Locally: Washington State’s Magda Jehlarova, Pia Timmer named to preseason All-Conference volleyball team
Washington State senior All-Americans Magda Jehlarova and Pia Timmer were named to the 2022 Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference volleyball team while the Cougars were picked to finish sixth in the coaches’ preseason poll after tying for fourth last season.
Jehlarova, a middle blocker from the Czech Republic and two-time AVCA All-American and three-time All-Pac-12 honoree, ranks fourth all-time at WSU in solo blocks (85) and fifth in total blocks (424). One of the premier middles in the nation , Jahlarova finished second in the nation last season in blocks (168) and fourth in blocks per set (1.45).
Timmer, an outside hitter from Germany, earned her first AVCA All-America selection in 2021 after leading the Cougars offensively with 3.79 kills set and 4.38 points per set en route to honorable mention recognition. Twice a first-team All-Pac-12 pick, she had 12 matches with 15 or more kills last season, including a career-high 31 against rival Washington.
Defending champion Washington was picked by the coaches as the Pac-12 preseason favorite.
• Central Washington sophomore libero Hannah Stiles (Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls) and junior outside hitter Ashley Kaufman (Lake City) were named to the 2022 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference Volleyball Team. Both were 2021 All-GNAC selections.
Basketball
Nate Colvill, an assistant women’s coach at the University of Montana for two seasons (2019-21) after three seasons as a men’s assistant at Division III Willamette University, has been hired as the new head women’s basketball coach at North Idaho College.
Originally from Long Beach, California, Colvill played four years at Montana (1992-96) and also has an extensive high school coaching background.
He replaces George Swanson, who left to take a men’s assistant coaching position at the University of Evansville shortly after being named the NIC women’s head coach in May.
Coaches
Gonzaga University made coaching staff hires in women’s basketball and volleyball last week.
Former program standout Haiden Palmer (2011-14) is returning to the women’s basketball team as video coordinator, head coach Lisa Fortier announced.
Palmer, a three-time All-West Coast Conference honoree at GU, has spent the last eight seasons playing professionally overseas after being a third-round selection of the Indiana Fever in the 2014 WNBA draft but was released after the preseason.
“She is a great role model and is going to make such a great impact on our players being able to share personal experiences … as an athlete and a professional,” Fortier said.
Drew Choules, a two-time Frontier Conference and AVCA NAIA Northwest Region assistant coach of the year (2019 and 2020) at the University of Providence in Montana, will be a volleyball assistant, head coach Katie Wilson announced.
The Southern Idaho native, a three-time Division II all-region honoree while playing at Colorado Mesa University, helped Providence become an NAIA power, making three consecutive appearances in the national championships. She was an assistant at Lewis-Clark State last season.
“During our assistant coach search, we aimed to hire the most qualified coach who was committed to helping our players grow as students, as athletes and as people,” Nelson said. “We found that person in Drew. She has great knowledge as a coach while always striving to learn more.”
College scene
Gonzaga senior forward Erin Healy, first-team All-West Coast Conference and second-team All-West Region as a junior, was named Preseason All-WCC by the conference women’s soccer coaches, who picked the Bulldogs to finish fourth after winning a program-record 15 matches last season. National runner-up BYU was picked to win the league.
Healy was eighth in the WCC last season with eight goals and 10th with 17 points.
• The GU women’s Nov. 2 WCC soccer match at preseason No. 5-ranked Santa Clara will be televised on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m., the Bulldogs announced.
• For a fourth straight year, Gonzaga senior forward Demitrius Kigeya was named to the men’s soccer Preseason All-WCC team and the Zags were picked by the coaches to finish last. Kigeya had a team-high 13 points (5G/3A) last season.
Portland, which made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, edged defending champion and nationally 22nd-ranked Santa Clara in the coaches vote to win its first conference title since 2016.
• Idaho is picked to finish fifth and Eastern Washington seventh in the Big Sky Conference women’s soccer coaches’ preseason poll. Northern Colorado edged defending champion Montana and Weber State for the favorite’s role.
• The Whitworth softball team’s 3.627 GPA for the 2021-22 academic year ranked 25th out of nearly 400 teams in NCAA Division III, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced. NFCA named 16 Pirates Easton Scholar-Athletics with GPAs of 3.50 or better.
Pirates honored: Seniors: Mattea Nelson (Northwest Christian/Community Colleges of Spokane), Ashley Bartels, Nashoni Boyd, Rylee Gentner, Heather Menzer, Maddy Thomas, Delayna Waite. Sophomores: Haley Montoya, Jessica Rusconi, Corinne Vasiloff. Freshmen: Grace Bestebreur, Annie Brose (Mead), Taylor Hoffheins, Kelly Hruza, Jenna Radke, Shayla Shea.
• Idaho junior golfer Jose Suryadinata missed the cut by two strokes in the Asian Tour’s 2022 Mandiri Indonesia Open professional tournament Aug. 4-7 in Kebayoran Lama. Granted an exemption to play as an amateur in his home country, Suryadinata was in the top 75 after shooting 1-under-par 71 in the first round, but went 3-over 75 in the second for 2 over at 146.
Golf
A team led by PGA professional Russell Grove, the North Idaho College coach, with amateur partners Karl Browne, Andrea Browne, Lisa Ziccarelli and Mike Ziccarelli, won the 36-hole Muckleshoot Casino Washington Open Pro-Am at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Washington, Sunday with a score of 167.4.
Grove, former Ritzville resident Ryne Benzel (Sahalee Country Club) and Shane Prante (The Home Course), shared pro honors with 3-under-par 69s.
It’s a prelude to the 54-hole Muckleshoot Casino Washington Open Invitational this week.
Hockey
Spokane Chiefs’ defenseman Saige Weinstein helped his native Canada capture the Hlinka Gretzky Cup with a 4-1 victory over Sweden in the gold medal game of the international tournament Aug. 6 in Red Deer, Alberta.
The 17-year-old from Edmonton, Alberta, had one assist and four minutes in penalties as the Canadians went 5-0 and outscored their opponents 34-3.
The United States defeated Slovakia 4-2 in the fifth-place game and had an overall 3-2 record.
Letters of intent
Montana Western women’s basketball: Transfers: Payton Hagy, G, North Idaho College, will be a sophomore; Maggie Graves, F, NIC, will be a junior.
Walla Walla CC baseball: Jerad Taylor, C/3B, Post Falls.
Softball
The Spokane-based Brunette/Spikes 70s AA team was crowned champion of the 70/75+ Gold Division at the Senior Softball USA Western National Championships July 26-28 in Sacramento, California, and earned a spot in the national championship game Sept. 19-20 in Las Vegas. Winner of the national championship will be seeded into the World Championships that same week in Las Vegas.
Because of illness, injuries and prior commitments, Brunette/Spikes played in Sacramento with a skeleton crew of 10 players, said coach Mark Reilly, noting that 9 of the 10 were on the 2018 65 AA team that won the World Championship.
The players: Reilly, Tom Adams, Steve Bergstrom, Roger DeShaw, Jim Hardenbrook, Grant Hodge, Mike Owen, Dwayne Phinney, Cam Preston and Wayne Terry.