NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana seeks to extend its four-year volleyball momentum when it opens the season at home with four matches in the Big Easy Blastoff at the Convocation Center.
     The Gold Nuggets — 20-6 a year ago and 91-29 the past four seasons — will play Friday against Mississippi Valley State at 9 a.m. and Mobile at 5 p.m. Xavier will play Saturday against NAIA No. 19 Wayland Baptist at 9 a.m. and Faulkner at 3 p.m.
     The two-day event consists of 10 matches and six schools. Also competing Saturday will be city rival Loyola.
     Admission is free for all matches.
     Third-year head coach Hannah Lawing has 11 returning letterwomen, including six starters and the top libero. There are six seniors, the most in the program's eight-year history.
     "We're very excited about this season," Lawing said. "We have a great core of seniors with experience, and we have good depth. We've had a good preseason. Our team is ready to compete and begin measuring ourselves against others."
     In other matches Friday, Wayland Baptist will play Mobile at 11 a.m. and Faulkner at 3 p.m., and Mississippi Valley will play Mobile at 1 p.m. On Saturday, Mississippi Valley will play Faulkner at 11 a.m. and Loyola at 5 p.m., and Wayland Baptist and Loyola will meet at 1.
     Returning for Xavier are three-year first-team All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference players Taylor Reuther at outside hitter and Franziska Pirkl at setter. Reuther, the 2012 GCAC Player of the Year and 2011 GCAC Tournament co-MVP, redshirted in 2014 after surgery to repair a labral tear in her right shoulder.
     Also returning are 2014 All-GCAC players Claudia Haywood (first team) at middle blocker and Darian Harris (second team) at libero. Haywood was the 2013 GCAC Tournament MVP. Outside hitter CeCe Williams was the GCAC Tournament MVP last year and second-team All-GCAC in 2012. Middle blocker Jodi Hill was All-GCAC Tournament last year.
     Sophomore Jada Broussard, a middle blocker/right-side hitter, is a returning starter. Also returning are junior setter Ralitsa Hadzhistoyanova and sophomores Kayla Jones at defensive specialist, Kaelan Temple at outside hitter/defensive specialist and Aliyah Wilson at middle blocker/right-side.
     The newcomers are junior Patricia Young Yen at middle blocker/outside hitter and freshmen Ruby Hunt-Thompson at outside/right-side hitter and Sarah Pitts-Groce at middle blocker/right-side.
     "We could be just as good or better than last season," Williams said. "Of course we want to win conference again, but we also want to get out of the first round of nationals and make it to the final site."
     Xavier is the four-time defending GCAC regular-season and tournament champion but lost in the first round of the NAIA National Championship each of those years. The Gold Nuggets have a 59-match win streak against GCAC opponents, 48 in the regular season.
     Mississippi Valley will open its season against Xavier and be the Gold Nuggets' first NCAA Division I opponent since 2011. Mobile, 31-4 this past season, 2-0 against Xavier and a three-set winner at home in its 2015 opener against GCAC runner-up SUNO, received votes in the NAIA preseason coaches poll. Wayland Baptist, 4-0 this season, will be the first top-25 opponent to play Xavier in the Convocation Center, which opened for volleyball in 2013. Faulkner (3-1) won at Xavier in four sets in the Gold Nuggets' 2014 opener.