YSU

YSU
Horizon tickets
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tickets for the Horizon League basketball tournament will be on sale on Thursday and Saturday at the YSU ticket office.
YSU's men's team will play at 7 p.m. on March 1 at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center. Tickets are $10. An all-session ticket for the women's tournament at Loyola University from Feb. 27 through March 2 is $25.
LOCAL
Fitch, Boardmanbowlers advance
STRUTHERS -- Austintown Fitch and Boardman High qualified both boys and girls teams to the regional bowling tournament, which is set for Saturday at Midway Lanes on Tallmadge Ave. in Akron.
Other boys teams advancing are Niles McKinley and Canfield while Struthers and Ursuline High are girls teams competing in the regional.
At the district tournament at Holiday Bowl recently, Fitch rolled 3,450 to finish as the top qualifying team. Nordonia was second-best with 3,285; followed by Niles (3,238); Boardman (3,222) and Canfield (3,144).
Fitch was the top girls team with 2,939, with Boardman rolling 2,794. Struthers tallied 2,700 and Ursuline 2,596.
Missing the top five were Struthers boys (3,043) and Cardinal Mooney's girls (2,354).
The regional begins at noon.
Hubbard victorious
HUBBARD -- Hubbard High School's boys team won the Presidents Day Invitational at Bell-Wick Bowl on Monday.
Hubbard had a pinfall of 4,537 to beat out Liberty's varsity which had 4,456. Youngstown City's team finished third with 4,392, followed by Struthers A (4,344), Mooney (4,298), Struthers B (4,142) and Liberty's JV squad (2,200).
Su Bachinger's Ursuline's team won the girls division with 3,889 followed by Mooney (3,709); Canfield (3,704) and Hubbard (2,966).
Club Hollywoodearns medals
KENT -- The Club Hollywood "Sweet 16s," a volleyball club made up of area players, advanced to the gold medal round in a recent open tournament at Kent State University.
Players receiving medals were Jill Barry, Lauren Brobeck, Allie Rich, Vicki Hink, Joel Miller, Krista Reeder, Jan Kehres and Lauren Krebs. Coaches receiving awards were Rich Wyman, director of Club Hollywood, and Dennis Seeger.
Quick Six set forflag football season
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 2002 Quick Six 4-on-4 Flag Football League, formerly Go-deep of Youngstown, is set to begin another season.
Youngstown's non-contact flag football league will begin on April 6, with games being played at West Elementary School fields on Saturdays.
For details, call (330) 540-8451 or (330) 550-8433.
REGION
Gund hosts rodeo
CLEVELAND -- The World's Toughest Rodeo will be held Friday and Saturday at Gund Arena. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. each day, with 38 Special performing on Friday and Joe Diffie on Saturday.
For ticket information, contact Ticketmaster at (216) 241-2121 or www.ticketmaster.com. For event information, contact Gund Arena at (216) 420-2200 or gundarena.com.
NATION
Tiger ousted
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- On a day of shockers in the opening round of the Match Play Championship, none was bigger than Tiger Woods heading to the clubhouse to clean out his locker after a stunning loss to Peter O'Malley, the pudgy Australian who wasn't even supposed to be here.
About 15 minutes after Woods tipped his cap and shook hands with O'Malley, Phil Mickelson watched helplessly as John Cook rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to send Lefty home early for the third tournament in a row.
David Duval was 2-up with two holes to play against Kevin Sutherland, who birdied the 17th and 18th holes, and sent Duval packing with a two-putt birdie on the 20th hole of the match.
The other top seeds had only minor difficulty as Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, David Toms, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III all advanced. Only Toms was taken to the 18th hole, where he defeated Rory Sabbatini.
Gruden introduced
TAMPA, Fla. -- Jon Gruden resisted taking any parting shots at the Oakland Raiders. Instead, he focused on his future as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I'm not shy. I don't have thin skin," he said Wednesday when asked if he was looking forward to working for "hands off" owners after spending the past four seasons under Al Davis.
'I'm going to coach with the style that I've always coached with," Gruden added, "and I welcome any input I can get from ownership."
The sons of Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer smiled. The youngest coach in the NFL kept talking.
WORLD
Webb trails by 3
GOLD COAST, Australia -- Australia's Karrie Webb, seeking her fifth straight Australian Ladies Masters title, shot a 3-under 69 to fall three strokes behind leader Elisabeth Esterl.
Esterl, from Germany, shot a 66 on Royal Pines' East Course to take a one-stroke lead over Wales' Becky Morgan. Sweden's Annika Sorenstam opened with a 74, and England's Laura Davies shot a 73.
Vindicator staff/wire reports