The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team opened play Friday evening in its Chattanooga Classic with a 3-1 victory over Tennessee Tech. The set scores were 25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 25-19. The match was moved to Cleveland High School from the UTC campus because of the broken water main in downtown Chattanooga. Dani Szczepanski had 16 kills and Gylian Finch had 12 plus 12 digs and five aces for the Mocs (3-5), whil Maddie Halsey set up 47 assists and Megan Kaufman, Bailey Bennett and Brenna Everingham had 14, 12 and 11 digs. Maia Rackel, Sarah Root and Brianna Anderson added nine, eight and seven kills against TTU (0-6).
* With 27 kills and 30 digs by freshman Abby Stroh, Lee University beat North Greenville 3-0 (27-25, 25-14, 26-24) but lost 3-1 (17-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-18) to Lander in USC Aiken's tournament Friday. Stroh had 13 kills and 18 digs in the win for the Lady Flames (4-1), when Bailey Kress had 12 kills, Quinne Daoust nine kills, Hanna Matthews 38 assists, Micaela McMichen 15 digs and Savannah Chan four blocks. Against Lander, McMichen had 31 digs, Matthews 35 assists and Stroh 14 kills and 12 digs.
* Gigi Ford had 13 kills and 20 digs as Bryan College rallied past visiting Truett McConnell for a 3-2 win (21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12) in Appalachian Athletic Conference play Friday. Emalie Hicks and Paige Randolph added nine and eight kills and Anna Owens had seven plus 11 digs for the Lady Lions (8-4, 3-1), who got 13, 12 and 11 assists from Sidney Pierce, Jaleigh Rogan and Jennifer Keck and 37 and 20 digs from Rheagan Kean and Rogan. Janie Smith had three block solos and three block assists along with six kills.
* Chattanooga State improved to 2-1 with its second 3-0 win in three days Thursday, this one over The Crown College by the scores of 25-16, 26-24, 25-19. Brie Hemphill had 12 kills and four block assists and Ricki Lynn Bickley added 10 kills in the win, while Dakota Rawiszer contributed 18 assists and four aces. Also for the Lady Tigers, Emily Redden had 11 assists, Kayla Ford 10 digs and Madysun Steele six kills and three aces.
Tennis
* The UTC men won four matches Friday in the six-school Chattanooga Collegiate Clay Court Championships the Mocs are hosting this weekend at Manker Patten. UTC senior Niklas Gerdes and sophomore Tomas Rodriguez are in the quarterfinals of the 32-man singles draw after following first-round byes with wins over Eastern Illinois players - Gerdes 6-1, 6-2 over Max Pilipovic-Kljajic and Rodriguez 6-4, 7-6 (8) over Daniel Hernandez. Also, Mocs senior Turner Voges, a graduate transfer from Memphis, beat the Panthers' Christos Kyrillou 6-2, 6-3 and junior Jacob Marshall downed Alabama-Birmingham's Chase Parker 6-2, 6-2 in first-round matches. Gerdes and Rodriguez also had a bye in the first round of doubles, while Marshall and Voges are now in the consolation round of the "5C's."
Soccer
* Lee's women won 2-0 at Carson-Newman in an NCAA Division II match Friday night, as Devin Healy scored off a turnover at 25:26 and Emma Higgins converted a Riley Henry assist at 87:39. Lee's Lady Flames (2-1) led 12-8 in shots, and goalkeeper Taylor Green made four saves in the shutout.
* The Dalton State men are 5-1-1 after a 1-0 win Thursday night against Johnson University from Florida, which is 2-1. Rich Volny scored in the 64th minute on a rebound of a Tom Bentham shot blocked by Suns goalkeeper Lucas Basilio, who made nine saves. Aaron Fraire had two in his shutout, as the Roadrunners led 15-2 in shots and 10-2 in shots on goal.
Field Hockey
* Steve Simpson registered his first win in four matches as Sewanee's field hockey coach Friday, as his Tigers overpowered visiting Southern Virginia (0-4) 7-0 with a 39-2 dominance in shots. The teams meet again today. Ceara Caffrey scored three goals and assisted on Buckley Norman's opening score in the fourth minute, and Caroline Sugar had two goals and an assist. Alex Hornsby also scored.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.