Cougars sweep pair

Washington State narrowly avoided an upset loss to Seattle University, a first-year Division I program, on Saturday morning and then came back in the evening to sweep host Boise State in the Bronco Invite in Boise to keep its early-season volleyball record unblemished.

The Cougars (3-0) held off Seattle 20-25, 25-21, 25-9, 20-25, 15-12 as senior transfer Emily Rooney hit .560 and recorded a match-high 17 kills. Freshman Breann Nesselhuf added 11 kills and junior transfer Renee Bordelon finished with 42 assists.

“We didn’t start the way we wanted,” WSU’s first-year coach Andrew Palileo said. “Seattle did a good job of dictating the pace against us, and we panicked a little bit. In the second and third sets, we took control.”

Cassie Robbins paced the Cougars in the nightcap with 12 kills, followed by Rooney and Jackie Albright with 11 each.

WSU will be back in action next weekend in the Idaho Volleyball Classic in Moscow.

•Eastern Washington split a pair of matches in the Hilton Classic in Fort Collins, Colo, beating Arkansas of the Southeastern Conference 25-23, 25-12, 25-14 before losing to host Colorado State, the 17th-ranked team in the country 25-12, 25-19, 25-27, 21-25, 15-9.

“It was good to get a win, and to beat an SEC team is quite an accomplishment,” Eagles coach Miles Kydd said of his team’s victory.

And of the loss to CSU, he added, “We battled against a top-20 team. It was a good match and good team effort … but we’ve got to build on it and not let this be the highlight of our season.”

Hayley Hills hits .423 and had 16 kills for Eastern against Arkansas and 18 in the loss to CSU.

•In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Idaho (2-1) picked up its first two wins of the season by dusting off South Dakota State 25-20, 25-22, 25-16 and Southeast Missouri State 25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 25-16.

The Vandals hit a season-high .268 in the nightcap against SMSU and had four players – Haley Larsen, Sarah Loney, Sarah Conwell and Anna McKinley – finish with at least eight kills. Larsen led the way with 20, and topped UI against SDSU, finishing with 13 kills and five services aces.

•Gonzaga (1-3) dropped a pair of matches in the University of Montana Tournament in Missoula, falling to North Dakota 22-25, 13-25, 25-23, 26-24, 15-10 in the morning and to UC Riverside 25-27, 25-20, 25-22 in the evening.

Senior middle blocker Elaina Renius led the Bulldogs with 14 kills and three solo blocks in their loss to Riverside, after registering a team-best 15 kills in the loss to North Dakota.

GU will compete next in the University of Washington Tournament that begins on Thursday in Seattle.

Women’s soccer

Kylee Williamson scored two goals and Justine Bowman and Natalie Nichols added one as North Idaho College blanked Clackamas 4-0 in NIC’s Cardinal Classic. Alicia Kahler and Amanda Wemple each recorded four saves in goal for the Cardinals.

Golf

Hayden Lake’s Tyler Johnson fired an opening round of 2-under-par 70 at Hangman Valley Golf Course to tie Kyle Crawford, from Coos Bay, Ore., for the lead in the men’s division of the PNGA’s Amateur Public Links Championship, while Kate Hildahl, from Tualatin, Ore., shot an even-par 72 to forge a three-shot lead over her nearest competitor in the women’s division.

In the senior men’s division, Coeur d’Alene’s Craig Ziegler also posted an opening-round 70, and will take a one-stroke lead over defending champion Kent Brown, from Colville, into today’s final round.