XULA picked 1st again; Tomasoni is preseason All-GCAC

Juliana Tomasoni

 NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has been picked to repeat as Gulf Coast Athletic Conference volleyball champion, and the Gold Nuggets' Juliana Tomasoni is on the preseason All-GCAC team.
     
The conference's seven head coaches made the selections, which the GCAC announced Monday.
     
XULA, which seeks sixth consecutive GCAC regular-season and tournament championships, received 5-of-7 first-place votes and 47 points in the poll. SUNO is second with 42 points, and Dillard is third with 32. SUNO and Dillard received one first-place vote apiece.
     
The Gold Nuggets have won 72 of their last 73 matches against GCAC opponents. The lone loss was in five sets last year at SUNO, which earned a shared of the 2015 regular-season title.
     
Tomasoni, a junior outside hitter/defensive specialist from Nova Trento, Brazil, and a former Northeastern Oklahoma A&M standout, was one of seven named preseason All-GCAC. In her first season at XULA, Tomasoni ranks second in the GCAC with 4.18 digs per set, third with a .237 hitting percentage and fourth with 3.0 kills per set.
     
After opening the season with out-of-state tournaments each of the past two weekends, XULA (1-7) will play five times this week in its home city. The Gold Nuggets will visit Loyola Tuesday for matches at 5 p.m. against St. Thomas (Texas) and 7 p.m. against Loyola, then play host to the second annual Big Easy Blastoff at the Convocation Center. XULA will play Friday at 11 a.m. against Pikeville and 5 p.m. against William Carey and Saturday against Southwest (N.M.) at 11 a.m.

GCAC Preseason Voting
All-Conference
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown
Kaylin Davison	Edward Waters	OH	5-9	Jr.	Columbus, Ohio
Carla Novaes	Talladega	OH	6-1	Sr.	Sao Paulo, Brazil
Shelby Stewart	Dillard	OH	6-0	Jr.	Houston, Texas
Marija Stojijkovic	SUNO	S	5-8	So.	Belgrade, Serbia
Juliana Tomasoni	Xavier	OH/DS	5-9	Jr.	Nova Trento, Brazil
Autumn Trimble	Philander Smith	RS	6-2	Jr.	Mobile, Ala.
Cailyn Ware	Dillard	OH	5-7	Sr.	Pearland, Texas
Preseason Player of the Year:  Carla Novaes, Talladega

Order of Finish  (first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank	School	Points
1	Xavier (5)	47
2	SUNO (1)	42
3	Dillard (1)	32
4	Philander Smith	27
5	Tougaloo	20
6-tie	Edward Waters	14
6-tie	Talladega	14

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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