The New Albany, Floyd Central and Corydon girls' golf teams will compete for spots in the state finals during Saturday's regional at Eagle Valley in Evansville. The top three teams in the 18-team field, plus the top five individuals who are not members of advancing teams, will qualify for the finals at The Legends of Indiana on Sept. 28-29.
The Bulldogs, winners of back-to-back sectional championships, and Panthers have never reached the state finals. Floyd Central has made four appearances (the last in 2007). New Albany finished seventh in last year's regional.
New Albany coach Rick Belcher, whose team carded a 345 to win the sectional at Valley View last week, believes the Bulldogs must cut off 25 shots to advance in a field that includes No. 7 Bloomington South (champion at Cascades), No. 8 Jasper, No. 13 Castle, No. 14 Evansville North (sectional winner at Fendrich), No. 16 Columbus North and No. 17 Columbus East.
The regional format changed this season. The state tournament now features only five regionals (instead of seven), with the regional field bumped from 12 to 18 teams. In addition, teams that qualify for the state finals will play both days rather than face a cut after the first round.
North Harrison's Devan Smith, Clarksville's Quincy Cooper and Christian Academy's Sydney Shebtienko will compete as individuals. Cooper is making her fourth straight regional trip. She qualified for the state finals in 2009, then missed the cut by one stroke each of the last two years.
Action at Eagle View is scheduled to begin at noon.
Volleyball
Providence's reign at No. 1 in Class 2-A lasted only one week. Defending state champion Wapahani reclaimed the top spot in this week's Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association 2-A poll, while the Pioneers slipped back to No. 2.
Other ranked teams in the area include Hoosier Hills Conference powers Columbus East (No. 3 in 4-A), New Albany (No. 8 in 4-A), Seymour (No. 10 in 4-A) and Floyd Central (No. 13 in 4-A), plus Brownstown (No. 4 in 3-A) and Silver Creek (No. 11 in 3-A).
The HHC Tournament is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Girls' soccer
Lawrenceburg is the new No. 1 in Class A, while defending state champion Providence is No. 5 in the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association state poll. The state tournament draw will be Tuesday.
Boys' tennis
No. 11 Jeffersonville advanced to the final round of the HHC Tournament with a 5-0 victory over Madison on Wednesday. The Red Devils will travel to Columbus East for today's championship match. The Red Devils have won four HHC titles, the last in 2009.
Football
Police have opened a criminal investigation into longtime Fort Wayne Bishop Luers coach Matt Lindsay after he was fired over inappropriate video clips found on his computer of students and other people, The Associated Press reported. Lindsay, who won nine state titles in 26 years as head coach, also was the school's athletic director.
None of the videos contained nudity, but they apparently were surreptitiously recorded and have been turned over to investigators along with other evidence found by school officials, according to the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese.
