Former South Carolina standout joins XU Gold Nuggets' staff

ASSISTANT COACH HANNAH LAWING
GOLD NUGGETS VOLLEYBALL

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has hired former University of South Carolina standout Hannah Lawing as an assistant women's volleyball coach. She worked her first practice Tuesday as the Gold Nuggets prepare for their season opener next week.

This is the first collegiate coaching job for Lawing, 23, who was a varsity assistant at Heathwood Hall Episcopal High School in Columbia, S.C., in 2011 and co-head coach of the South Carolina Midlands 18s Elite club team this year.

Lawing graduated from South Carolina in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She played four seasons of volleyball for the Gamecocks and as a senior set a school record for digs per set with 4.89.

"We're excited to have Hannah join the Xavier volleyball family," XU head coach Christabell Hamilton said. "She has collegiate experience and brings energy to our program. She fights right in with our team."

Lawing was an outside hitter and defensive specialist with the Gamecocks. She was SEC Defensive Player of the Week twice as a senior and once as a freshman. She excelled in the classroom as a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and made the dean's list.

"We are very fortunate to hire Hannah to be part of our staff," XU athletics director Dennis Cousin said.

Lawing is third all-time at South Carolina with 1,334 digs and fifth with 3.35 digs per set. As a senior she posted the second-most digs in program history and the most in the rally-scoring era with 523. That year she also recorded a USC match-record 38 digs against Mississippi State. Lawing had 23 career double-doubles, including a career-high 28 kills and 14 digs in a four-set victory against Harvard in 2009.

Lawing is a Winston-Salem, N.C., native and lived there 10 years before moving to the Atlanta area. She is a 2007 graduate of Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga.

Lawing replaces Darrilyn Broussard, who split time with volleyball and women's basketball coaching a year ago. Broussard, the associate head coach of XU women's basketball, returns for her 12th season with that program.

Xavier was 23-7 in 2011 — the Gold Nuggets' first winning season — and didn't lose a match en route to the program's first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and first appearance in the NAIA National Championship. The Nuggets will open their season Aug. 24 with matches against 20th-ranked Lindsey Wilson and third-ranked Lee in the Lee Invitational at Cleveland, Tenn. The home opener will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 against city rival Loyola.

Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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