Two wins send Cougars to 9-0

The Washington State volleyball team remained undefeated, beating Idaho and Cal State Northridge in the Nike Cougar Challenge at Pullman on Friday.

The Cougars (9-0) downed Cal State Northridge 25-16, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21 and bounced back in the evening to knock off the Vandals (4-3) 26-24, 26-28, 25-20, 14-25, 15-11.

Cassie Robbins had 16 kills and four blocks against Cal State. Brittany Tillman had 17 kills against Idaho. Sarah Conwell led Idaho with 18 kills.

•Layne Brosky had a career-tying 17 kills, but Gonzaga came up short in a 28-26, 25-19, 17-25, 25-17 loss to Texas Tech in the opening round of the Radisson Tulsa Airport Invitational in Tulsa, Okla.

The Bulldogs led 16-12 in the first game, but the Red Raiders chipped away, tying the score at 20. Texas Tech finally broke away after a 26-26 stalemate, and Gonzaga (2-5) never seemed to recover.

•Eastern Washington split its two matches at the Molten/Hilton Garden Inn Classic in Berkeley, Calif.

The Eagles rallied to knock off San Jose State 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-20 before falling to No. 13 California 25-22, 25-19, 25-20.

Against San Jose State, the Eagles’ (4-5) Chenoa Coviare and Jacque Brown finished with double-digit kills. Against the Bears, Ashley Hamilton hit at an .875 clip and Hayley Hills had 13 kills.

•Whitworth dropped two matches at the Cal Lu-Fornia Classic at Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The Pirates (3-6) fell to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 15-25, 28-26, 25-17, 25-11 and to Cal Lutheran 25-10, 25-27, 19-25, 25-21, 15-13.

•North Idaho College won twice and Community Colleges of Spokane split in opening action in the CC Spokane Crossover, which continues today.

Women’s soccer

Despite a career-high nine saves from goalkeeper Jessie Thalman, visiting Gonzaga was shut out by Southern California 2-0 in a non-conference match.

Lori Conrad had a team-high four shots, including two on goal, for the Zags (3-2-0), who had a number of offensive opportunities but fell victim to two second-half goals.

•After playing to a stalemate in the first 78 minutes, Idaho gave up a late goal to Northern Colorado and fell 1-0 in the opening game of the Holiday Inn Classic at Boise.

Idaho (3-3-0) had trouble maintaining possession throughout, but the defensive back line kept Northern Colorado from creating many real scoring threats.

•Cal State Bakersfield scored in the 86th minute to slip past visiting Eastern Washington 1-0.

Sam Pena scored the goal, taking a long pass from Jamie Havelin in the box. It was the only shot achieved by either team in the final 12 minutes.

•The visiting Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz blanked Whitworth 1-0 in the opening round of the Whitworth Classic.

In the other match, Whitman beat Capital University 1-0.

Whitworth (2-1) mustered only three shots, and two were on Slugs goalie Monica Chazen.

•North Idaho College’s match at Western Wyoming was moved from Friday to today.

Men’s soccer

Shutouts were the norm at the Gonzaga/Nike Classic. Gonzaga handled Georgia Southern 3-0 after Oregon State topped University of Detroit Mercy 2-0.

The Bulldogs’ Ben Funkhouser, Nick Barclay and Tye Perdido scored. Goalie Scott Barnum picked up his first shutout of the season and third of his career.

Gonzaga (2-1-2) will take on Detroit (1-2-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

•For the second time in as many matches, Whitworth scored a pair of goals less than 2 minutes apart on the way to victory.

The Pirates (2-0-1) downed visiting Saint Martin’s 2-0 in the first round of the Whitworth Classic.

In the other game, Pacific Luthern edged Capital University of Ohio 3-2.

Justin Meyer scored in the 64th minute for the Pirates’ first goal. Moments later, Cameron Bushey took a free kick, and the shot was saved. But teammate Taylor Willi knocked in the rebound.

Whitworth will take on Capital on Sunday at 12:30.

Cross country

Gonzaga University’s men won and the Bulldogs women were second in the West Coast Conference Preview meet at Pier Park in Portland.

The GU men had five runners in the top 13 to edge Willamette 36-39, while the GU women had five in the top 10 but were edged by Portland 29-32.