Parks Shuffles Lineup; Ewu Responds

Eastern Washington volleyball coach Pam Parks has been shuffling her lineup like a Las Vegas card dealer.

With a record of 1-8 in the Big Sky, 6-16 overall, Parks is trying to find the right combination on the court to produce wins in the Eagles’ last six games.

Parks may have dealt a favorable hand to her squad in recent weeks.

Eastern has won three of its last four contests. The Eagles earned wins over Whitworth, Gonzaga and Boise State, losing to Idaho State.

And while Gonzaga is 3-21 and Whitworth is 4-20, Idaho State (5-4, 14-7) and Boise State (4-5, 13-8) are battling for top spots in the conference.

EWU’s most impressive win this season came against the Broncos on Friday, a 15-13, 13-15, 15-13, 15-9 win. It was Eastern’s first win on the road that didn’t include beating an opponent on a neutral site.

While Parks has made numerous position changes for EWU in the last three games, perhaps the most significant has been replacing Jaime Dotson as the starting setter with true freshman Toni Schwinn.

“It’s just like a quarterback change at that position,” Parks said. “It’s hard to do.”

But Schwinn’s performance made it hard to keep her out of the lineup.

In the last three games, Schwinn, from Toutle Lake High School, is averaging 14.36 assists per game. That’s nearly one assist more than Big Sky season-leader Lynne Hyland (13.56) of Idaho. Dotson, a junior, is averaging 8.65 assists.

“Toni has played volleyball since the age of 10,” Parks said. “She has a lot of savvy even though she’s a freshman.”

Schwinn emergence hasn’t relegated Dotson to the end of Parks’ bench, however.

“Jaime is too athletic to keep out of the lineup,” Parks said. “She’s a jumper and a blocker and you need that in a lineup. We’re just rying to figure out the best way to utilize both of them.”

Also serving as a catalyst for the Eagles is another position change, one that put 6-foot-2 Kim Exner to the middle of the net next to 6-0 Kellie Glaus. Exner had been primarily an outside hitter.

Lynn Robison has returned to action after battling a sprained ankle, and she is now on the left side of the court with Angela Fredrick. Also, 6-2 Leslie Derrig has been moved to the right side, giving Eastern more size up front.

The size will come in handy as the Eagles host Idaho on Friday night at Reese Court before heading to Seattle to face Washington on Saturday.

Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

Whitworth getting some Ws

The Pirates can be taken off the critical list. Sort of.

After a 1-14 start, they have gone 3-6 in their last eight contests.

At 1-9 NCIC, 4-20 overall, the Pirates are tied for last place in the conference with Whitman, who they defeated last week, 15-6, 11-15, 12-15, 15-9, 15-12.

“It’s great to get that monkey off the back (the first conference win of the season),” first-year coach Hiram Naipo said.

“I’m proud of this team. Not only are we very young, but with the coaching change (he replaced former coach Steve Gillis), of the 10 players that were eligible to return to the squad for this season, only five decided to come back, and only one was a starter.

“It would be very easy for them to get down and stop competing, but that hasn’t been the case,” Naipo added.

This year has been a big adjustment for Naipo as well. This is his first collegiate coaching job. He coached club volleyball at the University of Washington in the mid-70s and hadn’t coached since.

“I’m seeing this all from a different perspective than probably most coaches,” he said. “I’m really impressed with my players - not just on the court, but in their classwork as well. The majority of these young ladies are sacrificing a lot of time into their studies and volleyball.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Eastern’s McCall dials up win over Whitworth Senior Stephanie McCall’s 10 kills on Wednesday led Eastern Washington to a 15-6, 15-2, 15-0 non-conference volleyball win over visiting Whitworth at Cheney. Jaime Dotson added 18 assists and six digs, Lynn Robison nine digs and freshman Kim Exner had six kills in six attempts for the Eagles (6-16). Kim Steinbruecker led Whitworth (4-20) with two kills, one ace, four digs, four assists and two blocks. EWU (1-8 in the Big Sky Conference) returns to conference play Friday with a home match against first-place Idaho. The Eagles travel to the University of Washington the following night. Stephanie Short’s 11 kills helped the Community Colleges of Spokane to a 15-2, 15-10, 15-7 win over Big Bend CC at Spokane Falls. Sheryl Hovde added 23 assists for the Sasquatch, who improved to 7-1 and remained tied for first place with Columbia Basin in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges. Lori Peters and Katie Axtman of CCS had seven digs apiece. Naamah Matthew had seven kills and Jackie Wallace 16 assists for the Vikings (1-7), who rallied from a 14-0 second-game deficit.

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