Xavier Nuggets finish the job, sweep SUNO to win GCAC tourney

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Moira Kirk knew it during warmups Saturday. Taylor Reuther knew it during the first set. Coach Christabell Hamilton knew it late in the third set.

All three were confident, though at different points, that the Xavier University of Louisiana's women's volleyball team was going to win the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Gold Nuggets concluded a 4-0 run through the three-day, double-elimination event with a 25-12, 25-17, 25-20 victory Saturday against city rival SUNO.

The victory was the school-record-tying eighth in a row for the Gold Nuggets (23-6), who earned the GCAC's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship, which will begin next Saturday at 12 campus sites. Teams and pairings will be announced early next week. It's the first conference tournament championship and bid to nationals for the Gold Nuggets' 4-year-old program which began in 2003, then took a hiatus in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina before resurfacing a year ago.

Reuther, who shared tournament MVP with Talladega's Shalitha Swain, had 10 kills and 18 digs in the title match. Kirk, Xavier's other all-tournament selection, hit .609 -- 16 kills in 23 attacks with no errors -- and had seven blocks. Both Reuther and Kirk are among seven Xavier freshmen this season, four of whom started in the title match.

Chinedu Echebelem, another freshman, and Iva Bobkova had five kills apiece, and Celeste Poe had 13 digs for Xavier.

Third-seeded SUNO (20-11) eliminated defending champion and second-seeded Dillard 22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-22 and had just 30 minutes to replenish calories and prepare for a championship round in which the Lady Knights would need two more victories to prevent a Xavier championship. But the Gold Nuggets -- who sent Dillard into the losers bracket Friday with a one-for-the ages rally from two sets down -- started strongly with 5-0 and 15-5 first-set leads. SUNO's only leads in the final were at 2-1 and 4-3 in the third set, and the Lady Knights finished second for the second consecutive year.

"We had energy and an excitement to win," said Kirk, announced Wednesday as GCAC Freshman of the Year. "We had fought too hard against Dillard last night. We didn't want to give up after fighting for it so much.

"I just felt in the warmup we were going to win. We're always high energy when we warm up, but this time it just felt different."

Reuther couldn't make any predictions until after the Nuggets' blazing start in which they produced seven kills, two aces and a block in the first 18 rallies.

"We crushed SUNO's momentum from the beginning," said Reuther, who had 11 second-set digs en route to her team-leading 12th kill-dig double-double. "We stuck together after that and played Xavier volleyball. I had confidence we were going to finish strongly."

Hamilton didn't feel confident until the final 10 rallies, and before that she kept reminding her team "that if we didn't stay focused we could easily end up the way Dillard did last night -- winning the first two sets and not being able to finish. We had to finish strongly."

Kirk led the way in that department. Her final six swings in the third all went for kills. Xavier hit .320 with 39 kills and seven errors in 100 attacks.

Xavier won all 14 of its matches this season against the GCAC -- the Nuggets were 10-0 in the regular season and won that championship too -- in a rags-to-riches climb from 11-26 in 2010. Hamilton, hired in mid-June, is in her first season as a collegiate head coach. She'll turn 30 Christmas Day.

"This has been a great experience," Kirk said. "Learning and becoming a better volleyball player . . . and bonding as a team."

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: GCACSPORTS

Kirk's work helps Xavier Gold Nuggets defeat Faulkner in five

EW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Freshman Moira Kirk had 23 kills, the most by a Xavier University of Louisiana player this season, to rally the Gold Nuggets in a 25-19, 14-25, 17-25, 25-20, 15-12 women's volleyball victory Friday against Faulkner.

Kirk had three kills in the final seven rallies to help the Gold Nuggets (17-6) rally from a 17-14 deficit in the fourth set, then she closed the match with consecutive kills after Xavier trailed 3-0 and 9-5 in the fifth.

"I wish I had a team full of Moira Kirks," Xavier coach Christabell Hamilton said. "I say that because of her heart. She plays hard every day, whether it's a match or practice. She always gives me 100 percent, and sometimes she exceeds that. She's a leader by example."

Kirk also had four blocks and an ace and hit a team-best .364 in 44 attacks. Chinedu Echebelem had 10 kills, eight digs and three blocks, and Taylor Reuther had eight kills, 16 digs and a career-best five blocks. Xavier also got 11 digs from Celeste Poe and a career-high 17 digs from Kia Smith, whose dig set up Kirk's winning shot.

"Kia Smith played a great match," Hamilton said. "She's continued to fight for playing time. She's gotten more time recently, and today she stepped up."

Neysa Hernandez had 14 kills, 10 digs, two blocks and two aces for Faulkner (18-17), which dropped its fourth straight. Kelsey Bell had 10 kills and 23 digs, and Abbie Melvin had 19 digs.
Xavier took the lead for good in the deciding set with a 7-1 run. Echebelem and Jeanay Butler blocked Brittnay Renfroe's attack to tie the score at 10, and Reuther's lone ace put the Nuggets ahead to stay.

"Man, we were in some trouble in the fifth," Hamilton said. "I just told them that we've got to stay together and keep fighting."

It's the second time in the program's four seasons that Xavier won after trailing two sets to one, and it's the first time in five tries that the Gold Nuggets defeated Faulkner. This is the first Xavier team with three five-set victories in a season.

Both teams committed 48 errors. Xavier outhit Faulkner .155 to .154 and had a 71-67 advantage in digs, but the Lady Eagles had advantages of 54-48 in kills, 8-4 in aces and 9-7 in blocks.

Xavier will travel to Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and city rival SUNO for a 6 p.m. match Saturday. The Gold Nuggets have clinched a share of the GCAC regular-season championship and need a victory against SUNO or Dillard to win the title outright. SUNO and Dillard are both 7-2 in conference, and they're the only teams which can catch Xavier.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

Stallings, Smith, Rencher step up in Gold Nuggets' victory

NEW ORLEANS — Of the seven freshmen on the Xavier University of Louisiana women's volleyball team, Morgan Stallings, Kia Smith and Alexandria Rencher were the only ones who had played fewer than half the sets this season. Yet all three played important roles Saturday in the Gold Nuggets' 25-13, 25-8, 25-15 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victory against Edward Waters at Dillard's Dent Hall.

Stallings, who entered the match with six kills, equaled that number in the third set and finished with nine. Smith and Rencher combined for 32 of the Nuggets' 35 assists, with Smith collecting a season-best 19.
All three filled in capably for Chinedu Echebelem and Patrice Hightower, who missed the match because of injuries. But Xavier (14-4, 8-0) didn't miss a step and completed a two-day, three-match sweep against GCAC opponents at Dillard.

Xavier University of Louisiana's 2011 Women's Volleyball Team
      Front row, from left: Kia Smith, Chinedu Echebelem, Joyy Joseph, Celeste Poe, Patrice Hightower and Alexandria Rencher.
      Back row, from left: Morgan Stallings, Kerris Crier, Iva Bobkova, Moira Kirk, Jeanay Butler and Taylor Reuther.
(Click photo to enlarge)

The Gold Nuggets have won five of their last six matches and 13 of their last 15. Saturday's match was Xavier's fifth in four days.

"We expect all our players to be ready to go at any time," Xavier coach Christabell Hamilton said. "Morgan, Kia and Alex haven't played as much as the others, but they've continued to work hard in practice and improve their skills. It was nice to see them step up and play a part in this win."

Moira Kirk hit .421 and led Xavier with 10 kills and four aces. Sophomore Kerris Crier had eight kills and a .727 attack percentage — the first time she's topped .700 in 10 or more attempts and her first time this season with no attack errors. Taylor Reuther had seven kills, seven digs, three aces and hit .429.

Reuther had three kills and three aces during a 13-4 run which gave the Nuggets a 22-11 lead in the opening set. Xavier got four kills and two aces from Kirk and two aces from Iva Bobkova in an 18-2 second-set run. Stallings had three kills during an 8-0 run in the final set.

Xavier finished with 39 kills and hit .297. The Nuggets served 14 aces and finished with a 47-6 ace advantage in their three GCAC matches.

Edward Waters (3-19, 0-8) lost to Xavier for the second time this season.

The Nuggets won't play their next GCAC match until Oct. 29, when they visit second-place SUNO. In between there will be five non-conference matches, with the next one at 7 p.m. Thursday at city rival Loyola. That's a makeup of a Sept. 4 postponement due to Tropical Storm Lee.

Box score

Ed Cassiere

By Ed Cassiere,Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

XU Gold Nuggets set school record with 12th victory of season

XU head women's volleyball coach
Christabell Hamilton

NEW ORLEANS -- Taylor Reuther's nine kills, five digs and three aces Friday led Xavier University of Louisiana in a 25-8, 25-7, 20-25, 25-6 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's volleyball victory against Philander Smith at Dillard's Dent Hall.

The Gold Nuggets (12-4, 6-0) set a school record for victories in a season -- the 2010 team won 11 -- and assured themselves of a winning record in the GCAC for the first time in the program's four seasons. Xavier entered the year 5-17 in regular-season conference matches.

Reuther, who hit .000 in Xavier's previous two matches, played only in the first and fourth sets and hit .500 in 14 attempts. She served all her aces consecutively during the final set.

Kerris Crier had six kills, three blocks and hit .455 in 11 attempts for Xavier, and Moira Kirk continued her hot stretch by hitting .625 with five kills in eight attempts, three aces and four blocks. Kirk hit .480 in the Gold Nuggets' past seven matches and was errorless on attack in four of those contests.

Xavier hit .490 in its three winning sets, but a minus-.056 in the third set dropped the Nuggets to .264 for the match. The Nuggets served a season-best 18 aces, led by Jeanay Butler's season-high-tying four. Nine of the 11 Nuggets who served had at least one ace, and Morgan Stallings and Alexandria Rencher had two apiece.

Celeste Poe and Butler led Xavier with eight digs apiece. All 12 Nuggets played at least two sets, and Kirk and Crier were the only Nuggets to start in all four.

Philander Smith (1-10, 0-3), a first-year GCAC member, lost its seventh straight. But the Lady Panthers extended the match by scoring six of the final seven points in set three. Whitney McDaniel scored the final three points on kills.

Dillard is playing host to 12 matches involving six of the GCAC's eight teams Friday and Saturday. Xavier will play Tougaloo at 7 p.m. Friday, then close its weekend against Edward Waters in a 10 a.m. Saturday match.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Xavier Volleyball tryouts scheduled for July 16 at The Barn

Coach Christabell Hamilton

NEW ORLEANS — Tryouts for the 2011 Xavier University of Louisiana women's volleyball team will be conducted from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 16 at The Barn.

Junior-college players, high-school students in the class of 2011 and Xavier students are eligible to try out. Prospects may bring a DVD of themselves in competition or in skills demonstration, an academic transcript and a player profile/resume.

There is no fee for the tryout, and water will be provided. Contact Coach Christabell Hamilton at (504) 520-5344 or chamilt5@xula.edu for more information.

Driving directions to The Barn, Xavier's gymnasium, can be found online by using 3999 Short Street and the 70125 zip code as the destination.



By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

XU Gold Nuggets tryouts postponed

UPDATE: MAY 19, 2011 - XU volleyball tryouts postponed and will be rescheduled.

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has postponed its women's volleyball tryouts which were scheduled for Saturday. They will be rescheduled for another date.

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NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana will conduct women's volleyball tryouts for the 2011 season on Saturday, May 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Barn.

Participants must bring an academic transcript. The tryout is open to current XU and junior-college students and to 12th-graders graduating in 2011.

Driving directions to The Barn, Xavier's gymnasium, can be found online by using 3999 Short Street and the 70125 zip code.

Contact coach Al'lisa Hale at (504) 520-5344 or allisahale@yahoo.com for more information.

This will be the fourth season of intercollegiate volleyball at Xavier. The Gold Nuggets finished third in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference last season.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS