Sonny Bill Williams has been named in New Zealands squad for next weeks Hong Kong Sevens after shaking off a knee injury that has sidelined him for two tournaments. The cross-code superstar is participating in this years World Sevens series with an eye on making the Rio Olympics when the shortened version makes its Games debut in August.Coach Gordon Tietjens said the 30-year-old was raring to go after a swollen knee kept him out of the Las Vegas and Vancouver legs of World Sevens Series. Sonny is coming off the back of two very good tournaments in Sydney and Wellington and wants to get back into it, said Tietjens.Hes been training well and will be looking forward to Hong Kong.Williams contributed to New Zealands Rugby World Cup victories in 2011 and 2015, as well as winning a Super Rugby title with the Chiefs in 2012.He also has two rugby league Premierships from Australias NRL in the trophy cabinet and successfully dabbled in boxing, winning all seven of his heavyweight bouts.However, he has said he rates becoming an Olympian as the greatest feat an athlete could achieve.Tietjens said Williams was working hard and loved the Sevens culture, adding the excitement surrounding the Olympics was building for everyone as the Sevens series progresses.All teams can sense were not far away from Rio, he said. Theyre still trialling different players and thats what weve done here. We all want to improve at every tournament.New Zealand are currently third in the World Sevens standings behind Fiji and South Africa. England sit seventh with Scotland and Wales in 11th and 12th place respectively.Watch the Hong Kong Sevens live on Sky Sports from April 8-10 Also See: WATCH: Super Rugby hits Rugby converts: Hits and misses Rugby on Sky Pundits Adidas NMD CS2 Baratas . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Comprar Adidas NMD Baratas . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. http://www.baratasnmd.com/adidas-prophere-baratas.html . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Adidas Prophere España . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Comprar Adidas Gazelle Baratas . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. For a long time, they played in the same conference. But now Nebraska is in the Big Ten, and Missouri in the SEC. Sunday, they both played exciting five-set NCAA volleyball matches that could be key to conference titles. Theres still a long way to go, of course, but the past weekend was big for the Tigers and the Cornhuskers.Missouri atop the SECKentucky was riding a 13-match winning streak coming into Mizzou on Sunday, but the Tigers got off to a fast start by taking the first two sets. The Wildcats responded by winning the next two.Then it came down to a fifth-set battle in which Tigers senior outside hitter Carly Kan took over. She had five of her 17 kills in that set, leading Mizzou to a 15-12 victory.Kan is a native of Hawaii, yet went all the way to Missouri because she loved the coaching staff and team atmosphere. At 5-foot-9, Kan is a bit small these days for an outside hitter. But her role model in that regard is former Hawaii star Kanani Danielson, who finished her career for the Rainbow Wahine in 2011 as a three-time AVCA first-team All-American. The 5-10 Danielson had 1,760 kills for Hawaii; Kan is at 1,527 for Mizzou.While the Wildcats streak was snapped, the Tigers now have won 13 in a row. Theyre 18-3 overall and 9-0 in the SEC. Sundays victory didnt quite get Missouri into this weeks AVCA Top 25, but that could come if the Tigers can extend their streak. Wednesday, theyre on the road at last years SEC champion, Texas A&M (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU). The Aggies stand fourth in the SEC behind Missouri, Kentucky and Florida.Nebraska solidifies No. 1The top ranking in the AVCA poll was a hot potato for the past few weeks, but it stayed put Monday.The Huskers, who started the season ranked No. 1, dropped to third in the Oct. 3 poll after a loss to Ohio State. But Nebraska went back to No. 1 on Oct. 17 after both Minnesota and Wisconsin had taken a turn in the top spot.Those two teams visited a packed-as-usual Devaney Center over the weekend, and Nebraska beat them both. The matches were quite different. The Huskers crushed it in a 3-0 sweep Friday against the Badgers, who had trouble getting anything going. Contrast that to Sunday, when Nebraska prevailed in a gritty 3-2 win over Minnesota.The Gophers looked a lot more like themselves than they did in a surprisingly difficult, come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Iowa on Friday. Nebraska vs. Minnesota had the look of a national championship match, with some thrilling rallies and great plays from both sides.Perhaps the ultimate decider was defense. Huskers senior Justine Wong-Orantes set a school record for digs in a match with 35. Shes now 35 away from becoming Nebraskas career leader in that category.The Huskers also had a season-high 17 blockks against Minnesota, led by Briana Holmans 10.ddddddddddddut the overall star of the weekend for the Huskers was senior middle blocker Amber Rolfzen. She had a career-high 16 kills against Wisconsin, and then equaled that with 16 more against Minnesota. That earned her the Big Ten player of the week award Monday.Nebraska is now tied atop the Big Ten at 9-1 with Penn State, which lost 3-2 at Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines Carly Skjodt had a career-high 27 kills in that match.By the way, the Huskers and the Nittany Lions still have two meetings this season: Nov. 4 at Penn State and Nov. 16 at Nebraska.Texas vs. Kansas, Part 2Texas remains atop the Big 12 at 8-0, but it hasnt been easy for the Longhorns. They have just one sweep in their conference matches, vs. TCU. And three of their last five matches have gone five sets.The most recent was Friday at Texas Tech, which is winless in the Big 12. But the Red Raiders pushed the Longhorns the distance after winning the fourth set 28-26. Texas won the fifth set 15-7, but it was still a little too close for comfort for the Longhorns.Meanwhile, Kansas is 7-1, with its only loss coming at Texas on Sept. 24. Now its almost time for the rematch. No. 2-ranked Texas visits No. 6 Kansas on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3).First up, though, its Oklahoma for the Longhorns on Wednesday, while the Jayhawks are at Texas Tech that night.Irish testCoach Jim McLaughlin left Washington, where he won a national championship in 2005, to try to turn Notre Dame into a true volleyball powerhouse. In his second season with the Irish, hes already made great progress.Last year, Notre Dame was 7-25 overall and 2-18 in the ACC. This year, the Irish are 18-4 and 9-1, tied with Florida State for second in the league behind 10-0 North Carolina.The Irish gave the visiting Tar Heels a run for their money on Oct. 14, but UNC escaped 15-13 in the fifth set. This weekend, Notre Dame is host to Miami and Florida State.Meanwhile, out WestNo. 17 Stanford is an uncharacteristic 6-4 and tied for fifth in Pac-12 play. But its been kind of a weird season overall in the conference. The Cardinal have a chance to make up some ground this week. Theyll host league-leading Washington, 8-2 and ranked No. 7, on Wednesday. Then Stanford takes on No. 18 Washington State -- which is tied for third at 7-3 with UCLA and Oregon -- on Friday.San Diego remains unbeaten atop the West Coast Conference, but the match of the year in conference play is Friday. No. 5 San Diego travels to Provo, Utah, to face No. 16 BYU. The Toreros are 10-0 in the WCC, while the Cougars are 8-2. ' ' '
