Sept. 19, 2000

Box Score

MOSCOW, Idaho -- The Washington State University volleyball team won the Battle of the Palouse Tuesday night before a packed house of 1,271 fans at Memorial Gym on the Idaho campus. WSU defeated Idaho 15-13, 15-7, 13-15, 15-7, in the Cougars' final non-conference match of the season.

WSU moves to 9-2 overall while Idaho suffered only it's second loss of the season and is now 7-2.

WSU's Adrian Hankoff led all hitters with a career-high 20 kills. LaToya Harris chipped in 17 and Holly Harris added 12 kills. Setter Kali Surplus had 60 assists and led both teams with 17 digs.

One stat that made a difference for the Cougs was seven service aces, with sophomore Kortney Jamtaas' claiming three aces. Jamtaas also had 13 digs.

Jackie Gallagher led Idaho with 15 kills while Heather Kniss had 16 digs. Gallagher, Anna-Marie Hammond and Jenny Neville had four blocks each.

Washington State jumped to a 6-0 start but Idaho ran off four points to stay in the game. The Cougars used their front line for three quick kills before the Vandals ticked off five points, four which came on WSU hitting errors. Jenny Neville's service ace tied the game at nine before WSU reclaimed the serve and tallied three more scores. Idaho wisely took a timeout and came back to tag two kills, two blocks and then a service ace from Heather Kniss to take the lead 13-12. WSU returned the timeout favor, icing Kniss into serving long. An Idaho hitting error knotted the score at 13. Adrian Hankoff finished the game with back-to-back kills, giving WSU the 15-13 win.

The second game began with a Cougar 6-0 run before relinquishing five points to the Vandals. But the game momentum had shifted to the Crimson side of the court with WSU out-scoring Idaho 2 to 9, including points 8 through 13 on Kortney Jamtaas' serving.

After ten minutes of trading sideouts, Idaho took a 7-5 lead. WSU outscored the Vandals eight to two for a 13-7 lead. Anna-Marie Hammond led the home team to a comeback with three big kills down the stretch and Idaho then tied it up on a Jamtaas serving error. WSU's Holly Harris landed a kill for the sideout but Heather Kniss reclaimed the serve for Idaho the next play. Gallagher's kill gave Idaho the 14-13 lead and Jenny Kniss hit a soft tip for the game-winning 15th point, denying the Cougars a sweep.

In the fourth game, WSU took a 9-3 but couldn't completely shake the Vandals. Advancing to a 13-6 lead, Gallagher's three kills kept Idaho alive. Chelsie Schafer's corner kill gave WSU 14 and then she "roofed" (hit straight down at the net) Gallagher for the 15-7 game win and 3-1 match victory.

"This is a tough place to play and it's always a huge battle and we know Idaho is always up when they're playing us," Cougar coach Cindy Fredrick said. "I expected everything to be not easy. The big difference was our serving, our serving was terrific. We got a lot of aces and it kept them out of their offense quite a bit and I think that was a big factor tonight. We've been serving very aggressively. With the jump servers, we don't tell them where to go, we just give them half the court and let them go. And our passing was really good tonight. If we get the ball up to Kali and get our middles running, that's our key. We stopped doing that for a while and if we don't have our middles running, we don't have anything going.

"I like Idaho's intensity and I like the way they move the ball around. They go for a lot of power and I like to see that. I like Heather Kniss and Jackie Gallagher because they're small yet they get up and bang the ball."

Washington State resumes Pac-10 play this weekend when it hosts #10 Arizona Friday night and Arizona State Saturday night as the Cougars return to Bohler Gym.

Washington State (9-2) def. Idaho (7-2) 15-13, 15-7, 13-15, 15-7 STATISTICS:
KILLS: Hankoff (WSU) 20, Gallagher (UI) 15.
ASSISTS: Surplus (WSU) 60, Neville (UI) 44.
DIGS: Surplus (WSU) 17, H. Kniss (UI) 16.
BLOCKS: L. Harris (WSU) 4, Gallagher (UI) 4, Neville (UI) 4, Hammond (UI) 4.
Attendance: 1,271.