NIC volleyball loses in national quarterfinal

Bruna Evangelista had a match-high 15 kills Thursday as top-seeded Blinn (Texas) defeated North Idaho 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18 in an NJCAA Division I volleyball championship quarterfinal at Casper, Wyo.

Blinn (37-3) will meet Hillsborough (40-4) of Florida in the semifinals.

Ninth-seeded NIC (17-11) opened the day with a 3-0 win over Arizona Western. The Cardinals play Iowa Western (43-4) today and can finish as high as fifth.

Leeta Grap had 27 kills, Russia Robinson 44 digs and Allison Meehan 72 assists for NIC.

• Community Colleges of Spokane stayed alive at the NWAACC tournament at Gresham, Ore., with a 25-23, 25-21 win over Everett (6-21) in loser-out play.

CCS (32-15), which opened with a 3-1 loss to Lower Columbia (14-22), will play at 4:45 p.m. today against the loser between Bellevue (28-5) and Highline (22-10).

Dana Norris, Jacy Vining and Jenna Widman combined for 54 kills for CCS.

• Tressa Lyman’s 12 kills led Idaho State (20-10, 14-5 Big Sky) to a 3-0 sweep over Eastern Washington (9-21, 6-13) at Pocatello.

Allie Schumacher had seven kills and Lindsay Niemeier had 14 assists, seven digs and four kills for the Eagles.

• Jessica Hastriter led four players in double figures with 14 kills as Idaho (18-10, 11-5) capped Western Athletic Conference play with a 3-1 win over Grand Canyon (10-18, 4-11) at Phoenix.

The fourth-seeded Vandals will open the WAC tournament in Phoenix at 6:30 p.m. Monday against No. 5 Kansas City (15-13).

• Kristina Graven’s 13 kills led Saint Mary’s (16-9, 12-5 WCC) to a 3-0 sweep at Gonzaga. Savannah Blinn had 16 kills for the Bulldogs (11-15, 7-10), who end their season Saturday while hosting Pacific.

Wrestling

Twenty collegiate varsity teams, representing NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA and NCWA schools, are scheduled to compete Sunday at the Spokane Open College Wrestling Invitational at the Spokane Convention Center.

The event is set to start at 9:30 a.m. Tickets will be available at the door for $5.