Cougars volleyball team piles up wins

Brittany Johnson had 31 kills on the day as Washington State won both of its volleyball matches at the Baden Cougar Challenge Tournament Saturday in Pullman.

Johnson and Kelly Rosin combined for 32 kills in the Cougars’ first match as they beat Boise State in three games.

In addition to Rosin’s 15 kills in the match, the senior co-captain hit .481 and added a pair of blocks. Tara West had a team-high three blocks, while freshman libero Kelly Hyder had 16 digs for the Cougars (7-1).

The Cougars also swept UC Davis in their night match, defeating the Aggies 37-35, 30-23, 30-17.

Johnson led with 21 kills and Hyder led all players with 21 digs.

In other matches, UNLV (4-2) defeated UC Davis (1-5) and Boise State (3-4), both in three games.

Washington State plays in the University of Texas-Arlington tournament next weekend, meeting Duquesne, Tulsa and host UT-Arlington.

•Briawna Mueller had 16 kills and teammate Becky Jones added 13 as Gonzaga defeated Gardner-Webb (0-5) in three games in its first match of the day at the Gonzaga Invitational.

Jones led the Bulldogs in their second match against Portland State (3-2), finishing with 16 kills while Mueller had 13. The Bulldogs (2-5) lost to the Vikings 24-30, 30-19, 30-25, 30-23.

Heather Dunn had 80 assists on the day for the Bulldogs. Dunn and Mueller were selected to the all-tournament team.

The Bulldogs play next weekend in the Washington Tournament in Seattle.

•Nikki Bardwell (Colville) finished the day with 21 kills as Whitworth lost both of its matches at the Boxer Kickoff Classic in Forest Grove, Ore.

The Pirates (1-2) lost their first match in three games to 23rd-ranked Cal State-East Bay (2-1) and lost their night match to 24th-ranked Southwestern (3-0) in three games.

In the first match, former Mead High School standout Cassie Moore led all players with 19 digs for the Pirates. Moore also led all players in digs in the second match with 12.

Whitworth resumes tournament play today against Texas Lutheran and 10th-ranked St. Thomas, Minn.

•Haley Larsen led four Vandals in double-digit kills with 23 and Kelsey James totaled 55 assists as Idaho fell in five games to Valparaiso (4-2) at the Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

Saxony Brown and Erin Curtis had 12 kills apiece against the Crusaders and Debbie Pedersen chipped in with 10.

The Vandals (0-6) also lost an earlier match in four games to 21st-ranked Notre Dame (4-0).

Idaho held Notre Dame to a .179 hitting percentage, but was unable to capitalize on the Fighting Irish’s offensive woes as the Vandals hit .065 as a team.

Women’s soccer

Nanda McCormick scored late in the first half and Christine Soma and Cristin Leverson added insurance goals in the second half as Gonzaga blanked Eastern Washington 3-0 at Martin Field in non-conference action.

Leverson scored the final goal of the game with an open-net header in the 67th minute.

With the win, the Bulldogs (3-0-1) extended their home winning streak to 10 matches.

Goalkeeper Tiera Como, an East Valley High graduate, posted eight saves for the Eagles (0-3-0).

Eastern Washington hosts Birmingham-Southern today at 10:30 a.m. and Gonzaga returns to action Friday at the Four Points Cats’ Classic in Tucson, Ariz. The Bulldogs take on 17th-ranked Arizona at 7:30 p.m.

•Kara Tisthammer (Ferris) scored in the 87th minute on a crossing pass from Greta Thibodeau to lead Whitworth (1-0) to a 3-2 season-opening victory over Pomona-Pitzer at the Bulldog Athena Sagehen Classic in Claremont, Calif.

Thibodeau scored the Pirates’ first goal early in the second half to tie the score at 1. Teammate Lindsey Oakes scored to give Whitworth a 2-1 lead before Pomona-Pitzer’s Kim Ye tied the game in the 85th minute.

Whitworth resumes tournament play today against UC Santa Cruz at 1 p.m.

Men’s soccer

Chris Hoyd and George Josten both scored as Gonzaga forced a 2-2 tie with Maryland-Baltimore County in the Anders Navy Classic at Annapolis, Md.

The match had originally been scheduled for Friday but was postponed by rain.

Gonzaga (1-1-1) outshot the Retrievers (1-1-1) 23-9.

The Bulldogs face host Navy in the final game of the tournament today at 9 a.m.

Cross country

Junior Jacob Dietz (Mt. Spokane) led a top-three Whitworth sweep in the men’s race at the Whitman Invitational in Walla Walla.

Dietz ran the 6,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 46 seconds.

Whitworth’s Julie Lauterbach was second in the 4,000-meter women’s race in 15:23.76, finishing behind former Pirates and All-America distance runner Kristi Dickey.

Dickey ran unattached and clocked in at 15:15.57.

•University of Utah freshman Rebecca Mackelprang (Ferris) placed second overall in the Reno (Nev.) Chase Race in 15:12 in the 2 1/2-mile race.