Win No. 13 Doesn’t Come Easily For Cougars

Washington State’s Wendy Rouse had 17 kills and 10 blocks as the Cougars held on to defeat Oregon State 5-15, 15-11, 15-12, 4-15, 15-12 in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both schools in Corvallis, Ore.

The win improved Washington State, the No. 6-ranked team in this week’s USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll, to 13-0 overall, 1-0 in Pac-10, as it travels to Oregon tonight.

The Ducks lost to Washington Friday night 15-10, 15-9, 15-9.

The Cougars, meanwhile, equalled their 13-match win streak of 1995.

OSU’s Pia Ahlengard led all players with 22 kills and added 18 digs and six service aces.

In the fifth and deciding game, Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick started transfer Samantha Spink in place of veteran Stephanie Papke and Elis Arias in place of Shannon Wyckoff. The Cougars took the early lead and ran it to 10-5, but couldn’t shake the aggressive net play of the Beavers (7-5, 0-1).

Washington State’s Keren Oigman scored four of five points to bring the score to 12-12. Oigman, a senior middle blocker, lofted the 13th point over the net followed by Jennifer Canevari’s tip and a Jennifer Stinson tip to end the match.

“I don’t think we’ve passed worse than tonight,” Fredrick said. “It’s so unusual to see so many of our kids have bad passing nights.”

Washington State hit .246 to Oregon’s .230.

At Storrs, Conn., sophomore setter Anna Reznicek came up big with a team-high 28 assists, coupled with four kills (.667 hitting percentage) and three digs, to lead the University of Idaho past Boston College 16-14, 15-13, 15-11 at the Connecticut Tournament.

Idaho’s Beth Craig and Jessica Moore finished with eight kills each.

After hitting .066 in Tuesday’s loss to Washington State, Idaho bounced back with a .231 attack percentage compared with the Eagles’ (3-9) .162.

The Vandals recorded their first three-game win of the season. Their first three victories were all five-game matches. Idaho plays Harvard at noon today, followed by host UConn at 4.

Meanwhile, Kyle Leonard’s .357 attack percentage was her best since her .475 mark against Boise State last year. She also had six kills and two service aces.

At Stockton, Calif., No. 11 ranked Pacific defeated Gonzaga 15-7, 15-7, 15-9.

The third game was the most competitive, with the Bulldogs tying the score at 9 before Pacific (7-2) pulled away. Diane Pascua led the Bulldogs (5-7) with 10 kills.

Kate Antolick and Cydney Edwards had four kills each as the Community Colleges of Spokane defeated Blue Mountian 15-5, 15-0 in pool play at CCS’s Inland Northwest Communications Invitational.

Men’s soccer

Gonzaga University, ranked eighth in the Far West Region, downed Cal State Fullerton 4-0 at Martin Field in the Bulldogs’ final tuneup before the start of West Coast Conference play.

After taking a 1-0 halftime lead on Brian Ching’s header off Ken Thompson’s corner kick, the Bulldogs (6-1-0) put the match away with three goals in a 10-minute stretch in the second half. Jeff McAllister, the Far West Region and West Coast Conference’s leading scorer, collected his 10th goal and 24th point at 54:10 on a cross pass from Ching that gave Gonzaga a 2-0 lead.

The Titans (4-2-0) dropped to 4-2-0. Gonzaga opens conference play at home Sunday at 1 p.m. against Loyola Maymount.

At Everett, Herbert Barbosa and Paul Johnson’s second-half goals lifted the Community Colleges of Spokane past Everett Community College 2-0 in a NWAACC match.

Sasquatch goalie Pat Luby had nine saves as CCS improved to 3-0-0 overall and in conference play. Everett dropped to 1-2-0, 1-2-0.

Women’s soccer

Megan Keaty hit the game-winner for Gonzaga from 12 yards off a corner kick by Abby Wais in the 76th minute to lift the Bulldogs (2-4-0) over Utah State 2-1 at the Cougar Soccer Field in Pullman.

Katie Carpenter gave Gonzaga a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute as she took a short pass from Sara Streufert.

Washington State (1-3-0) hosts Utah State (2-4-0) Sunday at noon.

, DataTimes