NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Claudia Haywood has been chosen preseason Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year in women's volleyball, and the Gold Nuggets are picked to repeat as GCAC champion in 2015.
     The GCAC's seven head coaches made the selections.
     Haywood, a 5-foot-11 senior middle blocker from Memphis, Tenn., and a graduate of Cordova High School, was first-team All-GCAC and All-GCAC Tournament last season, when she recorded 227 kills and 53 blocks and hit a team-best .300.
     Haywood shared preseason Player of the Year with Talladega Carla Novaes, a junior outside hitter.
     Teammate Franziska Pirkl joined Haywood on the seven-player preseason All-GCAC team. A 5-9 senior setter from Munich, Germany, and a graduate of Theodolinden Gymnasium, Pirkl produced 1,087 assists, 214 digs, 65 kills, 31 aces and 29 blocks last season. Pirkl has been first-team All-GCAC three times.
     Xavier, 20-6 overall and 14-0 in the GCAC in 2014, received 6-of-7 first-place votes and 47 points. SUNO placed second with 39 points and one first-place vote. Dillard was third with 31 points. Xavier won the last four GCAC regular-season and tournament championships and has a 59-match win streak — 48 in the regular season — against GCAC opponents.
     "I am very excited for Claudia and Fran to receive their preseason GCAC honors," third-year XU coach Hannah Lawing said. "The competition in our conference is rising, and it is good to see other schools get recognition. We look forward to having more Xavier players on the postseason all-conference team."
     Xavier will open its season Aug. 28 — one week from Friday — in the Big Easy Blastoff at XU's Convocation Center. The Gold Nuggets will play NCAA Division I's Mississippi Valley State at 9 a.m. and Mobile at 5 p.m. The Nuggets' GCAC opener will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 against Talladega at the Convocation Center. Admission is free to all XU home matches.
 

GCAC Preseason Voting
All-Conference
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown
Chassidy Harris	Tougaloo	MB	6-1	So.	Friendswood, Texas
Claudia Haywood	Xavier	MB	5-11	Sr.	Memphis, Tenn.
Carla Novaes	Talladega	OH	6-1	Jr.	Sao Paulo, Brazil
Franziska Pirkl	Xavier	S	5-9	Sr.	Munich, Germany
Shelby Stewart	Dillard	MB	6-0	So.	Houston, Texas
Astasia Williams	Dillard	S	5-9	Sr.	Baton Rouge, La.
Zyra Wright	Philander Smith	OH	5-7	Sr.	Dallas, Texas

 

Order of Finish  (first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank	School	Points
1	Xavier (6)	47
2	SUNO (1)	39
3	Dillard	31
4	Philander Smith	27
5	Talladega	21
6	Tougaloo	19
7	Edward Waters	12