WATER POLO

UC San Diego will play Air Force in the championship finals today after defeating Loyola Marymount, 20-10, in the semifinals of the Western Water Polo Assn. Championships at Canyonview Pool.

Jason Vance scored five goals for UCSD (19-12). Loyola Marymount finished 9-12.

Air Force (13-10) defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 10-8, in its semifinal match.

This is the first year that the winner of the tournament will automatically earn a berth at the NCAA Water Polo championships.

CROSS COUNTRY

Both UC San Diego women’s and men’s teams qualified for the NCAA Division III meet after winning their Western Regional meets at UC Santa Cruz. This is the first time the UCSD women’s team has qualified for the national meet. The men’s team made an appearance in 1982.

UCSD men placed first with 28 points and Claremont Mudd was second with 50. UCSD’s women’s team placed first with 44 points and Pomona-Pitzer was second with 78 points.

UCSD’s Mike Fox won the 8,000-meter course with a time of 27 minutes. Toby Wagner of Redlands was second (27.07) and UCSD’s Roger Webb placed third (27.12).

UCSD’s Michelle Conlay finished first in the women’s race running the 5,000-meter course in 18:32. Teammate Sabrina Jensen placed second (19:01).

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

San Diego State trailed, 10-14, in the third game but rallied to defeat host UC Irvine, 15-8, 12-15, 16-14, 15-5, in a Big West Conference game. Jennifer Miller had 13 kills and Shannon Mathew and Angela Martin each had 11 for the Aztecs (16-16, 6-9). UC Irvine dropped to 17-13, 5-11.

The University of San Francisco’s 15-13, 15-6, 16-14 West Coast Conference victory over visiting University of San Diego extended the Toreros losing streak to 18.

Angie Rais and Maria Rickard paced USD with nine kills apiece. Rais also had 16 digs. For USF, Melanie Kaiser had 23 kills. USF improved to 5-17, 4-9. USD is 1-25, 0-13. USD hasn’t won since Sept. 15.

Christian Heritage ended its season losing to Cal Tech, 16-14, 15-4, 13-15, 0-15, 15-11, at Granite Hills High School. Kim Masoli had 25 kills, breaking Christian Heritage’s school record of 21 she set Nov. 4. Christian Heritage finished the season 6-10 and Cal Tech finished, 4-9.