University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Keionta Davis from Red Bank High School was named the top defensive lineman in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision for 2016 by HeroSports.com, according to a UTC release Friday. The Southern Conference defensive player of the year and two-time All-American led the SoCon in sacks this season with 10.5, and he had 44 total tackles, seven pass break-ups, seven quarterback hurries and three forced fumbles for a defense that allowed just 294 yards of total offense and 19.6 points per game. "Davis has spent the last four seasons making plays for the Mocs defense on Saturdays, and soon we'll see him doing the same for a lucky NFL team on Sundays," the website said. Davis has accepted an invitation to play in the Reese's Senior Bowl on Jan. 28 in Mobile, Ala.
Boxing
- Chattanooga's Roger "Hitman" Hilley made his professional boxing debut a memorable one Thursday night with a first-round knockout of Ronnie Watson from Wilson, N.C., in their 130-pound bout at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Hilley, 22, won with a right hook to Watson's chin.
Volleyball
- In recent honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, Tennessee Wesleyan's Sundara Chinn was voted freshman of the year and Bryan College's Natalie Jones was the assistant coach of the year in the NAIA Northeast Region. Chinn and the Milligan College duo of Marissa Langford and Kellee Geren from Cleveland High School were among seven Appalachian Athletic Conference players on the All-Northeast Region first team, and Bryan setter Shelby Enochs was one of four AAC players receiving all-region honorable mention. Jones, a former Montana Grizzlies standout, guided the Bryan junior varsity to a 10-2 record in 2016 and helped first-year head coach Jessica Day direct the varsity Lady Lions to a 13-9 AAC record and fourth-place finish.
- Bryan senior defensive specialist Rachel Lyons, Dalton State's Anna Metzler and Grace Hardin and Milligan's Langford from Cleveland have been announced as 2016 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes for volleyball. The honorees must be at least juniors in academic status and have cumulative grade point averages of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.
Soccer
- Six Bryan players were honored as 2016 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes for women's soccer: junior goalkeeper Morgana Hardt da Silva, senior forward and top scorer Hana Mizoguchi, senior midfielder Kimberly Warden and defenders Hannah Bohner, Kalina Hyde and Christine Kent. Bohner and Hyde are seniors and Kent is a graduate student.
General
- Tennessee Wesleyan is in second place behind Union College in the AAC's Duard Walker All-Sports Trophy standings after the fall competiton, and Bryan is fourth. Union has 255 points with its men's soccer and volleyball teams sweeping their AAC regular-season and tournament championships, and Wesleyan is at 230, well ahead of the 160 for third-place Milligan. Bryan has 145 points, and Reinhardt is fifth with 100. TWU also is second to Union in both the women's and men's separate standings, and Bryan is third in the men's list with 80 points to Union's 100 and TWU's 90. In other AAC news, the league has approved Brenau University in Gainesville, Ga., as its 14th full-time member, effective in the 2017-18 school year. Brenau, now in the Southern States Athletic Conference with Dalton State, joins Columbia (S.C.) as AAC members with women-only athletic programs.