North Augusta wide receiver Matt Hazel was named to the South Carolina roster for the 73rd annual Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas on Thursday.

The game, which features the top seniors from South Carolina and North Carolina, is scheduled for Dec. 19 at Gibbs Stadium on the Wofford College campus in Spartanburg, S.C.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Hazel leads the Augusta area in receiving with 54 catches for 870 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Midland Valley coach Rick Knight , whose Mustangs are 7-2, is an assistant coach for the South Carolina squad.

In Aiken, the USC Aiken men upset 13th-ranked Anderson 3-2 on Thursday in their regular season finale.

Kennis Paul , Troy Watson and Amr Hailat scored for the Pacers (7-10-1). Watson and Hailat also had assists.

Anderson had not lost a match since falling to Pfeiffer on Sept. 26.

- The Peach Belt Conference men's and women's soccer championships will be held at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans on Nov. 6-8.

The event is part of the PBC-GEICO Championship Series.

The conference will also play host to a Breakfast with the Champions event which allows local youth soccer players to attend a free clinic hosted by Peach Belt student-athletes.

In addition to the breakfast, a showcase of teams featuring high school-age kids from the local area and other areas playing before college coaches is also planned.

The tournament will begin with the men's and women's semifinals on Nov. 6 at 5 p.m., followed by another round of games at 7:30.

The women's championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Nov. 8, followed by the men's at 3:30.

For the second time in three years, Clayton State was selected as the preseason favorite in a poll of Peach Belt Conference head coaches released Thursday.

USC Aiken was picked to finish sixth, while Augusta State was picked to finish 12th in the 13-team league.

Clayton State received seven first-place votes and totaled 137 points, six more than defending champion Francis Marion.

Lander was third (120), followed by Columbus State and Georgia College and State (104), USC Aiken (95), UNC Pembroke (69), Armstrong Atlantic State (67), North Georgia (53), Georgia Southwestern (48), Montevallo (45), Augusta State (29) and Flagler (12).

- Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi pleaded guilty to a drunken-driving charge stemming from her July arrest.

The All-Star guard spent a day in jail after a judge suspended nine days of her sentence.

USC Aiken moved up one spot to third in the latest NCAA Division II Volleyball Southeast Regional rankings.

Wingate tops the poll.

USC Aiken is the second highest-ranked Peach Belt Conference squad. League newcomer Flagler is second.

In Doha, Qatar, Serena Williams became the first player to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships on Thursday, defeating Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4 for her third consecutive win in the tournament's round-robin group phase.

Her sister Venus , the defending champion, stayed alive by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4 for her first win in three matches. She needs Kuznetsova to beat Dementieva today to have a chance of reaching the semifinals.

Earlier, Caroline Wozniacki beat Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4.