ACC teams continue to make the grade on NCAA report card

acclogo3Athletic teams from Atlantic Coast Conference institutions continue to be among the top percentage of those at Division I colleges and universities that meet standards and excel academically, as reflected by Academic Progress Rate (APR) data released by the NCAA on Wednesday.

Division I institutions are held accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through the APR, a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete, each term.

The Committee on Academic Performance oversees the Academic Performance Program, which sets policies and recommends legislative changes to the Board of Directors, which has the final say on rules changes in Division I.

Beginning with 2012-13 championships, teams were required to post a minimum 900 four-year average APR or a 930 average over the most recent two years to be eligible to participate. For 2014-15 championships, teams must earn a 930 four-year average APR or a 940 average over the most recent two years to participate in championships. In 2015-16 and beyond, teams must earn a four-year APR of 930 to compete in championships.

ACC Highlights include:

• All 59 ACC football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball programs exceeded the required 930 APR average

• 10 women’s basketball teams are above the 973 national APR average

• 9 men’s basketball teams are above the national 957 APR average

• 11 baseball teams are above the Division I 967 APR average

• 12 football teams are above the FBS 956 APR average

• Louisville, which joins the ACC on July 1, 2014, achieved a perfect 1,000 APR score

• No ACC teams are subject to APR penalties for the third straight year

The ACC’s strong showing comes one week after 77 league teams received APR recognition awards, the most of any Power 5 conference.

NCAA Release: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/student-athletes-continue-achieve-academically

– News release

Duke women’s lacrosse team advances to NCAA quarterfinals

Maddy Morrissey.
Maddy Morrissey.
Duke University senior Maddy Morrissey turned in a career-best six-point performance and junior Kerrin Maurer added a hat trick as the ninth-ranked Blue Devils kept their NCAA Tournament run alive with a 10-8 victory over 14th-ranked Notre Dame Sunday, May 11 at Arlotta Stadium.

Duke (11-7) advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the 10th consecutive year, and will meet top-seeded Maryland next weekend in College Park, Md.

Sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea totaled 11 saves in the net for the Blue Devils to anchor a strong defensive effort that also included 14 caused turnovers.

Tar Heel women’s lacrosse advances to play Virginia

Abbey Friend.
Abbey Friend.
Third-seeded North Carolina got four goals and an assist from senior Abbey Friend and defeated unseeded Georgetown, 10-8, on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament second round at Fetzer Field.

Friend took over as the career goal leader for North Carolina (15-4) while also tying the UNC single-season goal mark on Sunday. She entered Sunday’s game with 191 career goals, one behind the school record of 192 set by Corey Donohoe (2008-11).

With her performance against the Hoyas, Friend now has 195 goals in her career. She has career highs of 62 goals, 16 assists and 78 points this season. Her 62 goals tie the single-season school record set by Kellie Thompson in 2002. The school single-season mark for points is within reach at 83, set by Kara Cannizzaro in 2013.

Carolina will return to action in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday (May 17) at home against sixth-seeded Virginia, which beat unseeded Princeton on Sunday afternoon.

UNC tennis advances to NCAA Sweet 16

Brett Clark.
Brett Clark.
The seventh-ranked North Carolina men’s tennis team earned a 4-1 win over South Carolina on Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

With the victory, the Tar Heels will move on to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and face No. 8-ranked Georgia in Athens, Ga. on Friday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are the host school for the final four rounds of the championships and go into Friday match as the tournament’s No. 10 seed.

The Tar Heels improve to 26-5 on the season with the victory, breaking the all-time team single-season wins record of 25 victories achieved in both 1992 and 2006. North Carolina also advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in both of those seasons. South Carolina fell to 16-14 on the season with the loss.

In singles action, sophomore Brett Clark tied UNC’s single-season singles wins record with a 6-4, 6-3 victory on court three. Clark’s win ties him with former Tar Heel All-Americas Roland Thornqvist and Nick Monroe, both of whom achieved 36 wins in the 1992-93 and 2003-04 campaigns, respectively.

NC State earns NCAA softball tourney bid

ncstatesoftballDespite losing in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to rival North Carolina, NC State’s softball team has made the 64-team field of the 2014 NCAA Division I Softball Championship, which gets underway on May 15 and runs through June 4.Three other ACC teams made the tournament: Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Florida State, which earned the league’s automatic bid.

Eighth-seeded Florida State (50-6), competing in the NCAA Championship for the 15th consecutive season, will take on Fordham (36-18). The winner will then advance to take on either South Carolina (35-20) or South Florida (41-15). The Seminoles claimed their 12th overall league title last Saturday afternoon, as they were able to defeat Notre Dame, 3-1.

NC State (34-16) will be in the Athens Regional and will face UAB (31-25) in its first game. The Wolfpack is making its fourth appearance in the tournament. Joining NC State in the Athens regional is Chattanooga (34-19) and fourth-seeded Georgia (45-12).

Virginia Tech (35-21) is making its seventh appearance in the tournament and third in a row. The Hokies will face Lipscomb (39-13) in the first game of the Knoxville Regional and will be joined by Charleston Southern (27-31-1) and 10th-seeded Tennessee (42-10) in the region.

Notre Dame (39-11), the ACC Championship runner-up, will travel to Los Angeles to compete against Long Beach State (38-17) in its first game. Joining the Fighting Irish in the Los Angeles Regional is third-seeded UCLA (48-6) and Southern Utah (23-29). The Fighting Irish are making their 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Championship.

The ACC has had at least four teams earn tournament bids in eight of the last 10 years.

Regionals for the NCAA Division I Softball Championship will be held May 15-18 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, a four-team, double-elimination tournament will be conducted and the 16 winning teams advance to the Super Regionals.

Super Regionals for the championship will be held May 22-25 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each site advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.

UNC baseball gets important win over FSU on senior day

Parks Jordan.
Parks Jordan.
Tyler Ramirez drove in Parks Jordan with a tiebreaking single in the bottom of the seventh, and North Carolina held on for a 5-4 win over No. 4 Florida State Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. Jordan had two hits and fellow senior Tom Zengel added an RBI double on Senior Day as the Tar Heels picked up win No. 30 and improved to 14-13 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The game, which UNC coach Mike Fox said his Tar Heels “had to win,” puts Carolina in good position to play for the ACC tournament title and could go a long way toward helping the team make the NCAA tourney.

For the third game in a row Carolina (30-21) put two on in the first, but for the first time in the series the Tar Heels converted to take an early lead. Michael Russell led off with a walk and ended up on third when Jordan’s sacrifice bunt was thrown wildly by FSU starter Dylan Silva. With runners on the corners, Landon Lassiter’s grounder to short scored Russell to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead.

Alex Raburn reached on a one-out walk in the second and scored on Zengel’s double to right. Two batters later, Korey Dunbar singled to center and Carolina was up 3-0. Jordan’s RBI single up the middle in the fourth made it 4-0 and the Tar Heels looked to be in control.

UNC starter Zac Gallen, who needed a line drive double play to escape the first, faced the minimum over his next three innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Brett Knief’s bloop single – just the second of the game for the ‘Noles – started the FSU rally, and singles by Justin Gonzalez and Danny De La Calle chased the freshman righty.

On came Reilly Hovis, who allowed a run-scoring single to Josh Delph and a walk before striking out DJ Stewart to end the inning. But the Seminoles kept coming and tied it in the sixth without the benefit of a hit when Hank Truluck – who had reached on a hit by pitch – scored on a Hovis wild pitch.

FSU brought in its bullpen ace Gage Smith (4-2) in the fifth, and the sidewinding righty retired the first seven batters he faced before the Tar Heels broke through in the seventh. Jordan reached on an infield single before Lassiter’s single put two on with one out. Skye Bolt flew out to center, but Jordan was able to move up on the play, and the senior scored on Ramirez’s two-out, two-strike single to right.

Staked to a 5-4 lead, Hovis (7-1) locked in. In his longest outing of the season, the sophomore standout allowed just a pair of singles in the final two innings. His strikeout of De La Calle ended it with the tying run aboard, and Carolina picked up its second straight Sunday win over a top-five opponent. Hovis struck out eight on the day in 4.1 innings, and now has 70 punchouts in 52.0 innings.

The Tar Heels, who reached the 30-win mark for the 16th consecutive season under head coach Mike Fox and the 17th year in a row overall, will conclude their regular season with a four-game road trip that begins Tuesday in Shelby, North Carolina, against Gardner-Webb. Carolina will then make the trip to south Florida to face red-hot Miami in a three-game series.

Panthers reach for a wide receiver from Florida State

Kelvin Benjamin.
Kelvin Benjamin.
The Carolina Panthers, who parted ways with Steve Smith, were in desperate need of a wide receiver and they took one with the 28th pick of the NFL draft with the selection of Kelvin Benjamin from Florida State.

Benjamin was certainly not the best player on the board and most experts had another receiver – Marqise Lee of UCLA – ahead of him on the draft board. Most prognosticators had Benjamin, who only played two seasons with the Seminoles, as a second round caliber pick.

That being said, Benjamin has tight end size (6-5, 240) and wide receiver skills, and he led the ACC in touchdown receptions. He is known for catching the game winner in the BCS Championship game last season.

His talent continues to grow and he should be a No. 1 receiver at some point.

UNC’s Ebron selected 10th overall by Lions

Eric Ebron.
Eric Ebron.
UNC tight end Eric Ebron has been selected in the NFL draft by the Detroit Lions.

NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders made the announcement.

Mel Kiper, ESPN draft analyst, thought the Lions would go with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. of LSU. But he said, “Ebron is a glorified wide receiver at 6-4 and half and 250 pounds. A great athlete with tremendous speed. He can stretch the deep middle area and make circus catches.”

He was considered the top tight end available in the draft.

“I don’t even know why we call him a tight end,” said former NFL coach Jon Gruden, adding that North Carolina rarely used Ebron as a blocker next to the tackle. While he has soft hands and can open up the middle of the field as well as any tight end, he’ll have to improve his blocking.

Ebron, in person at the draft, showed emotion while getting the call from the Lions, who are now coached by Jim Caldwell, and took his time getting to the stage, where he put on the Lions cap and hugged Commissioner Roger Goodell. He posed for pictures with Goodell, Sanders and a Lions jersey with his name.

He is the first tight end chosen in the top 10 since Vernon Davis, who went to San Francisco in 2006.

“I’m thrilled for Eric and his family,” said UNC head coach Larry Fedora. “Eric is the prototype tight end that the NFL is looking for these days. He can run all the routes. He can catch the ball, make people miss and has the speed to run away from defenders. The Lions are getting a special player and I think his best football is ahead of him.”

A native of Greensboro, Ebron set school tight end marks for single-season receptions, single-season yards, career receptions and career receiving yards as a junior in 2013.

“Eric flourished in our offense and we were creative in getting the ball to him in space,” said Fedora. “He loves playing football and has a lot of fun on the field. I’m looking forward to watching him play for several years in the NFL.”

It was an especially big day for Ebron who was engaged earlier in the day to his girlfriend Brittany Roundtree at the top of the Empire State Building.

Ebron, who decided to forego his senior season at UNC, caught 62 passes for 973 yards and three TDs, and was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection as a junior. His 973 receiving yards are an ACC single-season record for tight ends, topping the mark of 871 set by Maryland’s Vernon Davis in 2005.

Tar Heels upset Wolfpack in softball to advance in ACC tourney

uncsoftballNorth Carolina turned in a solid effort against rival NC State on Thursday afternoon, but the Tar Heels hope they saved an even better performance for Friday.

The fifth-seeded Tar Heels downed fourth-seeded rival NC State by an 8-4 score in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship and earned a shot at top-seeded Florida State in Friday’s 1 p.m. semifinal game.

UNC, which lost two of three to NC State in their final regular-season series, countered on Thursday with a quality pitching outing by starter Lori Spingola and long-ball heroics from Kendra Lynch, Jenna Kelly and Amber Parrish.

Spingola (18-14) worked 5 1/3 innings, struck out eight batters while walking one and held the Wolfpack hitless for the first four innings as the Tar Heels built a 7-0 lead.

Lynch and Kelly combined to drive in seven runs, four of which came on Lynch’s grand slam home run in the top of the first inning.

Leah Jones hit a two-run homer for the Wolfpack, and Renada Davis also finished with a pair of RBIs.

UNC (24-25) got to NC State All-ACC pitcher Emily Weiman (28-13) in its first at-bat. After the Tar Heels loaded the bases on an error and a pair of base hits, Kelly put down a bunt single to squeeze home Amy Nece with the game’s first run. Lynch then drove a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right-center for her grand slam and a quick 5-0 lead.

UNC upped the margin to 7-0 in the third inning on Kelly’s one-out, two-run homer to dead center field.

Spingola held the Wolfpack (34-16) hitless until the bottom of the fifth, when Sara Lippard dropped a single into left field. NC State collected two more hits in the inning, including a two-run double by Davis, but UNC avoided further damage with a double play and took a 7-2 lead into the top of the sixth.

Still, the Wolfpack wasn’t finished. With one out and one on in the bottom of the sixth, Jones delivered her seventh home run of the season to bring NC State within 7-4. Spingola departed at that point, giving way to Lauren Batten on the mound.

Batten got the second out of the inning, and fellow reliever Ashley Bone came on to pick up the third. Parrish then led off the seventh inning with her team-leading 15th home run of the season to account for UNC’s final 8-4 winning margin.

As they did against the Wolfpack, the Tar Heels will look to reverse regular-season results when they face Florida State on Friday. The Seminoles took all three meetings when the teams met at Chapel Hill, North Carolina on March 30 and 31, winning by 6-0, 5-3 and 5-1 scores.

Hurricanes’ head coach Kirk Muller and two assistants fired

Kirk Muller
Kirk Muller
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller and assistant coaches John MacLean and Dave Lewis have been fired.

“We thank Kirk, John and Dave for their time and effort during the past three seasons,” said Canes’ GM Ron Francis. “Kirk and his staff worked very hard, but we feel that the team is in need of a fresh start at this time.”

Muller, 48, compiled a record of 80-80-27 during three seasons with Carolina after being named head coach on Nov. 28, 2011. It was his first head coaching position in the NHL.

The Canes reassigned goaltending coach Greg Stefan to the pro scouting department. Assistant Coach Rod Brind’Amour remains part of the coaching staff.

But who will be named head coach. Stay tuned.