Sports Update 27 August 14

LUBBOCK – I’m Ciara Gaines with your KTXT Sports Update.

According to texastech.com, the Red Raider soccer team has moved up in all three collegiate soccer polls. Their highest ranking comes in at number 12 by Soccer America. After making the postseason for two straight years, Tech came into the season ranked in the top 25 in preseason polls. The Red Raider head to Indiana to take on Notre Dame this Friday.

After the Dallas Cowboys were named the most valuable NFL franchise, and the second most valuable sports franchise in the world, ESPN Dallas reports Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett has been ranked 30^th out of the 32 head coaches in the league. In a poll answered by 30 league insiders, Garrett only ranked higher than Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine and Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen.

Taylor Townsend has surely watched Serena Williams dominate first-round opponents at Grand Slams over the years, but this time, the 18-year-old was on the business end of it at the U.S. Open. Williams cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory in Tuesday’s nightcap against the overmatched Townsend, who was 2-years old when Williams made her U.S. Open debut in 1998. One surprise this year was 15-year-old American CiCi Bellis pull off a three-set upset of 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. Bellis, making her Grand Slam debut, is the youngest player to win a match at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova in 1996.

And finally, the story involving a USC football player injuring himself while saving the life of his young nephew is being called into question.  Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian initially called Josh Shaw’s actions “heroic,” but the university has now received calls claiming Shaw has fabricated the story.  Shaw initially said he injured both ankles when he jumped from a second-story balcony to save his seven-year-old nephew from a swimming pool last weekend.  Sarkisian says Shaw remains adamant about what occurred, and says an investigation into the alleged incident is ongoing.

I’m Ciara and that was your KTXT Sports Update for August 27.