NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana swept the women's and men's championships for the second time in three years Friday at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tennis Tournament at City Park Tennis Center.
     The Gold Nuggets, ranked 21st in the NAIA, defeated Mobile 7-1 to win the women's championship for the fifth time in six seasons. The Gold Rush, ranked 25th, beat Spring Hill 6-0 for its second title in three years.
     The GCAC also announced all-conference teams. Xavier's Dominique Bell (women) and Terry Richardson (men) are the players of the year. Bell, a junior from Jackson, Miss., has won the award three times. Xavier's Angelina Callis (women) and Cameron Knowles (men) are the newcomers of the year. Xavier's Alan Green is coach of the year in both divisions.
     Also making the women's All-GCAC team are Xavier's Yuliem Dominguez, Colleen McArthur and Alexandra Broussard in singles. Xavier's teams of Callis-Dominguez, Bell-McArthur and Broussard-Jihanna Mughnee swept the All-GCAC doubles awards.
     The other All-GCAC women are Mobile's Josey Soares and Maria Aguirre in singles.
     On the All-GCAC men's teams are Xavier's Miroslav Vukicevic, Mario Myles, Cameron Knowles, Vusumzi Kempele and Thomas Fugate in singles. All three Xavier doubles teams — Richardson-Myles, Knowles-Vukicevic and Fugate-Kempele — made all-conference. Spring Hill's Brendan Gallagher was all-conference in singles.
     Both Xavier teams qualified for the NAIA Region XIII Tournament, which will begin next Friday at the University of New Orleans. Spring Hill's men also qualified.
     "We've been waiting two years for this," said Green, whose teams did not compete during the 2005-06 academic year because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina. "We're glad the wait is over. Winning conference has been one of our goals. Now we'll get ready for regionals, give it our best shot and try to qualify for the national tournament."
     The championship matches, scheduled for Saturday, were moved up a day because of predicted severe weather.
     Xavier reached the championship round with a 5-0 women's victory against Belhaven and a 9-0 men's victory against Tougaloo.
     The GCAC championships are Xavier's fourth and fifth of 2006-07. The men's and women's cross country teams won conference titles in October, and the men's basketball team earned a share of the regular-season championship in February. The only team not to win a conference championship was women's basketball, but the Nuggets finished second and qualifed for a program-record sixth consecutive time for the NAIA Division I National Tournament.