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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cougars Get Pace Going, Sweep UI Washington State Starts Slowly Against Vandals, Then Rolls Behind Play Of Stinson, Oigman, Papke

Enough of this preseason Pablum. Bring on the Pac-10.

No, that’s not what the Washington State University volleyball team is saying - a least not publicly - but Tuesday night’s 15-9, 15-7, 15-5 thrashing over the University of Idaho, allowed the USA Today/AVCA sixth-ranked Cougars to finish their preseason schedule with a 12-0 mark.

The Cougars, extending their home winning streak to 20, begins Pac-10 competition this weekend at Oregon State (7-4) and Oregon (6-2). Idaho (3-6), is off to the Connecticut Tournament in Storrs before the Big West Conference begins.

“They’re definitely a better volleyball team,” Vandals first-year coach Carl Ferreira said. “They’re athletic in every position. They’re legitimate. They’ve got size, speed. …”

If that wasn’t enough to overcome, the Vandals were without freshman hitter Alli Nieman of Sandpoint. The two-sport athlete has been suffering with flu symptoms all week and watched from the bench. Earlier this week, Idaho announced Shalyne Lynch will miss the season for medical reasons.

But even with a full roster, judging by the recent past, the Vandals haven’t had much success against their border rivals. Their last win came in 1994 at Moscow.

In Tuesday’s annual meeting, the first game provided the most entertainment for the season-high 1,394 spectators. After one time through the rotation, the Vandals held a 6-3 lead. Washington State tied the game on a Jennifer Canevari kill, then went ahead 7-6 on a Kyle Leonard error off a Canevari and Jennifer Stinson block. From that point, the Cougars never trailed in the match. In 12 matches this year, they hold a 36-1 edge in games.

“The great thing was that we did not wait around to see what level Washington State was going to play at. I thought we forced them to react to us,” Ferreira said. “We were not going to be counterpunchers.”

Nor were they counterblockers. The Cougars, the fifthbest blocking team in the country with 3.59 per game, finished with 10.5 blocks to Idaho’s three.

Stinson, coming off back-to-back tournament MVP awards, led the Cougars with four blocks and 12 kills (.500 hitting percentage). Beth Craig had a team-high nine kills for Idaho.

“I think we’re a better team than we were last year,” said Stinson, reflecting back to last season’s NCAA final-eight team that was led by first-team All-American Sarah Silvernail. “Last year, not to take anything away from Sarah, but they (opponents) knew where it was going to come from. This year, it’s more balanced.”

There’s more balance and more depth, allowing WSU coach Cindy Fredrick to go deep into the roster. Against Idaho, all 12 players got into the game.

In the third game, with the Cougars cruising at 8-0, Fredrick put in a lineup that included just one starter, Shannon Wyckoff. But the reserves, behind setter Samantha Spink, continued to dominate and finished off the 1-hour, 4-minute match when Wyckoff and freshman Colleen Smith blocked a Beth Craig kill attempt.

“We might look at moving some things around so we don’t start out quite so slowly,” Fredrick said. “In the Pac-10 we like to be able to change the lineup to get different matchups.”

, DataTimes