XU Nuggets sign two more, including another from Louisiana

BRION FLOWERS

VASHNI BALLESTE

NEW ORLEANS — Two more high school seniors — Brion Flowers of Lafayette, La., and Vashni Balleste of Rock Tavern, N.Y. — have signed women's tennis scholarships with Xavier University of Louisiana. The Gold Nuggets have signed four for the 2012-13 academic year.

Flowers, who attends St. Thomas More High School, is a  TennisRecruiting.net  four-star prospect ranked fourth in Louisiana, 21st in the Gulf States region and 141st nationally. She has won 71 percent of nearly 400 USTA matches during the past five seasons.

As a sophomore at St. Thomas More in 2010, Flowers was the Division I-Class 5A state singles champion.  She reached the singles semifinals as a freshman in 2009 to help STM win the girls state team championship.

Balleste won 11 consecutive singles matches this past fall for Washingtonville High School. She won the American Tennis Association girls 18 doubles title with Floridian Nia Rose this past August. Balleste's highest girls 18 singles ranking in the USTA Eastern Section is 124th.

Former pro and NCAA doubles champion Katrina Adams has coached Balleste for the past year.

Both signees are honor roll students. Flowers will be a pre-medical major at Xavier, and Balleste will major in mass communications.

Previously announced signees were Simone-Alyse Ewell of Detroit and Alexandria Locure of New Orleans. Xavier will have three from Louisiana on the 2012-13 women's roster, including Jordyn Goody of Lake Charles, a freshman on the team this season.

Xavier competes in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. Coach Alan Green's Gold Nuggets qualified for the NAIA National Championship five of the previous seven seasons and won first-round dual matches at nationals all five times.

2012-13 Xavier women's tennis signees

Name Ht. Yr.* Hometown High School

Vashni Balleste 5-4 Fr. Rock Tavern, N.Y. Washingtonville

Simone-Alyse Ewell 5-5 Fr. Detroit, Mich. The Roeper School

Brion Flowers 5-6 Fr. Lafayette, La. St. Thomas More

Alexandria Locure 5-4 Fr. New Orleans, La. John Curtis Christian

* athletic classification at Xavier in fall of 2012



ED CASSIERE, SID



By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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