Jim Meehan

Sarah Conwell has had a busy year, emerging as the University of Idaho volleyball team’s go-to outside hitter, finishing up her degree and making plans for her upcoming marriage to former Vandals football player Eddie Williams. Conwell has put together a season that will likely end with All-WAC honors. She leads the Vandals with 424 kills and leads the conference with 15 double-doubles. To get there, she had to settle into a new role, which opened up with the graduation of Haley Larsen, UI’s all-time kills leader and a four-year All-WAC selection. Larsen took the majority of the swings, including many in pressure situations.

They are who Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few thought they would be. As might be expected with seven players making their GU debuts, the Bulldogs looked sharp at times and sloppy at others as they opened the regular season with a 92-74 victory over Mississippi Valley State in front of 6,000 fans Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Aubree (Johnson) Chesnut has always been able to balance academics and athletics – during a standout four-sport career at Post Falls High and a decorated four-year run on the Arizona State basketball team that ended with All-Pac-10 honors as a senior in 2007. Just when her playing days appeared to be over, books and quirky National Junior College Athletic Association rules have brought Chesnut back to the court. Not the basketball court, but the volleyball court, where the 24-year-old is a starting middle blocker for No. 1-ranked North Idaho College (27-5). The Cardinals will try to qualify for nationals this weekend at the Region 18 Tournament hosted by Salt Lake Community College.

Sometime after Eastern Washington University’s volleyball season ends, senior outside hitter Hayley Hills will formally take her place among the program’s all-time greats. On the wall of the team’s locker room are pictures of four former Eagles who have been Big Sky Conference most valuable players: Keva Sonderen, Janelle Ruen, Kim Exner and Juli Argotow. Hills won the award last year and, if EWU finishes well, she has a chance to repeat, as Exner did in 1997-98. Hills’ toughest competition might be teammates Chenoa Coviare and Ashley Hamilton.

The women’s hockey contest between Team USA and Canada tonight at the Arena is technically an exhibition game. Don’t be fooled. These teams are considered the best in the world. The word rivalry is sometimes overused in sports, but it’s fitting when the U.S. and Canada meet on ice.

When officials from the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame informed Roy Graffis he was one of four members of the 2009 class, Graffis was understandably elated. The longtime coach started calling family and friends to share the good news. And then it hit him. No, not the gravity of the award, but the possibility that somebody was pulling a prank.

Teams on losing streaks, even a modest one like the Spokane Chiefs’ two-game slide, sometimes try too hard to get back into the win column. Spokane was guilty of that for one shaky period Friday against Prince Albert. But the Chiefs sandwiched that sluggish period with two dominating ones and posted a 5-2 Western Hockey League victory over the Raiders in front of 4,856 at the Arena.

Whitworth football coach John Tully was wrapping up his comments during an interview about Brandon Martin when he perhaps inadvertently summarized the senior defensive tackle’s four years in the program. “He makes coaching fun,” Tully said. “He makes coaching fun.”

Spokane is one of 16 teams – more are likely to be added in the next two weeks – joining Arena Football 1, a new league that announced its formation Monday, but was short on specific details. The announcement came during a 28-minute teleconference call originating from Tulsa, where AF1 offices will be located, but it was plagued with phone problems and most of the question-and-answer session was from reporters asking if their respective cities – Green Bay, San Jose, Albany and Tampa, etc. – are under consideration.

Whitworth passed its final non-conference test. Ran it, too. The balanced attack resulted in a season-high 410 yards and the defense kept Chapman off the scoreboard until midway through the fourth quarter as the Pirates rolled to a 23-8 victory Saturday to the delight of a homecoming crowd of 2,150 at the Pine Bowl.

A month ago, the Spokane Shock won their second ArenaCup championship. A week ago, the Shock essentially confirmed they’ll be joining a new, tougher arena football league. And Wednesday the changes kept coming as Spokane cut ties with head coach Adam Shackleford, who guided the team to a 49-8 record in three years, and announced the hiring of former Shock standout Rob Keefe.

Adam Shackleford is out as head coach of the Spokane Shock and he will be replaced by former Shock standout Rob Keefe, The Spokesman-Review has learned.