State sports briefs
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Arkansas Baptist rolls past Independence Randall Dixon passed for three touchdowns Saturday afternoon to lead Arkansas Baptist past Independence (Kan.) Community College 44-3 at Quigley Stadium in Little Rock. Dixon threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Trey Hill, a 32-yard touchdown pass to George Craut and a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Carter. Chris Laws had a 46-yard touchdown run for Arkansas Baptist (2-1), while Curtis Calvin scored on a 40-yard run and Nick Julian scored on a 5-yard run. Arkansas Baptist scored its other touchdown on a 10-yard fumble return by Robert Salley.
VOLLEYBALL Ole Miss knocks off Arkansas State Arkansas State (1-6) fell to Ole Miss (4-2) in the final match of the Magnolia Invitational held in Oxford, Miss., losing 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23. Sadie Clark led the Red Wolves with 16 kills in the match and Sarah Kemp had 11. Jackie Gerig led Arkansas State with 37 assists and added 5 kills with 7 digs. Clark was named to the Magnolia Invitational All-Tournament team after leading the Red Wolves in kills with 47 kills, which came out to a 3.62 kills per set average.
UALR beats Rice, loses to Corpus Christi UALR (2-4) split a two matches in Houston, Texas, beating Rice in the afternoon and losing Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the second match. UALR beat Rice (1-5) 20-25, 22-25, 25-19, 26-24, 15-11, then lost to Corpus Christi (2-4) 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14. Sophomore Sonja Milovic led UALR with 57 kills and a .454 hitting percentage (13 errors, 97 attempts). Milanovic matched a school record with 34 kills in the second match. Junior Edina Begic had 55 kills and a .320 hitting percentage. Junior Marleen de Zoete (2,341) added 115 assists to move to third in career assists. Junior Capri Rino led with 50 digs.
Cotton Blossoms finish strong Arkansas-Monticello (2-2) finished the University of West Florida Opening Weekend Tournament with a three-set sweep over McKendree at Pensacola, Fla., winning 25-20, 25-18 and 25-22. It was UAM’s first three-set victory since a sweep of Henderson State on Sept. 25, 2012. Senior Tori Bozzo led UAM with 13 kills. She just four errors on 24 attempts for a match-best .375 hitting percentage. Junior Jessica Cuba added eight kills on 21 attempts with three errors for a .238 percentage. She added eight digs. Senior Tusalava Kuaea led the UAM defense with 11 digs.
Lady Muleriders lose two The Southern Arkansas volleyball team lost to Alabama-Huntsville and Central Oklahoma Saturday at Lady Reddie Classic in Arkadelphia. The Lady Muleriders (1-3) lost Alabama-Huntsville 28-26, 25-21 and 25-11. Central Oklahoma won the second match, 25-16, 25-19, 25-18. Freshman Hailey led SAU with 24 kills. Gabby Clark had 46 assists.
Lady Lions’ upset bid falls short No. 15 Angelo State University rallied from an early 2-1 deficit to defeat Arkansas-Fort Smith in five sets Saturday in the finale of the Angelo State Invitational at Stephens Arena in San Angelo, Texas. Angelo State (4-0), which went undefeated in the four-match, two-day affair, won the match 25-15, 24-26, 22-25, 25-22, 15-9. The loss capped a 2-2 performance by UAFS, which defeat Colorado State-Pueblo in Saturday’s first match. UAFS will make its home debut at 7 p.m. on Thursday when it hosts Heartland Conference foe Oklahoma Panhandle State at the Stubblefield Center.
SOCCER Weaver’s goal lifts Ozarks Matt Weaver’s game-winning goal in the 66th minute pushed the University of the Ozarks past Sewanee 1-0 Saturday. Shaun Keane received the assist on Weaver’s only shot of the match. Ozarks (2-0-0) will play Berry College tomorrow in Sewanee, Tenn.
Lyon men tie Wiley The Lyon College men’s soccer team couldn’t hold a 1-0 lead, allowing Wiley College to tie with 13 seconds left in regulation, and settled for a 1-1 double-overtime tie at the Wiley Pemberton Complex. The Wildcats (2-11) outshot Lyon 20-15, with the Wildcats recording nine shots on goal, compared to five for the Scots (1-1-1).
CROSS COUNTRY Lions, Lady Lions run fifth, sixth at Land Run Senior TaBaris Earnest posted a Top 10 finish on Saturday to lead the Arkansas-Fort Smith men to a fifth-place finish in the 4-mile University of Central Oklahoma Land Run at Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla. Three of the nine UAFS runners finished in the top 40, helping to give the Lions 126 total points. Oklahoma City University had four runners finish in the top 10 and won the meet with 31 points. Oklahoma Baptist was second with 51 points. Earnest checked in at 21:01.32 and finished 10th in the 80-runner field. His twin brother, TaTaris, posted a time of 21:43.60 and finished 17th. Junior-college transfer Kelsea Geschwentner made a quick impact in her debut as a Lady Lion on Saturday, finishing 11th to lead the Lady Lions to a sixth-place finish in the 5K women’s run.