Vandals treat large crowd to impressive victory

The University of Idaho volleyball team treated a record crowd to a historic victory with its 3-0 sweep of Boise State Saturday night.

The Vandals (14-7 overall, 7-3 Western Athletic Conference) won 25-22, 25-16, 25-7 in front of 1,842 fans for their seventh win in the last eight games.

The seven points were the lowest amount for an Idaho opponent since rally scoring began in 2001.

Idaho’s defense held the Broncos (6-15, 3-8) to a negative .134 hitting percentage. Idaho’s Sarah Conwell had a career-high .417 hitting percentage for 12 kills, while Haley Larsen added 12 kills and 10 digs.

Kelsey Younker finished with 15 digs and Kelsey James had 21 assists for the Vandals.

•Gonzaga University ended a six-game West Coast Conference win drought with a sweep at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center.

The Bulldogs (8-16, 1-6 WCC) have won four straight over the Pilots (5-17, 0-7) with the 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 triumph. The Zags were led by senior Elaina Renius and sophomore Caitlin Cozad, who had 26 of their 46 kills. Renius had 16 on 22 attempts.

•Led by Hayley Hills and Alysha Cook, Eastern Washington rattled off three straight victories to defeat visiting Weber State 21-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-14 in a Big Sky Conference match. The Eagles improved to 12-9 overall and 7-3 in conference. Hills had 18 kills and 10 digs and Cook added 16 kills.

•Each match was progressively more difficult, but Whitworth University (13-11, 6-6) slipped past visiting Pacific (6-14, 5-7) 25-18, 25-23, 26-24 in a Northwest Conference match. The Pirates trailed 20-24 in the third game before rallying for victory. Kaimi Rocha had 11 kills, Bree Riddle 17 assists and Bethany Castilleja 12 digs for the Pirates.

Men’s soccer

Whitworth and host Pacific Lutheran played 110 minutes before settling on a 1-1 tie during a Northwest Conference match in Parkland, Wash. The goals were scored within 20 seconds of each other in the first half. Whitworth’s Eddy Prugh scored for the sixth time this season at the 12-minute mark. PLU’s Jason Bjorgo quickly answered with a long shot. The Pirates (11-2-2, 7-2-1) maintain a two-point first-place lead over Whitman and Puget Sound.

Women’s soccer

Kelly Baker’s penalty kick 25 seconds into overtime lifted Whitworth to a 3-2 victory over host Pacific Lutheran in an NWC match in Parkland. The Pirates (11-3-1, 7-3-1) jumped to a 2-0 lead on first-half goals by Eizabeth Mattila before the Lutes (2-9-3, 1-8-2) rallied in the second period on goals by Amanda Crawford.

Cross country

CC Spokane runner Hershel Sanchey was the individual champ and his Sasquatch finished third to host Lewis-Clark State during the LCSC Invitational at Hells Gate Park in Lewiston. Sanchey timed 25 minutes, 58 seconds over 8,000 meters for a 5-second win over Central Valley graduate Sean Coyle, representing the Bigfoot XC Club.

L-C State placed five runners among the top 14 finishers and scored 39 points to College of Idaho’s 47. CCS had 49 points.

The CCS women also were third with 83 points behind College of Idaho’s 52 and L-C State’s 53. Running unattached, Rachel Brewer set a course record to win in 16:55 for 5,000. Katie Owens of the Sasquatch finished sixth in 18:35.

Swimming

Washington State’s 400 free relay team of Rugile Mileisyte, Talor Whitaker, Sierra Burton and Emma Neely broke the Gibb Pool record, timing 3:28.46 as the Cougars won the Debbie Pipher Memorial Invitational in Pullman. They scored 393 points to 328 for the Notre Dame blue team and 321 for Notre Dame gold. Michaela Ahlin also set a meet record in the 200 butterfly (2:03.62).

Rowing

WSU’s women won four of six races over host Gonzaga University during the windy Head of the Spokane meet. In the morning’s first 5,000-meter flight, the Cougars’ varsity 8 had the fastest time of the day (17:31).

Junior hockey

Jake Peterson had a hat trick and Tyler Mort added two goals as the host Spokane Braves (9-8-0) defeated the Summerland Sting (5-10-3) 6-2 in KIJHL play at Eagles Ice-A-Rena.