LIBERTY LAKE - Yang Yang had 11 kills and eight blocks as the North Idaho Cardinals, ranked 12th in the NJCAA preseason volleyball poll, beat Eastern Oregon of the NAIA 14-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 to conclude play 3-0 at the season-opening Spokane Crossover at the HUB Sports Center on Saturday.

"We had a slow start, but a strong finish," NIC coach Kandice Gregorak said. "We learned a lot about ourselves and areas we need to improve on."

Rosie Robinson had 14 digs, Brooklyn Bradbury 20 assists and HayleeMae Dennis had four aces for NIC, which travels to the Salt Lake Community College tournament Friday and Saturday.

"Our block got better this weekend and defensively we had some great digs, but still needs to get better," Gregorak said. "Serve-receive was a little up and down, but overall we played great. But we have to stay hungry and continue to improve every day."