Around the Region: Season over for soccer Mocs after SoCon tourney loss

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga lost 3-0 Sunday at Mercer in the first round of the Southern Conference women's soccer tournament, ending UTC's season. The Mocs (6-11-2), who finished the regular season tied for fifth in the SoCon and were seeded sixth at the tournament, finished with their most wins since 2011 and enjoyed their best conference finish since 2005. "It's a disappointing end to our season," Mocs coach Gavin McKinney said in a UTC release. "We are, however, proud of the work this group put in throughout the fall." Third-seeded Mercer (10-8-1), which did all of its scoring in the second half, will face East Tennessee State in the semifinals next weekend.

- The Appalachian Athletic Conference soccer tournaments begin Tuesday with lower-seeded teams playing off. Among those, Bryan's seventh-seeded women will host No. 10 seed Montreat. The Bryan and Tennessee Wesleyan University men are seeded second and third and will host quarterfinal games Saturday, when TWU's fourth-seeded Lady Bulldogs will host No. 5 seed St. Andrews.

Running

- Red Bank High School cross country and track coach Hugh Enicks finished second in the men's 55-59 age group and 14th overall in the USATF Masters 15k National Championships on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla. Enicks' time was 57 minutes, 40 seconds.

Volleyball

- Bryan lost two AAC matches Saturday in Barbourville, Ky. - 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 17-25, 15-12) to St. Andrews and 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-17) to host Union College - and is 16-17 overall and 11-8 in the league going into the regular-season finale Tuesday night at home against Bluefield. Shelby Enochs had 22 assists and 10 digs and Rachel Mosley and Paige Lawson had eight kills apiece against Union, and Kayla Rymer had 17 digs. Against St. Andrews, Hannah Smith had 19 kills, Enochs 40 assists and 17 digs, Rymer 29 digs, Hope Burnett 11 kills and Lawson nine kills.

- Tennessee Wesleyan won two AAC matches at home Saturday by 3-1 scores - 25-16, 29-27, 16-25, 30-28 over Columbia (S.C.) and 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-13 against Truett-McConnell. Sundara Chinn and Sierra Ingraham had 15 and 14 kills and 16 and 14 digs for the Lady Bulldogs (15-16, 12-9) against Columbia, when Alexan Crittenden contributed 37 assists and 12 digs, Kailyn Lillie had 18 digs and Avery Hilliard, Chinn and Kindalinn Rinner combined for seven block solos and 11 block assists. Ingraham had 20 kills and 22 digs against Truett-McConnell, while Chinn had 15 kills and 14 digs, Crittenden 35 assists and 13 digs, Lillie 19 digs and Hilliard three block solos and five block assists.

- Dalton State lost 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-19) in SSAC volleyball at Martin Methodist on Saturday. Anna Metzler had eight kills, Ryan Burke added seven and Clarissa Weber had 16 assists for DSC (8-15, 7-10).

Basketball

- Lee Cigliano begins his 21st season as the Cleveland State men's basketball coach Tuesday night at home against Snead State with no returners from last year's team that went 11-14, 9-9 in Tennessee Community College Athletic Association play. Guard Jordan Olison is back after redshirting in 2015-16; otherwise the Cougars are 10 freshmen and six sophomore newcomers. But the players come from as far away as Chicago, Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, and three of them are 6-foot-7 or 6-8. "I think Coach (Rafael) Howard did a great job of recruiting, and I think that we have a really great bunch of newcomers," Cigliano said in a school release. The Lady Cougars host Snead State at 5:30 Tuesday as their coach, Dan Lumpkin, starts his 20th season with three returners from last year's 24-6 region finalists - Leisa Butler, JaTasha Hollinger and Catherine Davis - plus another sophomore in Porchia Turner from Tyner. "We want to play a lot of people and play an up-tempo transition game, and for that reason I plan on playing 10 or more every night," Lumpkin said. "The key is being able to play full speed and under control."

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