Penguins fall to NKU in home finale

Penguins fall to NKU in home finale

YOUNGSTOWN

Sarah Varcolla had 13 kills and a match-high five blocks for the Youngstown State volleyball team in a 3-1 loss on Wednesday to Northern Kentucky at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 15-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.

Varcolla’s 13 kills came on 30 swings, and she had a .367 attack percentage. Val Jeffery had 45 assists and 11 digs in her final home match, and Sam Brown added 10 kills. YSU had nine blocks as a team, but six of them came in the first set and none came in the final two.

Keely Creamer had 16 kills for Northern Kentucky, which had four players reach 10 kills.

Youngstown State will finish its season at UIC on Friday at 8 p.m.

YSU women’s team signs four recruits

YOUNGSTOWN

John Barnes, Youngstown State head women’s basketball coach, said Amara Chikwe, Chelsea Olson, McKenah Peters and Anne Secrest have signed a National Letter of Intent to continue their academic and basketball careers at YSU.

Chikwe is a forward from Michigan, Olson is a guard from Wisconsin, Peters is a guard from Ohio and Secrest is a forward from Indiana.

Chikwe is a 6-foot-1 forward from Westland, Mich., who plays for Wayne Memorial High School in the Detroit area. She averaged 10.4 points, 13.7 rebounds and five blocks in helping the Zebras to a 16-5 record as a junior.

Olson is a 5-foot-10 combo guard who plays at Westby Area High School in Westby, Wis. Olson was named honorable mention all-state, the Coulee Conference Player of the Year and All-Lacrosse Tribune First-Team as a junior when she averaged 20 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 steals and 3.1 assists.

Peters is a 5-foot-9 shooting guard who plays at Keystone High School who verbally committed to become a Penguin prior to her junior season. As a junior she was named MVP of the Patriot Athletic Conference, and she earned Second-Team All-Ohio accolades for the second consecutive year.

Secrest is a 6-foot forward from Claypool, Ind., who was the Ink Free News Player of the Year as a sophomore when she averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds in leading Tippecanoe Valley High School to the Class 3-A state championship game.

Youngstown State will begin the 2016-17 season on Friday as it hosts American at 7 p.m.

Indians championship gear to be destroyed

CLEVELAND

Clothing and other items celebrating a 2016 Cleveland Indians World Series championship that never happened will be destroyed instead of donated to those in need.

Championship merchandise is produced for both teams when a major title is on the line so items can be immediately sold to the winning team’s fans. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Indians in the Series last week.

ESPN and The Huffington Post report Major League Baseball is asking retailers to give back Indians championship gear so it can be destroyed. MLB had donated clothing to needy countries through the charity World Vision since 2005.

MLB says it has opted to destroy the items this year in order to “protect the team from inaccurate merchandise being available in the general marketplace.”

Bemidji St. coach fired; grievance is next

BEMIDJI, Minn.

Longtime Bemidji State football coach Jeff Tesch has been fired.

Tesch had been on paid administrative leave since August after allegedly uttering a racial slur during a preseason practice. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports he was fired Monday.

The Bemidji State University Faculty Association says it plans to file a grievance over Tesch’s firing.

Tesch compiled a 126-91 record during his 20-year tenure and was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s coach of the year in 2006. Defensive coordinator Brent Bolte took over head coaching duties this season. The team is 7-3.

Staff/wire report