NWC coaches tab Whitworth for 4th place

Whitworth University placed fourth of nine teams in the Northwest Conference volleyball coaches’ preseason poll, the NWC announced Friday.

The Pirates, 11-14 overall and 6-10 in conference last year, received 52 points in the poll.

Whitworth will rely on Sarah Rusch, a second-team, all-conference middle, to anchor its attack.

Puget Sound received five first-place votes and 80 points to edge Tacoma neighbor Pacific Lutheran (four first-place votes, 78 points) as the coaches’ favorite.

Linfield, with 60 points, was predicted to finish third. After Whitworth, Pacific and George Fox are next in the poll.

Men’s basketball

Washington State University’s Nikola Koprivica scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field as his Serbian team defeated Russia 84-75 at the U20 men’s European Basketball Championship in Riga, Latvia.

Koprivica, a 6-foot-6 guard for the Cougars, is serving as team captain for the Serbians.

Miroslav Raduljica led Serbia with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Russia’s Alexey Shved hit eight 3-pointers and scored 39 points.

Golf

Eastern Washington University’s Marli Mikulecky shot a final-round 74 and finished tied for 61st place at the Royale Cup Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Mikulecky, who holds the EWU school record for low round (67), recovered from Thursday’s 85 at the Elmhurst Golf & Country Club. She finished at 317.