XU Gold Nuggets are a finalist for the 2012 HBCU Awards

Xavier's women's basketball accomplishments in 2010-11 helped
the Gold Nuggets become a finalist for the 2012 HBCU Awards.
Head Coach: Robert "Bo" Browder (13th Season)
Associate Head Coach: Darrilyn Broussard

(Click on photo to enlarge)

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's women's basketball program is a finalist for the 2012 HBCU Awards.

The Gold Nuggets are one of four finalists for women's team of the year — the others are Maryland Eastern Shore bowling, Florida A&M volleyball and Shaw basketball. Criteria for the finalists were winning a conference championship, maintaining good standing with graduation and academic progress rates and serving as a goodwill vehicle for their institutions during the 2010-11 academic year.

Winners will be announced at an April 20 ceremony at Bowie

Xavier's women's basketball accomplishments in 2010-11 helped the Gold Nuggets become a finalist for the 2012 HBCU Awards.

State University in Bowie, Md. A panel of chancellors and presidents from HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) named the finalists and will select the winners.

This is the second year of the awards, which are sponsored by the Center for HBCU Media Advocacy Inc. Awards also will be presented for leadership, arts, research and community engagement.

Bo Browder is in his 13th season as the Gold Nuggets' head coach, and associate head coach Darrilyn Broussard is in her 11th season on the staff. During their time together they've compiled a 266-79 record with five Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championships, five GCAC Tournament championships and nine appearances at the NAIA Division I National Championship. (Browder is 304-105 overall at Xavier.) Of the 39 senior student-athletes to play for Browder at Xavier, 38 received degrees from Xavier or are still enrolled.

Xavier, 6-3 and ranked 16th in NAIA Division I, will play 21st-ranked Shorter at 2 p.m. Saturday at The Barn in a PSBlive.com webcast.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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This Week

at The Barn

Saturday, December 3 — Women's Basketball vs. Shorter, 2 p.m. live webcast • live stats 

Saturday, December 3 — Men's Basketball vs. Concordia (Ala.), 4 p.m. live webcast • live stats

Spring Hill's strong start eliminates Xavier in NAIA opening round

MOBILE, Alabama -- Third-team All-American Yiting Cao had 16 kills, 12 digs and two aces Saturday to lead 16th-ranked Spring Hill to a 25-13, 25-11, 25-21 women's volleyball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana in the opening round of the NAIA National Championship.

The Badgers (39-1) snapped the school-record eight-match win streak of the Gold Nuggets (23-7) and advanced to pool play in the NAIA National Championship final site Nov. 29-Dec. 3 at Sioux City, Iowa.

Freshman Taylor Reuther had 14 kills and 12 digs in her Xavier-leading 12th kill-dig double-double. Iva Bobkova had six kills, and Patrice Hightower had 27 assists and nine digs for the Gold Nuggets.

Three Cassandra Marchand-Stewart kills keyed an 11-2 run which gave Spring Hill a 15-7 first-set lead. Two Cao kills and seven Xavier errors gave the Badgers a 10-1 lead in the second set.

There were 15 ties and nine lead changes in the third set before Spring Hill took advantage of four consecutive XU errors to emerge from a tie at 20. Jamie Hall's kill, her sixth, ended the match.

Spring Hill outhit Xavier .354 to .097 and had advantages of 38-31 in kills, 57-50 in digs, 5-2 in aces and 10-1 in blocks.

"We were nervous in the beginning, and the first two sets were a struggle for us," said Xavier first-year coach Christabell Hamilton. "We finally started to play Xavier ball in the third set, but it was too late. We waited too long to get settled in. Spring Hill is a very talented and solid team, and they took advantage of our slow start."

Xavier, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champion, set program records in its fourth season for victories, home victories, conference victories and victories on opponents' courts. Xavier was 11-26 a year ago.

"I'm so very proud of my team and how they came together and made history this year," Hamilton said. "No one ever thought we'd get this far. We will miss our four seniors, but we're very excited about getting better in spring practice, and we look forward to more improvement next season."

• Live Stats | Box Score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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Xavier Nuggets close regular season with loss to Southeastern

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's women closed their regular season Tuesday with a 9-0 loss to Southeastern Louisiana at City Park Tennis Center.

The loss was the sixth in a row for the Gold Nuggets (3-17) and the 15th in their last 16 duals. It was Xavier's ninth loss of the season against an NCAA Division I opponent.

Audrey Chelini, Morgane Dadot and Isabel Brito won in singles and doubles for Southeastern (9-13) in its season finale. Chelini and Raissa Dias defeated Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson 8-3 at No. 1 doubles, then Chelini beat Brown 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles.

Morgane Dadot and Isabel Brito teamed for an 8-5 victory against sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach at No. 2. In singles Dadot beat Nicole DeLoach (XU) 7-5, 6-2, and Brito clinched the dual with a 6-0, 6-0 decision against Ashley McGill.

It was the final home match for Melissa DeLoach and McGill, both seniors. Also Tuesday the Nuggets were among others receiving votes for the third consecutive time in the NAIA coaches poll.

Next for Xavier's women and men will be an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30 at Chattanooga, Tenn.



By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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Xavier's Abbas repeats as GCAC Player of the Week

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Hassan Abbas is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in men's tennis for the second consecutive time.

Hassan Abbas

Abbas, a senior from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura College, won in doubles and singles Saturday in a 4-3 loss at the University of New Orleans, an NCAA Division I member. Abbas and Zach Taylor won 8-6 against Benjamin Bouhana and Hossam Meligy at No. 1 doubles, then Abbas tied the dual at 3 with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) victory against Vinay Kamineni at No. 1 singles.

Abbas — 12-5 in singles and 13-5 in doubles this season — also won the GCAC award for March 7-13. There were no nominees for March 14-20 or March 21-27. Abbas won the award once in 2010.

Xavier's men and women will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., for duals with William Carey at 10 a.m. Sunday. Xavier's men are 11-7 and ranked eighth in the NAIA.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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Gold Nuggets lose eighth in a row, this time to Rutgers

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Rutgers completed its three-match trip to Louisiana with a 9-0 women's victory against Xavier University of Louisiana at the University of New Orleans Tennis Center.

The Scarlet Knights (8-4) won all three matches during their trip and gave Xavier (2-10), ranked 24th in the NAIA, its eighth consecutive loss.

Amy Zhang and Jennifer Holzberg defeated Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson at No. 1 doubles, and Zhang beat Brown 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Xavier defaulted matches at No. 3 doubles and No. 5 and 6 singles for the fifth consecutive dual, and the Zhang-Holzberg doubles victory clinched for Rutgers.



Brown, a freshman, played No. 1 singles for the second time as a collegian. Teammate Melissa DeLoach, 2-0 in singles at the AUM Invitational this past weekend, lost 6-2, 6-0 to Leonora Slatnick at No. 4.

Four of the Gold Nuggets' losses during their streak are against NCAA Division I opponents.

It was the Gold Nuggets' first home match since Feb. 5 and their first-ever meeting with Rutgers. The Nuggets' next match will start at 3 p.m. Tuesday against SCAD Atlanta at UNO.

Results
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