Mellor leads Eagles to win over Vandals

Lizzy Mellor had a team-high 17 kills and Deanna Albers and Keva Sonderen chipped in with 16 apiece to lead the Eastern Washington Eagles to a 27-30, 30-24, 30-25, 30-24 non-conference victory over the Idaho Vandals in Cheney on Tuesday night.

Andrea Verdoljak had a match-high 21 digs and setter Christina Albers totaled 37 assists for Eastern (5-5).

Kati Tikker led the Vandals (6-3) with a match-high 18 kills. Idaho’s Brooke Haeberle notched 12 kills and 10 digs, while Saxony Brown added 10 of each.

•Julie Marsh had game highs of 12 kills and 19 digs to lead the Whitworth Pirates to a 30-28, 30-22, 30-26 win over the Lewis-Clark State Warriors in Lewiston.

Cassie Moore added 13 digs and Rebekah Hornor piled up 29 assists for Whitworth (8-2).

Lewis-Clark State (3-7) hit just .039 for the match.

•Sara Vercruyssen had 12 kills to lead the Portland Pilots (9-3) to a 33-31, 30-24, 30-25 non-conference win over the Washington State Cougars (3-9) in Pullman.

Jennifer Todd had a match-high 14 kills to pace the Cougars. WSU setter Nicole Martin tallied 42 assists.

Track and field

Former University of Idaho track and field standout and recent Olympic bronze medalist, Joachim Olsen, is ranked No. 1 in the world in the shot put after winning the event at the IAAF World Athletics Final Sunday at Monaco.

Olsen won the event with a throw of 70 feet, 5 inches, defeating Adam Nelson of the U.S. and Manuel Martinez of Spain. Olsen was previously ranked fourth in the world in the IAAF world rankings.

Cross country

The University of Idaho women’s cross country team is ranked 19th in the nation in the Sept. 20th FinishLynx NCAA Division I Cross Country Poll. This is the highest ranking ever for the Vandal women. In 2002 the team received a ranking of 31st.

Idaho took first at the Sundodger Invitational Saturday, defeating then No. 16 Washington. The Huskies fell to No. 25.

Idaho is ranked third in the West region behind Stanford (No. 1 in the nation) and UCLA (No. 9 in the nation).

•Whitworth junior Doug Blackburn is the Northwest Conference men’s runner of the week. He was the top NWC finisher in the men’s open race at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, taking seventh in a time of 25:17 over 8 kilometers.

Football

Whitworth senior linebacker Jeremy Scroggins is the Northwest Conference defensive player of the week. He had nine tackles, including three for losses, and forced a fumble in the Pirates’ victory at La Verne Saturday.

Soccer

Whitworth junior forward Jonathan Carlson is the Northwest Conference men’s offensive player of the week. He had a goal and an assist in a win over George Fox and two more goals in a victory over Pacific.

•Washington State goalkeeper Katie Hultin is Pac-10 Conference women’s soccer player of the week for recording her fourth straight shutout, 1-0 over No. 12 Pepperdine last Friday.