NIC volleyball returns home tonight

COEUR d'ALENE - The North Idaho Cardinal volleyball team, ranked 16th in this week's NJCAA poll, return to Scenic West Athletic Conference play tonight to face Colorado Northwestern at 7 p.m. at Christianson Gym.

NIC (10-8, 3-2 SWAC) beat Colorado Northwestern in straight sets on the opening weekend of league play Sept. 27-28 in Rangely, Colo, 25-14, 25-10, 25-13.

Colorado Northwestern (3-22, 0-5) lost in straight sets at the Community Colleges of Spokane on Tuesday night in a nonconference match.

"I think we need to eliminate the unforced errors," NIC coach Miles Kydd said. "We were fortunate to get the win against Snow. Salt Lake and CSI were carbon copies of finding a way to shoot ourselves in the foot. Our serving and attack are our bugaboos right now. We should have a good weekend, but they're playing for a reason now too."

Whitworth adds Payne

to men's hoops staff

SPOKANE - Whitworth men's basketball coach Matt Logie has made another addition to his coaching staff on the eve of the Pirates' first practice of the 2013-14 season, adding former Pirate Zach Payne as the fifth member of the staff.

He was a key player off the bench for the Pirates as Whitworth went 6-4 and advanced to the Sweet 16 each of his two years.

Payne played in all 30 off the Pirates' games last season, averaging nearly 16 minutes, five points and three rebounds a game.