Vandals Dominate Utah State

Jeri Hymas landed 16 kills to lead the University of Idaho to a Big West Conference volleyball win at Utah State on Friday night in Logan, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12.

The win improved the Eastern Division-leading Vandals to 23-5, 12-3. The Aggies, losers of 12 of their last 14, are 7-26, 3-12.

UI’s Jessica Moore added 15 kills and finished with a .542 hitting percentage. Senior setter Lynne Hyland dished out 52 assists and inched closer to Idaho’s all-time career mark for assists. Hyland needs 118 assists to break Kelley Neely’s record of 3,444 set from 1982-85.

The Vandals close the regular season Sunday at Nevada before heading to the Big West Conference Tournament next weekend at UC Santa Barbara.

After pushing the University of San Diego in games one and two, Gonzaga University faltered in game three and lost 15-12, 15-11, 15-6 at the Martin Centre.

Gonzaga, 11-19 overall, 4-8 in West Coast Conference play, took San Diego to five games earlier this season at USD but couldn’t find the mark, hitting .143 for the match. San Diego improved to 20-6, 9-2.

Gonzaga lands 6-8 forward

Casey Calvary, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, became the first men’s basketball player to sign a letter-of-intent under what will be the Dan Monson era at Gonzaga University. Calvary averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks a game as a junior last season. He led the Narrows League in scoring.

Calvary had 17 coaches visit his home and had narrowed his selection to Gonzaga and Colorado State University.

Monson, current associate head coach for the Bulldogs, will take over at the end of this season when Dan Fitzgerald steps down.

Four women athletes choose UW

The first recruiting class of June Daugherty, the new University of Washington women’s basketball coach, includes two Washington state players.

Signing national letters of intent were Megan Franza, a 5-l0 guard from Cascade High School in Leavenworth; LeAnn Sheets, 6-2 forward, Tumwater High; Melissa Erickson, 6-3 forward, Littleton, Colo.; and Carli Halpenny, 6-3 center-forward, Victoria, British Columbia.

Erickson’s older sister, Kristin, is a senior basketball player at Washington State.

Daugherty, 40, came to Washington from Boise State where she was the women’s coach for seven seasons. Chris Gobrecht, the UW coach for 11 seasons, resigned to become coach at Florida State.

On the soccer field

The Whitworth women closed out their season Friday with a 1-0 loss to Willamette at the Pacific Northwest Region championships in Salem, Ore. The Pirates finished with a 16-5-1 mark. Willamette, 19-1-1, will play Simon Fraser in the title game today at 1. The Clansmen (15-2-1) defeated Concodia College 5-0. … Gonzaga University sophomore defender Betsy Platt was named to the All-West Coast Conference women’s second team, the first Bulldog to receive higher than honorable mention in the school’s four-year WCC membership. WCC regular-season champion Portland will join San Diego and Santa Clara in the NCAA Tournament that starts this weekend.

, DataTimes