Eagles Eye Sky Tourney

This is the weekend that should determine whether Eastern Washington University will open its Reese Court’s doors over Thanksgiving weekend.

The Eagles, enjoying a school-record 19-3 mark, are in first place in the Big Sky Conference with a 10-1 record. Sacramento State is right behind at 9-3. If Eastern beats last-place Weber State (2-9) Thursday and follows with a win at Sacramento State Saturday, it will be that much closer to hosting the Big Sky tournament Nov. 28-29.

The last time the Eagles hosted the tournament was 1989, the same year they lost to Hawaii in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Over the past eight years, the host team has won the Big Sky tournament seven times, with the winner receiving an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Saturday’s match could present problems for the Eagles. Earlier this year, Eastern lost its only home match to the Hornets 3-1. The Eagles close out the regular season at home against Cal State Northridge, Northern Arizona and Portland State. NAU is the most threatening of the three, posting a third-place 8-4 conference record.

Northwest connection

Leah Wiiest, a Deer Park High graduate, and Erika Migliore, a Lewis and Clark High graduate, lead Cornell University in kills and blocks, respectively, as the Big Red heads into the Ivy League tournament at New Haven, Conn.

Wiiest, leads the team in kills (3.62 per game) and is second in digs (1.95 per game). Her .248 hitting accuracy also ranks her second. Migliore, a junior outside hitter, leads the team in blocks (56 in 16 games) and ranks second in kills (2.23 per game).

Cornell finished the regular season in fifth place with a 10-6 record, 2-5 in the Ivy League. It plays second-place Princeton in the first round of the conference tournament.

The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid in to the NCAA Tournament.

Spikes and digs

Boise State University coach Darlene Bailey has resigned after 19 years. In a brief announcement Tuesday, the school said reasons for her leaving include differences in coaching philosophy. Assistant coach Mike Waller has been named interim coach. BSU (18-4) and Idaho (14-11) are tied for first place at 8-4 in the Big West Conference’s Eastern Division. BSU won the first match and the two meet again Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Moscow. … Long Beach State University (20-1) has overtaken Penn State (22-1) as the No. 1 team in the Top 25 poll. The Nittany Lions lost to now-No. 5 Wisconsin last week. The 49ers are hosts to Idaho Thursday. … Stanford outside hitter Kristin Folkl has been named AVCA player of the week after leading the Cardinal to wins over UCLA and USC. … Former Idaho coach Tom Hilbert, is having success at Colorado State. Hilbert guided the then-No. 19 Rams (21-3) to a 3-1 win over thenNo. 5 Brigham Young (20-5) last week. The win forced a first-place tie at 10-1 in the WAC.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: COUGARS MAKE A LEAP Washington State may not have moved in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll for a while - holding down the No. 10 spot since Oct. 13 - but it has moved up in the Pacific-10 Conference standings. After wins over Arizona State and Arizona last weekend, the Cougars (21-4, 9-4) jumped from fifth to a three-way tie for second. Friday, the Cougars travel to play No. 19 Washington, a team along with No. 7 USC that is crowding second place. Earlier this year, the Huskies (14-8, 9-4) defeated WSU 3-1, snapping the Cougars’ 22-match winning streak at Bohler Gym. UW star middle blocker Markare Desilets nailed 22 kills that night. WSU’s Keren Oigman, nursing an ankle injury at the time, played only in the back row against UW. The senior middle blocker has since returned to the front row. However, WSU’s outside hitter Wendy Rouse dislocated her right thumb last week. Although she’s expected to play, WSU coach Cindy Fredrick said she will bring her along slowly.

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