Usc Sweeps Past Cougars

Outside hitter Jennifer Kessy had 25 kills and middle blocker Jasmina Marinkovic added 21 as No. 5 University of Southern California swept No. 10 Washington State University 15-13, 15-9, 15-12 Thursday night at Los Angeles.

The loss dropped the Cougars to 18-4 and 6-4 in Pac-10 Conference volleyball. USC, which lost to WSU earlier this season in Pullman, improved to 16-2, 8-2.

Junior middle blocker Jennifer Stinson led the Cougars with 13 kills and added seven blocks.

WSU overcame a four-point deficit in the first game and tied the score at 10.

WSU made a five-point run in the final game but found itself down 14-7. The Trojans won the match on their fifth match point when Elis Arias committed an error.

“We played well in the first game and unfortunately we made some key mistakes at times,” WSU coach Cindy Fredrick said. “In the third game, it took us to get down 14-7 and it was a great comeback but again, just a little bit short.”

Kim Exner landed 16 kills on .448 hitting and Lynn Robison finished with 14 kills on .229 hitting to lead Eastern Washington to a 15-9, 15-8, 15-2 sweep past visiting Weber State in a Big Sky Conference match.

The Eagles (16-3, 8-1) and the Wildcats (9-12, 1-7) were knotted at 7 in the first game before Eastern scored five unanswered points.

Eastern was trailing 8-6 in the second game before stringing together nine unanswered points. The Eagles built a 12-0 lead in the final game.

Lacy Coover led the Eagles with 12 digs. Robison, who entered the match averaging 4.32 digs per game (15th-best in the country), added nine.

Seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara handed the University of Idaho its worst loss in school history, 15-1, 15-4, 15-3, at Moscow, Idaho.

“I really didn’t come in here and expect an easy match,” said UCSB coach Kathy Gregory, whose team improved to 20-2, 8-1 in the Big West Conference. “That was one of our best matches. We were on all cylinders.”

Idaho, riding a four-match winning streak, slipped to 12-10, 6-3.

UCSB overpowered the Vandals with a .456 attack percentage. Idaho didn’t record a block in the 63-minute match while UCSB finished with seven.

Idaho couldn’t contain UCSB hitters Katie Crawford, Heather Brown and Roberta Gehlke.

Brown led the Gauchos with a match-high 13 kills, a .571 attack percentage and four blocks. The 6-foot-3 Crawford, this week’s AVCA national player of the week, had nine kills on a .571 attack percentage.

Women’s soccer

Madonna Konshuck, Kellsie Johnson and Kate Barrett all scored to lead Eastern Washington past host Wenatchee Valley CC 3-0. The Eagles, a first-year program, improve to 5-3-2.

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