No. 10 Cougars Attempt To Break Los Angeles Jinx

Nothing comes easily for many who try to make it big in Los Angeles.

And the Washington State volleyball team has had its share of rejection as it returns to the City of Angels this weekend to play the University of Southern California Friday and UCLA Saturday.

The Cougars have never won at UCLA. Truth is, the Bruins hold a 19-1 edge over the Cougars, the only loss coming in Pullman last year. USC holds a 13-7 advantage in the series, splitting last year’s matches with both teams winning on their home floors.

The Cougars, who remain No. 10 in the USA Today/ ACVA Top 25 poll, have a 12-3 record, 3-2 in Pac-10 games after last weekend’s sweep over Oregon State and Oregon.

No. 16 USC (9-4, 3-2) beat Arizona and Arizona State on the road while No. 13 UCLA (12-4, 4-1) lost to Arizona State and defeated Arizona.

“They’re both very talented. Both play well at home,” Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick said. “It depends on if USC’s band is there. The band can be more intimidating than the team.”

The Cougars must silence Trojans outside hitter 6-foot sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Kessy, last week’s Pac-10 player of the week who totaled 41 kills, 36 digs, six blocks and two aces against the Arizona schools.

Freshman blocker Jasna Marinkovic of Uzice, Yugoslavia, and senior outside hitter Vesna Dragicevic of Ivanjica, Yugoslavia, give the Trojans an international look as well as loads of talent.

Spokane senior Kristi Olson, a Lewis and Clark High School graduate, is a part-time starter sharing time at middle blocker with senior Kilee Hughes. Olson has played in every match this year and has 23 kills on 57 attempts.

When the Cougars face UCLA the following night, they will be up against an experienced setter in 6-1 junior Kim Coleman. Another Bruin standout is 6-3 freshman middle blocker Elisabeth Bachman, who has a .388 hitting average along with 2.7 kills and 1.27 blocks per game.

Schedule change

The Cougars’ home matches against Arizona State and Stanford have been changed to Sundays. WSU will play ASU on Oct. 20 at noon. No. 4 Stanford will make its yearly visit to Bohler Gym on Oct. 27 at noon.

Both matches were originally scheduled for Saturday nights but were moved to Sundays when the Cougars’ football games against California (Oct. 19) and USC (Oct. 26) were pushed to later kickoffs.

Around the region

Whitworth College has a good chance pick up a few wins in NCIC matches when it plays host to Lewis & Clark (3-15, 0-5) on Friday and Pacific University (7-13, 1-7) on Saturday. The Pirates (2-14, 0-6) won their third match of the season last weekend when they beat Albertson College. …. After dropping their West Coast Conference openers to Pepperdine and No. 11 Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga University (7-11, 0-2) opens its conference home schedule when it plays host to Santa Clara (7-7, 2-0) on Friday and Saint Mary’s (5-6, 1-1) on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.

When Idaho hosted and defeated Boise State last Saturday, the attendance of 1,542 was the fourth-largest in Memorial Gym history. This weekend, the Vandals (13-2, 3-1 Big West) travel to New Mexico State (6-13, 2-2) tonight and the University of North Texas (5-14, 0-4) on Saturday. UI leads the Big West Eastern Division. … After a five-match road trip, Eastern Washington (7-8, 2-4 Big Sky) returns home Friday to play Weber State in the first of six at home.

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