Chattanooga native Ryan "Blue Chip" Martin began his 2015 professional boxing schedule with another win Saturday night in Hidalgo, Texas. Martin, a lightweight who turns 22 this month, is 11-0 as a pro after winning by unanimous decision (59-54, 58-55, 58-55) over Carlos Valenzuela of Mexico in the six-round fight. His handlers wanted a victory, of course, but they also wanted him to get some rounds in instead of a quick knockout, and he did just that.
Tennis
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team beat reigning NCAA Division III champion Emory 7-0 in a match played Saturday night in front of more than 100 spectators at McCallie School. The UTC men fell 5-2 to Tennessee Tech on Sunday at the Racquet Club after losing 4-3 to Jacksonville State on Saturday. Kayla Jones, Samantha Caswell, Kaylene Chadwell and Kelsey Coots won in doubles and singles for the UTC women (4-0), who play Saturday at Lipscomb. Lucas Plesky and Gina Devalle picked up singles win, and Pavels Grigorjevs and Derrick Brown won doubles match in the loss.
Basketball
The Sewanee basketball teams split a Southern Athletic Association home doubleheader Sunday afternoon against Rhodes. The Sewanee men won 64-61 to take over first place in the SAA standings, and the Tigers women lost 49-46. Former McCallie standout Jorden Williams scored 17 points to lead the Sewanee men's rally from a seven-point halftime deficit for the win, and Keshonn Carter scred 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Brothers and Baylor School graduates Leo and Clay Born each scored five points for the Tigers. In the women's game Sewanee's Jamie Chauvin led all scorers with 13 points, Kayla Sewell got 12 rebounds and Savannah Rose and Casey Hasset each scored 10. But Rhodes made key shots down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Jeneh Perry from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School had 12 points and seven rebounds in each of Loyola Maryland's last two women's basketball games, both Patriot League losses. On Jan. 29 at Holy Cross she had 15 rebounds in the Loyola program's 500th victory.
Baseball
The Lee University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of visiting LeMoyne-Owen with an 8-4 victory Sunday at Olympic Field in Cleveland. Lee scored a single run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Wierzgac to score Andres Nelo and added two runs in the third and fifth innings on two-run doubles by Luke Toms and Cameron Scott. The Flames (6-0) put the game out of reach with three unearned runs on a pair of fielding errors by LeMoyne-Owen. Nello finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored, and Trenton Hill and MJ Brown each had two hits. Chevis Hoover started and pitched four scoreless innings with five strikeouts, but Ridge Ackerman was the winning pitcher with two innings of one-hit relief work.
Tennessee Wesleyan lost the rubber game of its weekend baseball series against Campbellsville on Sunday, 10-9, as Campbellsville built a 10-4 lead over the first five innings and held on for the win. TWC shortstop and leadoff batter Wardy Polanco wend 4-for-5 with two home runs, four RBIs and four runs scored, and Jordan Garrett also homered and had two RBIs on two hits. Bulldogs second baseman Brad Carpenter finished 3-for-4, but starting pitcher Chris Washington allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with one strikeout over four innings to take the loss.
Softball
Left fielder Shaliyah Geathers from East Hamilton was 2-for-3 with an RBI single and an RBI double in Tennessee's 13-5 softball victory Saturday against Kennesaw State at the KSU Classic. That made the 13th-ranked Lady Vols 3-0 counting 5-0 and 9-0 wins Friday against Ohio and Dayton. Tori Lewis from GPS was 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in the opener and scored a run against Dayton.