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Spokane Shock

Cougar Volleyball knocks off Stanford, third straight top-10 opponent

Kyra Holt had 17 kill sand No. 17 Washington State beat its third straight top-10 opponent, knocking off No. 9 Stanford in five sets (25-15, 17-25, 26-24, 26-28, 15-8) in Pac-12 play in Pullman.

Washington State (13-2, 3-0 Pac-12) beat then No. 9 UCLA on Friday and then No. 4 Washington – both on the road – last week.

This was WSU’s fourth win over the Cardinal in 61 matches, and the first time the Cougars have defeated Stanford since 2002: a 3-1 win in Pullman.

The Cougars had not beaten Stanford for 25 straight matches dating back to 2002 and were 3-57 all-time against the Cardinal coming into the match.

“It is a huge win against a really good Stanford team,” Cougar coach Jen Greeny said. “I felt that our team was really resilient tonight. There were some ups and downs but we stuck with it. And to get it done in five, it is just a tremendous victory for this team, and another step in the right direction,”

Haley MacDonald had 33 assists and Alexis Dirige added 26 digs for the Cougars.

“We’ve always had the passion,” Holt said about the historic win. “It’s just believing in ourselves and transitioning from practice to the game, and that’s all we did. We just had to make adjustments to their adjustments later in the game and I think we did that perfectly, that’s why we won. It means everything having the support from everyone in Pullman is just awesome, and it really helps us.”

Washington State hosts California on Sunday.

North Dakota at Eastern Washington: Faith Dooley had 10 kills, Sydney Griffin had 32 assists and North Dakota (11-8, 3-1) topped Eastern Washington (7-6, 2-2) in four sets, 27-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-21 in a Big Sky match in Cheney.

Ashley Seiler paced the Eagles with 18 kills and 14 digs. Jessica Gilbert added 14 kills while Ka’iulani Ahuna had 10 kills and 20 digs.

The Eagles host Northern Arizona on Thursday.

Puget Sound at Whitworth: Whitworth took the first two sets, but couldn’t come up with the winner as Puget Sound came back in five sets (12-25, 19-25, 28-26, 25-23, 16-14) in Northwest Conference play at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Puget Sound (9-4, 4-1) has won eight straight. Cassandra Mendoza led Whitworth (10-4, 4-1) with 22 kills and Erin White had 62 assists.

The Pirates host Pacific Lutheran on Saturday at 5 p.m.

CC Spokane at Walla Walla: Savannah Ruark had 13 kills and Walla Walla (15-6, 6-0) topped visiting CC Spokane (16-9, 4-2) in four sets (25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 25-21) in a Northwest Athletic Conference match.

The Sasquatch were paced by Jessica Schmautz with 20 kills and 19 digs. Sam Alumbres had 22 assists and Kendall Collins added 20 assists.

Spokane visits Columbia Basin on Wednesday.

Wenatchee Valley at North Idaho: Kelsie Murray had 12 kills and North Idaho (11-11, 6-1 NWAC) swept Wenatchee Valley (8-15, 1-4) 25-11, 25-9, 25-23 in Coeur d’Alene.

Brittany Gay had 35 assists, Zuri Meehan had 19 digs and Brooke Bell added 10 kills.

The Cardinals play at Treasure Valley on Wednesday.

Women’s soccer

Eastern Washington 0, Portland State 0: Eastern Washington earned its third shutout in its last five matches they picked up a 0-0 tie on the road against Big Sky Conference opponent Portland State in Portland, Oregon on Friday.

The Eagles defense was led by senior goalkeeper Mallory Taylor, as she picked up a five saves for the second-consecutive match to earn her third clean sheet of 2016. Today’s 110-minute clean sheet pushes the reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week’s current scoreless streak to 124 minutes.

The shutout was Taylor’s fourth of her career.

Taylor wasn’t the only Eagle to record a save against Portland State on Friday, as in the 59th minute the Vikings’ attempt at an open net was stopped by junior M’Kenna Hayes, as she jumped in front of an empty net to head out a potential goal for PSU.

It looked as if Eastern would string together a goal in the 82nd minute, as freshman Saige Lyons crossed the ball in front of the goal inside the six-yard box, but her cross failed to land with a teammate, and the Portland State goalie picked the ball up off a bounce to keep the game scoreless.

“I thought we gutted through today,” said head coach Chad Bodnar. We didn’t create much on the offensive end and give credit to Portland State for that. Mallory came up with some huge saves, and our backline picked up another shutout, which is always a positive. We just have to be better and more creative to get a goal against teams that sit back deep.”

The Eagles (8-1-2) travel to Sacramento State on Sunday to end their two-game road trip.

Idaho 2, Northern Colorado 0: Idaho got back to its winning ways, shutting out Northern Colorado 2-0 in a Big Sky matchup in front of a wild crowd at Guy Wicks Field in Moscow.

“Really proud of our players today,” said head coach Derek Pittman. They really went out and executed the game plan. We had a great week of training. The intensity, the focus, the overall courage to come out and do what we ask of them, I’m really proud of them.”

Idaho got on the board in the 56th minute. Kelly Dopke got the play started with a long ball over the top, finding Clara Gomez streaking toward the corner flag. Gomez held up, allowed her help to catch up, then slipped in a great ball to a cutting Madison Moore. Moore’s shot crushed the post, but Megan Goo was there to bury the rebound to put Idaho up 1-0.

The Vandals doubled their lead just over two minutes later. Again, the play began in the back line, with Josilyn Daggs finding Elexis Schlossarek cutting down the sideline. Schlossarek led Emma Eddy toward goal and the freshman handled the rest for her second goal of the season.

“We talked a little bit about the chances that we had created, but we knew we needed to be a little bit more composed around the box to be able to hit the target,” Pittman said.

Torell Stewart wasn’t called on often but made the saves she needed to. She finished the night with four saves, earning her third shutout of the season.

The Vandals (5-4-2, 2-1-0) will host North Dakota on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga: Shelby Cormier scored in the 83rd minute on a header and Loyola Marymount beat Gonzaga 3-1 in the West Coast Conference opener for both teams at Luger Field.

Mari Kneisel’s goal for the Zags – her first of the year – in the 72nd minute trimmed a two-goal deficit in half, but the Lions answered with their insurance goal a few minutes later.

Sarah Sanger scored her third goal of the season in the 28th minute and Sarina Bolden added her fourth of the campaign in the 38th.

Gonzaga hosts No. 25 Pepperdine (5-3-3, 0-0-1) on Saturday at noon.

Cross country

WSU at Joe Paine Notre Dame Invite: No. 24-ranked Washington State men’s cross country team finished seventh in the Blue 5-Mile race at the 61st Annual Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational at Burke Golf Course in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Senior John Whelan led the Cougars with an eighth-place finish with a five-mile time of 23 minutes 55.6 seconds.

No. 20 Mississippi won the Blue Invitational race with 83 points, followed by No. 18 UTEP with 99 points and No.9 Eastern Kentucky with 168 points.

“We put ourselves in a very good position at the halfway point of the race, in third place, and then we struggled a bit towards the end,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field said. “We accomplished a lot by beating several key teams but we expected to finish a little higher overall.”

The Cougar men’s team and the WSU women’s cross country team race on Saturday in the Washington Invitational at the Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle.

Gonzaga at Montana Invitational: The Gonzaga women’s cross country team has run in three events so far this season, and Jordan Thurston has won them all. The latest was a first place finish at the Montana Invitational in Missoula.

Thurston finished the 6,000-meter course on the University of Montana Golf Course at 21:09.2, over 40 seconds ahead of second place Alyssa Snyder of Montana State. Thurston opened her junior season with a first place finish at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, before winning the Gonzaga-Idaho Dual.

“It was terrific race for Jordan,” Gonzaga women’s Head Coach Patty Ley said. “She just took it from the start and kept rolling. I love where she is right now and she has a ton of fire to keep doing more.”

Jessica Mildes also had a top-five finish, placing fifth with a time of 22:17.1.

The Gonzaga men also continued their hot start to the season, winning their third consecutive race.

The Zags eased to the team title with five finishers in the top-10. Max Kaderabek placed second for the second straight race. He crossed the line at 25:25.6. Troy Fraley, running unattached, took first with a time of 24:55.5.

Scott Kopczynski and Kellen Manley were seventh and eighth at 26:00.0 and 26:04.4. Jake Perrin completed the 8,000-meter course at 26:08.3. The Bulldogs had a winning average time of 25:54.04.

Gonzaga will split its squads between the NCAA Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the Inland Empire Classic in Lewiston, Idaho, on Oct. 15. The races will be the final tune-ups before the West Coast Conference on Oct. 28.

Junior hockey

Columbia Valley at Spokane: Trail Thompson scored at 2:47 of the second overtime and the Spokane Braves beat the Columbia Valley Rockies 4-3 at the Ice-A-Rena.

Paxton Malone had two goals and Blake Halfpenny added two assists for the Braves (3-5-0).

Spokane travels to face Beaver Valley on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Indoor Football

Empire sign pair: The Spokane Empire signed running back and special teams specialist Mulku Kalokoh and offensive lineman Siosifa Tufunga to their 2017 IFL roster.

Kalokoh joins the Empire for his second season as a member of the IFL. In 2015 with the Bemidji Axeman, Kalokoh earned Special Teams Player of the Year, and First Team All-IFL honors at the conclusion of his rookie season, leading the league in kick return yards (991) and kick return touchdowns (5). His 1,550 all-purpose yards ranked second in the league while he led the Bemidji offense with 500 rushing yards on the season and 11 rushing touchdowns.

“In 2015 Mulku was one of the most feared scoring weapons in our league,” said head coach Adam Shackleford. “After sitting out last season waiting on the now defunct MLFB, we believe that he can be a tremendous asset to our offense and special teams production.”

Tufunga, 6-foot-3, 325 out of Washington, joins the Empire as a rookie. During his collegiate career with the Huskies, Siosifa was a fixture on the offensive line. He led a young offensive line group and was the only senior offensive lineman to start every game in 2015. Tufunga earned Academic All-Pac-12 honors as a junior and sophomore.

“Tufunga is a strong, mobile center that stood his ground against the best defensive lineman in the Pac-12 Conference,” Shackleford said.