Sports Briefs

CHS grad Pease leads Clark volleyball

Kinsey Pease a 2014 Cheney High School graduate and a sophomore setter for the Clark College in Vancouver Wash. volleyball team, helped the squad to a second place finish out of the 16 team field in the NWAC Championships in Tacoma, Nov. 19 -22.

Over the four day tournament the Penguins battled through seven matches (coming through the losers bracket) to get to the championship match against the 3 time defending champs, Blue Mountain College from Pendleton Ore. Billed as a David and Goliath matchup against the No. 1 seeded Timberwolves.

The upstart and un-seeded Penguins shocked the Wolves with a first set win. However the size and fresh legs proved Clark’s undoing as they lost the next three.

Pease was also named to the South Region All-Star team.

——

Jois among nominees for CHAMPS ‘Good Works’ team

Because of his team’s involvement with the C.H.A.M.P.S (College Headed and Making Progress) program at Whitman Elementary School in Spokane, senior Venky Jois from the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team is one of 154 nominees nationally for the NABC/Allstate Good Works Team.

The 10-player squad will be announced in February, and the distinguished award shines a spotlight on a select group of student-athletes who have shown dedication to community service and altruism in their communities.

Eastern student-athletes spend part of their time at Whitman with the entire student body, but a majority of their time is spent one-on-one with a fifth-grade student. The unique program follows each Whitman student for eight years through middle school and high school. Once a EWU student-athlete graduates, an incoming player will begin mentoring their student.

Jois, an Academic All-America candidate with a 3.51 grade point average as a pre-med student at EWU, has also been a part of several other team community projects.