Pepperdine rules home pool

By Jeff Dusing
Daily Forty-Niner
 
The Long Beach State men's water polo team played its last regular season game Friday at Pepperdine University, suffering a non-league 7-4 loss to the eighth-ranked Waves.

"I used the game to play a lot of my seniors," said 49er Head Coach Rick Azevedo. "I also used the game to make a lot of decisions regarding the MPSF Tournament."

Pepperdine (12-11 overall, 2-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) senior Chris Tilden dominated much of the game scoring four goals.

Despite the loss, Azevedo said he was happy with his sixth-ranked (14-11, 4-4 MPSF) team's play and was able to make some crucial decisions about strategy for next weekend's tournament.

During the first half, Pepperdine raced out to a 4-1 lead scoring twice in each of the first two periods. The Waves then closed out the game adding three goals in the third.

The Beach's scoring was lead by junior Brett Adams with two goals. 49ers David Del Grande and Tyler Wawrzynski each helped out with single goals.

Both teams will be playing along with seven others in the MPSF Tournament next weekend at the Los Alamitos Naval Base Pool. The winner will earn the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament to be hosted by Pepperdine Dec. 2-3.

The MPSF Tournament seedings are currently undetermined. No. 1 ranked UCLA could forfeit some games and change its seeding in the tournament due to a possible ineligible player, said assistant LBSU sports information director Bobby Jezyk. The MPSF board of directors is scheduled to make its decision about the tournament Monday, he said.