Sept. 18, 1999

Box Score

PULLMAN, Wash.

-- Led by the 19 kills from senior Joy Sperry, Washington State defeated California 3-1 in a Pacific-10 Conference match Saturday before 848 fans at Beasley Coliseum.

WSU, now 6-3 overall and 1-1 in Pac-10 play, won with game scores of 15-12, 15-11, 14-16, 15-3. California drops to 4-3 overall, 1-1 in conference standings.

The Cougar freshman made a solid showing with middle blocker Holly Harris tagging 15 kills, 20 digs and six blocks while setter Melissa Wright had 52 assists, 20 digs and 8 kills while hitting .400. Sophomore Kristen Johnson contributed a game and career-high 10 blocks and 9 kills.

Brook Coulter and Kellie Alva were Cal's hitting leaders with 15 kills each. Coulter also had 17 digs and Courtney Guerra had a team-high five blocks.

"We played really well tonight and our blockers did a really good job," Cougar coach Cindy Fredrick said. "Our defense was fun to watch and Kristen Johnson played awesome in the middle."

The Cougars are on the road next week, at Oregon Sept. 23, and at Oregon State Sept. 24.

Washington State (6-3, 1-1 Pac-10) d. California (4-3, 1-1 Pac-10)

Game scores:

15-12, 15-11, 14-16, 15-3

STATISTICS

KILLS: Sperry (WSU) 19, Coulter (Cal) 15, Alva (Cal) 15.
ASSISTS: Wright (WSU) 52, McNamee (Cal) 57.
DIGS: Wright (WSU) 20, H. Harris (WSU) 20, Coulter (Cal) 17.
BLOCKS: Johnson (WSU) 10, Guerra (Cal) 5.
SERVICE ACES: Wright (WSU) 2, Guerra (Cal) 1.

Attendance:

848.