As Covenant hosts the USA South volleyball tournament today and Saturday, the top-seeded Lady Scots have three first-team all-conference players and the coach of the year, Joanna Ehman. In her third season directing the Lookout Mountain team, the Lady Scots were 13-3 in league play during the regular season and won the South Division. They secured the host role and top seed by having edged North Division champ Averett. Sophomores Ginny Moore and Schuyler Moore and senior Chelsea VanDyk are Covenant's first-team honorees, and Jaclyn Stuart is the all-sportsmanship representative. VanDyk is first-team all-conference for the fourth year in a row. She leads the USA South in hitting percentage and has surpassed 1,300 career kills. Ginny Moore, a second-team choice in 2014, is second in the league with 3.89 kills per set and also has averaged 3.98 digs in recording 19 double-doubles this season; she had 28 kills in the 3-2 win over Averett. Schuyler Moore had 57 assists in one match and has 961 for the year. Covenant plays tonight at 7, and Maryville is in the opening match at 1. General admission costs $6, or $3 for students and senior citizens. A canned food item will reduce that by a dollar.
* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior volleyball player Sarah Batterton was named to the Capital One Academic All-District III team for her sport Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America, along with UTC junior running back Derrick Craine for football. Honorees have to be significant contributors to their teams and have cumulative grade point averages of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. Batterton, a nursing major, has a 3.88 GPA. Craine's is 3.61; he's majoring in health and human performance.
While his Mocs play Saturday at Mercer, Batterton's team will host The Citadel for senior night this evening and Furman on Saturday, both at 6.
* The Lee University volleyball team's match tonight at 7 during homecoming weekend is its annual Volley For a Cure event as well as senior night. The Lady Flames will host West Georgia in Walker Arena as a fundraiser for the MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Foundation. As usual, a scholarship for someone in a family affected by breast cancer will be awarded between sets two and three. The Lee team hosted a luncheon Thursday for breast cancer survivors and their friends, and Sonya Jones, runner-up on NBC's "Biggest Loser," was the guest speaker. A silent auction and special T-shirt sales tonight will be part of an attempt to raise $25,000. "We want everyone to wear pink," Lee coach Andrea Hudson said in a school release. "Let's paint the town pink."
Basketball
* The Lee University men's basketball team beat visiting Bryan College 82-70 in an exhibition game Thursday night and will host Martin Methodist in another exhibition Saturday at 2:30, after the Lady Flames host Maryville at noon. Keevin Tyus scored 15 points and Kenny Nabors and Rantavious Gilbert scored 12 and 10 for Lee, which got seven rebounds from Tyus and four assists with nine points from C.J. Reese. Bryan's Brandon Cole led everyone with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Oteriah Lee had 16 points while Jeff Long added 11.