XU's Howell, Flowers win first match at national tourney

Brion Flowers (L) and Kourtney Howell (R)

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Xavier University of Louisiana's Kourtney Howell and Brion Flowers defeated Westmont's Jessica Cedillo and Grace Davis 6-2, 7-5 Thursday in the opening round of the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships.

Howell and Flowers, top-seeded in the NAIA women's doubles bracket, will play Lindsey Wilson's Jessica King and Alicia Rodriguez in the semifinals at 12:30 p.m. EDT Friday. King and Rodriguez upset SCAD Savannah's fourth-seeded Maria Barragan and Daniella Arcila 6-2, 6-1.

Howell and Flowers will play for the championship or in the third-place match at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Howell and Flowers are 5-0 this fall and have won 15 of their last 17 matches dating to March of last season.

In the other first-round matches of this bracket, Evangel's second-seeded Amy Grossklag-Fritz and Jenna Elliott defeated Davenport's Alyssa Fuentes and Emily Spiech 6-4, 6-4, and Kristina Marova and Hui-I Huang of Embry-Riddle (Fla.) upset Oklahoma Baptist's third-seeded Kateryna Shkot and Anastasyia Baranova 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7).

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA