SDSU Advances to Volleyball Final

San Diego State advanced to the championship bracket of the ASICS Volleyball Grand Prix at SDSU despite losing to Arizona State 15-10, 15-9, 16-17, 15-7, in the its second game Friday.

Mindy Gowell led Arizona State with 25 kills. SDSU was led by Angela Martin with 28 kills and Gracie Schutt with 16.

Tenth-ranked UC Santa Barbara was upset by Pepperdine, 1-15, 15-5, 15-4, 17-16.

Those four teams advanced to the championship round, which begins today at 11:30 a.m. in Peterson Gym with UC Santa Barbara playing Arizona State, followed by Pepperdine-SDSU at 2 p.m. The losers of those games will play at 5 p.m., and the championship match will be played at 7:30.

Earlier in the day, SDSU defeated University of San Diego, 15-4, 15-5, 17-16. USD also lost to Hofstra, 15-8, 15-7, 4-15, 15-12.

U.S. International also suffered two losses, losing to UC Santa Barbara, 16-14, 15-2, 15-14 and to Providence, 15-6, 15-12, 15-10.

USD will play Providence at 9 a.m. in Peterson Gym. Also in the consolation bracket, USIU will play Hofstra in the Physical Education Gym at 9 a.m. The losers will play for seventh place at 11:30 a.m. in the Physical Education Gym, followed by the match for fifth at 2 p.m.

SOCCER

After a scoreless first half, Grand Canyon scored three goals and ended up defeating Point Loma Nazarene College, 3-1, in Arizona.

PLNC’s only goal came 42 minutes into the second half, when Yahi Abedessanad connected on a penalty kick. That made it 2-1, but just two minutes later, Jim Malany increased Grand Canyons’s lead to two by scoring off a pass from Mark Ireland.

PLNC fell to 0-2.

HOCKEY

Larry Roberts has been named trainer for the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League for the 1990-91 season. Roberts, a Charger trainer from 1982-89, has been with the OASIS Sports Medicine Group since 1989. He also was the trainer for the San Diego Clippers and the University of San Diego.

SURFING

San Clemente’s Christian Fletcher, defending champion at the $100,000 Body Glove Surf Bout III, lost to Corona Del Mar’s David Giddings in Friday’s fifth round, but nevertheless advanced to today’s first round of the Main Event at Camp Pendleton’s Lower Trestles with a second-place finish.

The Main Event begins at 7 a.m. Fletcher and Giddings were among 32 qualifiers who will meet the 32 seeded surfers in this morning’s round.