XU to open 2014 with 11 of first 13 matches at home

Hannah Lawing

NEW ORLEANS — A slew of early-season home matches is one of the features of the 2014 Xavier University of Louisiana women's volleyball schedule.
     
Second-year coach Hannah Lawing announced Tuesday the schedule, which consists of 23 regular-season contests. Xavier will play a school-record-tying 13 matches at home. Eleven of the Gold Nuggets' first 13 matches will be at home, including a school-record five in a row from Sept. 20-29.
     
The Nuggets' first 13 matches of 2013 were on the road. Two years ago they played 12 of their first 14 on the road, including the first seven.
        
Xavier is the three-time defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champion and is 43-0 the past three seasons against GCAC opponents. Xavier is one of 17 schools to qualify for the NAIA National Championship each of the last three seasons.
     
This will be the Nuggets' second season in the Convocation Center, which opened in November 2012 and seats nearly 4,000 for volleyball or basketball. When Xavier opens against Faulkner at 2 p.m. on Aug. 23, it will be the second time in the program's seven seasons that the Nuggets begin their schedule at home.
     
Three days later, on Aug. 26, the Nuggets will play at 7 p.m. at home against Mobile. It will be the first of three matches against 2013 NAIA national tourney qualifiers.
     
Xavier will play its earliest-ever GCAC opener, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. at home against Edward Waters. The GCAC will have eight members in 2014-15 — Fisk departed after four seasons to join the NAIA's Association of Independent Institutions — and all GCAC teams will play 14 conference matches.
     
First-time opponents will be Wiley — Aug. 30 at Wiley, Sept. 9 at Xavier — and Concordia (Mich.) on Oct. 11 at Xavier.
     
The Nuggets' other matches against 2013 NAIA tourney qualifiers will be Spring Hill at home on Oct. 10 and at Mobile on Oct. 14. Spring Hill this season begins the first year of its candidacy period in NCAA Division II.
     
Xavier will play three road matches in New Orleans: SUNO on Oct. 1 and Dillard on Nov. 6 in the conference and Loyola on Nov. 3.
     
Match times and dates are subject to change.
     
Xavier was 26-8 in 2013, 9-0 at home. The Nuggets have a school-record 13-match home win streak dating to 2012.


2014 Xavier University Women's Volleyball Schedule

Aug. 23:  FAULKNER, 2 p.m.
Aug. 26:  MOBILE, 7 p.m.
Aug. 30:  at Wiley, 11 a.m.
Sept. 5:  • EDWARD WATERS, 6 p.m.
Sept. 9:  WILEY, 4 p.m.
Sept. 15:  • at Tougaloo, 5 p.m.
Sept. 20:  • PHILANDER SMITH, noon
Sept. 22:  • TALLADEGA, 7 p.m.
Sept. 26:  LOYOLA, 6 p.m.
Sept. 27:  • DILLARD, noon
Sept. 29:  • VOORHEES, 7 p.m.
 Oct. 1:  • at SUNO, 7 p.m.
Oct. 10:  SPRING HILL, 6 p.m.
Oct. 11:  CONCORDIA (MICH.), 1 p.m.
 Also Oct. 11 at Xavier: Spring Hill vs. Concordia (Mich.), 11 a.m.
Oct. 14:  at Mobile, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18:  • TOUGALOO, 1 p.m.
Oct. 20:  • at Talladega, 7 p.m.
Oct. 25:  • at Voorhees, 11 a.m. EDT
Oct. 26:  • at Edward Waters, noon EDT
Oct. 30:  • SUNO, 7 p.m.
Nov. 1:  • at Philander Smith, noon
Nov. 3:  at Loyola, 7 p.m.
Nov. 6:  • at Dillard, 5 p.m.
TBA:  GCAC Tournament
Nov. 22:  NAIA National Championship opening round at campus sites, TBA
Dec. 2-6:  NAIA National Championship final site at Sioux City, Iowa, TBA

Home matches (in CAPITAL LETTERS) will be played at the Convocation Center (capacity 3,937), Xavier University campus, New Orleans
• Gulf Coast Athletic Conference match
TBA — To be announced
All times are Central except where noted


Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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