Sunday locally: Paige Montgomery, Jonni Dorr lead way for Carroll College
Paige Montgomery and Jonni Dorr, Carroll College seniors from Mead, swept Frontier Conference volleyball player of the week awards after leading the Saints to 3-0 sweeps of Montana State-Northern and Great Falls in which Carroll never trailed.
Montgomery, a 6-foot middle, was the Hitter of the Week after collecting 25 kills in the two matches with a .419 hitting percentage.
Dorr, 5-9, was the conference Setter of the Week. She registered 63 assists, “running the attack to near perfection,” as the Carroll release put it, and augmented that with five service aces as the NAIA No. 19 Saints improved to 3-1 in Frontier play and 14-4 overall.
Basketball
Nneka Enemkpali, a University of Texas alum whose collegiate and pro playing careers were curtailed by injuries, has joined the Gonzaga women’s staff as video coordinator, Bulldogs coach Lisa Fortier announced.
Enemkpali was leading the Big 12 in rebounds, (10.6 per game) and double-doubles (nine) when a knee injury cut short her 2014-15 senior season at Texas. She finished her career ninth all time in rebounds (899) and 30th in points (1,116).
She was drafted by the Seattle Storm in the third round (26th overall) of the 2015 WNBA Draft but sat out the season while recovering from the knee injury. Seattle signed Enemkpali to its 2016 training camp roster, but waived her prior to the start of the regular season. Not long after, the Minnesota Lynx signed her to a seven-day contract.
Jaidyn Lyman, a 5-foot-3 senior point guard at Mt. Spokane, is the third area high school athlete to sign with the Carroll College women’s program’s 2017 recruiting class.
As a junior, Lyman averaged 10.5 points and five assists per game while helping lead the Wildcats to the school’s first State 3A tournament appearance, collecting second-team All-Greater Spokane League honors.
College scene
The Whitworth women’s soccer and volleyball teams both doubled up on Northwest Conference student-athlete of the week awards for the week ending Sept. 25. It was the first weekly honor for each.
In soccer, junior forward Leah Corra received offensive honors after scoring twice, once each in wins over Whitman and Willamette. Sienna Tanner, the Pirates’ junior goalkeeper from Lewis and Clark, collected the defensive award. She turned aside 15 of 16 shots and notched her first shutout.
In volleyball, freshman outside hitter Emiko Kahler earned the offensive award after registering 40 kills in three matches, including a career high 18 against NAIA No. 25 Lewis-Clark State, and added nearly three digs per set (2.90). Junior libero Taylor Wicht, who switched from outside hitter this season, was the NWC defensive honoree after collecting 40 digs and six service aces over the three matches.
Community Colleges of Spokane earned weekly Northwest Athletic Conference awards in volleyball and men’s soccer.
Jessica Schmautz, a 5-foot-7 outside hitter from Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), was the NWAC and East Region Offensive Player of the Week after a week that included 26 kills and 17 digs in a four-set win at Blue Mountain. She was joined on the East list by Sasquatch teammates Sam Alumbres, a 5-10 sophomore, and Kendall Collins, a 5-10 freshman from University, who shared the setter award.
Breno Rocha, a CCS sophomore forward, was the NWAC Men’s Soccer Player of the Week after scoring all three Sasquatch goals in a 2-0 shutout of North Idaho College and 1-0 win over Treasure Valley.
Ryan Melnychuk, a Concordia senior transfer from Idaho, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week. He was the top GNAC finisher at the Saint Martin’s Invitational, tying for third with a 36-hole score of par 142.