State sports briefs

VOLLEYBALL

Arkansas sweeps South Carolina

Hailey Dirrigl had a team-high 10 kills and Okiana Valle had a match-high 26 digs to lead the University of Arkansas to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 victory over South Carolina on Wednesday at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville.

The Razorbacks (9-9, 3-5 SEC) also got 19 assists from Gracie Ryan and Rachel Rippee added 13. Aubrey Ezell led South Carolina (14-4, 5-3) with 16 digs and Mikayla Shields had 10 kills.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Three schools in top 5 of preseason poll

Arkansas Tech University received one first-place vote Wednesday and 108 points to finish second in the women's preseason Great American Conference poll.

Harding University finished with 102 points to come in third, while Henderson State University got 87 points to finish fourth. Ouachita Baptist University (55 points) finished seventh in the poll, while Southern Arkansas University (17 points) was 11th and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (15 points) was 12th.

Southwestern Oklahoma State received the 11 other first-place votes and topped the poll with 121 points.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

UAFS men picked fifth

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith received one first-place vote Wednesday and finished with 89 points to come in fifth in the men's preseason Heartland Conference poll picked by league coaches and sports information directors.

The Lions, who have won the past two conference regular-season titles, have just two players returning from last season's team that finished 24-6 overall and 12-4 in Heartland Conference play.

Dallas Baptist received the remaining 17 first-place votes and topped the poll with 161 points, followed by Lubbock Christian (122 points), Newman (111) and Rogers State (104).

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY

Watson honored by Sun Belt

University of Arkansas at Little Rock senior Shanieke Watson was named Wednesday as the Sun Belt Conference women's runner of the week for the second time this season and fifth time in her career.

Watson finished in second place at the Little Rock Invitational on Saturday, logging a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 38.1 seconds. She finished in the top five in three races, including a victory at the UCA Invitational in Conway.

Harding duo receives conference honor

Harding sophomore Alicja Minczuk and junior Bartek Kwiecinski were named the Great American Conference's runners of the week Wednesday.

Minczuk won the Little Rock Open 5K by five seconds, finishing with a career-best time of 17:33. She became the first Harding women's runner to win a meet since Madison Drennan won the 2017 GAC Preview.

Kwiecinski led Harding to a sixth-place finish at the GAC Championship, finishing in 15th place individually with a time of 26:13.8, the fourth-fastest time among Division II runners. He finished as Harding's top runner in each of its three regular-season events.

WOMEN'S GOLF

Henderson finishes fourth in Oklahoma

The Henderson State women's team finished in fourth place Wednesday at the NCAA Division II Central Region Preview in Muskogee, Okla.

The Reddies shot a 311 total Wednesday to finish with a 618 total. Host Northeastern (Okla.) State won the event with a 602 total, followed by Central Missouri and Southwestern Oklahoma State. Southern Arkansas shot a 664 total to finish 15th, and Harding had a 666 total to finish 16th.

Luisa Gartmann led Henderson State individually, shooting a second round 75 to finish at 7-over 149 to tie with three other golfers for sixth place. Teammate Hanna Brauburger was right behind, finishing with an 8-over 150 to tie for 10th place.

MEN'S SOCCER

Harding men ranked No. 4

The Harding University men's team landed at No. 4 in the first NCAA Division II Central Region rankings that were released Wednesday.

Harding (7-4-1) is ranked behind Fort Hays State (10-2-1), Northeastern State (9-1-1) and Lindenwood (7-4-3). The top two teams in each region qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Harding has regular-season games remaining against Christian Brothers on Friday and Ouachita Baptist on Oct. 23. New rankings will be released Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, with the tournament field announced on Nov. 5.

Sports on 10/18/2018

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