Setter Kim Maxwell-Dempsey and two of the highly-successful Eastern Washington University volleyball teams she played for will be welcomed into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 22nd as part of the 18th class of inductees.
 
Formerly from Calgary, Alberta, Maxwell-Dempsey played for the Eagles from 1996-99 and capped her career by being honored as a first team All-Big Sky Conference selection and as a two-time member of the Academic All-District VIII team. She was EWU's recipient of the Big Sky Scholar-Athlete Award after finishing her career with 3,475 assists to rank in the top 15 in league history.
 
Maxwell helped Eastern to a 72-20 record overall and 38-10 Big Sky Conference record, including a co-Big Sky title in 1997 and NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998 and 1999.
 
The 1998 team finished 24-6 and was led by the record-breaking exploits of two-time Big Sky Player of the Year Kim Exner, EWU was an impressive 10-1 in non-conference play and 13-3 in the Big Sky Conference standings to finish second. The Eagles lost in the Big Sky title match, but still advanced to the NCAA Tournament where the Eagles fell 3-1 to Notre Dame. The Eagles started a streak of 29-straight home victories that season which didn't come to an end until the 2001 season.
 
In 1999, a hot stretch of 16 victories in a 17-match span and two wins after the conference tournament helped Eastern secure a second-straight at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles were 12-4 in the Big Sky Conference season, and finished the year 24-8 after it was swept by UCLA in the NCAA tourney.
 
Previously, Exner was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 along with the team's head coach Pamela Parks. In 2014, multi-sport standout Janelle Ruen was inducted after starting her EWU volleyball career with the 1999 squad.
 
Parks concluded her Eastern career as head coach in 1999, finishing with a 291-256 record in 18 seasons. Inducted Oct. 17, 2017, into the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame, Parks will retire as an administrator in the EWU athletic department at the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year. She graduated from Eastern in 1974, and coupled with her time as a volleyball player for the school, the 2017-18 school year is her 40th on the campus in Cheney, Wash.
 
Previously, men's basketball player Alvin Snow was announced as a member of this year's class of inductees. More individual honorees will be announced later this winter and spring. The induction breakfast and ceremony is expected to start at approximately 8 a.m. on Sept. 22 at Reese Court in Cheney, and the public is invited to attend at a cost of $20 per person. Guests must register via a link that will be available later in July at http://goeags.com/HOF. Inductees will also be honored at halftime of EWU's football game against Cal Poly later that day (kickoff is TBA).
 
Established in 1996, the Hall of Fame currently consists of 83 individuals and 15 teams. In addition, there have also been 19 individuals and one organization honored as recipients of the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame Service and Contribution Award. All of the inductees and induction classes may be viewed at: http://goeags.com/HOF.
 
 

Kim Maxwell-Dempsey (Athlete/Volleyball)

Outstanding as a leader on and off the court, Kim Maxwell was an All-Big Sky Conference selection in 1998 (second team) and 1999 (first team) while playing for the Eagles from 1996-1999. She was also a two-time selection on the CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII Team, earning first team honors in 1998 and second team accolades in 1999. In addition, the setter was a Big Sky Conference All-Academic selection all four years she played for the Eagles and was EWU's female recipient of the Big Sky Conference Scholar-Athlete Award in the 1999-2000 school year. Maxwell earned a total of five all-tournament awards in her career, including MVP of the Fresno State Tournament her senior season. She helped lead Eastern to a 72-20 record in her final three seasons, including a 38-10 Big Sky Conference record. Eastern won a co-Big Sky title in 1997 (22-6/13-3) and made NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998 (24-6/13-3) and 1999 (24-8/12-4). In all, Maxwell played in 99 matches and 329 total games, and was the team MVP as a senior. She was the first player in Eastern history and 13th in the Big Sky to reach 3,000 career assists, finishing her career with a school record 3,745 assists (11.38 per game) and also having 578 digs (1.76 per game). She set the school single season record in assists with 1,381 in 1999, and had a single match assist record with 90 versus Sacramento State on Sept. 30, 1999, in a thrilling five-game win over the Hornets during EWU's season-best 10-match winning streak. Her career, season and match records for assists still stand (entering 2018 season), as well as her average of 12.64 assists per game in 1998. Her 1,340 assists in 1998 are currently third and her 12.01 average in 1999 rank second. In all, she had a school-record 45 matches with at least 40 assists, including 17 in 1998 and 16 in 1999. She had double-doubles in assists and digs on 20 occasions. She also finished her career with 260 kills and a .244 hitting percentage, with 81 ace serves and 186 total blocks. She was a member of Team Canada in 2001, and in summer of 1997 she played for Team Alberta in the Canada Games and spent a week in Japan with her provincial team. She married former Eastern cross country/track and field competitor Greg Dempsey, and they now reside in Spokane with their family. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, she graduated in 1996 from William Aberhart High School. She was the MVP of the Alberta Provincial Volleyball Club Championships while playing club volleyball in Calgary. Her mother, Theresa Maxwell, was a former member of the Canadian National Team and one of the original inductees into the University of Calgary Hall of Fame in 1995. Together, Kim and Theresa are the only mother-daughter combo to play for Team Canada.

 

1998 Volleyball (24-6; Coach Pamela Parks)

Eastern earned the first of two-straight at-large berths into the NCAA Tournament and finished the season 24-6. Led by the record-breaking exploits of two-time Big Sky Player of the Year Kim Exner, EWU was an impressive 10-1 in non-conference play and 13-3 in the Big Sky Conference standings to finish second. The Eagles then swept Montana State in the opening round of the league tournament. Eastern fell 3-1 to Sac State in the title match, but still advanced to the NCAA Tournament where the Eagles lost 3-1 to Notre Dame. The Eagles started a streak of 29-straight home victories that ended during the 2001 season. The 1998 season was also the second of 10-straight seasons (1997-2006) in which EWU ranked in the top 30 in attendance.
 
Kim Exner capped her incredible Eastern career with her second-straight Big Sky Player of the Year honor, and was on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-District team. Earlier in the year, Exner was the MVP of the Portland Mikasa Pilot Preview and the University of Washington Invitational, and was on the Indiana Invitational All-Tournament team. On Sept. 14 of that year, she earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors after EWU beat Washington and Georgia by identical 3-1 scores to capture the UW Invitational championship. Exner was EWU's lone first team All-Big Sky selection, with Kim Maxwell earning second team honors and Lacey Coover and Whitney Lewis earning honorable mention. In addition, Exner was joined by Jessica Clish on the Big Sky All-Tournament team. Maxwell was honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as a first team Academic All-District VIII selection, and Exner earned second team accolades. Coover, Exner, Lewis and Maxwell were among the 11 Eagles selected to the Big Sky All-Academic team, joining Stephanie Dahlstedt, Jennifer Gabel, Angie Hall, Tarah Pond, Lea Ruhl, Andrea Schell and Toni Schwinn. As a team, Eastern earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award.
 
Hitting .373 on the season with a school-record total of 561 kills, Exner averaged 5.29 kills (also a school record), 2.47 digs and 1.21 blocks per set in dominating the league during her senior year. She had at least 21 kills in four league sweeps, equaling her own school record (in a three-set match) with 24 against Montana State on Oct. 16, 1998. Coover averaged 3.01 kills and a team-leading 4.08 digs, while Maxwell averaged a school-record 12.64 assists. Schwinn had a team-high 44 service aces and Lewis chipped in 1.09 blocks per set.
 
Previously, Exner was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 along with the team's head coach Pamela Parks. Maxwell.will join them as an individual inductee in 2018.
 
 
 

1999 Volleyball (24-8; Coach Pamela Parks)

A hot stretch of 16 victories in a 17-match span and two victories after the conference tournament helped Eastern secure a second-straight at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles started the season 2-3, but then had winning streaks of six and 10 victories in a row – including a collective total of 11 sweeps – to help finish 12-4 in the Big Sky Conference season. One of the team's league losses came on Sept. 30, 1999, when the Eagles had school records of 103 kills and 182 digs in a five-set victory over Sacramento State in front of 1,273 fans at Reese Court. But Eastern went on to fall to fourth-seeded Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Tournament semifinals, thus making sweeps over Boise State and Idaho much more important in helping EWU clinch a NCAA berth. Eastern finished the season 24-8 after it was swept by UCLA in the NCAA tourney. As part of the celebration for the 25th anniversary of the Big Sky Conference for women in the 2013-14 school year, the inclusion of three league teams in the NCAA Tournament in 1999 was selected as No. 12 on the list of the league's 25 Greatest Women's Moments.
 
The 1999 season marked the end of the illustrious career of head coach Pamela Parks, who won 291 matches in 18 seasons at the helm. Setter Kim Maxwell earned first team All-Big Sky Conference honors, with Angie Hall honored on the second team and Lacey Coover receiving honorable mention. Maxwell was also honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as a second team Academic All-District VIII selection. He was named to a trio of all-tournament teams, highlighted by MVP honors at the Fresno State Tournament. Nine Eagles were selected to the Big Sky All-Academic team, including Coover, Hall, Maxwell, Jennifer Dick, Jennifer Gabel, Whitney Lewis, Tarah Pond, Janelle Ruen and Lea Ruhl.  As a team, Eastern earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award.
 
Eastern set a school record with 2,150 digs in the 1999 season, led by Coover's total of 529 and 4.6 digs per set. She also averaged 2.92 kills per set, with Hall averaging a team-high 2.98 kills per set, in addition to 2.96 digs. They recorded the top two digs performances in school history when Coover had 41 at Montana and Hall had 39 in the epic home win over Sacramento State. Maxwell averaged 12.01 assists per set, and set school records with 1,381 on the season and 90 in the victory over Sac State.
 
Previously, head coach Parks was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, and Ruen was inducted in 2014. Maxwell will join them as an individual inductee in 2018.