waves kept up with
the Matadors during the
fourth set until the 23-23
mark when CSUN edged
them out for the last two
points and the match victory.
Sato leads Waves to home
sweep over Weber State
Blossom Sato led Pepperdine
in offense during
the Waves’ 3-0 sweep over
Weber State.
The win closed out the
Pepperdine-CSUN Challenge
Saturday, Sept. 2, with
25-14, 25-15 and 25-21 final
set scores. Sato distributed
the offense towards three
double-doubles, including
one for herself. Four players
had double-figure kills during
the match. Sato marked
41 assists, 11 digs, two aces,
two blocks and a kill. Nikki
Lyons and Heidi Dyer had
13 and 11 kills, respectively,
and 11 and 13 digs, also respectively.
Jasmine Gross
added 11 kills and a careerhigh
.733 hitting percentage.
Sato and teammate Hana
Lishman were named to the
Pepperdine-CSUN Challenge
All-Tournament team.
CROSS COUNTRY
Waves kick off season with
Pepperdine Invitational
The Waves’ men’s and
women’s cross country
teams both participated in
the season-opening meet
Friday, Sept. 1, at Alumni
Park.
The Friday invitational
was extremely hot and
many veteran plays opted
not to compete. Twentyone
men and women, all
freshman and sophomore,
competed in the invitational.
Freshman Abbey Meck
and Kyle Johnson both
placed fifth in their first appearance
as a Wave.
The men’s team won
two of their three matchups
while the women won three
of their five.
The men’s team defeated
California State University
Northridge (27-28) and
Long Beach State (22-33)
but lost to UC Irvine (18-
38).
The women’s team defeated
California State
University, Bakersfield
(22-37), CSUN (23-34) and
The University of Southern
California (24-31) but fell
to Long Beach State (21-
34) and UC Irvine.
Women’s Soccer
Waves net a 2-0 shutout at
home against Columbia
Pepperdine posted its
second shutout in a row
with a 2-0 win against Columbia
Friday, Sept. 1.
Devyn Gilfoy was the
long goal scorer in the
match against Columbia,
and adds to her goal total
with four for the season
thus far. Tara Morris assisted
Gilfoy on the first
goal, scored at the 11 minute
mark, during her first
start this season. Ashley
Buck also helped notch her
first assist of the year on the
Waves’ second goal scored
at the 85’ mark. Buck just
narrowly missed a goal of
her own when she put the
ball off the post.
Goalie Brielle Preece
has yet to allow a goal at
home this season. Pepperdine
moves to 2-1-1 for the
season.
Waves score third shutout
of the season against
Dartmouth
Brielle Preece, the
Waves’ starting goalie,
moved to three shutouts
for the season during the
Waves’ most recent 3-0 win
at home Sunday, Sept. 3
over Dartmouth.
On Sept. 3, the Pepperdine
defense did not allow a
goal in 296 minutes of play.
Prior to that, the Waves had
not allowed a goal in their
net since Aug. 20 against
Virginia Tech.
Brie Welch and Calista
Reyes both graced the score
sheet with their first collegiate
goals. Senior midfielder
Bri Visalli opened
up the scoring onslaught
with a penalty shot in 12th
minutes after drawing a
foul in the box.
Pepperdine outshot Dartmouth
19-5 during the
match and had more shots
on goal than the visiting
team, 7-2. Preece made two
saves.
Information from Pepperdine
University and www.pep
perdinewaves.com. Compiled
by Assistant Editor Brittany
Kapa, assistant@malibusurf
sidenews.com.