NIC hosts No. 1 Southern Idaho
Local volleyball fans – those who arrive early, at least – will get a chance to watch two of the nation’s top junior college teams on Saturday when No. 1-ranked College of Southern Idaho invades Christianson Gym in Coeur d’Alene for a 3 p.m. Scenic West Athletic Conference showdown against No. 5 North Idaho College.
CSI, coached by Ben Stroud, is 42-1 on the season and leads the SWAC with a 7-0 record. The Golden Eagles have already beaten NIC (26-4 overall, 6-1 in the SWAC) twice this season and boast a tradition second to none.
In Stroud’s 12 seasons as CSI’s coach, the Golden Eagles have won seven National Junior College Athletic Association championships and have placed third in the NJCAA playoffs three times.
But NIC coach Bret Taylor, who served as an assistant under Stroud at CSI in 1996 when the Eagles went 60-0 and won one of their seven NJCAA titles, has put together another outstanding Cardinal team that could make a strong case for being ranked even higher than it is.
North Idaho’s only losses this season have come to CSI and Western Nebraska, the third-ranked team in the country, which has also beaten the Cardinal twice.
Saturday’s match is being held as part of a “Pack the House” promotion at NIC that will include an all-class baseball reunion at 2:30 p.m., the volleyball showdown at 3 and a 7:30 wrestling match between the 13-time national champion Cardinal and Montana State-Northern.
EWU in new role
After winning three consecutive Big Sky Conference regular-season championships, Eastern Washington (16-6 overall, 6-3 in the Big Sky) finds itself playing the unfamiliar role of spoiler heading into Thursday’s road match against league-leading Sacramento State (18-7, 8-1).
The Eagles, who were swept at home by the Hornets earlier this fall, are in third place and probably need to win out to have any realistic hope of defending their regular-season title and hosting the Big Sky playoffs.
“It’s definitely been different,” senior Lizzy Mellor said of the way the 2005 season has unfolded. “In the past three years, we’ve won until the very end. This year we have lost a few. We have lost to people we’ve never lost to before, which is frustrating.
“But at the same time, we’re doing the typical peaking thing. We had to go to the low before we could reach the high. We went to the low against Portland State and now, hopefully, we’ll reach our peak if we can get to the tournament championship.”
Heffernan likes effort
Washington State coach Brian Heffernan saw some things he liked in last Saturday’s 30-25, 30-24, 31-29 road loss to Pacific-10 Conference rival Oregon.
“I thought we played well tonight,” the second-year coach of the Cougars (8-14 overall, 1-8 in the Pacific-10 Conference) said after the match. “I thought we played a lot scrappier on defense. We had a lot of people who were hitting the ground and were very determined.”
Despite the loss, WSU’s seventh in a row, Heffernan had praise for the hitting of Jen Barcus (.344) and Brittany Johnson (.333)
“I can’t say enough about Jen Barcus,” he said. “It was a great performance, and Brittany Johnson did as well. Really a big night for those two.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to carry us over. But we did a better job tonight than we have in the past several matches.”
Vandals back home
The University of Idaho returns home for a pair of Western Athletic Conference matches against New Mexico State (Thursday) and Louisiana Tech (Saturday), the same two teams they played on the road last weekend.
The Vandals (11-10 overall, 3-5 in the WAC) hope to build on last Saturday’s sweep of Tech, which produced one of their most balanced efforts of the season.
“We did some really good things blocking-wise, and we played with a lot more energy,” UI coach Debbie Buchanan said after the victory, which stopped a three-game losing streak. “The biggest key to our win was the blocking, and we really took Louisiana Tech out of their game.
“We really learned some things about our team tonight. Now we have to work on a few things and make a push for the end of the year.”