NW Briefs | UW volleyball fends off WSU in four-set win

PULLMAN — The fifth-ranked Washington volleyball team needed four sets to take down Washington State, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14, on Friday night.

Washington improved to 22-4 overall and 13-3 in the Pac-10, while Washington State slipped to 8-19, 1-15.

Not a single Huskies player hit below .400 in the game, in which Washington hit .451 as a team. Becky Perry led the Huskies with an impressive .490 attack percentage with 27 kills on 49 swings and just three errors.

The Huskies used a 9-4 run in the fourth set to finish off the victory.

The Cougars were led by Brittany Tillman's 14 kills (.435) and four blocks.

Tourney wins

for SPU, Western

The Seattle Pacific men's basketball team easily got the better of the University of Mary with an 87-48 victory on the first night of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion.

Rob Diederichs had 19 points, and Chris Banchero added 17 for SPU in its season opener.

The Falcons, who won their home opener for the seventh straight year, conclude the Sodexo tourney at 7 tonight against Cal State San Bernardino. The Coyotes fell to Western Washington earlier Friday, 73-67. Ira Graham scored 20 points to lead the Vikings (2-0).

Western will face Mary, from Bismarck, N.D., at 5 p.m. in the first game of today's doubleheader.

Women's basketball

Kelsey Burns hit the go-ahead field goal with 50 seconds left, helping Seattle Pacific to a 63-59, season-opening victory over UC San Diego in the opening game of the GNAC/CCAAC Classic in Bellingham.

Burns and Megan Hoisington each had 14 points for the Falcons.

UC San Diego never trailed in the opening half, leading 31-27 at halftime, and had a 45-37 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the game. But Seattle Pacific used a 13-3 run to take its first lead, 50-48, on a three-pointer by Daesha Henderson with 6:20 to go.

The score was tied three times after that before Burns hit a jumper from the left baseline to put the Falcons ahead to stay in the final minute.

• In the GNAC/CCAAC nightcap, Jessica Summers had team highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds, lifting Western Washington to a 75-68 win over Cal Poly Pomona. Amanda Dunbar and Gabby Wade each had 13 points for the Vikings, who are off to a 3-0 start.

• Central Washington (0-6) shot just 30.4 percent and committed 26 turnovers in falling 51-36 to San Francisco State in Ellensburg.

Other volleyball

Mandy Daniels had 34 digs for Eastern Washington (17-10, 12-4), which outlasted host Sacramento State 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 36-34 and claimed at least a share of the Big Sky regular-season title.

Swimming

Texas' No. 1-ranked men and No. 4-ranked women were too much for Washington, which fell 142-115 on the men's side and 153-109 on the women's end in Austin.

The Huskies men fell to 5-3, while the women's record stands at 5-5 in dual meets.

Genevieve Patterson picked up two individual wins for the UW women, placing first in the 100 breaststroke in 1 minute, 2.76 seconds and the 200 breast in a season-best 2:17.56.

The men were once again led by Scott Spansail, who won the 1,000 freestyle in a personal-best 9:10.86, and the 500 free in a season-best 4:29.14.

• Despite five event victories, including two by Alexis Morehouse, the Seattle University women lost to Idaho 165-100 in Moscow.

Morehouse swam season-best times in winning both the 100 breaststroke (1:05.80) and 200 breaststroke (2:23.01).

Notes

• Washington junior Nick Taylor has been named Pac-10 men's golf co-player of the month for November.

• Two athletes have signed letters of intent with Western Washington women's basketball: Kendall Williams (Buckley) and Corinn Waltrip (Tigard, Ore.).

• Two athletes have signed letters of intent with Western Washington softball: Rachelle Berry (Burlington-Edison) and Erika Hendron (Redmond).

Compiled from sports-information reports and other sources.