Eagles Not On Cougs’ Play List

Gonzaga traveled to Eastern Washington on Tuesday night. Idaho plays at Washington State next Tuesday.

They’re the natural rivals among the area’s Division I volleyball teams, except one of the obvious matchups has been off the schedule since 1994.

Washington State vs. Eastern Washington.

The two have played 35 times over the years - WSU leads the series 27-8 - but some bad blood seems to be keeping them apart. The night that sticks out was in 1993 in Cheney. The crowd was rowdy and in the face of the favored Cougars (who won 3-2). Former Eastern marketing director Lee Yerty insulted WSU coach Cindy Fredrick by putting a cutout of her face on an inflatable blowup target used during a halftime serving contest.

“It (all) went beyond heckling,” Fredrick recalled. “I can not subject my kids to that kind of abuse … We kind of put that to bed four years ago.”

The last time the two played was 1994 in Pullman, where the Cougs won 3-0.

The Cheney halftime show, coach’s mugs and all, wasn’t the first of its kind at EWU. But Eastern coach Pam Parls said it was the last.

Yerty, meanwhile, is no longer at EWU. His wife, former EWU assistant coach Carrie Couturier, is coaching at Memphis State. Couturier played volleyball at WSU from 1988-91.

So it’s all in the family for these two schools, although no reunion is planned.

Pam Parks said there was some talk a few years ago about renewing the series but nothing came of it. Fredrick said she’s not all that sold on having her team travel during midweek. They need to concentrate on the Pac-10 weekend matches.

But she did add, “If they want to play it here, yeah.”

What’s up this weekend?

WSU (7-6, 2-4 Pac-10) travels to No. 18 Arizona (9-4, 3-2) on Friday and Arizona State (7-4, 3-2) on Saturday. Friday’s match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Northwest.

Although the ranked Wildcats are considered the better of the two desert squads, ASU knocked off Arizona last week 3-1. The Wildcats then dropped four spots in the AVCA/USA Today rankings.

If the Cougars are swept, they’ll fall to 2-6 in the Pac-10. But Fredrick continues to have patience with her exciting, young team.

“I don’t have a lot to be unhappy about except the wins and losses. Everything else is pretty good,” she said.

* Idaho (12-4, 3-1) plays host to Boise State (4-10, 1-3) Thursday and travels to Cal Poly SLO (10-4, 2-2) Saturday. After the Big West Conference’s big three (No. 3 Pacific, No. 5 Long Beach and No. 7 UC Santa Barbara), Cal Poly might be the best of the rest.

* Eastern Washington (13-3, 5-1), fresh from Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Gonzaga, finishes its five-match homestand Thursday vs. Montana State (13-4, 3-1) and Saturday vs. Montana (11-3, 2-2).

The Grizzlies will be traveling with interim coach Colleen Frohlich. The former UM player, who was serving as an assistant coach, took over the team when 22nd-year coach Dick Scott was placed on administrative leave last week for the rest of the season.

The emotional coach apparently hit his breaking point in a match at Idaho State on Sept. 24.

EWU’s Hall honored

Eastern Washington’s Angie Hall was named co-Big Sky Conference player of the week this week, sharing the honors with Stephanie Laya of Montana State.

Hall broke the school record with 39 digs in a five-game win over Sacramento State. In matches against Sac State and Weber State, she compiled 43 kills, 51 digs and four service aces.

Hall and Laya, both junior outside hitters, will meet Thursday when the Eagles host the Bobcats.

Gonzaga’s cheap seats

Bulldogs fans can attend this weekend’s West Coast Conference matches at Martin Centre for $1 a person. The Zags (4-11, 0-2) play host to Saint Mary’s (2-9, 0-2) Friday and San Diego (10-3, 1-1) Saturday.

Gonzaga, coming off two conference road losses have won two straight against the Gaels. The Toreros have won nine straight against Gonzaga.

The host with the most?

Community Colleges of Spokane (19-5, 3-1) will be among the favorites when the Sasquatch play host to the ‘99 Crossover Tournament. Thirteen teams will compete at both CCS campuses, beginning with pool play on Friday at 2 p.m.

Spokane’s toughest challengers are expected to be Mt. Hood, Big Bend, Columbia Basin and Ricks. The championship match will be played at SFCC at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Sophomore middle blocker Angel Fairbanks (Rogers) leads CCS with 3.15 kills per game (.264 hitting). Another former Greater Spokane League player, Kortney Stewart (Mead), has a team-high 40 aces in 59 games.