GCAC weekly honors for Black, Phillips, Dalla Vecchia

NEW ORLEANS — For the second time in three weeks, Xavier University of Louisiana swept all three Gulf Coast Athletic Conference volleyball awards. Kayla Black is Attacker of the Week, Tiffany Phillips is Setter of the Week, and Anna Dalla Vecchia is Defender of the Week.
     
Phillips — a sophomore from Gardena, Calif., and a graduate of Bishop Montgomery High School — set a school record with her eighth career GCAC weekly award. Phillips broke a tie with Taylor Reuther, who played for the Gold Nuggets from 2011-13 and in 2015.
     
GCAC awards were for the week of Sept. 4-10. XULA was 2-0 during that time, including its first-ever victory against Spring Hill after 19 straight losses. The Gold Nuggets opened their GCAC schedule Saturday by beating Tougaloo.
     
Black, from Magnola, Texas, and a graduate of Houston's St. Pius X High School, became the first XULA freshman since Moira Kirk in November 2011 to lead the team in kills in consecutive matches. Black had 14 kills against Spring Hill and 12 kills and a career-best three aces against Tougaloo.
     
Phillips produced assist-dig double-doubles in both matches, including a season-high 29 assists and career-high-tying 17 digs against Tougaloo.
     
Dalla Vecchia, a freshman from Vicenza, Italy, handled all 50 serves she received without an error and had 39 digs, 5.57 per set. Tougaloo was the third consecutive opponent in which she produced match-high dig totals.
     
Black won her first GCAC award. Phillips and Dalla Vecchia have won two apiece this season.
     
XULA defeated Edward Waters 25-16, 25-11, 25-12 Monday at home and will put a six-match win streak on the line Saturday in a 1 p.m. home match against Talladega.

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Nuggets sweep GCAC opener, stretch win streak to 5

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana opened defense of its Gulf Coast Athletic Conference volleyball regular-season championship with a 25-10, 25-20, 25-11 victory against Tougaloo.

The Gold Nuggets (6-1), winner of the last six GCAC regular-season and tournament titles, won for the fifth consecutive match and the second time in three days. Freshman Kayla Black had 12 kills and led XULA in that category for the second straight match. Black served a career-best three aces.

Other statistical standouts included Hasani Salaam with 10 kills and a .529 hitting percentage, both season highs; Vivica Price-Spraggins with seven kills and a .417 hitting percentage; Tiffany Phillips with 29 assists and 17 digs; Anna Dalla Vecchia with 19 digs; and Juliana Tomasoni with six aces, a career best, and 16 digs.

Phillips, the 2016 GCAC Setter of the Year, produced her third consecutive double-double and 17th of her career. Tomasoni's aces were the most in a match by a XULA player since Ralitsa Slanchev served seven at home against Voorhees on Sept. 29, 2014.

XULA snapped the 3-match win streak of Tougaloo (4-6, 1-2). Carolyne Edwards and Megan Besecker had five kills apiece for the Lady Bulldogs, and Kayla Cole had 12 digs.

XULA outhit Tougaloo .276 to .040 and had advantages of 46-17 in kills, 12-4 in aces and 69-48 in digs.

The Gold Nuggets will play Edward Waters at 6 p.m. Monday at XULA's Convocation Center. The Lady Tigers are 3-0 in the GCAC after winning in four sets Saturday at Philander Smith.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
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XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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XULA Price earns top-10 finish at Allstate Sugar Bowl meet

METAIRIE, Louisiana — Xavier University of Louisiana's Taylor Price earned her second top-10 finish of the season at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Cross Country Festival Saturday.
     
Price, a sophomore, covered the 5,000-meter course at Lafreniere Park in 20 minutes, 32.4 seconds to place seventh out of 63 women. Price finished ahead of 27 runners from NCAA Division I schools. XULA is an NAIA member. The top-10 finish is the fourth of Price's career.
     
Freshman Camren Sewell was 21st out of 54 men, and he finished ahead of six DI runners. His 5K time was 18:13.5. Sewell and Price have been the first XULA finishers in all three meets this season.
     
Loyola, the host school, divided the team scoring into NCAA DI and non-DI. The XULA women finished second out of three teams with 39 points. Spring Hill won with 23 points. The XULA men finished third out of four schools with 77 points. City rival Loyola edged Spring Hill 30-34 for the men's title.
     
Other XULA finishers in the women's race were Maliya Vaughan (16th, 21:45.9), Brianna Pace (37th, 23:51.4), Hajjia Mohammed (45th, 25:38.8) and Chinyere Jones (57th, 29:36.5). The other Gold Rush finishers were Darrick Williams (33rd, 19:58.8), Ammiel Williams(42nd, 21:28.1), Ayinde Abanu (52nd, 25:16.2) and Aaron Grundy (54th, 33:30.7).
     
Individual champions were Mississippi Valley's Scolasticah Kemeh (18:48.7) in the women's race and Tulane's Moses Aloiloi (16:05.1) in the men's. Tulane won both DI team championships, with its women scoring 20 points and its men scoring 18.
     
XULA will run next Saturday at the LSU Invitational at Highland Road Park in Baton Rouge, La. The women's 5K will start at 7:30 a.m., followed by the men's 6K at 8:10.

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Former UMES player signs pro contract in Argentina

PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland -- Former UMES forward Bakari Copeland has had dreams of playing professional basketball since he was 5 years old.

After a successful career on the Hawks’ men’s basketball team, for which Copeland was named an All-MEAC First-Team selection, a BOXTOROW Second-Team All-American and averaged more than 17 points per game his senior season, Copeland entered the 2017 NBA Draft.

Despite participating in the Pro Basketball Combine, Copeland went undrafted and never signed with an NBA team.



However, the 6-foot-6, Decatur, Georgia, native refused to give up on his dream, living by his favorite saying, “Delay is not denial,” and continuing to look for a shot at a career on the court.

And on Sept. 9, Copeland announced via Twitter that his dream had finally become a reality.

opeland has signed a contract to play for the Asociacion Quimsa Santiago Del Estero basketball team, which is based out of Argentina. The squad is coached by Fabio Demti and currently houses three other Americans.

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Howard Bison: ‘Coach told us this is the last loss. No more losing for the rest of the season.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- “I’m going to go with 35-28 Flashes,” said Marvin Logan, a Kent State grad student who stood in the Dix Stadium parking lot grilling meats during a tailgating party.

“This game will be entertaining, but it won’t be close,” a man said while walking back to his seat.

If this were last year, when Howard University’s football team finished with a 2-9 record and 10th in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), maybe Kent State fan predictions would have been more accurate. Without a winning season in five years, the thought of Howard losing to Kent State by only seven points would have been laughable to some.



That is, until now.

Howard’s 38-31 defeat might still be a loss, but the team is proving it has the ability to compete with the best.

“I’m extremely proud of this football team,” coach Mike London said after Saturday’s game. “To go back-to-back FBS teams and play well, win one on the road, beating one at the very end and then another one, I’m proud of the players.

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Former A&T's Tarik Cohen: 10 things you need to know about Chicago Bears rookie

CHICAGO, Illinois -- Taarik Cohen electrified the Bears fan base when he jetted to a franchise record 158 total yards in his professional debut Sunday, so much of Monday's buzz was about the rookie who has been given at least four nicknames before he even took a regular-season snap. Here are 10 things to know about Cohen.

1. He has former Bears and at least one celebrity fan behind him

Thomas Q. Jones, Jason McKie and Jerry Azumah coudn't contain their excitement to just one exclamation point. "'Mighty Mouse' got Game!!! Sheesh!!!" McKie tweeted. Actor Michael Rapaport tweeted, "Tarik Cohen is NOT Jewish but he's welcome to Shabbat dinner anytime he wants."

2. That's four nicknames and counting

"The Human Joystick" pays tribute his ability to dart around defenders like a video game character. Cohen calls himself "Big Daddy" and "Chocolate Badger" as a tribute to the Cardinals' Tyrann Mathieu, a.k.a the Honey Badger. NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah christened him "Chicken Salad" because he can take a broken, "chicken (expletive)" play and turn it into chicken salad.

But Cohen's North Carolina A&T's teammates "didn't really have a nickname for him," said running backs coach Shawn Gibbs. "People around (campus) had some nicknames for him, they called him 'The Kid.' But most of the team, it was just 'Rik.' "

3. Gibbs was skeptical at first



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A&T celebrates NFL debut by alumnus, Bears rookie Tarik Cohen (video)

GREENSBORO, North Carolina — Tarik Cohen stood beside his locker at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon, surrounded by more than a dozen microphones, cameras and recorders.

Cohen wore a white sleeveless undershirt, looked each reporter in the eye and answered their questions like a pro.

After all, he is a pro.

But the Chicago Bears' overnight sensation is also still the same guy he was for four years at A&T, when the 5-foot-6 running back rewrote the MEAC record book.

“Tarik still does a lot for this (A&T) team today,” Aggies quarterback Lamar Raynard said today. “That’s why I love him. He’s a down-to-earth guy, a great guy. He still talks to us every day. I mean it. Every day, he’s on our group chat.”

Cohen, 22, was picked by the Bears in the fourth round of the NFL draft and made his pro debut Sunday in a 23-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.



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