Sept. 9, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. -- Washington State University moved it's unbeaten streak to seven with a 3-0 win over Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon at the Fresno State Invitational Volleyball Tournament at North Gym on the Fresno State University campus.
WSU swept Northern Iowa, last week ranked 22nd nationally, 15-10, 16-14, 15-11. UNI falls to 4-3 overall. This was the first win for WSU in the four times the two have played.
While one of the features of the match was the longtime friendship between Iranians Dr. Mashallah Farokhmanesh, assistant coach for WSU, and Dr. Iradge Ahrabi-Fard, head coach at UNI, the theme song of the match was, "Oh Canada."
WSU sophomore Chelsie Schafer, from Saskatoon, Sask., Canada, scored seven of her total of 11 kills in the first game comeback win. Schafer also had 12 digs and three aces for the match.
In a team effort for WSU, Adrian Hankoff also tagged 11 kills and added five blocks, Trina Kightlinger stopped five at the net, Holly Harris added 14 digs, setter Kali Surplus contributed 35 assists and 10 digs, LaToya Harris added 10 kills, and Kortney Jamtaas dug up 13 balls.
UNI's Kim McCaffrey was the only Panther with double-digit kills, pounding 13, while Alexandra Auker added 10 digs.
WSU scored the first point in the match and then gave up seven to UNI. A barrage of six kills and an ace from Cougar Schafer put WSU back on top 11-8. The Panthers closed to within two at 12-10 when a service error by UNI's Miranda Webber gave WSU the service. Kills by Kightlinger and LaToya Harris and a hitting error by Auker gave WSU the 15-10 first game win.
UNI again took the early lead in game two, up 7-2 before WSU went on a run and started the "cat" race to the finish. Tied at nine and again at 11, McCaffrey scored two points for UNI on two kills. The next time she touched the ball was an error and the Cougars were down 13-12 but Hankoff returned the favor with her own hitting errror. Auker slammed the Panther's 14th point and McCaffrey served for the game, only to serve long. UNI committed another offensive error and WSU wasted no time seizing the opportunity as Kightlinger and Hankoff blocked a ball at the net for a tie game at 14. The teams traded time outs and freshman Zanda Bautre subbed in to served for Hankoff. Kightlinger up the Cougs up with a kill and paired up with LaToya Harris to block Auker for the 16-14 win.
The third game found WSU with an early for a change but the game heated up quickly and the lead changed back and forth several times. Tied at nine, the Cougars made a run to lead 13-9 but a kill by McCaffrey followed by a hitting error from LaToya Harris closed the gap to 13-11. UNI and WSU traded sideouts when Schafer served an ace and a block by Holly Harris and Hankoff gave the Cougs the 15-11 win.
"We did a lot of things right when we got warmed up," Cougar coach Cindy Fredrick said. "We to stop the outside hitters and we did that. We passed very well, set the block up well, and there was so much talk on the court that we have taught our players that smart beats stronger all the time. Today was a good time to see us play very, very smartly. It's more fun to coach a team that's very smart.
"Chelsie was just on fire hitting, and Holly played a tremendous back row. That made a big difference. Zanda coming in to serve, the woman has some ice veins, it's really amazing to see. Kali did a really good job moving the ball around. Adrian was an incredible blocker and between Trina and Holly, both our middle blockers did a really wonderful job blocking. And Kortney played a great back row. Every single person on that court played a very good match to beat a very good UNI team. These are two defensive teams and you can see from the stats that eveybody dug like crazy (WSU 62 digs, UNI 58 digs) and both teams played great defense.
"I think the difference was we could run our middle and was much more effective than their middle. The outside was going to get their kills so it was a battle of the middles."
In other matches at the tournament Saturday, UC Riverside scored its first Div. I win with a 3-1 win over Cal State Fullerton. WSU plays host Fresno State at 7:30 p.m.
Washington State (7-0) def. Northern Iowa (4-3) 15-10, 16-14, 15-11
STATISTICS:
KILLS: Hankoff (WSU) 11, Schafer (WSU) 11, McCaffrey (UNI) 13.
ASSISTS: Surplus (WSU) 35, Arganbright (UNI) 32.
DIGS: H. Harris (WSU) 14, Auker (UNI) 10.
BLOCKS: Kightlinger (WSU) 5, Hirsch (UNI) 3, Kester (UNI) 3, McCaffrey (UNI) 3.
SERVICE ACES: Schafer (WSU) 3, McCaffrey (UNI) 2.
Attendance: 50.