BRUNSWICK, Ga. — After eight matches of the 2015 Xavier University of Louisiana volleyball season, it appears that just about anyone on the 14-player roster is capable of excellence.
     After demonstrating their versatility Saturday morning in a four-set victory against Martin Methodist at the Mariner Invitational, the Gold Nuggets gave a command performance against another Tennessee opponent later in the day, outlasting Bryan 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 18-25, 15-6 to finish 2-2 in the six-team event.
     All-star seniors Taylor Reuther (season high 16 kills, 14 digs), Darian Harris (season-high 30 digs), Franziska Pirkl (six kills, nine digs, 42 assists) and Claudia Haywood (season highs of nine kills, four blocks) had fingerprints all over this victory. But so did others such as sophomore Jada Broussard and newcomer Patricia Young Yen.
     Broussard and Young Yen combined for seven kills in a dominant fifth set in which Xavier (4-4) hit .733. The Gold Nuggets produced 11 kills and no errors in 15 attacks during the decisive set.
     Broussard matched her career high of 10 kills and had a career-best seven digs. Young Yen, a junior in her first XU season after transferring from Otero (Colo.) Junior College, had a season-high 10 kills and hit a team-high .455 in 22 attacks.
     "Our team is getting better every time we play," XU coach Hannah Lawing said. "It was nice to see a variety of players step up when needed. We have experience, and we have depth."
     It was the first time this season that the Gold Nuggets won consecutive matches. They'll go for three in a row Monday when they open their Gulf Coast Athletic Conference schedule at the Convocation Center against Talladega at 7 p.m. Admission is free to all XU home matches.
     Xavier needed five sets to dispatch Bryan, the regular-season champion of the Appalachian Athletic Conference a year ago, after failing to hold a 16-12 in the third set and closing the fourth with three consecutive attack errors.
     But in the fifth set the Gold Nuggets scored the first two points and never lost the lead. It was 5-4 when the Nuggets pulled away with six consecutive points, including Young Yen's two kills and a solo block.
     Kara Stamper, an honorable-mention NAIA All-American a year ago, led Bryan (2-7) with 14 kills but also produced 10 attack errors.
     Freshman Ruby Hunt-Thompson, whose tournament totals included 31 kills, 11 digs, two blocks and an ace, was Xavier's representative on the nine-player all-tournament team. Hunt-Thompson had 11-kill performances against Bethel (Ind.) and Martin Methodist. Coastal Georgia, the host school and ranked 20th in the NAIA, had four all-tournament players, including MVP Regan Coughlin.
     Xavier will enter Monday with a 59-match win streak against GCAC opponents, 48 in the regular season. That makes the Gold Nuggets a four-time defending champion of the GCAC regular season and tournament.
     "Not much time to rest after a long bus ride home," Lawing said. "But we'll be ready to play Monday."