Notre Dame came from behind to beat Pittsburgh 3-1 Sunday and advance to the Mideast Regional of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. Notre Dame will face Penn State Friday night at Nebraska in the regional semifinals. Senior All-American Christy Peters, who hadn’t played since she sprained an ankle Nov. 12, returned to the lineup and posted a match-high 19 kills and 22 digs as the Irish beat the Panthers 9-15, 15-11, 15-13, 15-13.
Northern Illinois concluded its season with a 23-11 record after defeating Delaware and South Carolina and losing to Miami of Ohio and San Diego in the preliminary rounds of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
Northwestern wound up with a 12-20 record under new coach Margie Fitzpatrick. Seven Wildcats were Academic All-Big 10 selections-Alison Krumbein, Megan Hanrahan, Joyce Hopman, Kim Ludwig, Kristen Keller, Debbie Harris and Staci Suneson.
SWIMMING
Illinois’ women’s team, 7-0 in dual meets this season, dominated the six other teams at the Iowa Inviational over the weekend at Iowa City. Illinois finished well ahead of second-place Iowa State, 897.5 to 611.5. Freshman Renee Gamboa set an Illinois varsity record in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1 minute 4.89 seconds.
Northern Illinois’ men were second behind Iowa and the women finished fourth at the Iowa Invitational. Leading the NIU men was Jarod Schroeder, runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. NIU’s Jen Mackey won the women’s 100-yard breaststroke.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
How do these numbers grab you? Twenty-three points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes, and 30 points and 16 rebounds in 21 minutes? De Paul’s Latasha Byears registered those stats as the Blue Demons, 3-0 and averaging 98.7 points a game, beat Long Island 101-47 and Mississippi State 96-87 to win the weekend Budget Invitational at Alumni Hall. Byears was named tournament MVP. De Paul plays Thursday at Army and hosts No. 23 Auburn at 7 p.m. Saturday at Alumni Hall.
Freshman point guard Krista Reinking scored 20 points to lead Illinois (2-2) in a 72-68 victory over Maine.
Northeastern Illinois committed 43 turnovers in a 94-55 loss at Indiana State. Jeannie Hinkey paced the Golden Eagles (1-1) with 20 points and seven rebounds. The women play Tuesday at Detroit Mercy.
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UIC senior Penny Armstrong averaged 29.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6 assists a game to win MVP honors in the Holiday Inn Classic in Reno over the weekend. The Evanston Township graduate poured in 33 points in a losing cause Saturday to Southern Utah. The Flames finished second in the tourney, beating Sam Houston State 79-73 and dropping a 90-72 decision in the Saturday final.
Northwestern will get a taste of Big East basketball this weekend. The Wildcats will be hosts to Seton Hall on Friday night and Boston College on Sunday afternoon. NU has a 2-3 record after finishing second in its Roger L. White Invitational Tournament, defeating Hartford 79-47 and losing to Louisville 62-48.
Northern Illinois (3-3) will be at Southern Illinois on Thursday night, trying to rebound after losing to 10th- ranked Louisiana Tech and eighth-ranked Colorado in the Dial Classic. Leslie Pottinger leads the Huskies with a 16.8 scoring average.
Chicago State lost to Wright State 67-56 Monday. Sophomore guard Lisa Lloyd topped the Cougars (0-4) with 15 points, and shot 3 for 5 from three-point range. Chicago State hosts Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. Friday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Marcus West scored a career-high 39 points in Northeastern Illinois’ 104-95 win Saturday over Lakeland College. The sophomore point guard was 14 for 19 from the floor, including a school-record 7 of 10 from three-point range.
Chicago State plays its first-ever Mid-Continent Conference game when its hosts Troy State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
GYMNASTICS
Stacy Redmond and Jeremiah Landry won the team competition at Saturday night’s mixed pairs exhibition, an Illinois intrasquad event. Senior Brian Kobylinski earned the highest mark of the evening, a 9.70 on the still rings.