GU, WSU host tourneys
Gonzaga University and Washington State will play host to volleyball tournaments this weekend, while Idaho and Eastern Washington stay out east to continue their difficult early-season schedules.
GU (1-3) will stage its first home tournament since 2003 when Connecticut, Portland State and Gardner-Webb come in to compete in the two-day Gonzaga Volleyball Invitational that kicks off with two matches Friday.
The Bulldogs (1-3) face Connecticut (1-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday, following a tournament-opening match between PSU (1-1) and G-W (3-0) that starts at 5. Four additional matches will be played Saturday in the round-robin affair.
“We’re really excited to have a tournament back in town,” GU coach Kip Yoshimura said. “In years past, it’s always been one of those things where we could get two teams to commit, but never a third.
“But my former assistant Jerry Wagner (now the head coach at Montana), worked his butt off before he left to finally make it happen.”
Yoshimura admitted he knows little about UConn, but relishes the idea of playing a big-name school from a big-name conference.
WSU, 3-1 heading into Tuesday’s match at Portland, will host UNLV, Boise State and UC Davis in the Baden Cougar Challenge that will also play out Friday and Saturday. The Cougars open tournament play against UNLV (2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, following a 5 p.m. match between UC Davis (0-2) and Boise State (1-2).
Idaho (0-3) plays in the Notre Dame Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind., in a four-team tournament that will include Notre Dame (1-0), which was ranked No. 21 in the preseason CSTV/AVCA poll, No. 13 Missouri (2-1) and Valparaiso (3-0).
EWU (2-2) continues its hectic early-season schedule with a match against Manhattan in New York City this afternoon, before heading to Jersey City, N.J., to compete in the St. Peter’s Tournament.
Quick sets
Community Colleges of Spokane, which officially opens its season at home against Walla Walla on Sept. 7, will hold its annual alumni game at 6 p.m. Friday. … Among the local players who were named to all-tournament teams during last week’s competition were WSU’s Corina Beyer and Adetokunbo Faleti (Jackrabbit Kickoff); EWU’s Brittney Page and Kristen Ponce (Best Western Classic); Idaho’s Stacy Sode (Nike Sooner Legends); and Gonzaga’s Becky Jones (Jackrabbit Kickoff). … After spending two seasons playing for GU’s basketball team, sophomore middle blocker Elaina Renius made her Bulldogs volleyball debut last week and contributed 50 kills and a team-high .333 hitting percentage as the Zags went 1-3 in South Dakota’s Jackrabbit Kickoff Classic. … When Eastern plays at Rider on Monday, it will be its eighth match in 11 days.