The week of August 20-27

Football

We are aware of 34 Ben Davis graduates who are playing college football this year at 20 different schools. Three of those colleges opened their seasons on Saturday and 15 more will open this coming weekend. One of the three which played is Iowa Central, a junior college which lost 20-13 to the College of DuPage. Chris McGee is a running back for Iowa Central. However, they do not have a sports information person and their website does not have any information about the game.

Defending NAIA national champion Marian opened its season with a 56-10 drubbing of No. 10 St. Xavier, Illinois. Defensive back Antonio Allen had three solo tackles and assisted on another for the Knights.

St. Francis of Indiana won its opener 34-20 against Trinity International. Four Giant graduates helped lead  the Cougars to the win, including senior starters wide receiver Montay McDowell and cornerback Na’Shawn Lewis. McDowell caught one pass for 21 yards, and Lewis had two solo tackles. Junior Sean Boswell caught two passes for 28 yards and returned two punts, one for 35 yards and one for two yards. Freshman Carlin Coleman had one solo tackle, a sack of the quarterback.

Volleyball

IU-East (3-5) opened its season by losing four matches at the Lindsey Wilson Classic, falling 3-1 to Freed-Hardeman (TN), 3-2 to Coastal Georgia, 3-0 to Lindsey Wilson (KY), and  3-1 to Cumberland (TN). The Red Wolves rebounded by winning three of four at the Robert Morris (IL) Invitational, defeating the host school 3-0, Graceland (IA) 3-1, and Harris-Stowe (MO) 3-0, before bowing 3-2 to Mid-American Nazarene (KS). Libero Madison Yoder played in all 31 sets for IU-East and had 115 digs (3.71 per set). The junior, who was an all conference performer for three years for the Giants, averaged 4.70 digs  per set as an IU-East freshman and was selected to two all-tournament teams. As a sophomore she averaged  4.1 digs per set. In last week’s eight matches, in addition to her 115 digs, she served 78 times, with six aces and 18 errors and had two kills and eight assists.

Spring Arbor (2-2) opened its season at the Michigan-Dearborn Early Bird Tournament, winning two and losing two.  The Cougars defeated Michigan-Dearborn 3-1 and Trinity International 3-0 and lost 3-2 to Lawrence Tech and 3-0 to nationally ranked Madonna. Alyssa Walker played in all 15 sets for Spring Arbor and attempted 72 kills, converting 29 of them and making 16 errors (.181 percentage); served 24 times with one ace and five errors; had two solo blocks and five assists and seven errors; and had 31 digs.

Purdue (2-1) opened its season at home, defeating Wyoming 3-0 and Washington State 3-1 before losing 3-2 to Kentucky. Both Shavonna Cuttino and Danielle Cuttino played in each of the 12 sets. Shavonna attempted 28 kills in the three matches and converted on 13, with seven errors (.214). The red-shirt freshman  totaled one dig and one assist and attempted 15 blocks, assisting on 11 with one solo and committing three errors. Danielle attempted 113 kills, converting on 42  and making 23 errors (.168). The junior had six digs, and seven assists on 10 blocking attempts with three errors.