UTC's Passmore top SoCon libero

Friday, January 1, 1904

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Paula Passmore was named the Southern Conference volleyball libero of the year for the second time in three years Wednesday, and she made the All-SoCon second team while teammate Briana Reid was an all-freshman selection. Passmore has exceeded her previous career best with 734 digs this season, and her average of 6.38 digs per set leads the SoCon and is second in the NCAA. Reid had double-digit kills in eight of her last nine matches, with a high of 17, and totaled six double-doubles. She had three 20-dig matches, including one with 28. The Mocs face College of Charleston at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the SoCon tournament at Davidson.

• Tennessee Temple is hosting the National Christian College Athletic Association Mid-East Region volleyball tournament this weekend, and the fifth-seeded and 14-16 host team opens at 11 a.m. Friday against No. 2 seed Covenant (24-6) in McGilvray Gymnasium. Third-seeded Victory (18-7) will face fourth seed Union University (4-26) at 9 a.m., and that winner will face top seed Campbellsville (25-10) at 3 p.m. The championship match in the double-elimination event is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Basketball

• NCAA Division II member North Alabama beat visiting Tennessee Temple 68-50 in women's basketball Wednesday night. Sarah Bailey scored 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 8-of-10 free-throw accuracy for UNA (3-1), and Mekena Randle had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Amanda Rector had 23 points and Alexis McGhee grabbed 10 rebounds for Temple.

• Hannah Brown and Ciera Anderson led five double-figure scorers for Cleveland State with 15 and 14 points in the Lady Cougars' 80-57 basketball win Tuesday over Georgia Northwestern at Rome, Ga. For GNTC, Kiarra Parks had 15 points, five steals and five assists and Keesha Wise had 15 points and three blocks.

• The Covenant College basketball teams open their seasons tonight, the Lady Scots hosting Hiwassee at 6 and the Scots playing at Berry at 7. Kyle Taylor begins his fourth season as the Covenant men's coach, and six of his first recruits now are seniors and expected to provide statistical and emotional leadership. Among those are captain Jon DeVries and Callum Sears, the team's leading scorer the last three years. Sam Bowman has returned for his senior season after being off last year to be a middle school youth pastor in Florida. Sophomores T.J. Cox, Bryant Engbers, Nate Frierson and Colton McGriff played quite a bit last year, and 6-foot-6 freshman forward Chris Boyd and 6-5 junior wing Dante Moss Jr. are key newcomers. Former Covenant star and longtime coach Tami Smialek, the Lookout Mountain school's athletic director, is back on the Lady Scots' sideline with 5-11 junior forward Jessie Blankenship as the top returner. She averaged 14 points and 8.4 rebounds a game last season.

• Shot-blocking sophomore center Kayla Sewell from Walker Valley High School is the only returner with significant experience as the Sewanee women's basketball team opens 2012-13 play tonight by hosting Welch. Sewell, moving to a high post in coach Dickie McCarthy's new Princeton offense, will be joined in the starting lineup by 5-foot-7 freshman point guard Jamie Chauvin from Father Ryan in Nashville, senior guard Dee Bradford, junior wing Paige Lowe and junior Clarissa Medley at the 4 spot. The Tigers have only 10 healthy players. "We're young and inexperienced, so it's going to take a while for us to develop," McCarthy said. "We lost five seniors and had two rising seniors decide not to play basketball. But as long as Kayla is in the middle, we've got a chance."

Golf

• Calhoun's Virgil Waters and partner Ed Mathis of Rome share the fourth-flight lead at 8-over-par 79 after the first day of the Georgia Senior Four-Ball Championship in Columbus. Dalton's David Mansfield and Ron Lowery are sixth in the first flight at 75.