Official Athletic Site of the Washington State University Cougars

WSU Volleyball Denies Cal In Five Games

October 4, 1998

BERKELEY, Calif. -- For the seventh time in the past eight years, the California-Washington State volleyball match in Berkeley went to the deciding fifth game. And for the sixth time, the Cougars were victors, winning 15-5, 14-16, 9-15, 15-5, 15-9 Sunday afternoon at the Recreational Sports Facility on the Berkeley campus.

It was the second match for the Golden Bears since head coach Sue Woodstra and first assistant Oscar Crespo resigned Friday morning. Second assistant coach Lee Maes is the interim head coach.

Washington State is now 2-3 in Pac-10, 5-6 overall while California is 0-6 in league, 3-11 overall.

Jennifer Stinson led the Cougars with 23 kills and eight blocks. Samantha Spink had 48 assists and Kim Kleven contributed 13 digs. WSU hit .301 for the match.

Cal was led by the 13 kills, 14 digs and four service aces of Brook Coulter. Cal hit .131 for the match.

WSU scored nine points in the first game off California errors and the Cougs had eight kills on 18 attacks with no hitting errors (.444). Cal had 11 kills on 32 attacks with eight hitting errors (.094).

In the second game, the Cougars' 9-3 lead proved unsafe as Cal's Alicia Perry contributed three kills to tie it up and Coulter's three service aces gave the Bears a 12-11 lead. Cal was stopped at 14-13 as Kellie Alva served into the net. WSU's Lucie Vratnickova provided a kill for a 14-all tie but Cal's Jameka Stevens' three consecutive kills gave the home-court Bears a sideout and the two finals points for the 16-14 win.

Cal jumped out to a 10-1 lead in game three but WSU came back to close the gap to 14-5. A Stinson kill stopped Cal's first attempt at game point. Another Stinson kill, two aces from Spink and a kill by Colleen Smith put WSU closer at 14-9. Cal needed two more attempts at game point but prevailed on a tip by Kelly Meyer, winning 15-9 and going up two games to one.

The fourth game saw Washington State take the lead and never relinquish it, scoring the last seven points consecutively. WSU won 15-5, hit .409 to Cal's .000. and tied the match at two games each.

In the rally-scoring fifth game, WSU led from start to finish with a comfortable margin before taking the game 15-9.

Washington State returns to the Palouse to host Oregon State Friday night, Oct. 9, and Oregon Sunday, Oct. 11.

Washington State (2-3, 5-6) d. California (0-6, 3-11) 3-2
Game Scores: 15-5, 14-16, 9-15, 15-5, 15-9
STATISTICS:
KILLS: WSU - Stinson 23; CAL - Coulter 13
ASSISTS: WSU - Spink 48; CAL - McNamee 43
DIGS: WSU - Kleven 13; CAL - Coulter 14
BLOCKS: WSU - Stinson 7; CAL - Meyer 5
SERVICE ACES: WSU - Kleven 3; CAL - Coulter 4
Attendance: 207