XULA Richard wins on road vs. NCAA Division II's #3 player

PENSACOLA, Florida — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis freshman Antoine Richard defeated one of the best players in NCAA Division II Saturday in a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) decision against West Florida senior Alex Peyrot.

Richard — a left-hander from Laval, Quebec, a graduate of Le Tremplin and the ITA's fourth-ranked NAIA singles player — won for the ninth time in 13 decisions this semester and stretched his win streak to six. Richard ended the 8-match win streak of Peyrot, who is third-ranked in NCAA D2.

"I just needed to stay focused throughout the match and keep fighting," said Richard, who won in three sets for the second time this week. "I felt good in the tiebreaker, felt fresh. I had been training well recently."

The victory gave Richard a split for the day with Peyrot, who teamed with Pedro Dumont for an 8-5 doubles victory against Richard and Moses Micheal.

West Florida won both dual matches against XULA, topping the Gold Rush 7-2 and the Gold Nuggets 9-0. West Florida's men (23-1) are ranked first in NCAA D2, and its women (20-6) are ranked sixth.

Karan Salwan scored the other XULA victory when his singles opponent, Warren Kuhn, retired because of an injury with Kuhn leading 6-3, 1-3. The Gold Rush (10-5), ranked second in the NAIA, lost to a top-10 D2 team for the second straight day. So did the Gold Nuggets (6-13), who are ranked ninth and have dropped six straight overall.

Emma Kranendonk, the only Gold Nugget to win a set, lost 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to regionally ranked Paula Coyos.

The Gold Nuggets will play their home finale at 1 p.m. Saturday against NAIA No. 11 LSU-Alexandria. Dual matches Tuesday at the University of New Orleans were postponed for the Gold Rush and canceled for the Gold Nuggets. The Rush instead will visit UNO April 24 or 25, and the women's dual was dropped at the request of UNO coach Burzis Kanga.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Rush, Nuggets fall to top-10 teams from Georgia

Results:  Men   •   Women

PENSACOLA, Florida — Moses Micheal was a double winner Friday for Xavier University of Louisiana, but Columbus State rallied to earn a 5-3 men's tennis dual-match decision that snapped the Gold Rush win streak at five.

In the women's dual, Columbus State beat XULA 5-0.

All four teams are top-10 nationally. XULA's men (10-4) are ranked second in the NAIA, and the women (6-12) are ninth. Columbus State's men (17-3) are ninth in NCAA Division II, and its women (18-2) are seventh.

Micheal and Antoine Richard rallied to beat KP Pannu and Maciej Kierkus 9-7 — the only XULA doubles victory of the day — and Micheal gave the Gold Rush a 3-2 lead against the Georgia team when he beat Zach Whaanga, regionally ranked in singles, 6-3, 6-3 on the second court.

But the Cougars then rattled off three straight singles victories, and Paul Sprengelmeijer clinched with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 decision against Karan Salwan at No. 3.

The other Gold Rush victory was on the fourth court, where Catalin Fifea cruised past Matei Avram 6-3, 6-2 and improved his singles win streak to nine. Fifea has not dropped a singles set in nearly two months.

"I was really impressed with Catalin Fifea and Moses Micheal in singles," XULA coach Alan Green said. "Fifea has been rock-solid all year, and Moses is getting better each day."

Micheal won in doubles and singles for the second consecutive day. Prior to Thursday, the freshman from Kaduna, Nigeria, had been a double winner in only 1-of-12 duals.

Friday was the first time in 34 duals that Salwan failed to win in doubles or singles. The only other time he was shut out was in the 2016 opener at Louisiana-Lafayette — his first dual match with the Gold Rush. Salwan and Tushar Mandlekar's 8-1 loss to Whaanga and Avram was the largest margin of defeat by a Gold Rush doubles team in a dual this season.

The Gold Nuggets dropped their fifth straight dual, and the Lady Cougars won their sixth in a row and 16th in their last 17. XULA's best efforts were at No. 1 doubles, where newly paired Charlene Goreau and Emma Kranendonk lost 8-5 to fifth-ranked Beatriz Leon and Beatriz Lopez, and at No. 6 singles, where Sha'Nel Bruins was tied at 5 in the first set with Saravinder Pannu (KP's older sister) when the dual was clinched and halted.

Goreau and Kranendonk trailed 2-0 and 5-3 before rallying to tie their match at 5.

XULA will play more NCAA D2 top-10 teams at 10 a.m. Saturday: West Florida's top-ranked men and No. 7 women. Venue will be the same as Friday — West Florida's Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Coppin State Women's Basketball Signs Downs & Corbie For 2017-18 Season

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- Coppin State women's basketball head coach DeWayne Burroughs announced the signing of guards Camille Downs and Tsahai Corbie on Wednesday, April 12th. Downs and Corbie will join the Eagles women's basketball program for the 2017-18 season.

"With the signing of both Camille Downs and Tsahai Corbie along with Nadia Davidson, we are looking for immediate success and taking the program to another level in the upcoming 2017-18 season," Burroughs comments.

Camille Downs is a 5-7 guard from Stafford, VA who attended Colonial Forge High School. She led the Eagles to a 25-6 overall record as a senior in 2016-17 averaging 12.2 points per game along with 3.4 steals. Colonial Forge won the first women's basketball championship in school and county history with a 52-38 victory over the Oakton Cougars. Downs scored 21 points including all 14 of her team's first quarter points. She finished with nine rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks to go along with her game-high 21 points.

"Camille is very versatile on the court. She will be a great addition to our team since she can play the lead guard position all the way through to the power forward. Camille finds a way to score the basketball and you can see her love for the game every time she plays. I believe that she will come in and be an immediate impact."

Tsahai Corbie is a 5-7 guard from Brooklyn, NY who attended South Shore High School. Corbie was named the Girls PSAL MVP at the 2017 NYC Mayor's Cup and is ranked as a three-star recruit by ESPN. She won three PSAL Basketball Championships (2015, 2016, 2017), was named the 2017 PSAL MVP and earned the PSAL Basketball Champion Academic Achievement Award in 2015 for the highest GPA on the team. Corbie also garnered the Conrad McCrae AAU Tournament Student-Athlete Award in 2016, National Honor Society Inductee in April of 2015 and 2016, the Victory Collegiate Instagram Founders High Climbers Award in 2016, the Victory Collegiate Michael Jordan Student Athlete Academic Award in 2015 and also won the Rose Classic Super Jam Basketball Sportsmanship Award in 2015.

"Tsahai is a threat from long range and can shoot the three-pointer well. On the court she can play anywhere from the lead guard to a small forward. She is an all-around player that can score, rebound, assist and is always looking to make her teammates better. In addition she plays with a very high IQ for the game and loves to play the game and looks like she is having fun."

COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

Cal basketball has hired Coppin State's Keith Brown as Director of Basketball Operations

BERKELEY, California -- A California source has confirmed a report by Jeff Goodman of ESPN that head Bears basketball coach Wyking Jones has hired former Coppin State assistant Keith Brown as Director of Basketball Operations.

A special assistant to the head coach at Mount St. Mary's in Los Angeles during the 2015-16 season, who analyzed practices and games, Brown is a data-crunching analytics-centered mind.

He spent this last season as an assistant at Coppin State.

Brown spent six seasons at Nevada, helping to coach the Wolf Pack to the 2012 WAC title, as well as coaching teams that made the 2010 and 2012 NIT, with the 2012 team finishing 28-7.

Before Nevada, Brown served as an assistant at Seattle for two seasons, during which the Redhawks went 21-8 in 2008 -- the most wins by the program since the 1984-85 season. Prior to Seattle, Brown spent 2002-06 at Portland.

While with the Pilots, Brown helped guard Eugene Jeter become the second-leading scorer in program history, en route to earning first-team All-West Coast Conference honors in 2004 and 2006. Jeter and fellow guard Donald Wilson became the second-highest scoring tandem in Portland program history.

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JSU Pro Day: Javancy Jones DE/OLB

Overton: FAMU 'a couple of weeks' from basketball hire

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Florida A&M Athletic Director Milton Overton Jr. on Saturday said FAMU is still "a couple of weeks out" from naming a new head basketball coach.

Overton said more than 150 people applied for the job, more than he expected.

He said the sheer volume of applicants caused athletic department officials to open the application process more than he anticipated.

He added the search is taking long than he thought it would take, and right now the school is in the process of vetting backgrounds.

"We have a lot of people who want this job," Overton said.

"Even though we had some folks who we were kind of keying on, because we had a really good pool, we just extended the time. It's not optimal, but we have to find the right fit here."

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2017 FAMU Tampa Classic To Renew Rattlers Rivalry with Tennessee State Tigers

RETURN OF THE FAMU TAMPA CLASSIC

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- – Confidence is high around the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Football Program as they prepare for the upcoming 2017 campaign, and that optimism is due in part to the tremendous fan support from Rattler Nation at Bragg Stadium.

Sparking the uptick in fan and alumni support has been the innovative INVESTING IN CHAMPIONS Annual Giving Program, a fundraising initiative which features a six donor levels, assuring patrons both football and basketball season tickets along with stadium parking, and other amenities all in one package.

This year’s campaign drive to raise $600,000 for Athletics to address Bragg Stadium renovations, as well as underwriting scholarships for student-athletes, and funding summer school tuition, has reached the $300,000 halfway point, thanks to the generous gifts of the Rattler faithful through the INVESTING IN CHAMPIONS program. Go to www.FAMUAthletics.com to Invest today.

The Rattler Nation commitment to athletics was a major factor in helping FAMU finish third (3rd) in NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) in Home Attendance, averaging 19,710 fans for the four home games in 2016, finishing ahead of such national stalwarts as North Dakota State, Jackson (Miss.) State, Delaware, Grambling and North Carolina A&T.

That 19,710 average was tops among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), marking the first time FAMU had surpassed traditional attendance kings, Jackson (Miss.) State and Southern-Baton Rouge out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

An added benefit for donors to the INVESTING IN CHAMPIONS Program will be the opportunity to purchase advance priority seating for the renewal of the FAMU Tampa Classic featuring longtime rivals FAMU and Tennessee State, which will be played in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, September 16, 2017.

FAMU Tampa Classic Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 18th 2017 for Investing In Champions Members for an exclusive buying opportunity until the public on-sale. Go to www.FAMUAthletics.com to become a champion member or renew your Investing In Champion membership this year.

2017 FLORIDA A&M FOOTBALL SCHEDULE 

The Jake Gaither Classic 
Sat, Aug 26 TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Tallahassee, FL TBA 

(Central Time * War Memorial Stadium * SEC-TV)
Thu, Aug 31 University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR 7:00 PM

FAMU Tampa Classic
Sat, Sep 16 Tennessee State University at Tampa, FL  TBA 

Sat, Sep 23 Savannah State University * at Savannah, GA 6:00 PM

Sat, Sep 30 NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL * Tallahassee, FL TBA 

Sat, Oct 07 Norfolk State University * at Norfolk, VA TBA

2017 Homecoming Game 
Sat, Oct 14 NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE * Tallahassee, FL TBA 

Sat, Oct 21 Hampton University * at Hampton, VA 2:00 PM

Oct 28 Morgan State University * at Baltimore, MD TBA

Sat, Nov 04 HOWARD UNIVERSITY * Tallahassee, FL TBA 

The Florida Blue Florida Classic 
Sat, Nov 18 BethuneCookman University * at Orlando, FL TBA 

* Conference Games

ATLANTA IS IN THE FUTURE

Rattler Football fans can also look forward to an annual FAMU Atlanta Classic return beginning in 2018. The 2018 FAMU Football Schedule will include three FAMU Classic Games.

Rattlers Strike, Strike and Strike Again !!!