TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kerris Crier had a career-best nine kills and a career-high-tying five blocks Saturday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to a 25-8, 25-20, 25-12 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's volleyball victory against Fisk.
        Crier's three kills and two blocks helped the Gold Nuggets (9-2, 4-0 GCAC) turn a 2-0 deficit into a 9-4 first-set lead. Xavier scored the final nine points of that set and the first eight points of the third set.
        Xavier, the lone unbeaten team in GCAC matches, extended its school-record win streak to eight and set another XU mark for GCAC victories in a season. The 2010 team held the previous mark of three. The Nuggets have six remaining conference matches.
        Xavier hit .397 with a season-low eight attack errors. Chinedu Echebelem had eight kills and hit a season-best .421, and Moira Kirk had seven kills and hit a season-high .778.
        Fisk (3-15, 1-3), despite just six available players, posed problems for the Nuggets in the second set. The Lady Bulldogs took a 10-7 lead and rallied for a tie at 18 after an 8-1 Xavier run. But Echebelem rescued the Nuggets with five kills in the final nine rallies, including attacks which scored XU's final two points.
        Kirk also had five blocks, and Iva Bobkova had three, all in the third set. Taylor Reuther had eight digs and Celeste Poe six. Kirk and Jeanay Butler each served two aces; Butler has nine in the last thee matches after serving one in the first eight matches.
        Xavier went 3-0 in two days against GCAC opponents. The Gold Nuggets will travel to Southern for a 7:30 p.m. Monday match, then visit city rival and defending GCAC Tournament champion Dillard in a 6 p.m. match next Saturday. The Lady Bleu Devils were not among the six GCAC teams involved in the 13 matches at Talladega.
        The Nuggets, 5-17 in their first three seasons of GCAC matches, became the lone team unbeaten in conference when Talladega defeated Tougaloo 25-7, 25-12, 25-17 in the match which followed Xavier-Fisk.