The UTC volleyball team rallied to pull out a 21-19 fifth-set win and 3-2 Southern Conference victory Friday afternoon at East Tennessee State. The Mocs (23-5, 12-3) trailed 11-1 and 14-4 in the race to 15 points with a two-point margin in the deciding set, and the outcome assured them a share of the program's first regular-season championship since 1998. They can be the outright champ with a win tonight at Western Carolina. Allie Davenport had a remarkable total of 25 kills with 11 digs and Kristy Wieser and Briana Reid each had 11 kills with Sarah Batterton adding nine for UTC, which got 33 assists from Lauren Greenspoon and 20 from Madison Bergren and 19 digs from Catherine Chason. Ten of the 11 match points the Mocs saved came with freshman Rachel Petkosh serving.
* Top-seeded Bryan College lost 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-19) to fourth-seeded Milligan in the Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball tournament semifinals Friday at Kingsport, Tenn. Ashley Mattoch had 10 kills and Kara Stamper had nine for Bryan (25-14), which got 27 assists from Shelby Grace Enochs and 14 and 10 digs from Kayla Rymer and Chelsi Roark.
* Seventh seed Dalton State upset third-seeded Bethel 3-1 (25-15, 25-16, 23-25, 25-23) and beat Martin Methodist 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) in pool play Friday at the Southern States Athletic Conference volleyball tournament in Montgomery, Ala. Against Bethel, Kianna Delaney had 16 kills and Michala Askew had 42 assists and they had 14 digs apiece for the Roadrunners (14-15), while Anna Metzler and Marta Guntin each had 11 kills and 11 digs and Karly Newman made 13 digs. Askew had 30 assists and 13 digs in the second win, when Delaney had 11 kills and Metzler, Rafaela Petrunko and Newman had 12, 11 and 10 digs. Dalton State plays Coastal Georgia this morning at 10 CST with the winner going to the final at 2 p.m.
* Lee won 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 25-18) at Mississippi College on Friday and ended its season at 13-17, 8-12 in the Gulf South Conference. Silvia Sartori had 18 kills, Catherine Conley had 12, Hillary Hoffpauir had 42 assists and Sarah Davis and Stephanie Hernandez had 16 and 15 digs for Lee.
Cross Country
* The UTC women's cross country team finished 12th and Teghan Henderson was 13th individually in the NCAA Division I South Region meet Friday at Tuscaloosa, Ala. Henderson was all-region after her 20:37.3 finish in the 6-kilometer race. "We weren't ranked year in the top 20 of the region, (but) we finished 12th and were just three points out of 11th," UTC coach Bill Gautier said in a school release. "I am extremely satisfied."
Soccer
* Second-seeded Union College won the AAC men's soccer tournament with a 4-1 win Friday night over host Bryan. Kevin Roenpage had the score for the Lions, and he made the all-tournament team with Charlie Clarke and Joe Goreham.
Lacrosse
* McCallie School's ultra-successful lacrosse program had two NCAA Division I signees and three Division III commitments sealed in a ceremony Thursday. In addition to first-team all-state attack player Zach Hutchko signing with reigning national champion Denver, All-American and 2014 all-stater Jeff Durden is headed to Navy and fellow defensemen Nic Najjar and Jonathan Lipman committed to Denison and Rochester Institute of Technology, respectively. Attack man Andrew Klementz committed to Greensboro College. McCallie coach Troy Kemp called Klementz a "strong bull dodger" and said Lipman is "one of the hardest working and most improved players in our program. He had an incredible summer and dominated in showcase events." Najjar is 6-foot-5, 220 pounds and "one of the best athletes in our program," Kemp said. Hutchko has "an explosive first step (and) can take over games" and averaged over four points a game in the 2014 season, while Durden, according to Kemp, is a "most versatile defenseman who is a legitimate threat on the offensive end of the field." He had six goals and four assists last season.