Bragging rights a big thing
Two of Eastern Washington’s next three volleyball matches will have no bearing, whatsoever, on its attempt to catch league-leading Sacramento State in the Big Sky Conference race.
But that doesn’t mean coach Wade Benson will let his Eagles take tonight’s matchup against Idaho in Moscow, or next Tuesday’s non-conference home showdown against Gonzaga lightly – even though they face an important Big Sky match at Portland State on Saturday.
“We have three regional matches coming up, and they are all heavy, local rivalries,” Benson said. “That should mean something. It’s the right to hold your head high in the area, and that’s why we play regional matches.
“It says who’s the best in the area.”
In their only previous match against a local rival, Eastern (12-5 overall, 4-2 in the Big Sky) upended Washington State 3-1. And even though the Eagles have won their last six matches against Idaho, Benson expects a major challenge from the Vandals (10-7 overall, 2-3 in the Western Athletic Conference) when they kick things off at 7 in Memorial Gym.
“I expect a very tough match,” he said. “The Vandals are good this year. Last year they were good, and we were lucky enough to beat them. We have similar programs. They are very well matched against us.”
Idaho, coming off back-to-back wins over GU and Boise State, also faces a crucial league match this week when 11th-ranked Hawaii (11-6, 5-0) invades Memorial Gym at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Sky honors Mellor
Eastern’s Lizzy Mellor, a 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter and middle blocker from Colfax, was named co-player of the week in the Big Sky Conference after registering 26 kills in a 3-2 win over Montana State last Friday and 16 more in a three-game sweep of Montana the following night.
Mellor, who hit .408 against the Grizzlies and .286 against MSU, finished the weekend with 42 kills, 10 digs, one block and a .357 hitting percentage.
She shared the award with Portland State setter Stephanie Lavigne, who dished out 110 assists in wins over Montana State and Montana.
Cougars back home
After losing to No. 3 Stanford and No. 13 California on the road last weekend, Washington State (8-10 overall, 1-4 Pac-10) returns to Friel Court this week for league matches against two more ranked opponents.
The Cougars face No. 17 USC (7-6, 3-2) on Thursday and No. 22 UCLA (9-5, 2-3) on Friday. Both start at 7 p.m., and Friday’s showdown against the Bruins will help kick off homecoming weekend at WSU.
The Cougars trail USC 28-11 in their lopsided series, but posted a stunning upset win over the then No. 6-ranked Trojans last November in their final match of the 2004 season. UCLA has been even more dominant against WSU and owns a 31-7 series advantage after winning the last four matches.
Bucs pad lead
After boosting its Northwest Conference lead to two games over Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran last weekend, Whitworth College (12-2 overall, 8-0 NWC) will attempt to keep its league record unblemished with home matches against George Fox (9-6, 4-4) on Friday and Lewis & Clark on Saturday.
The Pirates have won eight straight since being swept by Puget Sound in a non-conference match on Sept. 10.
Quick sets
Washington State continues to lead the Pacific-10 Conference with its average of 3.65 blocks per game. Te’Ara Epps (1.52), Natalia Owens (1.44), Jen Barcus (1.37) and Brittany Johnson (1.00) are all averaging at least one per game. … Washington senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic is the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I national player of the week and Pac-10 player of the week after leading the second-ranked Huskies to road wins over No. 13 Cal and No. 3 Stanford. Tomasevic had 45 kills, 29 digs and 13 blocks. … Idaho is 0-2 against perennial power Hawaii, having lost to the Rainbow Wahine in the NCAA Tournament both times.