NEU » out with a knee injury. Rafael Nadal hasnt got

It will be sister vs. sister Saturday night in the NCAA volleyball tournaments second round in Manhattan, Kansas.Taylor Sandbothe, a senior middle blocker, will lead her Ohio State squad against host Kansas State, for which Elle Sandbothe is a freshman middle blocker.The Buckeyes defeated Missouri State 3-0 on Friday in the first round, as Taylor got a team-high 16.5 points with 14 kills, three blocks and three digs. Then the Wildcats, who are the No. 14 seed, beat Lipscomb 3-0, as Elle scored 9.5 points with seven kills and five blocks.Their parents, Mike and Teri Sandbothe, were both Missouri Tigers as Division I athletes in the 1980s. Taylor and Elle were Titans at Lees Summit West High School just outside of Kansas City, Missouri. The family will have split loyalties in Manhattan, which is a little over two hours west of Kansas City.The winner of the Kansas State-Ohio State match will advance to the regional semifinals in Madison, Wisconsin, against the No. 3 seed Badgers.Taylor was a first-team AVCA All-American last season and is finishing her career as one of the top players in Ohio State history. Earlier this week, she was a unanimous pick for first-team All-Big Ten for the second year in a row, getting 464 kills, 95 digs and 123 blocks during the regular season. She scored a team-best 567 points for Ohio State, which is now 21-12.Elle played in 19 regular-season matches for K-State, getting 81 kills, 13 digs and 52 blocks. She had 109 points for the Wildcats, who are now 21-9.Mike Sandbothe played basketball for the Tigers from 1985 to 89, while at the same time Teri (LeBlanc) Sandbothe was a four-time All-American and seven-time Big Eight champion in track and field, competing primarily as a heptathlete. Incidentally, their alma mater, No. 15 seed Missouri, advanced to volleyballs sweet 16 on Friday with a 3-1 victory over Purdue. Vans Old Skool Black Sale . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Vans Shoes Clearance . Their 38th instalment is arguably their biggest fight card to date, including three-title fights and a main event which was selected by the fans. The promotion boasts 14-straight years of business and is operated by MFC president Mark Pavelich, who is often overlooked in this country for the foundation hes established for MMA in Canada. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/ . He was followed closely by David Clarkson, donning red, seconds later. Clarksons actions one night earlier, leaping off the bench in defence of Kessel during a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres, will cost him the first 10 games of the regular season. Vans Old Skool Black . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Vans Shoes Wholesale . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Editors note: Howard Bryant is spending Monday on the new Grandstand court at the US Open. Below are his rapid reactions to the days events.)Match 1Caroline Wozniacki def. Taylor Townsend 4-6, 6-3, 6-4Wozniacki-Townsend was a harsh reminder that maybe all the hype and attention that comes when players suddenly burst forward?isnt the sweet nectar it appears to be. In the case of these two, for whom so much had been forecast, perhaps the expectations should have come with a warning label.Townsend lost a winnable match, growing too impatient and too nervous as the finish line neared in a tense third set. Wozniacki survived, but it was impossible to look at her résumé at the same time as her groundstrokes -- 23 singles titles, two-time US Open finalist, world No. 1 for 67 weeks -- and not wonder how her game, which now seems so pedestrian, could have catapulted her to being the best in the world for so long.Townsend, meanwhile, has it all: beautiful hands, the tricky lefty serve, a clear feel for how to construct points, a fighting spirit. Shes too talented to live in the rankings hinterlands.This is one of those wins -- or losses -- that really stings, Townsend said. I had so many chances.Yet everything about Townsends game is so tied up in everything else: the huge accomplishments as the top junior in the world; the cold war between her and the USTA over her development; and the questions regarding her conditioning and true commitment as a professional athlete. Whether it is tough love or raw criticism, fair or unfair, Townsends weight in the eyes of executives and coaches has been tied to her results. On Monday, though, when she played 2 hours, 12 minutes in 91 degree heat and stood tall against a former world No. 1, it was nerves, not her body, that gave out.And so they fought -- themselves, each other and the expectations:Wozniacki, still only 25 years old but still just too underpowered, just not quite offensive enough, hitting too few winners to return to the heights of the game. Townsend, just 20 years old and in striking distance of the top 100, wantting to prove that her way is the right way.ddddddddddddThe overwhelmingly pro-American crowd at the Grandstand court wanted nothing more.Match 2John Isner def. Frances Tiafoe 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (3)When Tiafoe closes his 18-year-old eyes tonight, tomorrow and maybe for the rest of his life, three images will slice sharply, mercilessly into his skull.The forehand he sailed wide that would have given him a match point in the third-set tiebreak.The 30-40 forehand he drilled into the net that would have gotten him back to deuce after falling behind love-40 while serving for the match up 5-3 in the fifth.The double fault he tossed into the net serving 1-2 in the fifth-set tiebreak after being down 2-0.Each image represented his margin of defeat. Tiafoe won 149 total points. Isner, who banged 35 aces, won 148. Those three points might have been the most important.A theme in mens tennis has been the end of the Big Four era. Roger Federer is out with a knee injury. Rafael Nadal hasnt gotten as far as the semifinals of a major since he won the 2014 French Open. Novak Djokovic is still the best player in the world, but losses to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon and Juan Martin del Potro at the Olympics have given him a sense of vulnerability that didnt exist eight weeks ago.Tiafoe represented another example in America too, though far less majestically, of the old order giving way. Isner, who took over for Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish as the nations top male player years ago, relinquished that title to Steve Johnson last week, only to yank it back right before the US Open by a mere 10 rankings points. Still, the ranking is less prestigious. Isner was once a top-10 player. Now, he and Johnson entered their home Slam ranked Nos. 21 and 22, respectively.Tiafoe had the match, which would have been the biggest win of his career, but Isner took it and moved on to the second round. It was a back-to-school lesson Tiafoe would have rather missed. ' ' '