SWAC West champion Southern defeats Xavier 9-0

NEW ORLEANS — Southern University, the Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division champion, defeated Xavier University of Louisiana 9-0 Sunday in a women's dual at City Park Tennis Center.

The Lady Jaguars (9-5) won every set but one and picked up defaults at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles to defeat the shorthanded Gold Nuggets (3-14) for the second straight season.

Jo'Vonna Gaines, Carlista Mohammed and Kathryn Curtis won singles and doubles matches for Southern. Gaines and Mohammed defeated sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach 8-0 at No. 1 doubles, and Mohammed beat Amber Brown 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Curtis and Lois Alexis improved their win streak to 10 matches with an 8-0 decision against Brown and Carmen Nelson at No. 2 doubles.

Nelson won her first set against Demetria Woods at No. 3 singles, but Woods rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) victory. Freshman Lisbeth Castaneda clinched the dual with her 6-3, 6-0 victory against Ashley McGill at No. 5 singles.



Xavier, an NAIA member, has dropped three consecutive duals — its second in as many days against an NCAA Division I opponent — and 12 of its last 13. Half of the Gold Nuggets' losses this season are against NCAA D-I.

Xavier's women and men will visit William Carey at 10 a.m. next Sunday. Southern will visit Nicholls State at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Auburn Montgomery teams shut down Xavier again

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Auburn Montgomery continued its tennis dominance of Xavier University of Louisiana, beating the Gold Rush 9-0 and the Gold Nuggets 7-0 Saturday at City Park.

AUM is 10-0 the last eight seasons against XU's men and 7-0 the last seven seasons against XU's women.

The closest matches were in the men's dual, where XU singles players Zach Taylor and Steffen Giles-Osborn split sets. But both lost third-set super tiebreakers — Bence Toth beat Taylor 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 2, and Loic Didavi defeated Giles-Osborn 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 3 in a matchup of top-30 NAIA singles players.

Bruno Savi and Claudio Andrade, the NAIA's top-ranked doubles team, beat Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson 8-2 at No. 2.

In the women's dual Xavier's Carmen Nelson lost 6-2, 6-3 to ninth-ranked Jade Curtis at No. 2 singles in the Gold Nuggets' most competitive match. The Lady Senators won all 12 sets, seven without dropping a game.

AUM's men are ranked third in the NAIA and the defending national champion, and the women are fourth. Both teams are 14-2. Xavier's men (11-6) are eighth, and the women (3-12) are receiving votes and 27th overall.

Both Xavier teams will play Fisk in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference duals at 1 p.m. next Saturday at City Park.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULA Athletics

Xavier teams defeat Loyola on City Park's new courts

NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana, in the first collegiate matches on the newly dedicated hard courts at City Park Tennis Center, defeated city rival Loyola 6-3 in the women's dual and 9-0 in the men's dual Friday.

The Gold Nuggets (3-11) snapped a nine-dual losing streak, and the Gold Rush (11-5), ranked eighth in the NAIA, have won two straight and three of four.

The City Park courts were dedicated Thursday, and Xavier will play all remaining home matches there this season.

XU's women again defaulted the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches because of an incomplete roster but won six of the seven completed matches. Carmen Nelson snapped her 10-match singles losing streak by defeating Loyola's Katie Beargie 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2. Nicole DeLoach clinched the dual by beating Cristiana Krtalic 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4.

Nelson and the DeLoach sisters won in singles and doubles. Melissa DeLoach did not lose a game; she and Nicole DeLoach defeated Frances Bonnin and Beargie 8-0 at No. 2 doubles, then Melissa beat Bonnin 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.



Loyola's women (1-6) have lost six in a row, and the men (1-5) have lost five in a row. The Wolfpack's lone victory in a non-forfeited match was Claire Landry's 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) decision against Amber Brown at No. 1. Brown, a freshman, is 0-4 in third-set super-tiebreakers this season.

Xavier's men dropped four games in nine matches and lost their fewest games in six completed singles matches (two) since Feb. 23, 2008, against Belhaven. Zach Taylor's 6-0, 6-0 decision against Joshua Laviolette at No. 2 clinched the dual, and teammates Hassan Abbas, Sean Richardson, Amir Rahbar and Jonathan Aubrey also won 6-0, 6-0. Richardson didn't drop a game in the dual; he and Steffen Giles-Osborn won 8-0 at No. 2 doubles against Jordan Hunting and Laviolette.

Both Xavier teams will play Auburn Montgomery -- whose men are ranked third and women fourth in the NAIA -- at 4 p.m. Saturday at City Park. AUM's men are the defending NAIA champion. Xavier's Sunday duals at the University of New Orleans were postponed by mutual agreement and will be rescheduled for April.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULA Athletics

XU Gold Nuggets Warren does honorable thing, and she's still seeking votes

Christina Warren
NAIA Division I All American
Honorable Mention

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana extended its streak with Wednesday's announcement of the 2010-11 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball All-America Team. Christina Warren is the third Gold Nugget to earn honorable mention during the last five seasons.

Warren — a 5-foot-9 senior forward/guard from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and a graduate of Los Osos High School and Chaffey College — led the Gold Nuggets with 11.9 points per game and 41 made 3-pointers this season. She was the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a three-time GCAC Player of the Week. Xavier was 27-7 this season, won the GCAC Tournament for the second straight season and reached the second round of the NAIA Division I National Championship.

Jarryn Cleaves earned All-America honorable mention for Xavier in 2006-07 and 2007-08, and Brittany Powell did the same in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Warren was one of four from the GCAC to receive honorable mention. The others were Dillard's Jazzmin Smith, SUNO's Christine Conners and Tougaloo's Victoria Jones.

Warren is a nominee in the Heritage Sports Radio Network National Player of the Year fan poll for Division II women. Fans can visit www.hsrn.com, then scroll down to the left and vote for Warren before 2 p.m. CDT on March 30.

Xavier Gold Nuggets NAIA All-Americans

First Team
1986-87 — Demetria Lang (WBCA/Kodak team)
1988-89 — Henrietta Mitchell (WBCA/Kodak team)
1989-90 — Henrietta Mitchell (WBCA/Kodak team)
1997-98 — Cassee Davis

Second Team
1980-81 — Gwendolyn Brule
2003-04 — Jackie Tucker
Third Team
1995-96 — Cassee Davis

Honorable Mention
1981-82 — Gwendolyn Brule
2001-02 — Alisheian Graham
2006-07 — Jarryn Cleaves
2007-08 — Jarryn Cleaves
2008-09 — Brittany Powell
2009-10 — Brittany Powell
2010-11 — Christina Warren

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULA Athletics

XU Nuggets exit top 25, then lose to first-year NAIA program

NEW ORLEANS — It was a double whammy Tuesday for the Xavier University of Louisiana women's tennis team. First the Gold Nuggets dropped out of the NAIA top 25 for the first time since February 2004. Then they lost their ninth consecutive dual match — 9-0 to SCAD Atlanta at the University of New Orleans Tennis Center.

The Gold Nuggets (2-11) had appeared in 44 consecutive top 25s dating to Feb. 25, 2004, but missed by 10 points this time and fell to 27th overall.

SCAD Atlanta (8-2) — an NAIA independent in its first year of intercollegiate sports but ineligible for rankings or the postseason until 2011-12 — dropped only one set in winning its fifth dual in a row. The closest match was at No. 3 singles, where Christina Swindall defeated XU's Nicole DeLoach 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 1-0 (10-4).

Once again, because of only five available players, Xavier was forced to default at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles. The good news was that senior Ashley McGill returned to action for the first time in six duals after completing her basketball eligibility Friday.

Xavier's women and men will return to the courts Friday in a 3:30 p.m. makeup match against city rival Loyola at City Park Tennis Center.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULA Athletics

Xavier Gold Nuggets see Stars — and lots of OCU free throws

JACKSON, Tenn. (March 18, 2011) — Xavier University of Louisiana lost 67-51 Friday to Oklahoma City in the second round of the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship. But after losing to OCU by 30, 30 and 38 points from 1999-2003, 12th-year XU Coach Bo Browder is certain the talent gap has narrowed between his program and OCU.

Yet a wide gap in free-throw attempts — the Stars made 20-of-40, the Gold Nuggets 12-of-17 — left Browder searching for answers.

"A reporter asked me after the game about the difference in free throws," Browder said. "I told him I didn't have a good explanation. I will say this — it was a very physical game on both sides. (Oklahoma City) wanted to intimidate us, but we didn't give in to them."

The 2010-11 Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball team.
Coach Robert "Bo" Browder.  (Photo courtesy of Xavier University).

Fourth-ranked Oklahoma City committed 16 personal fouls, and 20th-ranked Xavier was called for 30, its most since February 2005. XU freshman Carmen Holcombe, starting for the second straight game at center, fouled out, and teammates Keldra Hall, Marchelle Jones, Jazmoné Kelly and Christina Warren had four fouls apiece.

Reserve guard Tiffany Goldwire, one of seven Stars to attempt four or more free throws, led OCU (27-3) with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Lauren Gober added 13 points and six rebounds and scored five points during an 11-0 first-half run which gave OCU the lead for good.

That run, in which five Stars scored and four of them had assists, turned Xavier's last lead (7-6) into a 17-7 OCU advantage with 12:26 remaining in the half. The Stars led 37-20 at halftime thanks to what Browder said was "some of our worst basketball in a long time."

How bad was it? The Nuggets (27-7) shot 25 percent from the floor — there was a 2-of-16 stretch which covered nearly 12 minutes — and tacked on 14 turnovers and 16 fouls in the first half.

Browder still had praise for Oklahoma City, a national semifinalist in 2009 and 2010 and a team ranked second in the coaches poll the majority of this season. "There's no dropoff in them from those earlier times we played them," Browder said. "Their talent on the roster one-through-10 is the best of any team still in the tournament. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll win out, but they have a lot of talent."

Jones, a junior guard playing her last game for Xavier — she is leaving XU and basketball to pursue academic opportunities for her double major of physics and electrical engineering — had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. Jones was the Nuggets' only double-figure scorer, and she made a pair of 3-pointers in the final three minutes to equal her output of her first 99 collegiate games.

Brandi Young scored nine points, and Hall and freshman Chelsea Broussard scored seven apiece for Xavier. Broussard grabbed nine rebounds, her third highest total of the season, and Hall had seven. Danielle Kennebrew's six rebounds were her second-most this season.

Xavier limited senior guard Donica Cosby, a first-team NAIA All-American last season, to eight points and 2-of-9 from the floor. But XU's Warren — the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a 19-point scorer Wednesday against Lee (Tenn.) — had seven points in 25 minutes and was 3-of-10 from the floor in her final Xavier game.

Oklahoma City led by double digits for the final 27:18. Broussard's 3-point play at 12:56 cut the Stars' lead to 46-36, but Xavier never got closer. OCU answered Broussard's points with an 18-7 run which gave the Stars their biggest lead, 64-43, with 3:04 remaining. Still Xavier outscored Oklahoma City 31-30 in the second half.

The Stars outshot the Nuggets 39.3 to 32.7 percent from the floor. Xavier had a 41-40 rebound advantage but had a season-low two assists and gained a season-low 13 turnovers, almost half of XU's per-game average. Xavier finished with 21 turnovers, and the deficit of eight matched its worst of the season.

Xavier is 0-6 in the second round at the national tournament — Browder's teams are 0-2 — and four times Oklahoma teams eliminated the Nuggets in that round. The Stars have done it twice, and they also have a first-round victory against Browder's first XU team in 1999.

"We fought hard for 40 minutes and I'm proud of that," Browder said. "We were not fully loaded up here because of some injured players, but we'll be OK. We had a great year, and I'm thankful to these young ladies for stepping up and making it happen when we had some tough times."

Box score

NOTES: Ashley McGill, Xavier's other senior, did not attempt a shot in 14 relief minutes . . . The 16-point losing margin was Xavier's largest since a 73-56 loss to Lambuth in the first round of the 2008 national tournament . . . Xavier allowed a school-record-low 50.1 points per game and likely will hold on to No. 1 in NAIA Division I for the second consecutive season. The Gold Nuggets allowed 52.1 points per game in 2009-10.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULASports.com

Xavier Gold Rush win, Gold Nuggets lose at AUM Invitational

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (March 11, 2011) — Hassan Abbas, Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson won in doubles and singles Friday, leading NAIA No. 8 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 6-0 men's tennis victory over Georgetown (Ky.) in the AUM Invitational.

Xavier's women, ranked 24th, suffered their fifth consecutive loss in a 5-1 decision against No. 13 Lindsey Wilson.

The Gold Rush (9-4), winless in this event a year ago, bounced back from two straight losses over the past three days. Abbas and Zach Taylor scored the first point when they defeated Benjamin Aspillaga and Jose Baeza 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Amir Rahbar and Jonathan Aubrey made it 2-0 when they beat Carlos Del Valle and Alec Lewis 8-0 at No. 3 — it was Rahbar and Aubrey's first shutout of the season — and Giles-Osborn and Richardson completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 decision against Gustavo Echeverria and Zach Thomas.

In singles Richardson gave Xavier a 4-0 lead when he defeated Thomas 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5. Giles-Osborn snapped his three-match singles losing streak and clinched the dual with his 6-1, 6-1 victory against Echeverria at No. 3. Soon afterward Abbas wrapped up a 6-0, 6-3 victory against Baeza at No. 2, and the other three matches were stopped with Xavier leading by a set in each.

Abbas, the Gold Rush leader in singles winning percentage and combined winning percentage last season, is 10-3 in singles and 10-3 in doubles this year.

The highlight of the Nuggets' loss to Lindsey Wilson was senior Melissa DeLoach's 6-3, 6-0 victory against Edelmira Ferri at No. 4 singles. Also playing well was freshman Amber Brown at No. 2, who won a second-set tiebreaker against Slavica Milanovic but lost 10-7 in a third-set super-tiebreaker. Milanovic was ranked 12th nationally in the preseason by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Trina Slapeka, ranked sixth in singles, beat XU's Carmen Nelson 6-2, 6-3 at the top flight. Slapeka and Milanovic, ranked eighth in doubles, beat Nelson and Brown 8-1 to score the first point of the dual.

The XU women will play Campbellsville at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and the men will play unbeaten and fifth-ranked Oklahoma Christian at 12:30 p.m.

Results:  Men    Women

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
Visit: XULAAthletics and  GCACConf.com