SPORTS digest

Engelmann powers Scrappers to victory

NILES

Jonathan Engelmann drove in two runs to lead the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (40-32) to Friday’s 7-1 victory over the Batavia Muckdogs.

Engelmann hit a solo homer in the Scrappers’ final home game of the New York-Penn League regular season.

Jose Fermin and Angel Lopez Alvarez doubled. Luis Araujo earned the win in relief of Shane McCarthy.

YSU volleyball team splits two matches

PITTSBURGH

The Youngstown State volleyball team split two matches at the Duquesne Invitational, earning a 3-2 victory over UNLV and falling 3-0 to Bowling Green.

The win over the Rebels was a long and emotional one as YSU rebounded from a 25-14 loss in the first set to take the second 25-22, the third 26-24 and the fifth 15-9. The Penguins then had about an hour before taking the floor against Bowling Green, which had rested for four hours.

Against UNLV, the Penguins registered a season-best .244 attack percentage and tied a season high with 13 blocks en route to the five-set win. UNLV held a 72-53 advantage in kills, but the Rebels committed eight more attack errors and nine more serving errors than the Penguins.

Aleah Hughes led the Penguins offensively with 16 kills while adding 12 digs, and Sarah Varcolla registered eight blocks to go along with five kills. Margaux Thompson also had a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 22 digs.

YSU overcame an impressive match from UNLV’s Mariena Hayden, who posted a school-record nine aces, 26 kills and 18 digs.

In the second match, Bowling Green hit .312 and had 45 kills in the three-setter that it won 25-20, 25-18, 25-14.

Thompson was YSU’s top attacker against the Falcons with 10 kills, and Hughes finished with a team-high 11 digs.

YSU will finish play at Duquesne against the host Dukes today at 3 p.m. Duquesne beat Bowling Green 3-2 but fell 3-1 to UNLV.

Serena matches easiest win over Venus in rout

NEW YORK

Serena Williams equaled her most-lopsided victory ever in 30 professional meetings with sister Venus, beating her 6-1, 6-2 on Friday night in the third round of the U.S. Open.

Serena shook off an early ankle injury to win seven straight games and seize control in perhaps her most dominant performance since giving birth to her a daughter a year ago Saturday.

The sisters’ earliest meeting in a Grand Slam tournament in 20 years was over early, with Venus unable to do anything to blunt Serena’s power, even after the crowd tried desperately to get behind her early in the second set.

They hadn’t played this early in a Grand Slam since Venus won in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open in their first meeting as pros, and only once over the next two decades had either won so decisively, when Serena won by the same score in a semifinal victory in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013.

Donald ends holdout with record contract

LOS ANGELES

All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald agreed to a massive new contract with the Los Angeles Rams on Friday, ending his second consecutive preseason holdout as the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.

The Rams announced a new six-year deal through 2024 for Donald, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

ESPN and the NFL Network reported the new deal is worth $135 million over six years, with a $40 million signing bonus and $87 million guaranteed. Donald is already under contract this season for $6.89 million in the final year of his rookie deal.

Donald was chosen for the Pro Bowl after each of his four NFL seasons. The 27-year-old Pitt product is the centerpiece of the Rams’ defense and one of the NFL’s most dominant linemen, demonstrating remarkable effectiveness against the run and the pass.

Staff/wire report