Tommies, Cardinals advance in D-III volleyball

Last update: November 13, 2009 - 12:10 AM

Volleyball teams from two Minnesota colleges advanced from the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, and two others were eliminated Thursday.

St. Thomas and St. Mary's advance to today's semifinals, while St. Benedict and St. Olaf saw their seasons end.

In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, the No. 14 Tommies defeated No. 7 Wisconsin-Whitewater 3-0 in Oshkosh, Wis. St. Thomas (25-7) won 25-19, 25-23, 25-17. St. Thomas will play Luther today.

St. Mary's bounced back from a 25-23 opening set loss to Thomas More to beat the Saints 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 27-25) at Washington (Mo.) University in St. Louis. The Cardinals will play either Washington University in the second round

St. Benedict, ranked No. 2 in the region, was upset by No. 7 Luther, losing 3-2 in St. Louis. The Blazers won the first and third sets, but lost 15-13 in the fifth set.

No. 21 St. Olaf fell to No. 16 Wisconsin-Eau Claire in straight sets, 26-24, 25-22 and 25-18, in Oshkosh.

Etc.

• Some of the nation's top swimmers, including Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Soni and world championship silver medalist Tyler Clary, will compete at USA Swimming's Minnesota Grand Prix this weekend. The three-day event, which opens USA Swimming's Grand Prix season, begins today at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. The field also includes Olympians Chloe Sutton and Kate Ziegler, as well as Eagan's Mallory Weggemann, a member of the U.S. Paralympic swim team. Preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. each day, with finals at 6 p.m. today and Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 per session or $50 for an all-session pass.

• Five Minnesota women have signed letters of intent to join the Gophers swimming team next year: Kaela Anderson and Monica Radecke of Stillwater; Tess Behrens of Maple Grove; Erin Caflisch of Eyota; and Hailey Szews of Elk River.

• Two gymnasts have signed letters of intent and will join the Gophers next year: Kayla Slechta of Shakopee and Dusti Russell of Oshkosh, Wis. Slechta was second on vault and beam and third in the all-around at the state meet this year. Russell has also won several state titles.

• The Gophers volleyball team has signed Tori Dixon of Burnsville and Ashley Wittman of Shakopee to national letters of intent for the early signing period.

• Gophers goalkeeper Cat Parkhill was named honorable mention to the TopDrawerSoccer.com All-Rookie team. Parkhill started all 20 matches in the net for the Gophers in her freshman year, and earned all 12 victories. She played more than 1,800 minutes in net and tallied a 0.697 goals against average which, at the end of the regular season, ranked third in the Big Ten.

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