By Erica Sigman
Staff Writer
After the WASKO tournament, the players of the Pepperdine men’s water polo team left this past weekend with even more confidence and anticipation for the upcoming season.
Saturday’s practice tournament gave the team a realistic preview of the battle between three Los Angeles-area teams.
The tournament was comprised of scrimmage competitions between three of the water polo giants: University of Southern California, UCLA and Pepperdine.
The Waves kicked off the morning by scrimmaging the USC Trojans at 10 a.m. and ended the afternoon with a contest against the UCLA Bruins. The score is not kept in a scrimmage, but both games were a close match for the Waves. Both UCLA and USC will prove to be tough challenges during the regular season.
“UCLA (is a) really fast and a good counter-attacking team,” junior driver Jordan Keitel said. “USC has a strong two-meter man and really emphasizes their front court offense. It’s going to be really hard to tell who will be a tougher match up because they’re two different teams.”
Assistant coach Jack Kocur agreed.
“UCLA has a great outside shooter who played for the U.S. national team,” Kocur said. “They have very quick drivers. USC is bigger and stronger in the front court.”
The tournament provided an opportunity, before the season is open, for the Waves to play together as a team and experience the skills of the freshmen. Freshmen two-meter men Doug Mann and Matt Hahn, freshman goal keeper Mike Lee, and freshman driver Garrit Barth were able to debut their skills this weekend.
Similar to preseason football, it is hard to tell how these scrimmages will predict the future. Since all three teams rotated players more than they would in a regular game, it is hard to tell exactly how each team will perform with their normal line-ups.
“I think our team looks pretty strong and we have a good chance against both teams,” Keitel said.
September 11, 2003