From staff reports
West Rowan sophomore Payton Holt is a singles qualifier for the 3A individual tennis state championships that will be held next weekend.
Holt qualified for the state tournament for the second time.
Girls who qualified from the Mid-Piedmont, South Piedmont, North Piedmont and Southern Carolina conference tournaments competed in the 3A Midwest Regional at Concord’s Les Myers Park on Friday and Saturday.
Holt won 6-0, 6-0 against Ledford’s Christina Gross in the first round and topped North Iredell’s Holly Griffin 6-0, 6-2 in the second round to reach the semifinals.
Holt lost to Concord’s undefeated Kate Earnhardt in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-2. Earnhart, one of the top-ranked players in the state, also won against Holt in the SPC tournament final.
Earnhart went on to win the regional championship by defeating Weddington’s Sarah Merrill.
Holt lost to Marvin Ridge’s Rachel Zubrinsky, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the third-place match. The top four advanced to the state.
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• West’s MacKenzie Koontz lost to West Iredell’s Mary Sells 6-1, 7-5 in a first-round match.
• Carson’s Gabi Jolly lost to Merrill 6-1, 6-0 in a first-round match.
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In doubles matches, Carson’s Emily Sloop/Margaret Correll won a first-round match against North Iredell’s Jessica Galliher/Kayla Thapvongsa, 6-3, 6-2.
Sloop/Correll lost in the second round to Marvin Ridge’s Ryleigh Burns/Hannah Scott, 6-0, 6-2.
• East Rowan’s team of Lauren Weisensel/Shannon Mahaffey won 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 in the first round against North Lincoln’s McKenzie Jones/Addie McGinnis, the NPC tournament champs.
Weisensel/Mahaffey lost in the second round to Concord’s Molly Handler/Maya Haynes, 6-1, 6-0.
• East’s doubles team of Katie Barnes/Angel Scialdone lost in the first round to Ledford’s Sarah Richardson/Carrie Crotts, 6-3, 6-3.
• Concord’s Handler/Haynes doubles team won the regional championship.
• Pairings for the dual team state playoffs are expected to be announced today, with first-round matches on Tuesday.

Men’s soccer
The Catawba men’s soccer team won, 3-0, at seventh-ranked Tusculum on Sunday.
Daniele Proch scored two goals and assisted on the other as the Indians improved to 9-5 and 6-4 in the SAC.
The Pioneers, who entered the week undefeated, fell to 12-2 and 7-2.
Catawba hosts Belmont Abbey in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday’s Senior Night at 7:30 pm.

Jones inducted
Lola Jones Baker (North Rowan) recently was inducted into the Bluefield State Sports Hall of Fame.
She was a basketball All-American during both of her seasons with the Lady Blues in 1992-93 and 1993-94
Jones led the team in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage both seasons and led the Blues to seasons of 25-4 and 21-8.
She was inducted into the Salisbury-Rowan Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Jones is still sixth on North Rowan’s all-time basketball scoring list with 1,142 points.
In track and field, she cleared 5 feet, 4 inches to win the 1989 1A/2A state championship in the high jump.

College volleyball
Savannah Cox (NW Cabarrus) had 17 kills and Hannah Elmore (Carson) had six kills and seven digs in Brevard’s 3-2 loss to Mars Hill on Saturday.
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Winston-Salem State’s Makala Lytton (North Rowan) had 16 digs in a match against West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday.
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Belmont Abbey’s Aimee Cloninger (Carson) had 30 kills in the Crusaders’ two matches on Saturday.
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Catawba lost at Wingate, 25-20, 26-28, 25-19 and 25-17 on Saturday.
Catawba (9-10, 7-7 SAC) got nine kills each from Alex Hopper and Bri Howard. Meredith Furr had 34 digs.

College hoops
Augusta and senior Keshun Sherrill (West Rowan) will open the season at Wichita State on Nov. 5.

College tennis
N.C. State’s Michael Ogden (Salisbury) reached the singles semifinals of the Wolfpack Invitational.

College football
Charlotte’s Kalif Phillips (A.L. Brown) had 99 rushing yards and two TDs in Saturday’s win against Marshall.

College swimming
The Catawba swim teams swam against host East Carolina along with the Campbell women on Saturday afternoon at the Minges Natatorium.
Mario Zaninovic had a top 10 all-time swim in the men’s 1000 free, while Marcia-Mariel Erhart had a top 20 time in the women’s 1000 free.
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Queens’ McKenzie Stevens (Salisbury) won the 500 (5:04.17) and 1000 (10:26.59) in the Royals’ meet in Atlanta against Emory.

Prep golf
The NCHSAA is set to host the women’s golf state championships today and Tuesday.
The event will be held at three courses in the Pinehurst area. The 1A/2A Championship will be held at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club’s Grey Fox course.
The 3A Championship will be played at Longleaf Golf and Country Club. The 4A Championship will be played on Pinehurst Country Club (No. 5).
Carson senior Micah Furr will be competing in the 3A Championships. Furr will tee off today at 9:30 a.m.

Youth basketball
The Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department is accepting registrations for a boys basketball league for ages 7-15.
The cost is $30 per participant. Today is the last day to register. Call 704-638-5289.
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This is the last week to register at the East Rowan YMCA for girls basketball (grades 2-8) and Little Shooters basketball.
Register at the East Rowan YMCA or online at www.rowanymca.org
Contact Joe Finney at 704-279-1742 or jfinney@rowanymca.org.

Men’s cross country
UNC Pembroke’s Jonathan and Matthew Martin (Carson) competed in the Peach Belt Conference Championships in Milledgeville, Ga. on Saturday and helped the Braves finish fourth.
Both Martins ran personal bests for an 8K race. Jonathan’s time was 26:30, while Matthew ran 26:37.
The Martins qualified for the Southeast Regional Championships in Montevallo, Ala., on Nov. 5.
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Junior Gil Gilreath (NW Cabarrus) was seventh in the SAC Cross Country Championships, helped Mars Hill win team title and made All-SAC.
The junior ran 26:55.

Local golf
The McCanless Couples played Captain’s Choice on Sunday.
The first-place team was Lee Fesperman, Rodger Snider, Lexie Miller and Walt and Kim Kincaid.
Alex Miller, Azalee Story, David Huneycutt and Ty and Beverly Cobb finished second.
Walt Kincaid won closest to the pin. Gene Seaford won longest putt.

Women’s soccer
Host Tusculum scored a pair of goals midway through the first half and went on to shut out Catawba, 2-0, in South Atlantic Conference women’s soccer action on Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Field.
Catawba fell to 6-6-2 and 5-4-1.

College golf
George Mason’s Eric Edwards (Salisbury) shot 1-under 70 on Sunday in the first round of the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate.
Edwards finished the front nine one-over par, but finished strong with all pars and two birdies on the back nine.
Edwards is tied for 12th going into today’s second round. The three-day tournament is being held at Kilmarlic Golf Club in Powells Point, N.C.

Prep volleyball
Pairings for the volleyball playoffs will be announced on Tuesday.
First-round matches will be on Wednesday, with more matches on Thursday and Saturday.

Prep cross country
Regionals will take place on Saturday.

Prep soccer
The start of the soccer state playoffs has been pushed back to Nov. 5. SPC teams will finish the regular season this week.

Football poll
Ohio State dropped four spots to No. 6 in The Associated Press college football poll after its first loss of the season, and Penn State moved into the rankings for the first time since 2011 after upsetting the Buckeyes.
Alabama is No. 1 again, receiving all but one of the 61 first-place votes from the media panel.

on Sunday. Michigan moved up to No. 2, Clemson is No. 3 and Washington No. 4.

Louisville moved up to No. 5 ahead of the Buckeyes, who blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 24-21 against Penn State on Saturday night. The Nittany Lions entered the rankings at No. 24.

Nebraska is No. 7 and Baylor is eighth. Texas A&M slipped three spots to No. 9 after losing for the first time this season.

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POLL POINTS

UP

— West Virginia (6-0) moved up two spots to No. 10 in the rankings, the Mountaineers’ best showing since 2012. Those Mountaineers with Geno Smith and Tavon Austin were undone by a faulty defense and ended up finishing the season unranked after peaking at No. 5 in early October. These Mountaineers have the second-best defense in the Big 12 and rank 32nd in the nation in yards per play at 5.14.

— No. 15 Auburn moved up six spots after the second-most lopsided SEC victory in the history of the program. The Tigers beat Arkansas 56-3 and have won four straight since a 1-2 start.

— No. 19 LSU moved up six spots after trouncing Mississippi.

— Washington matched its best ranking since finishing No. 3 in 2000.

DOWN

— Ohio State had the biggest drop of the week, but it still ran its streak of top-10 rankings to 31, the longest current streak in the nation, dating back to November 2014.