College volleyball: No. 22 Washington State falls at Arizona State

Washington State got off to a slow start it was unable to overcome in a 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21 loss to Arizona State in a Pac-12 Conference women’s volleyball match Thursday in Tempe, Arizona.

The 22nd-ranked Cougars trailed 16-8 in the first game and dropped the final three points in the set after rallying for a 23-22 lead. WSU never led in the second game. The Cougs led 7-6 in the fourth game before surrendering six straight points to fall behind for good.

Pia Timmer tallied a team-high 13 kills, and Hannah Pukis had 36 assists for WSU (22-7, 11-6 Pac-12). Andrea Mitrovic led Arizona State (16-12, 8-9) with 11 kills.

The Cougars return to the court Sunday at Arizona at 11 a.m.

NWAC Championships

McKenna Russell and Jordan Shoff posted 12 and 10 kills, respectively, to power CC Spokane to a 25-18, 25-20, 26-24 sweep of Lower Columbia in the tournament’s first round in Tacoma.

Lindsey Russell added 30 assists and 12 digs for the Sasquatch (32-2). CCS plays Whatcom (22-8) Friday at 10 a.m. in a quarterfinal matchup.

East Region champion North Idaho was eliminated with consecutive losses in the Cardinals’ first two matches. NIC suffered a 25-11, 24-26, 25-19, 25-21 loss to Tacoma to fall into the loser-out bracket. Journey Tupea’s 15 kills led the Cardinals, and Hokulea Vargas had 39 assists.

NIC (28-4) were ousted in the final match of the night with a 25-16, 17-25, 17-15 loss to Bellevue.