Jeff Golden
Smirnov Sweeps WCC Weekly Awards
After locking down the goal and helping the Waves defeat #13 San Jose State 13-10 on Saturday afternoon, Max Smirnov swept the conference's weekly honors as he earned both the WCC Player of the Week and the WCC Newcomer of the Week award.
The freshman goalie from Petah Tikva, Israel recorded an impressive 16 saves while holding San Jose State to just 10 goals on a .294 shooting percentage. Smirnov also posted an incredible .615 save percentage and tallied two steals against the Spartans.
So far this year, Smirnov has an 11-5 record, 179 saves, a .514 save percentage and a goals against average of 10.80. Additionally, he's dished out seven assists and tabbed 23 steals during the 2024 campaign.
This marks the sixth and seventh WCC weekly award for the Waves this season. Erik Ionescu has won three WCC Newcomer of the Week awards - October 22, September 24 and September 10. Christian Hosea garnered the WCC Player of the Week award on October 1, and Jon Carcarey was named the WCC Player of the Week on September 10.
This Saturday, Pepperdine will head to Stockton, Calif. to take on #5 Pacific on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both teams head into the final regular season game 5-0 in conference play and will battle it out for the WCC regular season title as well as the No. 1 seed and a bye in the conference tournament.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and a link to the stream can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
The freshman goalie from Petah Tikva, Israel recorded an impressive 16 saves while holding San Jose State to just 10 goals on a .294 shooting percentage. Smirnov also posted an incredible .615 save percentage and tallied two steals against the Spartans.
So far this year, Smirnov has an 11-5 record, 179 saves, a .514 save percentage and a goals against average of 10.80. Additionally, he's dished out seven assists and tabbed 23 steals during the 2024 campaign.
This marks the sixth and seventh WCC weekly award for the Waves this season. Erik Ionescu has won three WCC Newcomer of the Week awards - October 22, September 24 and September 10. Christian Hosea garnered the WCC Player of the Week award on October 1, and Jon Carcarey was named the WCC Player of the Week on September 10.
This Saturday, Pepperdine will head to Stockton, Calif. to take on #5 Pacific on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both teams head into the final regular season game 5-0 in conference play and will battle it out for the WCC regular season title as well as the No. 1 seed and a bye in the conference tournament.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and a link to the stream can be found on the water polo team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
