BRIEFS

Gaffney jayvees top Spartanburg

The Gaffney High junior varsity volleyball team beat Spartanburg, 2- 0 behind the serving of Stormy Peeler, Mary Katherine Benson and Ashley Peeler.

But the varsity was not as fortunate, losing 26-24, 25-27, 21-25, 20- 25.

Saints edge Newberry 2-1

The Saints soccer team recorded its third straight win with a 2-1 victory against Newberry College on Wednesday. Newberry falls to 0-3 with the loss to Limestone (3-0).

The Saints' Joel Moran scored the first goal 11 minutes into the contest off a cross from Ali Benson.Newberry's Trey Boyd equalized in the 38th minute, but Limestone responded less than two minutes later when Tom Morris blasted a shot that deflected off of the Newberry goalkeeper. Keegan Ziada got the rebound to give the Saints with 2-1 win.

Limestone goalkeeper Mark Davidson had four saves, while the Indians' Will Dietrich posted one.

Lady Saints in soccer action

Lenoir-Rhyne College defeated Limestone 5-1 in women's soccer action on Wednesday night.

Lenoir-Rhyne was up 2-0 at halftime after goals from Michelle Garcia and Laura Linehan. Limestone scored its lone goal eight minutes into the second period. Bekki Hagarman served the ball into the box on a corner kick. Lee Cribb found the loose ball and scored to cut the Bears' lead to one.

However, Lenoir-Rhyne answered with back-to-back goals from Linehan to increase its lead to 4-1.

Jags' Collier makes improvement

Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier is making gradual improvement from gunshot wounds but is "not out of the woods yet," his agent told a newspaper Thursday.

Collier remained in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, but agent Jeff Jankovich told the Florida Times- Union he was encouraged by what limited knowledge he has of Collier's condition.

"(The family) seems pretty upbeat he's going to make it," Jankovich told the paper. "He's awake at times. He's still in intensive care, but he's stable. Every time they've talked to the doctors, it seems like it's a little bit better. It's still precarious. There may be more surgery needed, but it seems encouraging at this point."

Bengals' Johnson now Ocho Cinco

Call him Ocho Cinco on the field, too.

The National Football League decided on Thursday to recognize receiver Chad Johnson's legal name change to Chad Ocho Cinco. The new name will be on the back of his Cincinnati Bengals uniform for the season opener in Baltimore on Sunday.

The receiver had his name changed in his home state of Florida last week. It's a reference to his uniform number ¿Ocho Cinco means "eight five" in Spanish. When the NFL celebrated Hispanic Heritage month in 2006, he wore it on the back of his uniform for pregame warmups, but had to remove it for the game because of NFL rules it wasn't his real name.

The Pro Bowl receiver asked the media to start calling him by his new name this week. The Bengals couldn't change the name on his uniform until the NFL gave permission.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday, league spokesman Greg Aiello said simply: "It's his legal surname."