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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.
FAIRFAX, VA. – The Howard softball team returned to the field after a postponed meeting with Delaware State due to weather to face off against George Mason in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The Lady Bison (10-17) split the two games, taking a 3-1 win after suffering a 6-2 loss.
The last time the two teams met was on March 20 at the Cherry Blossom Classic where the Lady Bison gained their first shutout win of the season, taking down the Patriots (11-17) 6-0. This time around GMU would be the team to turn out six runs however, as the Patriots doubled Howard in hits with eight in the first game.
HU nabbed their lone pair of runs in the fifth inning after freshman Brittany Barker opened with an infield single to shortstop. Andascha Moore reached first on a fielder’s choice and went on to steal second. Trina Kindred singled to left, advancing Moore to third. Upon the throw to third base Kindred cruised to second. After Christine Sborz walked to load the bases, Lorae Robinson reached first on a fielder’s choice as Moore was called out at the plate. Marissa Coats launched a single to center that scored Sborz and Kindred and tied the game at two a piece.
After Howard put in work to even off the game, George Mason produced two additional runs in the bottom of the fifth and scored two more in the sixth. Pitcher Ashley Turner was called in to relieve Emily Johnson in the fifth after she gave up a double and inside the park homer. Johnson allowed four runs and five hits in 4.1 innings and managed to strike out six. Turner gave up three hits and two runs.
In game two Howard dominated at the plate and tallied 16 hits compared to George Mason’s five. Howard rallied five hits in the top of the first and racked in two runs. The Bison shutout GMU until the fifth and sixth inning where the Patriots scored two runs in both innings.
Howard secured the game with three runs in the seventh inning. Rebecca Kirshner opened the final inning with a double down the left field line and eventually advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt laid down by Johnson. Kindred brought in two runs on a single to right field with two outs, bringing home Kirshner and Barker who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. Sborz brought in the final run of the game after she singled to center.
GMU managed to deliver a final run, but were unable to break Howard’s three-run lead. Kindred led the Lady Bison with four RBI and batted .750 at the plate (3-for-4). Sborz also tallied three hits, joining her seven teammates who tallied a hit during the game.
Samantha Gatson pitched the entire game and recorded seven strikeouts.
Up next the Lady Bison will face off against Delaware State for their rescheduled matchup at noon at home. Visit http://www.howard-bison.com/ for more information on the Howard softball team.
BATON ROUGE, LA – Southern University Chancellor Kofi Lomotey today (4/6/2011) dismissed Athletic Director Greg LaFleur. He will recommend to the university's Board of Supervisors that Lady Jaguar Basketball Coach Sandy Pugh become the interim athletic director.
LaFleur’s dismissal comes after his arrest for allegedly soliciting a prostitute in Houston, Texas.
“This decision was reached after consultation with campus and system administrators. We think the decision is in the best interest of Southern University,” Lomotey said.
The chancellor praised LaFleur for his guidance of Southern University athletics during tough economic times and coaching changes. “I appreciate his effort and the hard work he put in during some difficult situations,” Lomotey said. “I speak for the rest of my staff in wishing him well.”
Lomotey said his decision to fire LaFleur is one that had to be made and made quickly for the stability of Southern's athletic program. “Given the circumstances, I think it would be difficult for the university to move forward with Mr. LaFleur as the head of the athletic program,” he said.
“I think that bringing Sandy Pugh into the job provides us with someone who has done a great job of recruiting student athletes, who is a rising star in her profession and who commands respect immediately,” the chancellor said.
“Her presence and background will be invaluable in guiding our athletic department over the next several weeks and especially next week during crucial meetings with representatives from the NCAA,” Lomotey said.
Coach Pugh has brought the Lady Jaguar basketball program to an unprecedented level of prominence in her 11-year tenure. She presently serves on the Top 25 Coaches poll. Her teams have been to four NCAA Tournaments, two WNIT appearances and have won four regular season Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships, as well as having produced the only player ever drafted from the SWAC into the WNBA.
“But more importantly,” Lomotey said, “her teams have consistently averaged an APR score well above the standard.”
Lomotey said the University will launch a nationwide search for a new athletic director. “The person hired will come into the job with the full support of the campus, administration and the Jaguar Nation,” he said. “That person will be expected to help our coaches attract and graduate the best student-athletes available.”
SALISBURY, N.C. — In nationally televised speeches, President Barack Obama, a diehard sports fan, has insisted the U.S. do a better job educating its young men and women. In fact, the president has issued a challenge for the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
Chances are good Obama would be excited about what’s going on at Livingstone College.
While the Blue Bears want to win on the hardwood, gridiron and in other sports, the college is winning where it should — in the classroom. So much so that just the men’s cross country team was recognized as having the highest GPA in the CIAA, and the men’s basketball team was recognized for the same accomplishment in early March.
“I think it speaks volumes for Livingstone College that two of our teams had the highest grade point average in the CIAA,” said Dr. Leroy Simmons, vice president of academic affairs. “It shows that our students, coaches and faculty get it. They realize they’re students first.”
HAMPTON, VA – The Livingstone men’s cross country team had the highest team GPA among the CIAA men’s cross country teams for the fall 2010 season it was announced Friday by the conference office.
The Livingstone men’s outdoor track and field team also won the highest GPA award for the Spring 2010 season. Grade point averages are calculated on the previous two semesters, excluding freshmen, and are evaluated by the CIAA Faculty Athletic Representative’s Association.
The Blue Bear men’s cross country team consisted of Derrick Tinsley, Tim Handy, Ezra Mutai, Octavious Matthews, Dorian Clay and Jonathan Handy and is coached by Justin Davis.
South Carolina State resumed spring football drills Tuesday with a two-hour workout in full pads. It was the Bulldogs first practice since Saturday's scrimmage.
During Tuesday's drill, the Bulldogs' focus was on ironing out some of the issues from Saturday's scrimmage, according to Pough. He also noted that during some of Tuesday's breakout drills, his team put a lot of emphasis on the running game.
"We primarily wanted to concentrate on correcting some of those things that we did not execute well during Saturday's scrimmage," Pough said. "This was our eighth practice and we got just seven more to go and a lot of work left.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (April 5) - Alabama State University held off the Florida A&M University baseball team, as they scored a run in the bottom of the 11th inning to hand the Rattlers a 12-11 loss in extra innings, here Tuesday afternoon at the ASU Baseball Complex.
Both FAMU (10-23) and ASU (11-14) finished with 14 hits each.
The Rattler were led by both Tobi Adeyemi and Jimmie Terrell as they both finished with three hits each for FAMU, while Jourdan Mott and Gerald Washington both finished with three hits apiece for the Hornets.
Ron James (1-0) picked the win for the ASU as he pitched two and one-third innings giving up two hits and striking out one in relief, while Stephen Dollar received the loss for FAMU as he gave up two hits, two earned runs and striking out two in two and two-thirds innings of relief.
The Hornets took advantage of a FAMU infielder’s error to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as both Drew Quinney and Reginald Mitchell scored on the Rattler error.
MONTGOMERY, AL—The Alabama State University football team was back on the practice field today for session nine of the spring practice sessions. Today was the team's first day back since the scrimmage game that took place Saturday.
The coaching staff has spent the past three days looking over the 58-play scrimmage and breaking down the film to see some of the performances of both individuals and as an offensive team and a defensive team.
"We were able to take a hard look at the scrimmage on film and we saw a lot of things we knew we would see," head coach Reggie Barlow said. "It seemed our offense was trying too hard to do things the right way and with it being the first scrimmage they were just working their way into making too many mistakes."
