Sports in Brief: Long trip didn't hamper Messi
After a sickout by Spain's air traffic controllers grounded Barcelona's flight, the Spanish League leaders made a four-hour bus and train trip to Pamplona on Saturday. In a match that started 45 minutes late, Lionel Messi assisted on the first goal, then scored twice to raise his season total to 25 goals and give Barcelona a 3-0 win over Zaragoza.
After a sickout by Spain's air traffic controllers grounded Barcelona's flight, the Spanish League leaders made a four-hour bus and train trip to Pamplona on Saturday. In a match that started 45 minutes late, Lionel Messi assisted on the first goal, then scored twice to raise his season total to 25 goals and give Barcelona a 3-0 win over Zaragoza.
Arsenal moved ahead of Manchester United to the top of England's Premier League thanks to Samir Nasri's two goals in a 2-1 win over Fulham.
COLLEGES. Blair Brown had 11 kills and Penn State swept Virginia Tech, 25-22, 25-22, 25-13, in the second round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament in State College.
Neely Spence of Shippensburg won the NCAA Division II women's cross-country championship on a snow-covered 6-kilometer course in Louisville, Ky. Spence's time of 20 minutes, 41.2 seconds was 15 seconds faster than that of Western Washington's Sarah Porter.
Messiah (23-1) won its eighth Division II men's soccer title in 11 seasons when Geoff Pezon scored in overtime for a 2-1 win over Lynchburg (20-5-1) in San Antonio, Texas.
Notre Dame (20-2-2) and Stanford (23-0-2) will meet Sunday in the Women's College Cup final in Cary, N.C. Notre Dame won national titles in 1995 and 2004.
TENNIS. France rallied from two sets down to defeat Serbia in doubles and take a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final. Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra overcame Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki and the hometown crowd in Belgrade Arena to win 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
SWIMMING. Ryan Lochte came up short at the U.S. short course championships in Columbus, Ohio, while Michael Alexandrov set another American record.
Lochte, the Olympic gold medalist, finished third in the 200 backstroke, behind Markus Rogan's 1:40.11.
Alexandrov set the record in the 200 breaststroke by a hundredth of a second over the old mark, winning in 1:51.73.
WINTER SPORTS. Georg Streitberger of Austria captured the World Cup super-G race in Beaver Creek, Ore., when Bode Miller and three other top Americans skied off the course.
Maria Riesch of Germany won her second World Cup downhill in as many days, followed by American Lindsey Vonn, at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.
Thomas Morgenstern of Austria earned his first ski- jumping World Cup win of the season, on the large hill in Lillehammer, Norway.
Staff and wire reports