The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is holding a dedication ceremony today at 5 p.m. for its recently opened on-campus tennis center, and Mocs fans and area tennis enthusiasts are invited. Alumni matches will be held Saturday at the six-court facility, beginning at 9 a.m. Chancellor Steven Angle, vice chancellor and athletic director Mark Wharton and UTC head coaches Chad Camper and Chuck Merzbacher will be part of today's ceremony. It "is an opportunity to say thank you to everyone and say how much it means to both programs to have a home," Merzbacher said in a UTC release. "We want to show it off."
Golf
* The 2018 Tennessee Mid-Amateur golf tournament began Thursday at Chattanooga's Black Creek Club with three leaders at 5-under-par 67, six players at 68 and two others at 69. Nineteen in all were under par in the first round. Jeff Greeson was the area leader in a tie for 12th at 70. Winston Brown shot 72; Matt Hadden and Cres Dodd carded 73s. The field will be cut after today's round to the low 30 and ties for Saturday's final 18 holes. The leaders Thursday were Dan Crockett from The Golf Club of Tennessee, John Swoboda from Pine Creek Golf Club and Josh Wheeler from Oak Ridge Country Club. Tim Jackson, who has won 20 Tennessee Golf Association tournaments, was among those a stroke back.
* Four-time champion David Noll Jr. of Dalton tied for second at 4-under 68 in Thursday's qualifying round for the 100th Atlanta Amateur Match Play Championship at Echelon Golf Club. Matthew Hayes of Marietta also shot 68, one behind Roswell's Nick Cassini. Two-time defending champ Stan Gann Jr. of Warner Robins had a bye into the match-play round of 32 this morning, when Noll faces 30th seed Jon Klotz of Chamblee.
Soccer
* Dalton State lost 4-2 in Southern States Athletic Conference men's soccer and 2-0 in the women's game Thursday at Florida College. The female Falcons improved to 6-2-1, 1-0 in the SSAC, while dropping the Lady Roadrunners to 6-4-1, 0-3. The Florida College men are 6-0-2, 1-0; DSC is 4-6-1, 0-3.
* Baylor School is one of only 29 high schools from throughout the country that received both boys' and girls' United Soccer Coaches team academic awards for 2017-18. Blackman and Smyrna are the only others in Tennessee. The honor requires a minimum team grade point average of 3.25 on a 4.0 scale for the entire school year. "Very proud of our student-athletes," said Baylor director of soccer Curtis Blair, reminding that both of his teams won state championships. "This is a true definition of a student-athlete. This award is a tribute to all our wonderful faculty that teach these students every day."
Running
* Lee University's Chloe Flora and Christian Noble were the Gulf South Conference runners of the week and Lindsay Ahlmeyer was the women's freshman of the week after their performances in the Louisville Cross Country Classic gold races comprised mostly of NCAA Division I teams. Noble was 14th overall in the 8-kilometer race on his way to his sixth career GSC honor for a week. Flora broke the Lady Flames' 5k record by almost 29 seconds at 17:14.2, and Ahlmeyer finished in 19:40.7. Both Lee teams are ranked No. 1 in the Division II South Region, and the Lady Flames are 16th and the Flames 17th in the national coaches' polls.
* The UTC women's cross country team entered the Division I South Region rankings at No. 15 this week. The Mocs finished 15th in Vanderbilt's Commodore Classic and 18th in the gold race at Louisville.
Softball
* Northwest Whitfield High School and ProStar Fastpitch softball pitcher and first baseman Alex Smith committed Wednesday to play for Covenant College when she graduates in 2020. She has a 3.8 grade point average and plans to major in business and marketing, according to a ProStar release, and she really likes the Lookout Mountain school. "I love the campus at Covenant College and look forward to working with Coach (Brie) Carmack and (assistant) Coach (Jessica) Palm," Smith said in the release. "We are excited for Alex and her family on her decision," ProStar's Steve Chattin said. "Alex has put in a lot of hours, sweat and tears to achieve this goal. Less than 8 percent of high school athletes get to play softball at the collegiate level, and we expect Alex to contribute immediately at Covenant."
* The UTC softball team is hosting Georgia Tech in an exhibition doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. at Frost Stadium. Admission costs $5; ages 10-younger get in free.