Cougs Pull Off Upset

College volleyball

Washington State ran its record to 4-0 by coming from behind to upset the 17th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats in the championship match of the Les Schwab Cougar Challenge women’s volleyball tournament at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman on Saturday.

The Cougars twice rallied from behind to defeat K-State 7-15, 15-9, 14-16, 15-13, 15-5.

In the title game, tournament MVP LaToya Harris tallied 20 kills and 24 digs and Holly Harris added 13 kills, 14 digs and nine blocks to spark the Cougars.

Liz Wegner led K-State with 19 kills and 18 digs. Disney Bronnenberg had 60 assists.

“We have to take one game at a time,” said LaToya Harris. “We can come back if we take our time, take a deep breath and play our game. We did that tonight.”

WSU advanced to the finals with a 15-7, 13-15, 15-12, 15-8 victory over Utah State. The Wildcats advanced with a 15-2, 15-1, 15-2 sweep over Rhode Island.

Kali Surplus joined LaToya and Holly on the all-tournament team.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (1-3) picked up their first win of the season in the fourth match of the tournament.

The Bulldogs swept Rhode Island (0-4) 15-9, 15-13, 15-13. Heather Osberg and Britt Whiting combined for 22 kills and 16 digs to spark the Zags. Emilie Heggli piled up 36 assists in the three games.

Earlier, Utah State nipped Gonzaga 16-14 in the first game and then rolled to 15-6 and 15-3 wins to earn the victory.

Osberg had 10 kills and Ellen Shaw totaled 11 digs for the Bulldogs in a losing effort.

Osberg also had two block assists. She is eighth on the Zags’ career list in the category with 188.

Gonzaga hits the road next week when it travels to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for the Nanook Classic. The Zags open the tournament against Eastern Kentucky.

Eastern Washington dropped a pair of matches at the L&L/Michigan State Volleyball Classic tournament in East Lansing, Mich.

Rutgers (3-1) knocked off the Eagles 15-6, 11-15, 15-13, 15-13 in the first match of the day and host Michigan State rolled to a 15-5, 15-5, 15-10 sweep in the second match.

EWU’s Robyn Sonju-Felder was named to the all-tournament team. Sonju-Felder paced the Eagles (1-2) with 16 kills and five blocks.

The Whitworth Pirates split a pair of matches during the final day of the Whitworth Invitational.

Abby Jo Hornstein had 16 kills and 22 digs and Gretchen Smith added 12 kills and 23 digs to rally the Whits to a 4-15, 15-9, 13-15, 15-11, 15-10 win over Eastern Oregon (0-4) in the opener.

Pacific Lutheran (3-2) tallied 14 blocks en route to a 15-6, 15-7, 15-8 win over the Whits (3-2) in the tourney finale. Nicole Weedman had 13 assists in a losing effort.

Community Colleges of Spokane lost to Ricks College 5-15, 9-15, 0-15 in the semifinals of the Utah Valley State tournament in Orem, Utah.

CCS advanced with a 15-3, 5-15, 15-8, 15-9 quarterfinals win over Yazapai College.

The Sasquatch finished the tourney in a third-place tie.

Heather Kniss totaled 38 kills, 24 digs and three blocks to help the Idaho Vandals split two matches at the Iowa State Invitational tournament in Ames, Iowa.

Creighton nipped Idaho in the first match 11-15, 15-9, 5-15, 15-13, 19-17 but the Vandals (2-1) came back to sweep Iowa State 15-7, 15-10, 15-5.

Jenny Neville amassed a whopping 104 assists on the day for Idaho. Teammates Jenny Kniss and Jackie Gallagher finished with 25 and 22 kills, respectively.