Area sports notes: UTC loses in volleyball at Samford

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team began Southern Conference play Wednesday night with a 3-0 loss at Samford, which is 7-4. The set scores were 25-19, 25-13, 25-17. Dani Szczepanski and Maia Rackel had 13 and nine kills on .385 and .412 hitting for the Mocs (5-9), and Maddie Halsey had 28 assists.

* Cleveland State won 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14) in Tennessee Community College Athletic Association volleyball Wednesday against visiting Chattanooga State. It was the first conference win in the third-year program's history. Sydney Allen set a Lady Cougars record with 53 assists, Stephanie Burke had 21 kills and Celie Patterson had the kill that ended the thriller. For the Lady Tigers, Ricki Lynn Bickley had 15 kills and 12 digs, Brieana Hemphill 12 kills, 13 digs and nine blocks, Madysun Steele 11 kills and 18 digs, Bailey Orr nine kills, Dakota Rawiszer 29 assists and Emily Redden 16 assists.

* Covenant College is 1-10 in after losing 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-18) at Oglethorpe (5-7). Leah Buys had 28 assists and Riley Howe had nine kills and 11 digs for Covenant, while Emily Moore and Savannah Savage had 17 and 14 digs.

* Marjorie Smith had 14 kills as Tennessee Wesleyan downed visiting Montreat 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21) in Appalachian Athletic Conference play Tuesday. Also for the Lady Bulldogs (2-10, 2-5), Tia Madden had 25 assists and 13 digs and Avery Hilliard had three block solos and five block assists.

Golf

* UTC's Connor Nolan was selected the SoCon men's golfer of the week for his par 216 (73-71-72) that tied him for 17th in the 100-player field at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Graeme McDowell Invitational.

* Led by a ninth-place, 3-under-par 210 from freshman Beck Burnette and a 17th-sharing 213 from senior Evan Spence, the Lee University men tied for fifth in the loaded Cougar Invitational hosted Monday and Tuesday by Georgia's Columbus State. With their 1-over 853, the Flames outdid NCAA Division II's No. 2 Barry, No. 5 Lincoln Memorial, No. 8 Florida Tech, No. 16 Limestone and No. 18 Carson-Newman and tied No. 21 Columbus State. Georgia Southwestern won in a playoff with No. 4 Florida Southern after each ended with an 848, and No. 1 Lynn and No. 12 Saint Leo were third and fourth at 849 and 852. Lee's Connor Pollman, Scott Odell and Dylan Lillard shot 218, 219 and 220.

* The NAIA's fourth-ranked Dalton State College women shared runner-up honors in the Carey Collegiate Classic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Tuesday after taking a four-shot lead with three top-10 player scores Monday. The Lady Roadrunners closed with a 302 in matching No. 12 Cumberland at 600, seven strokes behind sixth-ranked winner Cumberlands of Kentucky, which had a final-round 291. Dalton State's Isabel Rijos was co-medalist at 143 and now is the program's all-time wins leader with six, and Katelyn Skiffen (playing as an individual), Hannah Gasaway, Cameron Daniel and Haejin Choe also finished in the top 20 at 150, 152, 153 and 154. DSC also had Sydney Hermann as the Southern States Athletic Conference golfer of the week for her third-place finish in the previous tournament.

* Dalton State senior Ben Rebne won 3 and 2 over 12th-seed Ricky Honeycutt for the Chattanooga TPC championship on Sunday at Council Fire. Honeycutt beat No. 1 seed Sport Allmond 5 and 3 in the semifinals, while No. 2 Rebne was defeating No. 6 Wes Farris. Rebne's four weekend wins began with a 1-up escape of No. 15 Ryan Cox on Friday. Mitch Hufstetler won the Senior TPC by edging Neil Spitalny 2 and 1 after topping top seed Bob Rice 3 and 2.

Soccer

* Lee's fifth-ranked women won 5-0 in their home opener Wednesday night against Tusculum and are 4-1. Following an own goal at 5:51, Riley Henry scored from a Devin Healy pass, Healy scored unassisted, Mallory Hayden converted a Kelsey Yoder assist and Riley Engels scored unassisted. Lee outshot the Pioneers (3-4) 17-4 with a 7-2 edge in shots on goal.

Outdoors

* Martin Methodist College junior Eli Christman from Soddy-Daisy High School remains in the running for a 2020 Olympics skeet-shooting spot after his performance in the Fall Selection Olympic Trials Part 1 last week in Kerrville, Texas. Part 2 will be in the Spring Selection in March in Tucson, Arizona. The top two in the combined scores will represent the United States in the Tokyo Games, and Christman tied for fifth at Kerrville by hitting 241 of 250 targets, six fewer than the runner-up. Lee University student Gracin Anderson of Etowah tied for 10th at 221 and got the High Collegiate Award.

Compiled by Ron Bush. Contact him at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.

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