Cougars Ranked No. 7; Vandals Defeat Lsu
After four convincing wins at the Cougar Challenge last weekend, the Washington State volleyball team moved to No. 7 in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll, released Tuesday.
The Cougars (4-0), who began the season at No. 8, travel to Ames, Iowa, this weekend where they will play Dayton (Friday), Iowa and Iowa State (Saturday) at the Iowa State Tournament. Hawaii (4-0), meanwhile, remains at No. 1 while Stanford (3-0) remains at No. 2. Other Pac-10 schools ranked are UCLA (1-1) from No. 6 to No. 12; USC (1-1) at No. 13 and Arizona State (2-0) from No. 21 to No. 23. Arizona, Oregon State and Washington also received votes.
WSU travels to Stanford on Sept. 27 and plays host to the Cardinal on Oct. 26.
Idaho (2-0) did not receive votes. Its Big West opponents who are ranked are Long Beach State at No. 11, Pacific at No. 13 and UC Santa Barbara at No. 18
At Baton Rouge, La., Jeri Hymas and Jessica Moore were the difference once again for the University of Idaho as the Vandals upended Louisiana State University in a non-conference volleyball match.
Hymas had 18 kills and Moore had 16 as Idaho won 15-5, 9-15, 15-5, 15-9 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“Our left-side hitters are really coming through,” Idaho coach Tom Hilbert said.
Hilbert, whose team improved to 2-0 while LSU fell to 1-2, was much happier with his team’s play than he was after an opening-night victory over Southwestern Louisiana on Monday.
A large part of the credit for the improved play goes to senior setter Lynne Hyland.
Hyland totaled 43 assists in the four games to bring her two-day total to 90. She also had 19 digs.
Idaho travels to New Orleans today to play Tulane before competing in this weekend’s University of Wyoming Invitational in Laramie.
Women’s basketball
Former Washington State All-American Jenni Ruff has signed a one-year contract to play professional basketball for Satila Sport Klubb, a first-division team in Sweden.
After Ruff, who led the Pac-10 in scoring her senior year and was 10th in the nation, will depart for Sweden in mid-October. The season in Sweden runs from that time until the end of March and will include a 17-day trip through the United States to play collegiate teams in Texas as Louisiana.
After considering offers from teams in Greece, Israel and Australia, Ruff selected to play in Sweden because, “I had only heard great things about other players’ experiences playing in Sweden,” the Mossy Rock resident said.
United States 1996 gold medal Olympic team members Jennifer Azzi and Ruthie Bolton played professionally in Sweden.
Terms of Ruff’s contract were not disclosed.
Women’s soccer
At Olympia, Kolea Finney, Jennifer Tissue and Haley Nichols scored first-half goals for Whitworth College as the Pirates coasted to a 3-0 win over Hawaii Pacific in a non-conference game.
Jen Peterson recorded seven shots on goal for the Pirates, who improved to 2-0.
, DataTimes MEMO: Changed from the Idaho edition