Oct. 8, 1999

Box Score

TUCSON, Ariz.

-- The 18th-ranked Arizona Wildcats swept the Washington State Cougars 15-5, 15-11, 15-5, Friday night at McKale Center at Tucson.

WSU falls to 7-7 overall, 2-5 in conference play while Arizona moves to 11-4 overall, 5-2 in Pac-10 contests.

The Cougars played without the services of sophomore outside hitter Missy Blackshire who did not make the trip to Arizona with the team. Freshman Adrian Hankoff started in her place but Cougar coach Cindy Fredrick substituted liberally during the match to fill the spot.

Arizona was led by the match-high 14 kills of Lisa Rutledge while Marisa DeLee and Raelene Elam each added 12 kills to the Wildcat victory.

LaToya Harris' 11 kills led WSU while Melissa Wright had 31 assists and three aces, and Joy Sperry contributed 13 digs.

The Wildcats ran off nine consecutive points in the first game before WSU landed a kill. A Kristen Johnson kill started a string of four Cougar kills and four points. But it was not enough as Arizona hit .438 and WSU a miserable -.143 in the 15-5 Wildcat game win.

Game two was more evenly contested with the teams trading points to a six-all score. Arizona advanced to a 12-6 lead before WSU scored again with a Wright ace. Arizona was serving for game point when the Cougs's Sperry kill stopped them and WSU went on to edge closer with four more points. On the fourth attempt, UA's Elam served an ace and ended the game 15-5.

The third game saw brief but valiant spurts from WSU, including two kills down the stretch by Trina Kightlinger, but the hometown Wildcats prevailed 15-5.

WSU plays at Arizona State Saturday night at Tempe.

#18 Arizona (11-4, 5-2 Pac-10) d. Washington State (7-7, 2-5 Pac-10) 3-0

Game scores: 15-5, 15-11, 15-5

STATISTICS:

KILLS: L. Harris (WSU) 11, Rutledge (UA) 14. ASSISTS: Wright (WSU) 31, Burkholder (UA) 43. DIGS: Sperry (WSU) 13, Talbot (UA) 9. BLOCKS: H. Harris (WSU) 3, Saragosa (UA) 4. SERVICE ACES: Wright (WSU) 3, Elam (UA) 3. Attendance: 1,037.