The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team improved to 17-3 overall and 6-1 in the Southern Conference with a 3-1 home victory Friday night in a first-place showdown against East Tennessee State. Sarah Batterton had 16 kills and Allie Davenport and Kristy Wieser had 12 and 11 for the Mocs in the 25-13, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16 win, and Briana Reid had eight to go with 13 digs. Catherine Chason had 20 digs and Miranda Elpers had 14, while Lauren Greenspoon was credited with 44 assists. Briana Allmon had 16 kills for ETSU (14-6, 5-2).
* Lee University's volleyball team lost 3-2 (20-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 15-7) to Eckerd and 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-19) to Barry on Friday in the two-league Crossover Tournament at Carrollton, Ga. Brooke Wilsman had 17 kills and eight digs in the 3-2 loss for the Lady Flames (8-10), while Catherine Conley and Silvia Sartori had 13 and 11 kills, Hillary Hoffpauir and Sadie Johnson had 24 and 18 assists and Stephanie Hernandez had 19 digs. Wilsman had 11 kills, Hoffpauir had 23 assists and Hernandez had 14 digs against Barry.
* Although Michala Askew had 27 assists and 12 digs, Dalton State lost 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-22) at 13th-ranked Coastal Georgia in Southern States Athletic Conference volleyball Friday. Anna Metzler had nine kills and Kianna Delaney had 11 digs with six kills for DSC (7-10, 3-6). Coastal is 19-3, 10-1.
Basketball
* Defending NAIA national men's basketball champion Dalton State was announced Friday as the coaches' favorite to win the 12-team SSAC this season, and Roadrunners coach Tony Ingle called the vote "an absolute set-up" by his peers, with his team returning only one starter and having to incorporate 12 new players. Dalton State got six first-place votes and 128 points in the balloting, while William Carey got 126 points, Martin Methodist got 125 and Faulkner got 121. "I'm absolutely shocked that other coaches in our league that compete nationally year in and year out, with a majority of their starters coming back and solid winning traditions, would rank us so high," said Ingle, whose team is 58-8 in two years of existence. "We will be striving all year long to improve as a team."
Tennis
* Sewanee tennis players Eric Roddy and Jack Gray from Baylor School lost Friday in the doubles final of the USTA/ITA Small College Championship at Sumter, S.C. They lost 6-1, 6-1 to Adam Krull and Matt Tyer of Trinity (Texas). "This has been a great event," Roddy, a senior, said in a Sewanee release. "Jack and I are thrilled to make it this far against so many great players. All the credit today has to go to Trinity. They were really strong."
Golf
* Council Fire golf professional Richard Rebne followed an even-par 72 on the Bayonet course Thursday with a 71 Friday on the Black Horse course and is tied for 26th in the PGA Senior Professionals National Championship at Seaside, Calif. UTC men's coach Mark Guhne shot 155 (77-78) and missed the cut for the weekend. Rebne is six strokes behind the co-leaders.
Soccer
* The Lee University soccer teams won their Gulf South Conference games Friday at Delta State, the Lady Flames by a 5-0 score for their seventh consecutive win under first-year coach Chris Hennessey and the Flames prevailing 5-3 for their ninth in a row without a loss. Laura Thacker headed in passes from McKenzie Bricker at 14:05 and 16:10 for the Lee women (8-3-2, 7-1), who outshot their hosts 20-1, and Bricker made it 3-0 in the second minute of the second half. Summer Lanter and Lauren Peters added late goals from assists by Katie Cloud and Sarah Standley. Coach Paul Furey's 15th-ranked Flames (9-2-2, 4-0-1) got three goals from David Perez in the first 34 minutes on the way to a 5-1 lead that also included scores by Matt Brady and Jake Molony and assists by Jose Orellana and Arturo Rocha. They had a 21-10 shots margin. Perez has 14 goals this season.
* UTC lost 3-0 in SoCon women's soccer Friday night at Samford. Three players scored and Taylor Borman had two assists for the Bulldogs (12-4, 7-0), who outshot the Mocs (3-11-2, 1-5-1) 20-5, with a 9-1 on-goal margin. Katie Emig made five saves in defeat.
* The Sewanee women's soccer team won 6-1 in a Southern Athletic Association match Friday at Millsaps, with Kaylee Pierson scoring three goals and Erin Gill adding a goal and an assist for the Tigers (8-3-2). Olivia O'Brien and Dayla LaRocque also scored, and Nikki Johnston, Kiley Ezzell and Callie Ruf joined Gill with assists. Sewanee outshot the Majors (3-11-1) 24-4. The Millsaps men rallied to edge Sewanee 3-2. Max Hawes scored 7:22 in for the Tigers (5-9-1), who benefited from an own goal three minutes later, but Daniel and Dimitri Staursky scored for the Majors (9-4) at 34:52 and 51:16 and Nico Roth put them ahead at 66:20 from Nat Edwards' second assist of the match. Millsaps outshot the Tigers 19-8.