Shaw Women's Tennis To Open NCAA Play Against Indiana (PA)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Shaw University women's tennis team will open play in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Tournament when they travel to Indiana, Penn. to take on host Indiana (PA).

 

The Lady Bears are the number seven seed in the Atlantic Region, qualifying for the tournament Saturday when they won their third CIAA Championship in four years, defeating Chowan 5-3.  Shaw is 23-3 on the season, while IUP, the second seed, is 17-7.

 

The winner of the first round matchup will play the winner of the match between number three seed West Virginia State and Slippery Rock, the six seed.  The winner of that match will advance to the NCAA Tournament (the tennis equivalent of the Sweet Sixteen) to be held in Surprise, Ariz., May 8 through 11.

 

California (PA) is the number one seed overall and will host the other half of the region, which includes number eight seed Virginia State of the CIAA.  West Liberty and Mercyhurst round out the slate in the Atlantic Region.

 

Play begins Saturday, but times have yet to be announced.

COURTESY SHAW UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

UMES Ends Season in Third Place in Final NTCA Poll

NASHVILLE, Tennesse  --  Last weekend's National Championship in the United States Bowling Congress' Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) reminded many that the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is still one of the best teams in the nation, at any level. And one voter in the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) poll thought enough of the Hawks to give them a first place vote in the final NTCA Coaches poll for the 2012-2013 season.

UMES was ranked third in the final poll, where they finished in the NCAA Championships earlier this month, held in Canton, Mich. The semifinalist almost made another run at the NCAA title but missed it by one heartbreaking pin. Nonetheless, the Lady Hawks took all that emotion and disappointment to Lincoln, Nebraska where they claimed their fifth National Championship in school history at the ITCs.

In the final NTCA poll the Hawks tallied 324 points and that one first place vote to come in third. National Champion Nebraska was first with 384 points and 13 first place votes. Runner-up Vanderbilt was second in the poll with 348 points.

Arkansas State, who was also a semifinalist, was fourth for the third straight poll, this time with 300 points. Central Missouri rounded out the top five with 268 points. Fairleigh Dickinson, who made an impressive run, was sixth with 256 points, Sam Houston State and Wisconsin-Whitewater were seventh and eighth respectively. Stephen F. Austin and Adelphi rounded out the top ten.

Since the NCAA Championships were the only event since the last poll, spots 11-20 remained unchanged.

The coach's poll counts towards the Capital One Cup standings. Nebraska will earn 20 points for their spot in the poll and all DI teams in the top ten will earn points in the cup standings. Vnaderbilt earned 12 points while UMES garnered 10. Currently the Hawks are 32nd in the nation among women's teams in the cup standings.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

Florida A&M baseball team shocks Mercer

FAMU pounds out 19 hits in upset win

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  --  It was supposed to be an easy midweek tune-up for the Mercer University baseball team.

Instead, the FAMU Rattlers made it a slugfest and came away with their biggest win of the season, knocking off the Bears 11-5 Tuesday night at Moore-Kittles field.

Mercer entered Tuesday’s game with the nation’s No. 23 RPI — one spot behind ACC power Georgia Tech. It had been more than five years since the Rattlers beat a team with a top-25 RPI.

And four innings into the game, the Rattlers looked the part of underdogs just waiting to suffer yet another late setback. But after scoring seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings, FAMU went on to beat the Bears for the first time since 2008.

Beating Mercer (32-12) was just the fourth win all season for the Rattlers (4-37, 3-15 MEAC), but it should be a confidence-builder moving forward, said interim head coach Kevin Clethen.

CONTINUE READING

Three from Xavier are Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars

Chinedu Echebelem

Javon Mead

Devinn Rolland

NEW ORLEANS — Three student-athletes from Xavier University of Louisiana — Javon Mead (men's track and field/cross country), Chinedu Echebelem (women's volleyball) and Devinn Rolland (women's track and field) — have been named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for the 2012-13 academic year.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, a magazine based in Fairfax, Va., has sponsored the awards since the mid-1990s.

Criteria for the awards include being a person of color with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 through the fall 2012 semester. Honorees must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and have a demonstrated record of service to the campus or community.

All three from Xavier were chosen to the first team, with Mead receiving that distinction for the second consecutive year. They are the only Ashe scholars this year from an NAIA or Louisiana university listed in the April 11 edition of Diverse Issues.

Mead, a junior from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Baton Rouge Magnet High School, is an accounting major with a 3.81 GPA and a three-time All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference cross country runner. He finished fifth at the 2012 GCAC Championships to help the Gold Rush post the first perfect score in the men's division since 1996.

This is the latest in a series of academic awards for Mead, who was a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete during the fall and a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-American a year ago.

Echebelem, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, and a graduate of Duncanville High School, is a chemistry/pre-medical major with a 3.79 GPA. She was first-team All-GCAC as a freshman and made the second team as a sophomore. She was voted MVP of the 2012 GCAC Tournament, which the Gold Nuggets won for the second consecutive year. Echebelem's sophomore statistics included 244 kills and 238 digs.

Rolland, a sophomore from Harvey, La., and a graduate of Cabrini High School in New Orleans, is a chemistry/pre-pharmacy major with a 4.0 GPA. On April 13 she repeated as champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump at the GCAC Outdoor Championships. She has reached the A-qualifying standard in three individual events for next month's NAIA National Championships — 100 (11.97 seconds), 200 (24.52) and long jump (5.77 meters/18 feet, 11¼ inches) — and as a member of the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

This season Rolland has been named GCAC Athlete of the Week in women's field six times and in women's track three times. She was an NAIA All-American in the long jump a year ago.

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, SID
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS 

 

XU's Jackson will offer skills camp for area boys in June

XU Gold Rush coach Dannton Jackson

NEW ORLEANS — Brandon Bass of the Boston Celtics, DJ Augustin of the Indiana Pacers, Mo Williams of the Utah Jazz and Al-Faruoq Aminu of the New Orleans Pelicans will be among the featured guest coaches for the inaugural Coach Dannton Jackson Basketball Skills Academy in June.

Jackson — winner of 226 games and four regular-season conference championships as head coach of the Xavier University of Louisiana men's program for the past 10 seasons — will conduct the camp June 10-13 at XU's new Convocation Center. The camp is for New Orleans-area boys age 7-16.

Campers will learn skills to develop footwork and their fundamentals. They'll receive daily prizes, evaluation, autographs and a certificate of participation. Campers will be divided into age groups and compete in 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 games and a skills contest.

Price of the camp is $195. Visit www.djhoops.com to register online or to download a PDF registration form which can be filled out and mailed. Call (504) 521-7849 for more information.

Driving directions to the Convocation Center can be found by clicking here.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 

Loyola comes alive, ends Southern winning streak

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  The Loyola baseball team entered Tuesday’s game at Lee-Hines Field having lost four in a row and knowing it had been eliminated from Southern States Athletic Conference tournament contention.

Seven days earlier, the Wolf Pack had been beaten by six runs on the same field.

But Loyola looked little like a team playing out the string.

The NAIA club from New Orleans bounced back from its recent woes to score a 7-3 victory over Southern, picking up the final five of those runs — and half of its eight hits — after the Jaguars put the game in the hands of their bullpen.

“That’s been this group the whole year,” said Loyola coach Doug Faust, whose Wolf Pack lost 8-2 at Southern last weekend. “We show up and play every day. We know we’re not going to get a berth in the conference tournament, but these guys appreciate playing baseball. We show up and play the game the best we can.”

The Wolf Pack (16-37) bring an 8-22 mark into its three-game series at Georgia.

CONTINUE READING

DONALD HEATH: Just another day for SSU football

SAVANNAH, Georgia  --  The amazing thing about the firing of Savannah State football coach Steve Davenport on Wednesday was that nobody seemed to think anything was out of the ordinary.

No press conference. No explanation from the school.

A six-paragraph press release arrived via email at 4:59 p.m., probably a minute before everyone at the school raced out the door.

It was the second or third sports story covered by local television news, trumped by the Heritage golf tournament — which hadn’t started yet.

No story from The Associated Press.

Just another day for Savannah State football.

If you have no expectations, you’ll never be disappointed.

CONTINUE READING