NEW ORLEANS — The NAIA announced Monday its NAIA Scholar-Team recipients for 2018-19, and Xavier University of Louisiana has a school-record three on that list.Women's basketball, women's tennis and men's tennis all earned the honor for compiling a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale as defined by the institution. The team GPA includes all eligible varsity student-athletes.
"We are thrilled to see our student-athletes' hard work in the classroom earn national recognition," said Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs / Director of Athletics & Recreation Jason Horn.
"This award shows that these teams are disciplined, that they prioritize and that they place the necessary emphasis on academics."
All three teams were winners on the court, too. Women's basketball finished 23-8 (13-1 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference), won the GCAC regular-season championship, qualified for the NAIA Division I National Championship tournament and ranked 24th in the final coaches poll. Women's tennis was 19-6, reached the NAIA national semifinals and ranked third in the postseason poll. Men's tennis was 17-9, was the NAIA national runner-up for the third time in four years and ranked second in the postseason poll.
Women's basketball team members were Mikayla Bates, Alexis Burke, Kyla Duncan, Adriana Fernandez, Anica Gacevic, Nina German, Jas Hill, Jalyn Hodge, Shaelyn Johnson, Jayla Nichols, Nahrie Pierce, Joi Simmons, Gina Smith, Caprice Taylor, Maya Trench, Da'Jha Virgil and Essence Wells. Women's tennis team members were Lacee Ancar, Julia Anglin, Farah Baklouti, Mariia Borodii, Angela Charles-Alfred, Angelica De Vincenzis, Charlene Goreau and Yi Chen Pao. Men's tennis team members were Shaikh Abdullah,Ghassan Alansi, Chris Anders, Pierre Andrieu, Samir Chikhaoui, Gabriel Niculescu and Santiago Perez.
The NAIA said 1,939 teams nationwide — 77 more than a year ago — achieved Scholar-Team status in 2018-19. XULA was one of two GCAC schools to produce a Scholar-Team; the other was Philander Smith, which repeated in women's basketball and also was honored in women's volleyball.
This is the fifth time in six years that XULA produced an NAIA Scholar-Team. Previous recipients were women's volleyball in 2013-14 and 2014-15, women's tennis in 2013-14, men's tennis in 2015-16 and women's cross country in 2017-18.
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAgold.com
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold
No comments:
Post a Comment