NCAA Water Polo Tournament : Stanford, California Will Play for Title Tonight

Like fleet fish, Stanford swam past Pepperdine in the semifinals of the NCAA water polo tournament Saturday night.

The Cardinal’s 15-8 victory put the defending champions into the final tonight at 7:30 at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach against California, which defeated UCLA, 11-8.

Stanford, which has won 44 straight matches, defeated California five times during the regular season.

Pepperdine was expected to challenge Stanford but the Waves were inundated in the first quarter by the Cardinal’s counterattack and unerring shooting.

With all six players swimming as if they were in an Olympic freestyle race, Stanford broke to a 6-0 first-quarter lead.

“That was the most ready we’ve been to play this season,” said Stanford Coach Dante Dettamanti . “Our goal was to really go after them in the first quarter. You know you have enthusiasm when you get free on the fastbreak. They didn’t cover us.”

Craig Klass led Stanford (35-0) with four goals.

California got 18 saves from goalie Jeff Brush and four goals from Kirk Everist in its victory over UCLA.

The Golden Bears (28-6) broke a 1-1 tie with four goals in the second quarter and were never headed.

Mark Maretzki and Don Wright each scored twice for UCLA.