Utah State knocks off struggling Idaho

A struggling offense and a slow start sent Idaho to its fifth loss in six matches as the Vandals fell to Utah State 30-18, 30-18, 20-30, 30-28 Saturday in Western Athletic Conference action in Moscow.

Haley Larsen had 17 kills for Idaho (8-7, 1-3) but no one else was in double figures as the Vandals hit .075, a figure that would have been much worse had it not been for a third game that saw them hit .333.

But Idaho could only break even in the fourth game, getting 11 kills and 11 attack errors, and Utah State (11-6, 4-0) held on for the win.

The Aggies were led by the 12 kills of Erin Graybill and the 11 kills of Zuzana Cernianska.

•Down 10-3 and 13-9 in the deciding final game, things looked bleak for Gonzaga in its West Coast Conference opener at the Martin Centre.

But the Bulldogs rallied behind the strong serving of Alecia Douglas and the hot hitting of Becky Jones to score the final six points and upend Portland 22-30, 30-22, 22-30, 30-21, 15-13, winning their first WCC opener since 1994.

After Boevers had three kills to bring GU (9-7, 1-0) to within 13-9, the Bulldogs sided out. With Douglas serving, Jones and Kelly Steinhaus had back-to-back blocks to make it 13-12. Jones then had two kills on the final three points to complete the comeback.

Jones finished with 27 kills, with Briawna Mueller and Michelle Boevers each added 13 for the Bulldogs. Mueller also added 10 blocks.

Portland (3-10, 0-1) was led by Nicole Thometz with 24 kills.

•Washington State lost the first game but came back to win the next three as the Cougars beat Arizona State 28-30, 30-28, 32-30, 30-16 in Pacific-10 Conference action in Pullman.

WSU (8-8, 1-2) was led by Jen Barcus’ 22 kills and seven blocks. Brittany Johnson added 10 kills and Jalen Pendon added 34 digs.

Colette Meek had 13 kills for the Sun Devils (6-8, 1-3).

•Senior All-American Sanja Tomasevic became the third Washington player to reach 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career as the second-ranked Huskies (12-0, 3-0), behind Christal Morrison’s 15 kills and Tomasevic’s 14, routed Arizona (11-2, 3-1) 30-23, 30-17, 30-19 in Pac-10 action in Seattle.

•Natalie Danielson had 21 kills and Brittney Bower 16 as No. 24 Whitworth held off Pacific Lutheran 30-32, 30-22, 30-23, 25-30, 15-13 in Northwest Conference action in Tacoma.

Danielson finished with a .357 hitting percentage and Bower with hit .457 as the Pirates (10-2, 5-0) hit .243.

The Lutes (7-6, 4-2) were led by Stephanie Turner’s 21 kills. Kati McGinn added 19 kills and Meghan Fagerberg chipped in with 18.