College roundup: WSU volleyball wins 11th straight match

The Washington State volleyball team won its 11th straight match on Saturday, beating Portland State in straight sets at the Texas Tech Lone Star Showdown in Lubbock, Texas.

The Cougars (11-1) won each set 25-23.

Freshman McKenna Woodford led the way with 11 kills, 10 digs and three blocks. She was named tournament MVP.

WSU’s Kyra Holt had 11 kills and nine digs, Kate Sommer added 19 digs and Taylor Mims chipped in eight kills and eight blocks. Sommer and Mims were both named to the all-tournament team.

Portland State fell to 4-8.

The Cougars will look to continue their winning ways when they open Pac-12 Conference play Thursday at home against Washington. WSU finished 1-19 in conference play last year.

• Gonzaga wrapped up the nonconference portion of its schedule with a pair of victories at the Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, Kansas.

The Bulldogs (9-4) opened with a 25-23, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20 win over Missouri-Kansas City (7-5). Savannah Blinn and Emmy Allen combined for 24 kills and McKayla Ferris added eight kills and 15 digs.

Gonzaga topped South Dakota State (1-15) in straight sets in their next match. Scores were 25-20, 25-14 and 25-12. Ferris and Kaylie Loewen had six blocks apiece. Ferris and Allen were named to the all-tournament team. Gonzaga hosts West Coast Conference foe Pacific on Thursday.

• Becca Mau had 10 kills and Torrin Crawford added six blocks as Idaho swept Tennessee Tech (2-11) at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Cookeville, Tennessee. Scores were 25-19, 25-17 and 25-20.

The Vandals (3-9) open Big Sky Conference play Thursday at home against Northern Colorado.

• Cassandra Mendoza and Nicole Leonard combined for 21 kills and Whitworth opened Northwest Conference play with a 26-24, 25-17, 25-19 win over Pacific Lutheran in Parkland, Washington. The Pirates (7-3, 1-0) and Lutes (6-4, 0-1) shared the NWC title last season. Whitworth plays Whitman in Walla Walla on Wednesday.

Men’s soccer

Karl Muelheims scored his Northwest Conference-leading sixth goal of the season in the 61st minute and Whitworth held on to defeat Willamette 1-0 at Sparks Field in Salem, Oregon.

It was the Pirates’ first road victory over the Bearcats since 2011.Willamette (1-4-1, 0-1) held a 13-11 shot advantage, but couldn’t get any past Whitworth keeper Timmy Costa.

The Pirates (5-0, 1-0) play Linfield in McMinnville, Oregon, today.

• Jonathan Cortez notched a hat trick to lead Community Colleges of Spokane past Treasure Valley (3-4-1, 0-2-1) 5-0 in a Northwest Athletic Conference match at Spokane Falls Community College. Eric Sanchez-Flores scored CCS’ other two goals.

The Sasquatch (4-2-1, 2-1) play a nonleague match against North Idaho Wednesday at SFCC.

• North Idaho’s Hamidou Kante scored in the 82nd minute and the Cardinals (4-2-1, 2-0-1) played to a 1-all draw with Walla Walla (3-0-4, 1-0-2) in an NWAC match in Walla Walla.

Brenden Kenley scored the Warriors’ lone goal in the 55th minute.

Women’s soccer

Whitworth scored twice in each half and snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 Northwest Conference win over George Fox (3-2-1, 1-1) in Spokane.

Tiara Pajimola, Brooke Morrow, McKenzie Hemp and Leah Corra all scored for the Pirates, who held a 16-9 shot advantage, including 10-4 in the first half.

Whitworth (3-3, 1-1) hosts NWC foe Pacific today at noon.

• Sarah Melvin scored twice and Community Colleges of Spokane ran its winning streak to six matches with a 3-1 NWAC win over Treasure Valley (4-5, 1-2) at SFCC.

Merhaweet Sahlezghi gave the Chukars a 1-0 lead with a 10th-minute goal, but the Sasquatch’s Maddy Boyd tied it at 1 in the 36th minute before Melvin tacked on the final two.

CCS (6-0-1, 3-0) plays at Walla Walla next Saturday.

• Aliea Son set the tone with two early goals and North Idaho dumped Yakima Valley 6-0 in an NWAC match in Coeur d’Alene.

Corinne Ariss, Avery Stanton, Katelyn Sly and Megan Lowery added goals for the Cardinals (3-3, 1-1).Yakima Valley fell to 5-1-1 overall and 1-1 in conference matches.

Cross country

Washington State sophomore Michael Williams finished in second place and the Cougar men repeated as team champions at the Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in Seattle.

Williams completed the 8,000-meter course in 24 minutes, 8.59 seconds. Washington’s Izaic Yorks won in 24:05.39.

WSU’s John Whelan was fourth (24:14.25), Nathan Wadhwani was fifth (24:21.29), Sam Levora was seventh (24:26.58) and Chandler Teigen was eighth (24:28.69).

The Washington State women finished in second place behind Washington. The Cougars’ CharLee Linton took eighth, completing the 6,000-meter course in 20:55.61.

The Whitworth women were 10th and the men were 11th in the open division.

• The Gonzaga men and women each took second place at the Erik Anderson Invitational at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane.

BYU edged the Bulldog women by one point. GU’s Maggie Jones took second place, completing the 6,000-meter course in 21:25.97. Her teammate, Jordan Thurston, was third in 21:26.12.

The Idaho women took fourth and Eastern Washington was sixth. For the men, Troy Fraley was Gonzaga’s top finisher. He took third with an 8,000-meter time of 24:24.20.