NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana volleyball, after winning a fifth consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, won all three of the GCAC's weekly player awards for Nov. 9-15. The conference honored seniors Claudia Haywood(attacker), Franziska Pirkl (setter) and Darian Harris (defender).
Haywood, a 5-foot-11 middle blocker from Memphis, Tenn., and a graduate of Cordova High School, had 31 kills and hit .354 withs five blocks in three matches. Haywood had 16 kills and three blocks in a four-set victory against SUNO in the GCAC Tournament final and was chosen MVP of the event for the second time in three years.
Pirkl, a 5-9 setter from Munich, Germany, and a graduate of Theodolinden Gymnasium, had 99 assists, 16 digs, seven kills, four aces and three blocks during the week. In the GCAC tourney final, Pirkl produced her sixth double-double of the season — 46 assists and 11 digs — and tacked on five kills, two aces and two blocks. She was All-GCAC Tournament for the second consecutive season.
Harris, a 5-4 libero/defensive specialist from Gretna, La., and a graduate of McGehee School, had 46 digs in three matches, 24 in the GCAC tourney final. The SUNO match was Harris' 19th of the season with double-figure digs and and her seventh with 20 or more digs.
Haywood won a GCAC weekly award for the first time this season and the second time in her career. Pirkl has five awards this season, and Harris has four. Neither had been honored prior to 2015.
Xavier (19-7) will play 15th-ranked College of Idaho (21-10) at 2 p.m. MST Saturday (3 p.m. New Orleans time) at Caldwell, Idaho, in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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