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• Hosfield earns national award; Spigner honored in California
• Lady Vols finish No. 14 in fastpitch coaches' poll
• Spigner could be next big thing

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Auburn made good use of its hits over the weekend to take a SEC softball series from No. 9 Tennessee with a 2-1, eight-inning victory Sunday at Auburn, Ala.

Tennessee (31-7, 7-6 SEC) out-hit Auburn (30-9, 9-5) for the weekend, 21-12.

"Auburn's pitching simply beat our pitching in the clutch," Lady Vol co-head coach Ralph Weekly said. "This is the first series we have had where we had 21 hits to our opponent's 12 and no errors to our opponent's seven and still lost the series. They were opportunistic and deserved to win."

The Lady Vols led 1-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday, but Auburn tied the game on a double and two wild pitches.

The Tigers won the game in the eighth by getting the first two batters on via walks, a fielder's choice, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.

Senior Megan Rhodes (14-4, 4-4) took the loss in 2 innings of relief. Freshman starter Ashton Ward allowed one run, two hits, struck out six and walked two in six innings.

Senior third baseman Tonya Callahan led the Tennessee offense with a single and a double.

The Lady Vols start a season-long 15-game homestand at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Lee Softball Stadium with a doubleheader against East Tennessee State.

Men's Swimming: The Vols concluded the 2007-08 season Saturday with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash., garnering All-America honors in four relays (400 medley, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle and 800 freestyle) and two individual events (Jonas Persson in 100 freestyle and Michale Wolfe in 200 butterly).

"The finals session of day three proved to be very good to our team," said UT coach John Trembley, who team finished in the top 10 for the first time since 2004. "Persson had a great swim in the finals of the 100 freestyle. Wolfe ended his career in great fashion. In his first NCAA individual event, placing sixth in the butterfly was amazing."

Arizona won the title for the first time in school history. UT also claimed honorable mention All-America honors in the 200 medley relay and two other individual events.

Persson took fifth in the 100 freestyle in 42.50 seconds after breaking the school record three times during the weekend. Wolfe placed sixth in the 200 butterfly in 1:44.23.

The 400 freestyle relay ended the championships and Nolan Morrell, Persson, Octavio Alesi and Barry Murphy also earned sixth-place by finishing in 2:52.04.

Men's Tennis: The 12th-ranked Vols won their fourth consecutive SEC match, defeating 24th-ranked Alabama, 5-1 at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

"This was a good weekend for Tennessee," head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "You need these types of challenges in the regular season to get ready for the NCAA tournament."

The Vols (17-2, 6-2 SEC) won the doubles point for the 15th time in 19 matches.

The Vols play host to Vanderbilt 2 p.m. Friday at UT Outdoor Varsity Courts.

Women's Golf: The 17th-ranked Lady Vols concluded their regular season with a tie for 17th place finish at the Bryan National Collegiate in Browns Summit, N.C.

UT shot 320 for a 935 total. Florida took the team title with a 906.

Senior Marci Turner (80) and sophomore Angela Oh (78) tied for 25th.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.