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Volleyball notebook: O’Bryant boys all grown up

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

Paul Pitts-Dilley hadn’t heard of the rule. Frankly, how would he?Before he became the O’Bryant boys volleyball head coach 15 years ago, Pitts-Dilley attended a game as a new teacher at the school. Warmups passed, the opposing team was ready to go and game time arrived, but there was a delay.“(O’Bryant) had to wait for a sixth player to show up,” Pitts-Dilley said. “Then I learned a rule that I didn’t think existed, that for every 10 minutes you don’t have six players, you lose a set. … When I took over, the numbers were really low.”It’s difficult to picture given the Tigers we see today. As soon as you walk through the double-doors into the gym for a home game, the courts are packed with players slugging balls around for warmups. Two sub-varsity teams bolster the program, with 30-plus student-athletes coming out to play over the last seven seasons.The varsity team is a serious Div. 2 state title threat. All-Scholastic senior outside hitter Jonathan Narsjo and senior setter Son Nguy...

Anthony Volpe’s 2-run homer, DJ LeMahieu’s walk-off single lead Yankees to 3-2 over the Blue Jays

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

Saturday’s pitching duel between the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Blue Jays’ Alek Manoah lived up to the hype.But after both starters departed, Anthony Volpe and DJ LeMahieu stole the spotlight.Volpe, a 21-year-old rookie, scored the first runs of the game in the eighth inning when he took a Yimi Garcia fastball the other way and over the right field fence at Yankee Stadium. The two-run home run, the second of Volpe’s young career, gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead after Manoah spent most of the afternoon shoving.The Blue Jays answered right back in the ninth when pinch-hitter Danny Jansen hit his own two-run shot. Just like that, a game that had previously been starved of scoring was tied again.But the Yankees prevented extra innings with a ninth-inning rally, capped by a pinch-hit, walk-off single from LeMahieu. The hit sealed the deal on a 3-2 win for the Bombers.Developing story, check back for details. ()

76ers don’t need Joel Embiid to complete first-round sweep of Nets, win Game 4 96-88

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

The familiar sounds of celebration echoed from the visitor’s locker room throughout the Barclays Center corridors. It was impossible not to hear the cheers on the path from the court to the home locker room.It ended in a sweep — and Joel Embiid wasn’t the janitor on clean-up duty.The Sixers ruled the NBA’s presumptive MVP out for Game 4 with a sprained right knee sustained in the third quarter of Game 3.They didn’t need him to handle business at Barclays Center. The Sixers broke out the broomsticks and wiped the floors at Barclays Center, handing the Nets a 96-88 loss in Game 4 that ended their season Saturday afternoon.The Nets are officially eliminated from the playoffs, while the Sixers will advance to face the winner of the No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks.And it was a particularly disappointing finish to the season given who wasn’t in uniform for the Sixers.The Nets had done as good a job as any team at lim...

Bruins notebook: Brad Marchand filling leadership void

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla.–Brad Marchand arrived in the collective consciousness of the North American hockey-watching public a dozen years ago. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he was an impactful player, notching 11-8-19 totals in 25 games. But it was in the highly contentious Finals against the Vancouver Canucks that he really made a name for himself, most notably with a post-whistle speed-bagging of Daniel Sedin’s head.This is a much different Brad Marchand we are seeing today.In the absence of captain Patrice Bergeron in this playoff series against the Florida Panthers, and in Game 3 David Krejci as well, Marchand has led not only with his play on the ice but also his restraint against a team that is attempting get him off his game with physicality.“I think he’s taken it upon himself, without Patrice being here, to be our mature leader, the guy who is leading us. And he’s doing a great job,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “I think he’s dragging people into the fight be...

Interior Secretary: US won’t end oil drilling, defends protested Willow project

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland defended her department’s approval of the contentious Willow oil project on Friday, saying that despite President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to end new drilling on federal lands, “We’re not going to turn the faucet off and say we’re not drilling anymore.”Speaking to the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Haaland said the Biden administration is “following the science and the law when it comes to everything we do, and that includes gas and oil” leases considered by her agency, which oversees U.S. public lands and waters.Despite Biden’s pledge, “We’re not going to say we’re not going to use gas and oil. That’s not reality,” Haaland said. “So we are doing the best we absolutely can.”Haaland’s comments came after the administration faced sharp criticism from some of its strongest supporters — especially young climate activists — after Interior approved the $8 billion Willow project on March 13. The massive drilling plan by oil...

Celtics’ Marcus Smart unsure if he’ll play in Game 4 vs. Hawks after taking hard fall

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

ATLANTA — Marcus Smart is unsure if he’ll play in Sunday’s Game 4 after the Celtics guard suffered a lower back injury from a hard fall late in Friday’s Game 3 loss to the Hawks.With 2:33 remaining in the fourth quarter on Friday, Smart jumped up to grab a defensive rebound but fell straight on his tailbone. He stayed down on the court for several moments before getting up and walking gingerly. Smart stayed in the game, but he was still experiencing some soreness on Saturday.“I’m OK,” Smart said. “I’m a little sore, obviously. Rewatching the play, I took a hard fall. I didn’t realize how high I was. But I’m OK, relatively speaking. Little sore today. See how I feel tomorrow, though. Not really sure where we’re at right now with playing but we’ll see.”Smart said before the postseason began that he felt as healthy as he’s been at this stage of this season in years, but this injury is one that he’s had before. He said there’s not much he can do as fa...

Abandoned crab, lobster traps targeted in new federal program

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

The U.S. government is launching a new program to combat the scourge of abandoned crab and lobster traps, which can dilute harvests and kill other fish in coastal waters from Maine to Alaska.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has chosen William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science to anchor the program. The university announced Friday that NOAA is providing an $8 million grant to the institute to implement the project.Abandoned fishing gear is a worldwide problem that’s been referred to as anything from “ghost nets ” to the “land mines of the sea.” The lost equipment is often dislodged by storms or passing boats, but it still will attract and kill marine life.Industry experts and scientists estimate commercial fishermen lose about 10% of their traps per year to bad weather, strong currents and vessels that sever tie lines. A 2001 study suggested that ghost fishing kills 4 million to 10 million blue crabs each year in Louisiana alone.The NOAA’...

Ticker: GM recalls 40,000 pickups to fix fire risk

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

General Motors is recalling certain Chevrolet Silverado medium-duty trucks for model year 2019 or later. The company has discovered a potential leak in brake fluid that could result in a fire. Until the recall repair is done, GM advises owners to park outdoors. Possibly 40,428 vehicles could be affected.They include 4500HD, 5500HD, and 6500HD models with model years between 2019 and 2023.Stocks close quiet week with small gainsStocks finished with slight gains on Wall Street as investors closed out a quiet week highlighted by a batch of mostly mixed corporate earnings reports. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all gained 0.1% Friday. Among the companies that reported results, hospital operator HCA Healthcare rose after raising its full-year profit outlook, while consumer products giant Procter & Gamble gained after its quarterly profit beat estimates.Unions say rails should forgo buybacks, spend on safetyRail unions want railroads to take some of the billi...

Helicopter to drop larvicide across San Diego's waterways this week

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Preventive measures to thwart mosquito attacks are coming by air this week in San Diego County.According to the County of San Diego Communications Office, the first routine aerial larvicide drop of the year is scheduled for Wednesday and possibly Thursday across roughly 50 local waterways. Friday was San Diego’s warmest day in nearly 4 months A helicopter will release larvicide drops over nearly 1,300 acres of potential mosquito breeding areas that officials say are "hard-to-reach." This includes areas of standing water in rivers, streams, ponds and other waterways.The aerial larvicide drops will continue once a month until October in an effort to stop mosquitoes from potentially spreading diseases like West Nile, the communications office explained.Officials say that the drops are not harmful to people or pets. On the contrary, the insecticide kills mosquito larvae before it can grow into biting mosquitoes.The full aerial larvicide schedule, along with more informati...

National Park Week invites participants to share #YourParkStory on social media

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:54:52 GMT

(KTVX) – In honor of National Park Week, entrance fees are waived to all U.S. national parks on the first day of festivities.The nine-day celebration kicks off April 22 and lasts through April 30, so visitors who can't make it out on the first day can still take part in online and in-person events. These are America’s deadliest national parks: data Among them, staffers with the National Park Service are asking participants to share their "park story" on social media. NPS recommends telling the story about any special connections participants have with national parks using the hashtag #MyParkStory. To read what others are saying, you can follow the National Park Service on social media, or subscribe to the hashtag #YourParkStory. To help get the inspiration flowing, the NPS has created a theme for each day of National Park Week that participants should consider writing about. Saturday, April 22: The theme is connection.Sunday, April 23: The theme is discovery.Monday, April 24: The ...