Hawaii wins first men’s volleyball title in 3 sets over BYU
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rado Parapunov had 13 kills, seven digs, two blocks and three aces, and Hawaii won its first national championship in men’s volleyball with a dominating 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 victory over BYU on Saturday night.
Parapunov was named the most outstanding player after his 18th straight match this season with double-digit kills.
“It’s about the heart, it’s about your teammates, it’s about doing your best, it’s never about stats,” Parapunov said. “It’s about this right here (trophy). I lost it once and second time thankfully I got it.”
The top-seeded Rainbow Warriors (171) didn’t lose a set during the NCAA Tournament.
Parapunov had five kills in the first set and freshman Chaz Galloway added three. Hawaii was never challenged in the second set, going on a 6-0 run and
jumping out to a 16-8 lead.
Hawaii kept it going in the third, building a 11-5 advantage and finishing with 41 kills, 10 aces and just 11 service errors while hitting .381.
BYU (20-4) has lost 12 straight sets in championship matches, getting swept in 2013, ‘16 and ’17.
Alvarez adds another title with 8th-round TKO of Saunders
ARLINGTON, Texas — Big ring or small, Texas judges or not, Canelo Alvarez wasn’t going to disappoint a huge pro-Mexico crowd in another fight in Texas.
The wildly popular Mexican added another belt in the super middleweight division, handing Billy Joe Saunders his first loss when the English boxer didn’t come out for the ninth round Saturday night.
Alvarez set up another victory in his latest Cinco de Mayo bout with a staggering right hand in the middle of the eighth round, sending the raucous crowd of 73,126 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys into a frenzy as we waved his arms to encourage the noise while the round continued.
Saunders’ corner waved in defeat before the ninth while treating a cut under his right eye. Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 knockouts) added Saunders’ WBO belt to his WBA and WBC straps.
It was the first loss in 31 fights for the 31-year-old Brit, who was taken to the hospital with a suspected broken orbital bone, fight spokesman Anthony Leaver said.
The Saunders camp had threatened not to show because of concerns that the ring would be too small, and didn’t want any judges from Texas, so close to neighboring Mexico. There weren’t.
Metcalf turns in respectable 100 time, finishes last in heat
WALNUT — Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf couldn’t catch the field in his heat of a 100-meter race at the USA Track and Field Golden Games on Sunday, finishing ninth out of nine but in a respectable time of 10.37 seconds.
Although Metcalf didn’t earn a spot in the final, he did pick up the respect of sprinters who were out to prove that track speed was far different from football fast.
Wearing earrings and a gold necklace, Metcalf burst out of the blocks in fine fashion. He wasn’t left behind either and pretty much kept in the mix until the finish line. The winner of his heat was Cravon Gillespie, who finished in 10.11 seconds to barely edge Mike Rodgers and went on to win the race.
Metcalf left the track with a new level of respect.
“These are world-class athletes,” Metcalf said during the broadcast on NBC streaming service Peacock. “It’s very different from football speed, from what I just realized.”
Zverev beats Berrettini to win 2nd Madrid Open title
MADRID — Alexander Zverev continued his impressive form going into the French Open by winning his second Madrid Open title on Sunday.
After beating top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and fourth-ranked Dominic Thiem in the semifinals, Zverev rallied to defeat Matteo Berrettini 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 for his second title this season. The sixth-ranked German also won the Mexican Open in Acapulco in March.
Zverev won his first Madrid title in 2018 in a final against Thiem. The win on Sunday gave him his fourth Masters 1000 title, and first in three years. Zverev will be trying to improve from his fourth-round appearance from last year at the French Open.
The 10th-ranked Berrettini won the title in Belgrade last week and was trying to win his first Masters 1000 trophy. The Italian has been gradually returning to form after struggling with an abdominal injury that kept him from playing his quarterfinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open. The injury kept Berrettini out until Monte Carlo, where he lost his opening match.
After exchanging a break each in the first set, Berrettini opened the tiebreaker with a 5-0 lead but allowed Zverev to come back. The Italian closed it out on his fourth set point after Zverev also squandered a set point in the back-and-forth tiebreaker.
Zverev, who finished with seven double-faults, evened the match after breaking Berrettini at 4-4 and serving out to clinch the second set at the Magic Box center court, which had its roof closed because of rain in Madrid.