Area roundup: Eastern Washington improves to 3-0 in Big Sky volleyball

Senior Ana Jakovljevic finished with 17 kills and seven digs Thursday as Eastern Washington improved to 3-0 in Big Sky Conference volleyball with a 25-22, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 win over Southern Utah (10-5, 1-2).

Senior Allie Schumacher added 13 kills, 13 digs and two aces for the Eagles (8-6).

EWU trailed the third game 9-8 before sophomore Nicole Rigoni’s kill ignited a 7-3 run.

• Katarina Pilepic finished with 23 kills and 11 digs in guiding host San Francisco (14-3, 1-3 West Coast Conference) to a 30-28, 25-17, 25-27, 18-25, 15-11 victory over Gonzaga.

Savannah Blinn led four Bulldogs (11-5, 2-1) in double figures with 23 kills. Jordan Gasser added 15 digs and Kaylie Loewen seven blocks for Gonzaga.

• Janae Vander Ploeg powered for 23 kills while leading Northern Arizona (12-4, 2-1 Big Sky Conference) to a 25-17, 25-22, 24-26, 25-19 victory over Idaho (4-11, 1-2) at Flagstaff, Arizona.

Tineke Bierma had 15 kills and Jenna Ellis 22 digs for the Vandals.

Kaela Straw capped Idaho’s third-game victory with a kill. Idaho trailed the final game 19-10 before rallying within 24-19.

• Colorado Northwestern (10-9) posted a 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 nonconference sweep over Community Colleges of Spokane (11-19) at Spokane Falls CC.

Women’s soccer

Sophomore Nadia Gomes scored in the 70th minute to give sixth-ranked BYU (9-1-1) a 1-0 victory over host Gonzaga in a West Coast Conference opener for both.

Gomes’ third goal of the season came after she played the ball to Michele Murphy Vasconcelos and received a pass at the top of the box. Christie Tombari had eight saves for the Bulldogs (1-6-4).

• Morgan Andrews scored her third goal of the season on a shot from 5 yards at 77:50 to lift USC (7-3-1, 2-0-0 Pac-12) to a 1-0 victory over host Washington State (8-2-0, 1-1-0).

Trojans goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme preserved the shutout by stopping Cara Wegner’s shot at 89:15.

WSU’s Ella Dederick finished with five saves.

• Amanda Perez scored with 5:06 remaining off a deflected shot to give Washington (8-2-1, 1-1-0 Pac-12) a 2-1 victory over visiting UCLA (5-5-0, 1-1-0).

Hockey

The Spokane Chiefs released 19-year-old Jeff Rayman to trim their Western Hockey League roster to 25.

Rayman played 86 games over two seasons with the Chiefs.

The Chiefs (1-0-0-0) will play their next six games on the road, starting today at Cranbrook, British Columbia, against the Kootenay Ice.

Football

The Spokane Shock added linebacker Michael Taylor (Florida) to their roster in preparation for the 2016 Indoor Football League season.

Taylor had 93 solo tackles, two interceptions and two sacks during his four seasons with the Gators.