Cougars sweep way to crown

Washington State followed up a sweep of No. 17 Utah with a sweep of host Utah Valley State to remain undefeated and win the La Quinta Inn & Suites Invitational volleyball tournament on Saturday in Orem.

The Cougs (6-0), hit .478 against the Utes (4-2), with Jackie Albright pounding 14 kills while hitting .407. She also added seven digs and two aces in the 25-20, 25-15, 25-22 win. Freshman Rachel Todorovich had nine kills and no errors for a .562 hitting percent.

Todorovich, who was named to the all-tournament team, followed that up with 12 kills and one error, hitting .407, in the 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 win over Utah Valley. Albright and Oceana Bush (Lewis and Clark), who was the libero of the tourney, combined for 25 digs. Senior setter Renee Bordelon (Coeur d’Alene) was named MVP. Brittany Tillman also made all-tournament.

•Idaho gave it a valiant effort but lost in three games to No. 9 UCLA (5-1) in the championship game of the Alexis Park Classic in Las Vegas. The Vandals (4-2) lost 25-21, 25-21, 25-17 with Alicia Milo and Sarah Conwell, who both made the all-tournament team, combining for 25 kills and Meredith Rice getting a career-high 21 digs. Earlier the Vandals beat host UNLV (1-3) 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22. Kelsey Taylor had career highs of 14 kills and a .520 hitting percent to go with five blocks.

•Eastern Washington fell to host Arizona in four games in the championship of the Marriott University Park Wildcat Classic in Tucson. UA won 25-20, 25-22, 13-25, 25-18 to improve to 6-0 while the Eagles fell to 3-3. Eagles Ashley Hamilton, a transfer from Arizona, and Chenoa Coviare were named to the all-tournament team. Hamilton averaged 6.6 assists and Coviare averaged 2.25 kills.

•Gonzaga got swept by No. 3 Washington but bounced back to close out the Northwest Challenge in Portland by sweeping Boise State. The Huskies (5-0) rolled 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 Layne Brosky had her fifth-straight double-figure kill game with 10 and Allyson Powell had 17 digs. The Zags (2-4) rebounded to make the Broncos (0-6) their first sweep of the season, 25-17, 27-25, 25-16. Brosky, who made the all-tournament team, had 10 more kills and four blocks. Michelle Boevers had four of GU’s 10 service aces.

•Whitworth (3-4) came up with a pair of sweeps to finish 3-1 for second place at the Pikes Peak Challenge in Colorado Springs, Colo. In a 25-19, 25-12, 25-19 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Kaimi Rocha had 12 kills and hit .474 and Ariana Obert had 13 digs. The Pirates followed that with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-16 win over Kenyon. Brynn DeLong (Shadle Park) had 12 kills and Ka’ipo Rocha 10 with a .529 hitting percent. Obert picked up 10 more digs. Both Rocha sisters were all-tournament.

Men’s soccer

Kekoa Mountcastle scored with a minute remaining in regulation as Whitworth opened its season with a 1-1 tie against Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minn. The game was even throughout, although the Pirates had all nine of their shots after halftime. Whitworth goalie Brian Sherpe made nine saves. The Whits play at St. Thomas in St. Paul on Monday.

Women’s soccer

Emi Yamamato, Kelsey Gapter and Kelly Parkhurst scored and Emily Michna made six saves as Laramie Community College (2-1) blanked North Idaho 3-0 in Coeur d’Alene.

Cross country

Lisa Egami led Washington State to the women’s title and Eastern Washington won the men’s title at the second annual Clash of the Inland Northwest meet at Mead.

Egami covered the 4,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 10 seconds to edge teammate Chelsea VanDeBrake in a photo finish with Idaho’s Melissa McFaddan 16 seconds back. Scored like a dual meet, the Cougars easily defeated Gonzaga and Eastern Washington but edged Idaho 26-30.

Idaho’s Markus Geiger won the men’s 6,000 race by 18 seconds over Kyle King of Eastern Washington. Geiger finished in 20:10. With King and Alex Smith in the top five – with two local runners Andrew Kimple (North Central) and David Hickerson (Ferris) who were running unattached between them, the Eagles went 3-0, including a 27-29 win over WSU.

•Tonya Turner cruised to a 9-second win to lead the Whitworth women to the team title of the Whitman Invitational in Walla Walla. Turner finished in 14:34 with teammates Dana Misterek and Joy Shufeldt placing third and fourth, respectively. The Pirates had 33 points, followed by Lewis-Clark State with 40. The LCSC men, ranked 19th in the NAIA, easily won the men’s title with Dave Marks leading a 1-2-3 finish. Nickolas Gallagher was eighth for Whitworth.

•Community Colleges of Spokane men and women finished second in the NWAACC preview meet in Battle Ground, Wash. The men were led by the second-place finish of Anthony Brown while Megan Dart was fifth for the women.