Box Score NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana
won its third consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season
championship in women's volleyball by defeating Dillard 25-18, 25-18, 25-22
on Wednesday at the Convocation Center.
Moira Kirk and
Taylor Reuther —
two of the four juniors who never have lost to a GCAC opponent since arriving
at Xavier as freshmen — had 12 kills apiece to lead the Gold Nuggets (22-7, 11-0)
to their 16th consecutive victory, which extends their school record. Xavier has won
39 in a row against conference opponents since the start of 2011.
Xavier completed its home schedule with a 9-0 record
and has won a school-record 13 straight on its campus dating to 2012. It's the
first time the Nuggets won all their home matches in a season.
Kirk hit .476 in 21 attacks and had an ace, seven digs
and four blocks. Reuther had 11 digs, one ace and a block.
Kerris Crier, Xavier's only senior, and
Jodi Hill had
six kills apiece.
CeCe Williams and
Chinedu Echebelem had 11 digs apiece.
Carolyn Baker had 13 kills, and Mercades Chevis had seven
kills and 11 digs for Dillard (10-6, 7-4), whose four-match win streak ended.
Hill and Reuther had two kills apiece, and
Claudia Haywood
had a kill and two blocks during an 11-0 run which erased Dillard's 8-5 lead in
the first set. Two Kirk kills and a
Jodi Chatters ace helped Xavier take a 5-0
lead in the second set, and the Nuggets rallied from a 12-4 deficit in the third.
After a tie at 22, Xavier ended the match on kills by
Reuther, Echebelem and
Alexandria Rencher, who also had 17 assists in the final
set. Xavier closed with an 8-3 run.
Xavier outhit Dillard .248 to .065 and had advantages
of 47-26 in kills, 49-39 in digs and 6-3 in blocks. The Gold Nuggets defeated
their city rival for the eighth consecutive time to take their first lead in the series at 8-7.
Xavier climbed two victories above .500 for the first time in
the program's six years. The Nuggets are 97-95 overall, 67-22 in the last three seasons.
The GCAC championship is Xavier's third in five days.
Xavier won men's and women's cross country titles on Saturday, and the university's
total is 49 in the last nine seasons. Xavier has won approximately 100 championships
at the conference, group or district level since fielding its first teams in the late 1920s.
Xavier and Dillard will close the regular season in a 1 p.m.
Saturday match at Dillard's Dent Hall, then both will compete in the GCAC Tournament,
which will begin Nov. 7 at Little Rock, Ark.
