University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball coach Travis Filar announced Tuesday the signings of four high school seniors, spanning the country, for his 2012 team: outside hitters Julimar Alvarado-Concepcion of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Briana Reid of Houston and middle blockers Sarah Batterton of Colbert, Wash., and Lauren Gainer of Boca Raton, Fla. "This is a big day for the future of Chattanooga volleyball," Pilar said in a UTC release. "Each of these young ladies is excited to be a part of the foundation of establishing Chattanooga volleyball as a championship program in the Southern Conference." All are honor students. Alvarado-Concepcion, from University School at Nova Southeastern after twice earning national all-star status in her native Puerto Rico, and Batterton from Northwest Christian each is 6-foot-2, and Gainer from Boca Raton High is 6-foot even. Reid, a two-time second-team Texas all-stater from St. Pius High, is 5-9. Batterton was captain of a high school team that went 61-19 in four seasons and was a state runner-up in 2009. "Sarah's number one strength is blocking," Filar said. Alvarado-Concepcion "has an awesome understanding of the game," he said, and Gainer "is a super dynamic middle [with] a great presence as a blocker. ... [Reid's] athleticism enables her to run any set ... and her dynamic arm will allow her to be a point producer for us."
Golf
* Soddy-Daisy High School's Jessica Cathey already had been reported as a commitment for the Austin Peay women's golf program, but Lady Govs coach Sara Robson announced her as the program's lone November signee Tuesday. "Jessica is a talented golfer that has had a great junior career," Robson said in the APSU release. "It has been great to watch her grow up and her game continue to improve. She is very excited about becoming a Lady Gov, and our team is excited to have her join our program. Jessica shares the same passion for golf as our girls do." Cathey helped the Lady Trojans win Class AAA state titles in 2009 and 2010.
Soccer
* Senior Faith Spencer, junior Bess Goodman and sophomore Ellie Quinn from Sewanee made the All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer first team for 2011, and senior teammate Lilly Barnett was a second-team selection. Goodman and Spencer shared the team high with five goals this season, Spencer with three assists and Goodman with two, and Quinn was a defender who had two goals and an assist. Barnett had two assists and one goal.
* King College senior Morgan Shelton from Ooltewah added to her 2011 accolades by being named to the Daktronics NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region women's soccer team. She had team highs of 14 goals and five assists in 15 games in her final college season.
* The East Ridge Express under-17 boys won the Division 2 state soccer championship this past weekend in Murfreesboro. The Express, who won the Atlanta Cup earlier in the season, allowed no goals in three games in the state event, capped by a 2-0 win over the Nashville Galaxy in Sunday's final, when Chase Holland and Nathan Bates scored. Other team members were Josh Arnold, Josh Brubaker, Baggio Card, Casey Daniel, Kenny Diaz, Blake Epperson, Dalton Fuller, Alan Lopez, Logan Lundeen, Ikenna Okoronkino, Daniel Palacios, Christian Perez, Dylan Queen, Jared Rhoden, Collin Sweatman and Garrett Williams. Mark Holland is the head coach, assisted by Mike Beekman.
Football
* Carson-Newman College junior center Kevin Day from Soddy-Daisy made the All-South Atlantic Conference football second team for 2011.
General
* The Georgia High School Association did not, as was expected, place member schools in regions during Tuesday morning's meeting of the Reclassification Committee. At question is the definition of what constitutes a Level 3 or 4 student (special needs students). A measure was approved earlier this year that allowed schools to not count those students toward their full enrollment, but the GHSA is concerned some schools are exploiting the ruling. "It became more and more apparent that the complexities of the categories were greater than what had been discussed when the matter was approved by the full executive committee in August," a GHSA statement read. The association will vote on whether to rescind the measure Monday and, regardless of the outcome of the vote, complete the process of assigning schools to regions.