Briefs

Women’s cross-country

The University of Miami junior Melanie Schultz finished second overall to lead the women’s cross-country at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.

Schultz, who completed the 5000-meter course in a time of 17:42.20, has been the Hurricanes top finisher at both meets this season, and in seven of the last eight races dating back to last season.

Miami recorded 291 points to place 11th out of 22 teams.

Senior Marilyn Ruiz was UM’s second best finisher placing 47th in a time of 19:47.73. Freshman DeeDee Phlatts also ran well finishing 74th.

Men’s cross-country

Junior Alex Brutvan finished 15th in a time of 26:28.96 to lead the University of Miami men’s cross country team to a fourth-place finish out of 22 teams at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.

Miami, which finished with 135 points, had seven runners place among the top-65 finishers individually.

Sophomore Tom Berry placed 32nd finishing the 8000-meter course in a time of 27:13.76. Sophomore Zach Castiglione placed 38th while fellow sophomore Jon Scheiner finished 43rd.

Rounding out the Hurricane scoring was junior James Mullaly who placed 51st.

Volleyball

The University of Miami volleyball team pulled off the second three game sweep in as many days when they defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday evening in their last match of the Hurricane Ivan-Sugar Bowl Classic held at SMU’s Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Tex. The Hurricanes improve to 4-3 in their final non-conference tournament of the season.

Sophomore middle blocker Francheska Savage led Miami with 14 kills on 20 attempts. Her .650 attacking percentage with also a team high. Junior outside hitter Karla Johnson followed with a 12-kill effort and one block assist. Senior right side hitter Valeria Tipiana added 11 kills of her own while hitting a team high five service aces, which ties her career high mark. Classmate Elizabeth Tyson connected on eight kills and two service aces.

Both teams exchanged leads to keep the game within one point until two kills from Johnson and a service ace from Tyson pushed the score to 13-11 in Miami’s favor. The Hurricanes scorched the Panthers with four consecutive kills for the 30-21 win. As a team the Hurricanes hit .444 connecting on 19 kills while holding Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a .250 attacking percentage.

The Hurricanes capitalized on a 9-for-31 kill performance to win game two. Early Panther errors gave Miami a 4-2. The Hurricanes then went on an 11-point run to take a commanding 15-3 lead. Tipiana connected on four service aces while Tyson hit three during that span. Miami closed out the game at 30-18 after a Tipiana kill. The Hurricanes held the Panthers to a .129 attacking percentage.