Pirates enter second half with high expectations

A glance at Whitworth’s position in the Northwest Conference standings would suggest the Pirates are destined for a lower-echelon finish.

Pirates coach Steve Rupe doesn’t think so. In fact, Rupe believes his young squad can make a serious climb up the NWC standings in the second half.

“Now that I’ve seen everybody in the conference, we’re as talented as anybody, but our play is a little erratic,” said Rupe, whose team is in seventh place at 2-4 in the NWC after knocking off No. 9 Puget Sound and falling in four sets to No. 20 Pacific Lutheran over the weekend. “We’re just so young. It’s coming together for us slowly but surely.”

The Pirates start four freshmen and the first player off the bench is a freshman. Kaimi Rocha ranks fourth in the conference in kills per game (3.48) and twin sister Ka’ipo is fifth in hitting percentage (.281). Freshmen setters Bree Riddle (Freeman High) and Jordon Hoffnagle (Mt. Spokane) are seventh and eighth, respectively, in assists.

“Our setting is better and more consistent, and the twins are scoring a lot of points for us,” Rupe said. “Our defense is getting much better as well.”

The Pirates visit Whitman (0-6) today and Linfield (3-3) Saturday.

“If we put two more matches together, it will help us roll into the second half of the season,” Rupe said.

Eagles entertain leaders

Eastern Washington (6-9, 3-3 Big Sky) is in the middle of the conference standings after dropping two on the road last week.

“We’ve been up, down and all over the place,” first-year head coach Miles Kydd said.

The Eagles entertain first-place Portland State (12-4, 5-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.

“They’re pretty similar to last year in that they’re a ball-control team and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Kydd said. “We need to take a lesson from Portland State and take care of the ball better on our side of the net.”

Kydd said the Eagles are frustrated because they had high expectations.

“I don’t think we’re that far away,” he said. “We just have to keep pushing through.”

Idaho back on track

The Idaho Vandals have bounced back from a three-game losing streak, including one to current No. 6 Hawaii, with a three-game winning streak. Idaho (10-6, 3-2 WAC) faces key 7 p.m. home matches against Utah State on Thursday and San Jose State on Saturday. Idaho can put some separation between itself and the Aggies (3-2) and Spartans (3-4) with a 2-0 week.

“This is a pretty big week as far as us being able to finish where we think we can finish,” Vandals coach Debbie Buchanan said. “The great thing is we’re playing at home and we’ve continually gotten better the last couple weeks.”

Notes

Washington State, which visits No. 11 USC and No. 8 UCLA this week, is in the midst of playing 14 consecutive matches against ranked Pac-10 opponents. The rankings are subject to change, obviously, but if the Pac-10’s current presence remains, the Cougars’ next match against an unranked foe will be against Arizona State on Nov. 28. … Oregon moved up to seventh in the latest poll, the Ducks’ highest ranking, while Oregon State (24th) entered the poll for the first time since 1996. It’s the first time the Oregon schools have been ranked at the same time since 1990. … North Idaho, Southern Idaho and Salt Lake have taken turns ruling the Scenic West Athletic Conference the last five years. It’s no different this season, although Salt Lake (3-0 SWAC) has the upper hand with home wins over NIC and CSI last week. NIC (3-1) entertains CSI (3-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday. … Idaho senior Haley Larsen had double-doubles in wins over Nevada and Fresno State. She leads the WAC with seven double-doubles and she’s 10th nationally at 4.47 kills per game.