Waves’ Title Chances Go South

In a first-place showdown, San Diego defeated Pepperdine, 15-8, 15-10, 5-15, 15-8, in a West Coast Conference women’s volleyball match Saturday night at San Diego.

The 11th-ranked Waves (20-3, 9-2 in WCC play) fell a match behind 21st-ranked San Diego (21-3, 10-1) with three conference matches remaining.

Nicole Sanderson had 21 kills for Pepperdine, which has not won at San Diego since 1992.

In another women’s volleyball match:

Cal State Northridge d. Montana State, 15-7, 15-9, 18-16--Crystal Newquist and Nicki Midwin each had 14 kills and Newquist had five of 11 aces for the Matadors (14-11, 6-8) in a Big Sky Conference victory over the Bobcats (16-10, 7-6) at Northridge.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Pepperdine 8, UCLA 5--Todd King scored three goals to help the top-ranked Waves (20-1, 8-0) clinch the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship at Pepperdine.

Alan Herrmann and Jack Kocur each scored twice for Pepperdine.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Gustavus Adolphus 4, Cal Lutheran 2--Alia Khan and Holly Roepke scored for the Regals (15-5), who lost when Gustavus Adolphus (14-4-1) scored two goals in the second half to break a 2-2 tie in the NCAA Division III West Regional semifinals at UC San Diego.

MEN’S SOCCER

Cal Lutheran 1, Claremont-Mudd 1--Charlie Noble scored his second goal in two games and the Kingsmen 15-2-2, 9-0-1) clinched the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship with a third-round tie in the round-robin conference tournament at Cal Lutheran.