Goldman, Fowler lead Lady Vols

Tennessee's Chloe Goldman and Nikki Fowler both reached career milestones Friday.

The Lady Vols need their contributions and more to outlast SEC-rival Alabama 26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Goldman had a season-high 30 digs for Tennessee (13-5, 6-2 SEC), moving past Kristy Dobson to become UT's career leader in digs with 1,503.

"It is a testament to the hard work she has put in during her four years at Tennessee and the fact that she has played the libero position at a high level as consistently as any player that I have ever coached,'' UT coach Rob Patrick said.

With 14 kills against Alabama (6-13, 4-5), Fowler became the 17th player in school history to reach 1,000 kills for her career. The junior now has 1,008.

"Nikki has been an offensive force for us since she stepped on our campus and I look forward to watching her accumulate even more kills for us during the rest of her career,'' Patrick said.

Women's Cross Country: Running with its full lineup for the first time this season, the Tennessee Lady Vols produced their best performance of the season, finishing third at the Panorama Farms Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.

The Lady Vols scored 69 points to finish behind second-ranked Villanova (17) and No. 10 Virginia (52).

UT was led by Jackie Areson, who covered the 6,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 53.50 seconds to finish ninth out of 69 runners.

Chanelle Price finished 17th in a career-best 21:37.12 and Phoebe Wright (21:44.29) was 18th.

"We ran our best race of the season today, which is what you want to see as we approach the championship time of the season,'' Lady Vols coach J.J. Clark said.

Men's Cross Country: Running in a field with four ranked teams, Tennessee finished sixth with 158 points at the Panorama Farms Invitational.

Host Virginia, ranked No. 15, won with 30 points.

Michael Spooner was UT's top finisher. He covered the 8K course in 24:09.86 to finish 17th in the individual standings. Peter Sigilai was 23rd (22nd in scoring) in 24:25.66.

"Our top three guys ran well, but we needed a little more help from our four and five runners to push us where I thought we could finish,'' UT coach George Watts said.

Men's Golf: A collegiate-best round from Justin Walker enabled Tennessee to tie for second after the first round of the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate in Jonesborough.

UT shot a 1-under-par 287 to tie Missouri and trail leader Oregon State by one stroke.

Walker, who played in just two tournaments last season, shot a 2-under 70 and is tied for fifth in the individual standings.

"Today, I didn't really hit anything close but just happened to make some long putts,'' Walker said.

UT's David Holmes, the former West High School standout, shot a 71 and is tied for eighth.

"It's unfortunate when you make a triple on 9, but I bounced back,'' Holmes said. "I didn't let it affect me and came right back to birdie 11 and 12.

Duke's Wes Roach, the former Webb standout, is tied for second at 68.

Men's Swimming: Tennessee opened its season with a 166-134 victory over SEC-rival LSU at Baton Rouge, La.

In his first meet, redshirt freshman Ryan Harrison just beat teammate Michael Christy to win the 200 freestyle in 1:40.13. Christy came back to win the 200 individual medley (1:52.53).

Coming off his strong freshman season, Ryan Helms won the 1- and 3-meter diving events. His three-meter score of 397.57 was less than seven points off his career best.