Nuggets beat Tougaloo again, improve win streak to 14

TOUGALOO, Mississippi -- Xavier University of Louisiana increased its school-record women's volleyball win streak to 14 matches Saturday with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-7 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victory against Tougaloo.

It's the longest overall win streak by an XU team in any sport since women's basketball won 21 in a row during the 2009-10 season.

The Gold Nuggets (20-7, 9-0) defeated the Lady Bulldogs (2-17, 2-8) for the second time in four days and reduced their magic number to two for clinching a third consecutve GCAC regular-season championship.

CeCe Williams had a career-high-tying nine kills for Xavier. Franziska Pirkl served three aces for the second consecutive match. Kerris Crier's 10 digs were a career high, and Darian Harris had a season-high 10 digs.

Xavier reached 20 victories for the third consecutive season. Against GCAC opponents, the Gold Nuggets have won 31 in a row during the regular season and 37 straight overall.

It's the first time since the first week of  September 2003 that the Gold Nuggets' career record has been at .500. They're 95-95 in six seasons and 65-22 during the last three. Xavier first played this sport intercollegiately in 2003 and 2004 and revived the program in 2010.

Tougaloo has lost eight in a row.

Xavier will conclude the regular season next week with three conference matches -- 7 p.m. Monday at home against Philander Smith, 6 p.m. Wednesday at home against Dillard and 1 p.m. Saturday at Dillard -- before competing in the GCAC Tournament the following week as a two-time defending champion.

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