Cougs open with two wins

The Washington State Cougars volleyball team got off to a hot start on Friday with victories over the Gonzaga Bulldogs and North Dakota State Bison in the Jackrabbit Kickoff Tournament at Frost Arena in Brookings, S.D.

Adetokunbo Faleti, a redshirt junior, totaled 25 kills and a .408 hitting percentage to lead the Cougars to a 30-23, 31-33, 30-23, 30-19 win over Gonzaga.

Junior Briawna Mueller and freshman Layne Brosky paced the Bulldogs with 10 kills apiece.

Faleti had 14 kills and Kelly Rosin added 12 kills and a .440 hitting percentage as the Cougars (2-0) swept the Bison 30-15, 30-28, 30-26 in the second match.

Gonzaga (1-1) rallied to beat the Weber State Wildcats 25-30, 20-30, 30-24, 30-24, 15-12 in its second match.

Becky Jones sparked the Bulldogs with 17 kills and 17 digs. Emily Johnson chipped in with 15 kills.

“The Eastern Washington Eagles opened their season with a pair of sweeps at the Best Western Classic in Wichita, Kan.

The Eagles topped the Syracuse Orange 30-24, 30-20, 30-24 in the first match behind Brittney Page’s 13 kills and .579 hitting percentage.

Eastern followed with a 30-26, 30-24, 30-26 victory over the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Page led the way with 11 kills and a .524 percentage. Addie Webster had 11 kills and Chrystal Johnson added 10 kills.

“The Idaho Vandals opened their season with a pair of losses at the Sonner Legends Nike Invitational in Norman, Okla.

The Arkansas Razorbacks topped the Vandals 30-24, 28-30, 30-17, 30-16 in the first match and the North Carolina Tar Heels rolled to a 32-30, 30-22, 30-21 victory in the second match.

Freshman Debbie Pederson paced Idaho with 10 kills and a .368 hitting percentage against Arkansas, while junior Erin Curtis led the Vandals against UNC with an ace, two digs, a block and a .368 percentage.

Women’s soccer

Lacey Castleberry scored a goal in the 61st minute to carry the Gonzaga Bulldogs to a 2-1 victory over the Oregon State Beavers in the season-opening Cougar Classic tournament in Pullman.

OSU took a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute on a score by Whitney Goodell, but GU knotted the game at 29:18 on an unassisted goal by Nanda McCormick.

Host Washington State also began its season with a win, knocking off UNLV 2-1 behind goals from Anna Miller at 41:05 and Brooke Bemis at 63:09.

The Rebels avoided being shut out when Katie Carney connected on a penalty kick in the 81st minute.

“The Eastern Washington Eagles dropped their opener 4-0 at the hands of the Northern Illinois Huskies in DeKalb, Ill.

The Huskies took control with a three-goal first half.

“The Pepperdine Waves rolled to a 5-0 victory over the Idaho Vandals in a season-opener in Malibu, Calif.

Idaho trailed just 1-0 at halftime.

Men’s soccer

The Gonzaga Bulldogs scored three straight goals en route to a 4-1 season-opening victory over the UNLV Rebels at Martin Field.

John Palladino got the Bulldogs off and running with a goal at 22:09, but UNLV knotted the score just 30 seconds later on a score by Nicholas Paterson.

Grant Lundberg put the Bulldogs up a goal in the 35th minute. John Reha (77:59) and Nick Barclay (83:09) capped the scoring.

Golf

Joe McEachran, whose home course is The Creek at Qualchan, and Jason Azzarito (Colville) each shot 3-under-par 69s to grab the first-round lead of the championship flight of the Spokane City Championships, held at Indian Canyon Golf Course.

Bob Witte (Qualchan) is the first flight leader with a 74; Tom Craig (Qualchan) shot 79 to lead the second flight; and George Kessler (Hangman Valley) and Mike McNeilly (Qualchan) shot 72s to share the senior division lead.

Today’s second round will be played at Downriver and Sunday’s final round is at Qualchan.