Chattanooga’s Wes Cash and doubles partner Mark Vines of Lynchburg, Va., claimed their fourth USTA Men’s 55 national championship of 2012 by downing Californians Randall Berg and Randy Houston in the hard courts final Saturday at Indian Wells, Calif. Cash and Vines, the top seeds, beat the No. 2 seeds 7-6, 6-3. They previously won indoor, grass and clay titles.
Running
* The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Nathan Wanuch earned all-region distinction with a 20th-place finish in the NCAA Division I South Region cross country meet Friday at Tallahassee. With Lucas Cotter, Paul Stuart and Trevor Janssen finishing 29th, 41st and 55th, the Mocs finished sixth as a team. Wanuch, who covered the 10-kilometer course in 31 minutes, 10.4 seconds, could get an at-large spot in the national meet this Saturday at Louisville, Ky. The Lady Mocs’ top runner, Amanda Sumner, fell down in a crowd but finished 51st in the 6k in 21:19.8.
Soccer
* The Lee University women’s soccer team, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA this year after winning the last four national championships, defeated Faulkner 5-1 in the SSAC tournament final Saturday at Montgomery, Ala. Faulkner (7-12-2) had advanced past No. 2-ranked Mobile (15-3-2) on penalty kicks after their scoreless semifinal match. Ashley Aragona, Ode Fulutudilu and Christina Bovbjerg each had a goal and an assist for the Lady Flames (17-1-1), and Charlotte Canlett and Melin Niedermayer also scored while SSAS player of the year Leah Fortune had two assists. Teammate Laura Thacker was the defensive player of the year, Matt Yelton was coach of the year and Alison Braun was the Lady Flames’ representative on the Champions of Character team. Fortune, Thacker, Fulutudilu, Amy Cochran, Kim Conrad and Caroline Scales were all-conference first-teamers, while Aragona made the second team and Bovbjerg and Maria Elliasen were all-freshman choices. Senior Sias Reyneke from Cleveland High School was the Lee men’s SSAC Champions of Character selection, and Gabe Franco made the all-freshman team.
* The Tennessee Wesleyan soccer teams had mixed results in AAC tournament finals Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs falling 1-0 in overtime at top-seeded Montreat but the third-seeded Bulldogs swamping Virginia Intermont 5-0 at Milligan. Luke Winter scored the first two goals and John Carrier, Martyn Freestone and Nigel Lake also scored for the Wesleyan men (14-3-3). Friday, AAC women’s freshman of the year Samaira Khan sandwiched assists for Britten Fandrich and player of the year Abby Fannin around a goal of her own, assisted by Madelyn Thomas, in TWC’s 3-1 win over Milligan.
Volleyball
* Freshman Nicole Sumida from Baylor School was the tournament MVP as Lee defeated Spring Hill in the SSAC volleyball final for the second straight year Saturday, 30-32, 25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12. Sumida had 18 kills on .455 hitting, Paula Martins added 17 kills, Marija Zelenovic and Irene Ojukwu had 15 and 12 kills and 10 and 17 digs and Lauren Williams added 11 kills on .526 hitting for the Lady Flames (27-9). Camil Martinez had 60 assists and 15 digs and Libby Peigen made 23 digs. Ojukwu had 14 kills and Martins and Sumida added 11 each in a 25-23, 25-14, 25-23 semifinal win over Loyola (La.), Sumida serving five aces. Martinez had 39 assists and Peigen had 20 digs.