Fueled by brother’s spirit, SCSU/Citadel star Cooper realizes NFL dreams; Makes Washington Redskins Roster

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A scout unexpectedly poked his head in the door of the Washington Redskins’ team meeting on Saturday requesting Mariel Cooper gather his belongings and follow him. Cooper was one of 33 tryout players at the Redskins’ rookie minicamp vying for two open spots on the team’s 90-man roster. The unexpected summons less than two days into camp induced an uneasy feeling in Cooper as he headed toward the offices of Redskins Park.

The scout led Cooper through the glass double doors adorned with the iconic Redskins logo and up the burgundy staircase. They paused for a moment in front of the team’s three sterling silver Super Bowl trophies.

“Coop,” the scout finally let out with a smile slowly stretching across his face. “Welcome to the Washington Redskins.”

The undersized long shot from Sumter, S.C., undrafted out of The Citadel, had made an NFL team. After Cooper signed his contract, Redskins officials gave him a moment to himself. Cooper leaned low into his leather chair, exhaled deeply and peered out of the office window up to the blue sky that stretched over the practice fields.

“Thank you, Destin,” he whispered. “Keep blessing me, man. I’m going to keep balling for you.”



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XULA Rush beat Blue Raiders to advance to national final

Results

MOBILE, Alabama — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis took another step forward and made history Friday by defeating Lindsey Wilson 5-3 in the semifinals of the NAIA National Championship.
     
The Gold Rush (17-7), ranked and seeded third, became the first XU team in any sport to reach an NAIA championship final. Xavier will play top-seeded and two-time defending champion Georgia Gwinnett (25-0) for the title at 1 p.m. Saturday at Copeland-Cox Mobile Tennis Center.
    
 "Fifteen down, five to go," XU coach Alan Green said. "That's how we've looked at this tournament all week — be the team that wins 20 matches (in four duals)."
     
Kyle Montrel and Tushar Mandlekar won in doubles and singles for Xavier. Montrel earned two victories for the second consecutive day and clinched with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Alonso Tellez on the third singles court.
     
Mandlekar won the final 12 games in a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Tomas Depiaggio at No. 5. The other XU singles victory was by freshman Thomas Setodji, who is 17-0 after his 6-1, 6-4 decision against Raul Mendez on the second court.
     
Xavier won 2-of-3 doubles matches for the third consecutive day. Mandlekar and Adam Albrecht beat Javier Raya and Depiaggio 8-4, and Montrel and Karan Salwan won 8-5 against Tellez and Ignacio Huertas.
     
Denis Porcic won on the first courts in doubles and singles for the Blue Raiders (17-4). He and Mendez rallied from a 7-6 deficit for a 9-8 (7-4) victory against Setodji and Kevin Chaouat. Then Porcic beat Salwan 6-2, 6-4 to tie the dual at 3.
    
Like Xavier, Lindsey Wilson was in its first semifinal after being eliminated in the quarterfinals each of the previous four seasons.
     
"No match in the tournament has been easy, despite what the scores indicate," Green said. "But we've worked hard all year and played very well this week to give ourselves a chance to win a national title."
     
Georgia Gwinnett beat fifth-seeded Dalton State 5-0 in the other semifinal for its 31st consecutive victory. The Grizzlies won 5-1 at home against Xavier May 6 in the championship of an NAIA unaffiliated group tournament.
     
"We'll have to play better this time, and hopefully Georgia Gwinnett will not play as well this time," Green said. "And the weather will have to be super hot."

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Gold Rush reach national semifinals for first time

Results

MOBILE, Alabama — On its fifth try in as many years, Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis finally broke the barrier.
     
The Gold Rush, ranked and seeded third, defeated No. 6 Keiser 5-3 Thursday in the NAIA National Championship to become the first XU men's team in any sport to reach the national semifinals.
     
Xavier is 16-7, and Keiser finished 20-4.
     
"We've been playing a lot of tough matches recently," said senior Kyle Montrel, one of two Gold Rush players to win in doubles and singles. "All the guys have been fighting hard. We know we can win. This year we believe it, so we're going for it."
     
Xavier will play No. 7 Lindsey Wilson, a 5-3 winner against No. 2 Auburn Montgomery, at 1 p.m. Friday. Two-time defending champion Georgia Gwinnett will meet No. 5 Dalton State in the other semifinal at that same time. The championship will start at 1 p.m. Saturday. All matches are at Copeland-Cox Mobile Tennis Center, and admission is free.
     
Montrel and Karan Salwan scored the first point of the dual when they defeated Martin Martins and Guilherme Cunha 8-1. Montrel made it 4-3 when he defeated Rafael Lenz 6-4, 6-1 on the third singles court.
     
Xavier's other double winner was freshman Thomas Setodji, who teamed with Kevin Chaouat for an 8-6 victory against Lenz and Shaquille Taylor, then clinched for the second consecutive day — approximately three minutes after Montrel's victory — with his 6-0, 6-4 decision against Martins. Setodji is 16-0 in singles and has clinched half of Xavier's victories and seven of the last 10.
     
Xavier's other point came from Tushar Mandlekar, who avenged a third-set super-tiebreaker loss to Taylor during the regular season with a 6-1, 6-0 victory on the fifth court. It was his first singles victory since March 22 — between victories there were seven losses and three unfinished matches.
     
Why the reversal of fortune against Taylor? "I changed racket brands about two weeks ago," said Mandlekar, a junior who is 5-0 in singles in three appearances at nationals. "I'm playing much better since I switched."
     
In addition to four consecutive quarterfinal losses in tennis, Gold Rush basketball lost in the 1973 quarterfinals. Women's tennis earned Xavier its first semifinal berth in 2013 and reached that round again in 2014.
    
"I wasn't really thinking about the round, just the opponents we play," 13th-year coach Alan Green said. "It was a tough match with Keiser. It was tougher than when we played them earlier in the season (a 7-2 XU victory), but our guys pulled through."

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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FAMU Softballers Drop 1-0 NCAA Heartbreaker To FSU

Junior Kenya Pereira tossed a one-hitter in a 1-0 NCAA Regional loss to FSU.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Junior pitcher Kenya Pereira tossed a scintillating one-hitter against the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles, but it wasn’t enough as the hosts of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional escaped with a 1-0 victory over the FAMU Lady Rattlers in an opening round game, delayed over two hours due to thunderstorms, at JoAnn Graf Field.

Pereira (14-16), the 2016 MEAC Pitcher of the Year, who on Thursday was named to the Southeast All-Region Team, justified those accolades, twirling a no-hitter through five innings and into the sixth, before FSU’s Jessica Warren lined a double down the left field line for the game’s only hit.

The Kissimmee, Florida native struck out two and walked three in six innings of work.

The Seminoles (49-8), seeded No. 8 nationally, scored the game’s only run in the first inning when leadoff hitter Meagan Klaevermann reached on a throwing error by FAMU third baseman Amber Fullwood, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ellie Cooper, before coming home on a Jessica Warren’s sacrifice fly to right field.

FAMU (27-29) mounted one serious scoring threat in the top of the fifth inning, getting runners on the corners with two outs when the heavy weather moved in, resulting in a two hour and 38 minute delay.

When play resumed with Taylor Rosier and Whitney Farris, who both reached on walks on base, Tashayla Irvis struck out to end the threat.

FSU’s Jessica Burroughs (25-5) tied a personal best with 14 strikeouts against FAMU against just those two fifth inning walks in seven complete innings.

FAMU will fight to stay alive in the regional on Saturday, as they face South Florida, which dropped a 2-0 decision to South Carolina on Friday, in the 2:30 p.m. elimination game.

A FAMU win would pit them against the loser of the 12 noon FSU-South Carolina game at 5:00 p.m. Saturday.

The regional title game will be Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

All games will be televised by ESPN3, and Live Stats can be accessed via the Seminoles.comsite on the NCAA Softball Regional Page.



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ASU, Advanced-Online Announce Launch Of Online Store

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Alabama State University and Advanced-Online are pleased to announce the launch of the official online apparel store of the Hornets.

www.shopbamastate.com features more than 1,700 officially licensed Alabama State University items to outfit every fan for every occasion. Hornet alumni, parents, students and supporters will now be able to purchase merchandise 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A portion of the the proceeds benefit Alabama State University.

"We're excited to announce our new online store," said Alabama State Athletic Director Melvin Hines. "With our partnership with Advanced-Online, we're able to provide Hornet Nation the ability to show their Hornet Pride through an exciting variety of merchandise."

Among the exciting items available for purchase are Championship Gear t-shirts, celebrating this season's SWAC titles in women's basketball, women's golf, men's golf, softball, and women's track.

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Southern’s comeback train finally halted as Alabama State eliminates Jaguars from SWAC baseball tournament

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Southern slowed Alabama State’s Southwestern Athletic Conference train, but the Jaguars couldn’t stop it.

Unlike it’s earlier SWAC tournament elimination game Friday against Alcorn State, there would be no late-game heroics resulting in victory.

Alabama State surged ahead of Southern in the third inning then held off the Jaguars 9-7 at Wesley Barrow Stadium, putting the Hornets in Sunday’s championhip game against Texas Southern.

However, it was a far cry from Alabama State’s 27-9 drubbing of Southern on Thursday, the tournament’s second day.

“I told them I’ve had some great teams at Southern, but I’m very pround of them,” said Jaguars coach Roger Cador, who started six freshmen in the game. “We battled. But we made early mistakes that cost us, and they had better pitching (than Alcorn State). That made it harder to come back against them.

“But we have 18 freshmen, so next year could be interesting.”

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BCU Athletics Will Not Retain Services of Tim Pleasant

TIM PLEASANT

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- The contract of Bethune-Cookman Men’s and Women’s Tennis Head Coach Tim Pleasant will not be renewed past the current 2015-16 athletic year, it was announced Friday, May 20, by Lynn W. Thompson, B-CU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics. The current contract for Pleasant expires at the end of June.

“We would like to thank Tim [Pleasant] for all he has contributed to the success of our men’s and women’s programs at Bethune-Cookman University,” stated Thompson. “However, we felt that new vision and leadership is what is required now to elevate our program to its highest level.”

In five years at the helm in Daytona Beach, Pleasant – the 2014-15 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, helped the Wildcats women’s tennis team to back-to-back first place finishes in the league’s Southern Division in 2015 and 2016, respectfully. In 2015, B-CU amassed an overall record of 22-7, and won the first MEAC Tournament title in more than a decade, advancing the Cats to the NCAA Regionals in Gainesville, Florida.

Women’s Tennis fell to South Carolina State in the 2016 MEAC title match in April. The team finished the year with a 12-13 overall mark. On the men’s side, Bethune-Cookman claimed the 2016 top seed from the Southern Division in the MEAC Championships, but eventually fell in the semifinals to South Carolina State.

“As we continue to build a comprehensive athletics program which develops the total student-athlete experience, we must be creative and bold in our process, continued Thompson. “The ground work laid by Pleasant is one the next staff will truly be able to follow, and further enhance what we have going for us in Daytona Beach.”

The search for a new coach will begin immediately, led by a committee consisting of Bethune-Cookman Department of Athletics senior staff members.

For more information, please contact Bryan J. Harvey in the B-CU Office of Athletic Communications.

Follow Bethune-Cookman Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BCUathletics), Twitter (www.twitter.com/BCUathletics) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/BCUathletics) for all of the latest news and updates. Fans also receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year, via the social media outlets or www.BCUathletics.com.

COURTESY BETHUNE-COOKMAN COLLEGE ATHLETICS SPORTS INFORMATION