Nuggets win on road, clinch 4th straight winning season

TALLADEGA, Alabama  -- CeCe Williams had nine kills and hit .467, and freshman Jada Broussard served three aces Monday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana in a 25-9, 25-13, 25-19 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's volleyball victory against Talladega.

The Gold Nuggets (13-4, 9-0) won in 57 minutes and clinched their fourth consecutive winning season. Xavier has won 52 consecutive matches against GCAC opponents -- 43 in the regular season -- and 50 straight against HBCUs.

Talladega is 10-12, 4-7.

Broussard served the first two aces of her XU career during an 8-0 first-set run which gave the Gold Nuggets a 15-2 lead. Williams had five kills and two solo blocks in the second set.

Broussard's final ace, plus a kill and a block by Claudia Haywood, keyed an 8-2 third-set run after a tie at 15. Broussard ended the match with a kill.

Darian Harris had 10 digs for the Gold Nuggets. She reached double figures for the 13th time this season and the 22nd time in her career. Haywood, Franziska Pirkl had three blocks apiece, and Broussard had six kills.

The Gold Nuggets hit .211 -- .391 in the first set -- and finished with 28 kills, six aces, 40 digs and seven blocks.

Xavier completed a two-match regular-season sweep of the Lady Tornadoes and leads the series 7-0.

Xavier will return to the road for GCAC matches against Voorhees at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday and Edward Waters at 5 p.m. EDT next Monday. Both matches were pushed back one day.

Box Score

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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TSU v. EKU to be Broadcasted on ESPN3



COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

NASHVILLE, Tennessee  --  The Nov. 1 Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee State game has been selected as a "Wildcard Selection" in the league's Game of the Week football package on ESPN3. The game will kickoff at 2 p.m. CT at LP Field in Nashville.

When the league's eight-contest Game of the Week schedule was announced in June the Oct. 4 and Nov. 1 games were deemed "Wildcard" dates where the matchup would not be announced until 12 days prior to the contest.

EKU leads the all-time series with TSU by a 21-5 margin, including a 44-0 victory in Richmond last season. Tennessee State won the last meeting played in the city of Nashville, scoring in the final seconds to top nationally-ranked Eastern Kentucky 23-20 in the 2012 season. The teams have split the season series 3-3 over the past six meetings.

This marks the second-straight season the league has produced the Game of the Week package in conjunction with WebStream Sports. WebStream Sports, an Indianapolis-based company which is a proven leader in video production, streaming video and content creation. The company, founded in 2006, produces more than 1,000 events annually and has also served as a web streaming consultant for the OVC for the past year.

Kevin Ingram, host of "The Wake Up Zone" on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, will handle play-by-play duties while Bob Belvin, on-air talent and contributor at 100.7 FM/AM 540 (ESPN Clarksville), will provide analysis. The duo has worked together each of the past two years in the league's TV package.

The OVC Football Game of the Week package is part of a five-year agreement with ESPN which was announced last October. The deal runs through the completion of the 2017-18 season.

ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com, on smart phones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members and on Apple TV.  It is currently available in more than 85 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.  It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.

Remaining 2014 OVC Football Game of the Week on ESPN3 Schedule

Oct. 25 - Tennessee State at Eastern Illinois, 1:30 p.m. CTNov. 1 - Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee State, 2:00 p.m. CTNov. 8 - Southeast Missouri at Tennessee Tech, 1:30 p.m. CTNov. 15 - Eastern Illinois at Jacksonville State, 3:00 p.m. CT

COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Banged-up SCSU Bulldogs ‘must figure out how to win’ vs. Bethune-Cookman

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The adage “time heals all wounds” may not necessarily apply for South Carolina State this week.

Even with an open date, the Bulldogs head into Saturday’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup with 13/14th-ranked and defending co-champion Bethune-Cookman still feeling the worse for wear.

“I feel like I’m back in Great Branch with a Saturday afternoon baseball game trying to get nine (players) together so we can play,” Coach Buddy Pough said Monday at his press conference. “It is what it is. Hopefully, we can get some guys healthy by Saturday, but we are kind of broken up and ordinarily with the big open week that we had, you’d think we would be able to get some guys back. But right now, we are a little bit deeper into our injury list than I’d like to be.”

Several key players, including ...

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Howard U. Homecoming 2014 - Highlights

Lady Rattlers nip Georgia to win Berry XC Invite

ROME, Georgia (Oct. 18)  –  The Florida A&M Women’s Cross Country team continued to ramp up towards the 2014 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships Saturday with a sizzling win at the Berry (Ga.) College Invitational.

“I’m very proud of these ladies,” said a jubilant FAMU head coach Dr. Darlene Moore after the team’s performance over the 6K course, which yielded five Top 20 finishers, who all turned in personal bests to power the Lady Rattlers to a four point win (45 to 49) over the University of Georgia and the rest of the 24-team field.

Leading the way for the Lady Rattlers was junior Effiey Kosgei, who placed 3rd overall in 22:08.00, followed by Cynthia Chelelgo in 4th in 22:15.20.

Judith Kibii ran 6th in 22:41.60; QuanDra Shanks placed 14th in 23:48.00 and Phyllis Cheruiyot rounded out the FAMU Five with a 23:48.60 time, good for 18th overall.

Also competing for FAMU were Nicole Kvitkauskas (24:17.80) and April Polite (26:11.60).

WHAT’S NEXT: Dr. Moore’s Lady Rattlers will go for a threepeat in their next event, the 2014 MEAC Cross Country Championships at Dover, Delaware, hosted by Delaware State University on Saturday, November 1.

RESULTS

COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Old friends FAMU's Blount and HU's McGhee reunite on field

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Most folks outside of the District of Columbia hadn't heard much about Howard quarterback Greg McGee until this season, but he and FAMU's linebacker Akil Blount have some history.

Both played AAU basketball while growing up in Pittsburgh, Pa. There might be some argument who was the best on the court, but Saturday afternoon Blount was clearly the one who walked away with something to talk about after the Rattlers stunned HU on its homecoming, 31-28.

It was their third meeting as collegiate football players. They won't meet again, though. Blount is a junior.

McGhee graduates in December, said he's enjoyed every one of their meetings.

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Murraine: FAMU's win is one to enjoy for the moment

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Raise your hand if you were one of those FAMU football fans who got up Sunday morning and rushed to check the MEAC standings.

Ah, stop looking around to see who is watching.

It's OK. You should be feel pretty good about your Rattlers, although the road ahead will be very challenging.

FAMU is now 2-5 with a 2-1 conference record that puts it ahead of the bottom four teams.

Definitely this is when you want to savor the moment. Not just for spoiling Howard University's homecoming with a 31-28 victory.

But the way they jumped on the Bison early. The Rattlers showed speed that wasn't obvious during their early season losses – five straight.

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