Lions roar back, spoil XULA bid for unbeaten Blastoff

NEW ORLEANS — Florida Memorial rallied in each of the final two sets Saturday to earn a 25-17, 23-25, 28-26, 25-22 volleyball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana in the concluding match of the Big Easy Blastoff at the Convocation Center.
     
The Gold Nuggets (8-4) finished 3-1 in their home tournament for the second straight year, but the Lions (4-4) spoiled XULA's bid for an unblemished record when they rallied from an 18-12 deficit in the third set — they saved five set points — and scored the final seven points of the match.
     
XULA was the only Blastoff team to finish with a winning record. Florida Memorial, Indiana Tech and Point finished 2-2 apiece, and Mobile — whose resume included a three-set win against NAIA No. 4 Missouri Baptist 15 days ago — was 1-3.
     
Sammyra Albarran had 24 kills, a season high, and three aces for Florida Memorial, which lost both its Friday matches but was unbeaten Saturday. Daphinie Correa had 14 kills and hit .355, Francheska Rivera had 48 assists, two aces and 17 digs, and Keisha Santana had 23 digs — her fifth consecutive match with 20 or more.
    
Kayla Black, back on the court 4 1/2 hours after her XULA-record 27 kills against Point, added 17 more to finish with a tournament-leading 68. Vivica Price-Spraggins had 11 kills and three aces, Eva Le Guillouhad 40 assists and 11 digs, and Taylor McGee (24), Si Si Mitchell (23) and Jennifer Torres (15) combined for 63 digs. McGee's total was a career high.
     
FMU outhit XULA .198 to .159 and had advantages of 58-47 in kills and 9-7 in aces. The Gold Nuggets had advantages of 88-75 in digs and 8-5 in blocks.
     
The Gold Nuggets lost to an HBCU in the Convocation Center for the first time. They had not lost at home to an HBCU since NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M's three-set decision Oct. 6, 2011, at The Barn.
     
XULA had three of the eight all-tournament selections: Black, Price-Spraggins and Ema Causevic. Black was the MVP.
     
The Gold Nuggets, after setting program records for most matches and victories in August, will take a two-week break from competition before opening Gulf Coast Athletic Conference play Sept. 14 in Little Rock, Ark., against Philander Smith at 11 a.m. and Rust at 4 p.m. XULA is the eight-time defending GCAC regular-season and tournament champion. All seven of XULA's September matches will be against GCAC opponents.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
XULAgold.com
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold