XU's Howell sets GCAC career record; Svoboda also wins

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Kourtney Howell set a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's tennis record with her sixth career Player of the Week award, and XU's Viktor Svoboda is the men's winner for March 4-10. Both players were 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles at the AUM Invitational, which concluded Sunday at Montgomery, Ala.      Howell, a junior from Cypress, Texas, and a graduate of Cypress Woods High School, is the GCAC women's winner for the second consecutive week. She broke the GCAC career mark held by Anastesia Opata, whose XU career concluded in 2010.

Kourtney Howell

Viktor Svoboda

Howell led the Gold Nuggets at AUM to victories against NAIA No. 13 Campbellsville, 16th-ranked Coastal Georgia and 22nd-ranked Cumberland. Xavier's women are ranked 10th.

Svoboda, a junior from Kamenice, Czech Republic, and a graduate of Vitezna Plan High School, won the GCAC award for the first time this season and the second time in his career. The highlight of his week was a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 singles victory against Cumberland's Sebastian Nava on Saturday. Svoboda trailed 4-2 in the second set and 3-2 in the third. He saved two match points in the 10th game of the second set, then won the tiebreaker after trailing 5-3.
    
Svoboda helped the XU men, who are ranked 10th, defeat No. 11 Cumberland and No. 22 Coastal Georgia. The Gold Rush lost 5-4 Sunday at second-ranked Auburn Montgomery, but Svoboda won both his matches.
    
Xavier's women will play NCAA Division I's Idaho at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the new XU Tennis Center, and both XU teams will play another D-I opponent, Alcorn State, at 3 p.m. Friday at XU. Admission is free to all XU home matches.

By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISANA