Pepperdine’s men’s water polo team got back to the pool and is set to shoot ahead in the upcoming season. With an impressive amount of experienced players, the Waves are ready for their upcoming matches with Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Sept. 3 at the UCLA Tournament in Los Angeles.
A match at Loyola Marymount will follow on Sept. 10. After that the Waves will compete with the Bruins again for a non-conference battle in Westwood Sept. 23. It will be followed by the exhibition game with the U.S. national team that is coming to Malibu Saturday, Sept. 24, during Alumni Weekend. This first home game will be featured by such Pepperdine legends as Merrill Moses, Terry Schroeder and Jesse Smith. Pepperdine is scheduled to play 23 regular-season games.
Head Coach Jack Kocur, who is entering his sixth year as Pepperdine’s head water polo coach this year, believes that the team “ has matured and developed” since the 2010 season and experience will become a key to success for the future challenges. In his opinion, the lack of cohesiveness, which was a challenge because of the number of new students that joined the team last year, has now been replaced by consistency. The team will be encouraged by elected team captains junior Spencer Hamby and redshirt senior Andrew Milcovich to work toward improving their performance.
“I am very optimistic about the upcoming season,” said Kocur. “Many of our water polo athletes became juniors this year, and this transition to upperclassmen means a different level of training.”
Last season’s leading scorer junior Danny White, who scored 36 goals last year, and redshirt junior Matt Brown, who was selected to the 10-person first team in the men’s at-large category and will now be considered for Academic All-American honors, will also contribute to the team’s performance in the upcoming season.
“I’m looking forward to return of the team captain Andrew Milcovich, I have very high expectations of him this year,” Kocur said. “I am very excited about having two new players in the team. Our focal point for the season will be strong defense. We have very good chances of raising up in ranks.”
Pepperdine is ranked No. 6 in the 2011 MPSF Preseason Coaches’ Poll with the total amount of 23 points, by the vote of the MPSF coaches. The Waves currently stand in ninth place in the first Collegiate Water Polo Association Preseason Poll.
