From staff reports

TROY, Ala. — Troy graduate student Tori Hester (West Rowan) has gotten off to a great start in her final college volleyball season.

The 5-foot-9 outside hitter was Offensive Player of the Week in the Sun Belt Conference the first week of the season.

She racked up 103 kills in her first six matches and ranked seventh nationally with 4.9 kills per set.

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Salem senior Anna Rymer (South Rowan) was all-tournament in the Roanoke College Tournament.

She led her team to four wins with 45 kills and 11 aces.

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SALISBURY — Brady McIntyre, a member of the East Rowan golf team, made his first career hole-in-one at Crescent this week.

McIntyre used a pitching wedge to ace the 150-yard No. 8 hole.

Jaden Sprinkle and Brayden Mulkey witnessed the feat.

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Chris Owen shot 74-77-82 in the North Carolina Mid-Amateur at River Landing. He survived the cut after two rounds and finished 59th.

William Little, the other local golfer who qualified for the event, missed the cut.

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There are some strong young golfers on the way up.

Erwin Middle School won its most recent match at McCanless, shooting a sizzling 149.

Cam Honeycutt carded a 31 in the nine-hole outing. Erwin’s Holden Frick shot 37 for second place.

Lane Powers shot 39. Tatum Benfield shot 42. Hunter Ebersold shot 46.

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Salisbury’s volleyball team posted a Central Carolina Conference sweep of Lexington on Tuesday.

The Hornets rolled 25-7, 25-12 and 25-11.

Ashley Yang had 24 assists and is up to 1,983 for her career.

Yang added five aces and nine digs. Dayami Acevedo had eight aces, seven kills and nine digs.

Carmen McQueen had 10 kills. Ava Morris had six kills and nine digs. Addie Myers had 12 digs.

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The Salisbury-Person and Northwest Cabarrus-Mount Pleasant football games have been moved up to Thursday.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Salisbury’s Ludwig Stadium.

Still scheduled for Friday at this time are South Rowan at A.L. Brown and North Rowan at (High Point) TW Andrews. This is the open week for Carson, West Rowan and East Rowan.

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Davie got school-record performances on Friday from quarterback Draeton Nance and receiver Ethan Driver. Driver, a junior, had 268 receiving yards in a win against North Davidson. Nance, a freshman, was making his first varsity start.

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North Rowan’s Jeremiah Alford will go into the game at TW Andrews with 64 career touchdown passes. Mario Sturdivant set the school record with 65 during the 1999 season.

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Eric Gibson, who played linebacker at Salisbury, North Rowan and Catawba, is the offensive coordinator at North Charleston High.

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Jalon Walker (Salisbury) made three tackles for Georgia in the win against Tennessee Tech.

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Zeek Biggers (West Rowan) blocked a field goal for Georgia Tech in the the loss to Syracuse. It was the third time in his college career that he’s blocked a field goal.

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Notre Dame had hopes that Salisbury native Mitch Jeter could rescue the Irish with a 62-yard field goal on the last play of the game, but his field goal was blocked by Northern Illinois to finish a stunning upset in South Bend.

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The San Francisco 49ers stat sheet credited Javon Hargrave (North Rowan) with two tackles in the Monday win against the New York Jets, and Hargrave helped the 49ers dominate the line of scrimmage in their opener. The final score was 32-19, but that doesn’t reflect how thoroughly San Francisco controlled the game.

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The Atlanta Falcons signed offensive lineman Brandon Parker (A.L. Brown)  on Monday, shortly after he was cut by the 49ers. Parker played six seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders.

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Offensive lineman Nick Leverett, who started his high school career at North Rowan and graduated from Concord, is on the roster of the New Engle Patriots.

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U.S. Open doubles champion Jelena Ostapenko trains at Atlas Speed training in Orlando, a fitness gym owned by Salisbury-Rowan and App State Hall of Famer Ernest Wiggins (South Rowan).

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Mackie Gallagher (West Rowan) was the PA man for the N.C. State-Tennessee football game at Bank of America Stadium.

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Local legend Doug Rice, voice of Performance Racing Network was honored by the Atlanta Falcons with a No. 36 “Rice” Falcons jersey. The lifelong Falcons fan will be retiring after 36 seasons of racing broadcasts.

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Former Carson shortstop and quarterback Austin McNeill is making it in the country music world and enjoys singing the national anthem. He’s being called on for performances at major sporting events.