Cougars sweep USC

Washington State has not beaten the University of Southern California since Nov. 27, 2004. Friday night the Cougars did their best to erase all those losses with a sweep of the No. 16 Trojans.

The Cougars won 25-17, 28-26, 25-23 before a season-best crowd of 2,028 fans in Bohler Gym.

Sophomore Meagan Ganzer led WSU (15-3, 4-3 Pac-10) with 15 kills and hit .458 for the match. Freshman Rachel Todorovich had 10 kills while Renee Bordelon had 40 assists. A trio of Cougs, Cassie Robbins, Brittany Tillman and Bordelon, had three blocks. Oceana Bush and Jackie Albright each had 15 digs and Bush led the team with a pair of aces. WSU hit .304 as a team and held USC (13-5, 2-4) to a .228 hitting percentage.

“I think we were pretty consistent with the game plan and we passed well so our sideout efficiency I’m sure was pretty high,” Cougars coach Andrew Palileo said. WSU hosts No. 12 UCLA tonight at 7 in Bohler Gym. No. 4 Washington defeated UCLA 3-1 Friday night in Seattle.

•Community Colleges of Spokane (22-8) got off to a fast start in the Spokane Crossover Classic at Spokane Falls Community College with pool play wins over Highline CC (25-14, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18) and Linn Benton CC (25-9, 25-13, 25-20).

The Sasquatch have one more game in pool play, facing Shoreline CC this morning at 11. The final-round game will be at 3 p.m.

•Willamette (6-11, 3-6 Northwest Conference) swept Whitworth 25-20, 25-17, 27-25 at Salem, Ore. Tracy Schwada had eight kills for Whitworth (7-13, 3-6).

Soccer

Kiersten Dallstream and Melanie Johnston scored first-half goals to lead Washington State past Arizona State 2-1 at Tempe, Ariz.

The Cougars (9-3-1, 1-0-1 Pac-10), ranked 24th nationally by Soccer Times, scored their goals 4:06 apart to take a 2-0 lead at the half.

Bianca Doller pulled the Sun Devils (7-4-2, 0-3-0) within 2-1 with a goal in the 76th minute. Cougars goalkeeper Meghan Berlingo made a key save in the 89th minute to preserve the victory.

Washington State plays at Arizona at 1 p.m. Sunday. Washington beat Arizona 2-0 on Friday. The Huskies play Arizona State on Sunday.

•Brittany Sparks extended her school-record for goals in a season with her 10th, but it was Eastern Washington’s only goal in the 1-1 double-overtime tie with visiting Portland State.

Eastern (5-6-2, 2-0-1 Big Sky) opened the scoring at the 35-minute mark as Brittney Doran fed Sparks at midfield. The junior took it the rest of the way, eventually dribbling around the goalkeeper and scoring into the empty net from 6 yards out. Sparks needs just one goal to tie Cyeeta Mott for the EWU career-goal mark of 14.

Portland State (7-6-2, 1-1-1) tied the game at the 89-minute mark with a goal by Toni Carnovale.

Eastern’s final regular-season home game is Sunday against Sacramento State at 1 p.m. The Hornets are tied atop the league standings with Eastern.

•Two early goals by Loyola Marymount stood up in Gonzaga’s 2-1 West Coast Conference loss in Los Angeles.

Sheridan Jones put the Bulldogs (6-8, 0-2 WCC) on the board in the 84th minute, but the Lions (9-3-2, 1-0-1) held on for the win.

Junior hockey

Joel Stewart had one goal and two assists to lead the Spokane Braves (10-4-0-1) to a 4-2 win over the Grand Forks Border Bruins (1-11-0) in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League play at Grand Forks, British Columbia.