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XU wins in 5 at Wiley, snaps Wiley's 54-match win streak against HBCUs. |
MARSHALL, Texas -- Xavier University of Louisiana received career-high performances from Jodi Hill, Claudia Haywood, CeCe Williams, Darian Harris and Kayla Jones to earn a 26-28, 25-23. 25-17, 22-25, 15-9 women's volleyball victory at Wiley on Saturday.
The Gold Nuggets (1-2), in their first road match of the season, snapped Wiley's 54-match win streak against HBCUs. Xavier has won 40 straight against HBCUs.
Hill's 16 kills, Haywood's 11 kills, Williams' 11 kills, Harris' 29 digs and Jones' 19 digs were career bests. Franziska Pirkl recorded her 13th career double-double -- 50 assists and 12 digs -- and senior Chinedu Echebelem, in her season debut, had 12 kills and 21 digs.
"It wasn't a pretty match," XU coach Hannah Lawing said, "but we now know that we have depth."
Wiley (2-6) rallied from 17-13 and 25-24 deficits to win the opening set, but Echebelem produced nine kills to give the Gold Nuggets a 2-sets-to-1 lead. Fatima Dacosta's six kills and two blocks in the fourth set helped Wiley even the match before Xavier won for just the second time ever in five sets on an opponent's floor.
Williams had three kills and a block in the deciding set, Haywood had two kills, and Pirkl had a kill and an ace. Williams scored the final two XU points on kills.
Pirkl served three of the Gold Nuggets' seven aces, and Ralitsa Hadzhistoyanova served two.
Dacosta finished with 23 kills, 18 digs and three blocks for Wiley. Fernanda Aguilar had 10 kills, and Diana Castaneda had 23 digs.
Xavier outhit Wiley .149 to .105 and had advantages of 59-52 in kills and 99-86 in digs. The digs are the Gold Nuggets' most in a match since the program returned in 2010.
Wiley had not lost to an HBCU since dropping a three-set home match to Grambling in Oct. 30, 2007. Xavier is unbeaten against HBCUs since a 25-17, 25-17, 25-14 loss to Prairie View A&M on Oct. 6, 2011.
It was the first volleyball meeting between Xavier and Wiley. They'll meet again Sept. 9 at XU's Convocation Center. Next for the Gold Nuggets will be their Gulf Coast Athletic Conference opener at 5 p.m. Friday at home against Edward Waters. Xavier is the three-time defending GCAC regular-season and tournament champion and has a 43-match win streak against GCAC opponents.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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