Idaho women first at Sundodger

The Idaho women’s cross country team finished first at the Sundodger Invitational Saturday in Seattle, placing six runners in the top 20.

Bevin Kennelly paced the Vandals, finishing the 6-kilometer race in seventh with a time of 21:28.74.

Teammate Mandy Macalister finished eighth at 21:29.68. Idaho also held down the 12th, 13th, 15th and 20th positions, edging Washington 40-54.

Eastern Washington placed ninth, and Washington State finished tenth.

In the men’s race, EWU finished fifth, as Branden Fuller came in seventh at 24:25.54. Idaho placed seventh, led by Jan Eitel, who finished the 8-kilometer race in 16th place.

Volleyball

Cal State Northridge (5-3, 2-0 Big West Conference) came into Moscow and knocked off Idaho in four games, 31-33, 30-24, 30-24, 30-24.

Kati Tikker had 18 kills for the Vandals (6-2, 1-1), and Brooke Haeberle chipped in with 15 kills and 18 digs. Mandy Becker paced the Vandal defense with a career-high 29 digs.

Northridge outhit Idaho .264 to .188, and the Matadors got a strong performance from outside hitter Jen Ryan, who had 28 kills on a .243 hitting percentage.

•Christina Albers had 36 assists and 10 digs as Eastern Washington (4-5) beat Chicago State 30-12, 30-24, 30-28 at the Iowa Hawkeye Holiday Inn Classic in Iowa City, Iowa.

Brittney Page led the Eagles offense with 15 kills and seven digs, and Deanna Albers had 10 kills and seven digs. On the defensive side, Andrea Verdoljak had 17 digs for EWU.

•Washington State lost a pair at the University of Denver Invitational, falling in four games to Syracuse and three games to Denver.

Kelly Rosin had 35 kills in the two matches for the Cougars (3-8), and Nicole Martin served up 88 assists.

The Orange (10-1), coming off their first loss of the season, won comfortably despite dropping the third game to the Cougars 30-16.

In the nightcap, Denver (5-5) won 30-25, 30-25, 30-26 to take the tournament championship on its own floor.

•Gonzaga dropped two matches at the Idaho State Classic in Pocatello, falling in three games to New Mexico State and four games to Wyoming.

New Mexico State (8-1) coasted past the Bulldogs (4-8) in the day’s opener 30-14, 30-22, 30-24, and Gonzaga came back with a little fire in its loss to the Cowboys (5-5) 35-33, 30-27, 27-30 and 30-19.

•North Idaho went 2-1 at the Arizona Western Tournament in Yuma, Ariz. The Cardinals defeated Eastern Arizona and L.A. Pierce, and lost to league rival Dixie State.

Men’s soccer

Niko Varlamos scored twice to lead Whitworth (4-1, 1-0 Northwest Conference) to a 5-1 home win over George Fox (1-4-1, 0-1 NWC) in the first conference match for both teams.

Jonathan Carlson and Todd Sabrowski had a goal and an assist for the Pirates.

•Nick Loyd, Halvor Mikkelsen and J.J. Morin all had a goal and an assist as CC Spokane scored three goals in each half on its way to a 6-1 home win over Everett CC.

Women’s soccer

Ashley Fisk scored in the 13th minute for the only tally in Whitworth’s 1-0 home win over George Fox (3-2, 0-1 NWC). Goalie Jenn Miller was only forced into two saves for the Pirates (2-2, 1-0 NWC).

•CC Spokane cruised to an easy 10-0 win over visiting Everett CC with Angie Grandinetti, Heather Howard and Katie Blood all scoring twice.