East Tennessee State’s volleyball team improved to 20-5 and 9-1 in the Southern Conference with a 3-1 win Friday night at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, by the set scores of 25-15, 30-32, 25-21, 25-22. Gylian Finch had 13 kills and 11 digs and Ally Ford had 10 kills for UTC (8-16, 4-7), while Jaquelyn Langhaim and Maddie Halsey had 22 and 18 assists and Brenna Everingham and Miranda Elpers contributed 19 and 15 digs.
‘ The Lee University volleyball team won its annual Volley for the Cure match Friday 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-17) over Kentucky State. Silvia Sartori had 17 kills and Hanna Matthews 34 assists and three aces for Lee (15-13), while MaKayla Beebe had 12 digs and Alex Reuter added eight kills.
‘ Chattanooga State will play Saturday for the NJCAA Region VII championship in its first season of volleyball, after winning 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) Friday at Cleveland State. The Lady Tigers (13-7) will face No. 1 seed Walters State (19-8) at 2 p.m. in the Cleveland State gym. Kayla Wimpee and Sakari Pack had 13 and 10 kills in Friday’s win, and Ricki Lynn Bickley and Brieana Hemphill each had nine kills, Bickley with three aces. Dakota Rawiszer and Emily Redden had 20 and 16 assists, Josie Jordan had 12 digs and Cayla Jacobs was in on seven blocks. The Lady Cougars ended their season 12-13 with Aly Lemons leading the TCCAA with a .293 hitting percentage and Caylea Duckett second in the league in digs per set and fifth in assists per set.
‘ Tennessee Wesleyan lost 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-19) to host Cumberland University and 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-17) to the University of the Cumberlands in the Phoenix Classic on Friday. Kalyse Garrett had 16 assists, Marjorie Smith and Sydney Ritten seven kills each and Madison Weir 12 digs for TWU (14-19) in the first loss.
Soccer
‘ Covenant College senior Rachel Lemay was voted goalkeeper of the year in USA South women’s soccer, and Lady Scots freshman Kailey Burrell from Trenton, Georgia, was rookie of the year. Also in the awards announced Friday, Lemay and sophomore Kyra Duble from Lookout Mountain made the overall All-USA South and West Division first teams, Addy Cronan and Kendyll Freeman also were picked for the All-West first team and Lizzy Hightower joined Burrell on the All-West second team. Megan Rasku was Covenant’s all-sportsmanship representative. Maryville College’s Pepe Fernandez, a former Tennessee Wesleyan star and Hixson and Notre Dame High School coach, was the USAS coach of the year. A third-time first-team all-conference selection, Lemay has 119 saves, an .844 save percentage and seven shutouts this season for the 10-7-1 Lady Scots, and Cronan and Burrell have 10 and eight goals and four assists apiece. Duble has six goals and two assists.
‘ The Covenant men beat Huntingdon 5-0 in a USA South match Friday at Chattanooga Christian. Ethan Pettit scored in the 10th minute from a Josh Brower cross and added the lone second-half goal. Brower, Mercer Stout and Parker Owen scored in between, as the Scots (12-5-1, 9-2-1) led 17-6 in shots and 6-1 in corner kicks.
Cross Country
‘ Covenant’s cross country teams both finished second to Berea in the USA South meet Friday at Maryville College, and Covenant senior Lilly Smith repeated as women’s runner of the year despite finishing second in the 6-kilometer race in 23:10.53. Also picked for the all-sportsmanship team, she has won four meets this season. The Lookout Mountain school set program records with seven women and six men earning All-USAS honors. Nate Collins joined Smith as a first-teamer with his fifth-place 27:22.93 in the 8k, and Maggie Henry (9th), Alexandra May (10th), Hannah Samuels (12th), Michelann Settle (14th), Matthew Tueller (10th), Jonathan George (13th) and Micaiah Allison (14th) were second-teamers. Caleb Aikens (16th), Matt Seitz (17th) and Anna Danek (17th) made the third teams. Ashleigh Baker (26th) received honorable mention.