St. Stephens starts volleyball season with road victory

St. Stephens High opened the girls’ volleyball season with a three-game victory on Monday over South Iredell in Barium Springs.

The Indians won 25-9, 25-17 and 25-20 behind Nicole Hardy and Jenna Boliek, who each had nine kills.

Abby Foster and Katelyn Houser added 14 assists each for the Indians and Taylor Cummins had 14 digs and Ashley Markland had 10.

St. Stephens’ junior varsity won 25-19, 15-25 and 25-12.

East Burke 3, Freedom 0

The Cavs beat archrival Freedom in three games at East Burke to open the season, winning 25-3, 25-15 and 25-11.

Amber Gillespie led East Burke with three kills, seven aces and four blocks. Sydney Haas added two kills and six blocks, Madison Tallent had six aces and Kristen Moore had seven aces.

East Burke won the junior varsity match 25-10 and 25-8 behind three kills and two aces by Megan Marshburn.

SOCCER

South Caldwell 1, Freedom 0

South Caldwell beat the Patriots for the first time in school history on a goal by Nic Allen in the first half at the Freedom Invitational.

The Spartans won the season-opener despite being outshot 27-5 by the Patriots at the Catawba River Soccer Complex.

South Caldwell goalkeeper Bo Kirby made nine saves, including one on a penalty kick, and Freedom goalkeeper Matthew Watson made two saves.

In other first-round scores at the tournament, Hunter Huss beat Patton 3-0, Mooresville nipped Hibriten 2-0 and Asheville edged Fred T. Foard 1-0.

Matches on Tuesday at the complex are South Caldwell against Patton and Fred T. Foard against Mooresville, both at 5 p.m., and Freedom plays Hunter Huss and Asheville meets Hibriten in 7 p.m. starts.

 Alexander Central 2, Bunker Hill 0

The Cougars opened the season with a victory in Claremont, getting goals by Jonas Watts and Mario Renteria.

Watts scored in the ninth minute on an assist by Ben Jones, and Renteria’s goal came in the 26^th minute via assists by Watts and Desmond Lackey.

Conner Fox was in goal for the shutout for Alexander Central, which plays its home opener on Wednesday night against Davie County.

North Lincoln 4, Maiden 3

At Maiden, the Knights edged the Blue Devils in a season-opener despite three goals by the Blue Devils’ Kevin Aragon.

Christian Medina and Jimmy Vang had assists for Maiden.

BASEBALL

Crawdads 4, RiverDogs 1

Hickory scored four runs in the seventh inning, wiping out Charleston’s 1-0 lead, and won a South Atlantic League game in Charleston, S.C.

The RiverDogs (48-72, 22-28 second half) got the lead against reliever Ben Rowen in the sixth inning. Kevin Mahoney singled, Kevin De Leon doubled and the run scored on a groundball out by Kyle Higashioka.

Hickory (67-51, 27-23) made it 4-1 in the seventh. Braxton Lane walked with one out and stole second, then Jurickson Profar walked. Jake Skole’s ground-rule double drove in the first run and Odubel Herrerra’s double drove in two more.

The Crawdads led 4-1 after a run-scoring single in the seventh by Alejandro Selen.

Rowen got the win (4-4) and Francisco Mendoza, who got Charleston 1-2-3 in the ninth, picked up his second save.

Thomas Kahnle, who came on in the sixth inning in relief, took the loss for the RiverDogs.

Hickory plays at Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday night in another South Atlatic League game.

The Crawdads, who won the Northern Division title in the first half to secure a playoff berth, are 3 ½ game behind Kannapolis in the second half standings and within a half-game of second place Hagertown (Md.).

FOOTBALL

LRU receives points in first voting for Top 25

Lenoir-Rhyne University’s football team received seven points in the first voting for the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 rankings.

The Bears, who were 7-4 last season, open the season Sept. 3 at Concord, W. Va., in the debut game for head coach Mike Houston.

Minnesota-Duluth received 28 first-place votes and is ranked No. 1 in the country, followed by Delta State (Miss.) and Northwest Missouri State.

From the South Atlantic Conference, Wingate is ranked No. 14, Carson-Newman was second in others receiving votes with 80 points and Tusculum received nine points.

Shaw is the only other school from the Carolinas in the first Top 25, tying Hillsdale (Mich.) for 25^th.

GOLF

Hickory golf practice will begin on Tuesday

Golf practice for Hickory High’s girls begins Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Lake Hickory Country Club Town Course.

All participants must have a current physical on file with the school in order to practice.

For more information, contact head coach Ben Hale at halebe@hickoryschools.net.