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| Christabell Hamilton |
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| Hannah Lawing |
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has promoted Hannah Lawing to
women's volleyball head coach. Lawing succeeds Christabell Hamilton, who
resigned after leading the Gold Nuggets to Gulf Coast Athletic Conference
regular-season and tournament championships and berths in the NAIA National
Championships in both her seasons.
Hamilton, whose teams were 45-15,
left Xavier to rejoin her husband, University of Houston men's basketball
assistant coach Ronnie Hamilton, who departed New Orleans in July after two
seasons on the staff at Tulane. Hamilton is leaving coaching for the immediate
future and will give birth to her first child, a daughter, in February.
"We are sorry to see Christabell leave Xavier," said XU athletics director
Dennis Cousin, who announced the moves Tuesday. "Christabell
did a great job building a solid foundation for our volleyball program. She was
tremendously successful in a short amount of time.
"But at the same
time, I am excited to promote Hannah. I am confident that she will do an
excellent job as our head volleyball coach and continue the success that
Christabell started."
Lawing joined the XU staff as an assistant coach
in August and helped the Gold Nuggets finish 22-8 overall and 10-0 in the GCAC.
They won four consecuitve matches to repeat as GCAC Tournament champion, and
they lost in four sets at 13th-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) in the opening round of
the NAIA tourney. The Nuggets also set a school record with 11 consecutive road
victories. It was Lawing's first season as a collegiate coach after serving as a
varsity assistant at Heathwood Hall Episcopal High School in Columbia, S.C., in
2011 and co-head coach of the South Carolina Midlands 18s Elite club team this
year.
"I am very excited," Lawing said. "I learned so much from
Christabell in just a few months. I feel that I have the right resources around
me to succeed the way Christabell did."
Lawing graduated from the
University of South Carolina in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She
played four seasons of volleyball for the Gamecocks and as a senior set a school
record for digs per set with 4.89.
Lawing was an outside hitter and
defensive specialist with the Gamecocks. She was SEC Defensive Player of the
Week twice as a senior and once as a freshman. She excelled in the classroom as
a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and made the dean's list.
Lawing is third all-time at South Carolina with 1,334 digs and fifth with 3.35
digs per set. As a senior she posted the second-most digs in program history and
the most in the rally-scoring era with 523. That year she also recorded a USC
match-record 38 digs against Mississippi State. Lawing had 23 career
double-doubles, including a career-high 28 kills and 14 digs in a four-set
victory against Harvard in 2009.
Lawing is a Winston-Salem, N.C., native
and lived there 10 years before moving to the Atlanta area. She is a 2007
graduate of Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga.
"My coaching style
will be very similar to Christabell's style," Lawing said. "Her teams were
fundamenally sound. She emphasized passing, passing, passing — that's the way I
learned volleyball."
The Nuggets had no seniors this past season.
Returnees include outside hitter Taylor Reuther, the GCAC Player of the Year and
a Capital One Academic All-America® third-team selection in 2012; outside hitter
Chinedu Echebelem, the 2012 GCAC Tournament MVP; and middle blocker Moira Kirk,
the 2011 GCAC Freshman of the Year. All three will be juniors, and all three are
two-time All-GCAC selections.
Lawing can be reached in her office at
(504) 520-7255 or by email at
hlawing@xula.edu.
Xavier is one of 38
U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske
Guide to Colleges.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
