Eastern Knocks Off Conference Leader

The Eastern Washington Eagles extended their winning streak at home to 26 by sweeping the Big Sky Conference-leading Sacramento State Hornets 15-13, 15-11, 15-9 in women’s volleyball action in Cheney on Saturday.

Janelle Ruen tallied a game-high 17 kills as Eastern (8-4) pulled within a half-game of Sac State (8-3) for the conference lead.

The Eagles finished with a .377 attack percentage, compared to the Hornets’ .210 mark.

Jessie Wright totaled 37 assists for Eastern, while teammate Angie Hall had a match-high 15 digs. EWU’s Monica Lynch finished with a match-high six blocks.

Esther Rogers and Sara Chlebana each had 11 kills to pace Sac State.

Fifteenth-ranked Santa Clara compiled a .411 hitting percentage and quickly dispatched of the Gonzaga Bulldogs 15-3, 15-11, 15-6 in West Coast Conference play at Santa Clara, Calif.

Natasha Kozen had 12 kills to top Gonzaga (4-19, 0-9). Teammate Heather Signor added nine digs.

Becky Potter had a match-high 14 kills for the Broncos (20-2, 8-1).

Regan Butler had 20 kills and 21 digs to spark the Idaho Vandals to a hard-fought 15-8, 16-14, 16-14 Big West Conference victory over the UC Irvine Anteaters in Irvine, Calif.

Jenny Neville piled up 57 assists and while Megan Ogden finished with eight blocks for Idaho (13-8, 3-6).

Brooke Witt had a match-high 24 kills for UC Irvine (6-14, 1-10).

Even a power outage on the Pacific Lutheran campus couldn’t slow Whitworth.

The Pirates (15-8, 10-4), behind the 28 kills of Kristen Turner, powered past the Loggers (12-11, 7-7) 15-13, 15-9, 4-15, 16-14 in Northwest Conference action at Puyallup High School.

Lindsey Wagstaff totaled 24 digs for the Whits.

Community Colleges of Spokane finished fourth in the 16-team Mt. Hood Classic tournament.

The Sasquatch opened the second day of play with a 8-15, 16-14, 15-9, 15-11 win over Clackamas, before falling to Mt. Hood 15-10, 15-5, 15-3 and Chemeketa 15-13, 15-9, 12-15, 15-4.

Melissa French of CCS was named to the all-tournament team.

Men’s soccer

The Whitworth Pirates and Puget Sound Loggers played to a 0-0 Northwest Conference doubleovertime tie at Baker Stadium in Tacoma.

Whitworth (11-4-3, 7-3-3) outshot the Loggers (11-5-3, 8-3-2) 31-25 for the match.

Whits keeper Doug Lupton made seven saves to preserve the shutout. UPS keeper Ryan Wittstruck tallied 8 saves.

Brian Farber scored the game’s only goal at 60:30 to lift North Idaho to a 1-0 NWAACC victory over visiting Community Colleges of Spokane.

Women’s soccer

Julie Louis scored a goal 11:59 into the second half to spark Puget Sound to the Northwest Conference crown with a 1-0 victory over Whitworth in Tacoma.

Puget Sound (15-1-1, 13-1) held Whitworth (6-10-2, 4-9-1) to four shots.

Chrissy Walsh and Bry Devlin scored first-half goals and North Idaho never looked back in a 4-0 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges win over visiting Community Colleges of Spokane.

Maura Montrevil and Carmen Zobel added goals in the second half for the Cardinals.

Crew

Gonzaga’s men and Washington State’s women won the varsity 8 races in a dual regatta on the Spokane River.

The Bulldog men rowed to a first-place finish on the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 23 seconds. WSU finished in 16:37.

The Cougar women clocked a 17:29 over 5,000 meters to beat the WSU JV team (18:04) and Gonzaga varsity (18:44).

The Gonzaga men won the novice 8 with a time of 17:29, while the WSU “A” team took first in the women’s novice 8 race with a time of 19:25.

Junior hockey

Kyle Harris netted the game-winning goal with 3 minutes remaining to rally the visiting Spokane Braves to a 3-2 victory over Nelson in KIJHL play.

Nelson (10-6) had a 34-16 shots advantage over Spokane (6-1).

Matt Charles and Matt Berube also scored goals for the Braves.