College roundup: Cougar volleyball opens season 1-1 against pair of Top 25 teams

The Washington State Cougars upset one top-25 team but couldn’t get past the second one during Friday’s first day of the Purdue Mortar Board Premier volleyball tournament in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The Cougars (1-1) opened the season with a dominating 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 victory over the 24th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. It was the first time WSU beat a non-Pac-12 ranked team since 2009 when they upset No. 17 Utah before the Utes joined the conference

Senior Kyra Holt led the Cougars with 10 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and two aces. Holt, a preseason All-Pac-12 selection, became the third Coug to reach 1,300 career kills. Sophomore McKenna Woodford added nine kills.

In the second match, tournament host Purdue held off WSU 28-26, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21 in a match that saw 38 ties and 17 lead changes.

Holt tallied 20 kills, seven digs and five blocks. Woodford had 10 kills.

WSU takes on Wyoming at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

– The Idaho Vandals got off to a strong start to the season by picking up a pair of wins at the New Mexico Invitational in Albuquerque.

Sophomore Sarah Sharp had a match-high 13 kills and junior Torrin Crawford matched a career high with six blocks to lead the Idaho Vandals to a season-opening 25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25-21 win over the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Fairfield Stags.

The Vandals followed up with a 25-12, 25-19, 23-25, 25-14 victory over the Abilene Christian Wildcats (0-2). Kaela Straw tallied 13 kills and Sharp chipped in with 12 to lead the way for Idaho. Vandals setters Haylee Mathis (39) and Megan Ramseyer (35) combined for 74 assists on the day.

Idaho, which started 2-0 for the first time since 2009, play tourney host New Mexico on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

– Eastern Washington sophomore Jessica Gilbert finished with an impressive .765 attack percentage on 13 kills in 17 attempts and added four blocks as the Eagles breezed to a 25-16, 25-22, 25-14 win over the Lamar Cardinals at the Bulldog Invitational in Starkville, Mississippi.

Megan LaFond had a match-high 11 digs, while Sophie MIller handed off 28 assist for the Eagles.

The Eagles take on the fifth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks at 8 a.m. on Saturday and follow that with a 5 p.m. match against host Mississippi State.

– McKayla Ferris amassed a team-high 26 kills and Emmy Allen was right behind with 21 to power the Gonzaga Bulldogs to a hard-fought 25-19, 17-25, 30-28, 22-25, 15-11 season-opening win over the Butler Bulldogs at the Utah Classic in Salt Lake City.

Tiyana Hallums led GU with 24 digs, while Faith Smith added 17 digs and 29 assists.

Gonzaga plays host Utah at 9 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a 4 p.m. tilt against Idaho State.

Soccer

The Eastern Washington Eagles women made history.

Freshman Saige Lyons scored in the second overtime – the 104th minute of play – and the Eagles pulled out a 3-2 win over the UC Davis Aggies at the UNLV Tournament in Las Vegas. It marked the first time in school history that Eastern has started a season 3-0.

And boy did they have to work hard to accomplish the feat.

UC Davis took a 2-0 lead 5 minutes, 7 seconds into the second half and the score stayed that way for 24 minutes.

But Jenny Chavez, with an assist from M’Kenna Hayes, got the Eagles on the scoreboard at the 74:35 mark to cut the lead in half. Lexi Klinkenberg pulled the Eagles even with 9:14 left in the match. Aimie Inthoulay assisted on the goal.

Inthoulay picked up her second assist on Lyons’ game-winner at 103:23.

– Clara Gomez and Kayla Watanabe each scored second-half goals to help the Idaho Vandals women (1-1-1) earn a 2-2 tie with the Gonzaga Bulldogs (1-1-1) in Moscow, Idaho.

Lauren Luke’s second goal of the young season staked Gonzaga to a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute.

Gomez pulled Idaho even 2:35 into the second half. The Bulldogs answered with a goal by Karley Baggerly in the 78th minute to retake the lead, but Watanabe found the net for the Vandals in the 88th minute to knot the score for good.

– The Gonzaga Bulldogs men and Bradley Braves played to a 1-1 tie in a season-opener at GU’s Luger Field.

Gonzaga grabbed a 1-0 lead just 3:02 into the second half on a goal by Jakob Granlund, who took a pass from Colton Cavey on the right side of the 6-yard box and buried his shot.

But Butler’s Buseese Lwanga scored the equalizer at the 60:56 mark.