IN BRIEF

Gazette-Times

Outside hitter Lauren Rinderknecht has signed a financial aid agreement to attend Oregon State and will join the volleyball program when practice begins in August, coach Terry Liskevych said.

The 5-foot-11 native of Santa Barbara, Calif., is transferring from Miami (Fla.). She will be eligible in 2008, after sitting out this season under NCAA transfer rules, and have two seasons of eligibility. She was a biomedical engineering major at Miami.

“Lauren is great all-around athlete that had a late start in volleyball,” Liskevych said. “She is an outstanding blocker who will redshirt her first year here, but will help our team in 2007 in our practices. We look for her to contest for a starting spot in 2008.”

A 2005 graduate of San Marcos High, Rinderknecht was a four-year letterwinner, a three-time Channel League all-star, and earned All-CIF Division 2 honors as a senior. She was the Santa Barbara News Press newspaper’s 2004 Volleyball Athlete of the Year.

She played in all 31 matches in 2006, starting 12, and averaged 1.56 kills. She played in 28 of 30 matches as a true freshman and averaged 1.06 kills, with a career-high 12 against Duke.

Rugby time changes

Oregon State will play Chico State at 1 p.m. and Utah will play Washington State at 3 p.m. today in the semifinals of the Pacific Coast Rugby playoffs at Peavy Field, corner of Jefferson Avenue and SW 30th Street.

The winners play at noon on Saturday for the championship; the third-place game is set for 3 p.m. The champion advances to the round of 16 in the East bracket of the April 20-21 national championships at Penn State.

Admission is free.

McElroy on list

Oregon State senior pitcher Ta’Tyana McElroy is one of 20 players selected as a candidate for the 2007 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented annually to a NCAA Division I senior softball player who excels both on and off the field.

Candidates were selected more based on personal qualities off the field than on-the-field performance.

A native of Los Angeles, McElroy is actively involved in numerous community service projects, including serving as a motivational speaker for Major League Baseball’s RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner-cities) program. She has a 9-5 record this season and leads the team with a 1.26 ERA.

All-star hoops games

Corvallis High’s Greg Garrison will coach the 5A south team for the summer’s OACA/Gatorade All Star Basketball Series.

The games will take place June 22 at Northwest Christian College in Eugene and June 23 at Clackamas Community College. There will be five games each day, beginning with the 2A game at 1:30 p.m. followed by the 3A (3:15 p.m.), 4A (5 p.m.), 5A (6:45 p.m.) and 6A (8:30 p.m.) games.

The South team consists of Corvallis’ Kevin Heath, West Albany’s Curtis Denos and Lebanon’s Dillon Middleton.

Philomath’s Ben Motter will be a member of the 4A North squad, which will be coached by PHS’s Blake Ecker.

Santiam Christian’s Jeremy Bittner and Sean Sullivan will be members of the 3A South team with Monroe’s Alex DeMaris playing for the 2A North team coached by Monroe’s Glenn Norris.