NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana
put the finishing touches on a perfect run through Gulf Coast Athletic
Conference volleyball with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-13 victory Saturday against city rival
Dillard in the championship final of the GCAC Tournament at SUNO's The Castle.
For the seventh consecutive season, the Gold Nuggets (23-2) won the league tournament
and an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship.
Nationals will begin next Saturday. The NAIA will announce Monday the 44-team field and pairings.
In 14 matches this year against GCAC opponents —
12 in the regular season, two in the tournament — XULA did not lose any sets.
XULA is the first Louisiana or GCAC college to win every set against conference opponents.
The Gold Nuggets got double-doubles from their
two primary hitters, both first-team All-GCAC players. Senior
Juliana Tomasoni
hit .346 and had 11 kills, 14 digs and two aces; freshman
Kayla Black had 10 kills,
13 digs and two blocks.
Also contributing to the victory were
Vivica Price-Spraggins
with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage, and
Adili Rikondja and
Lauryn Taylor with six kills apiece. Rikondja had four blocks,
and Price-Spraggins and
Hasani Salaam had two blocks apiece.
Eva Le Guillou
had 24 assists, and
Tiffany Phillips had 17. Price-Spraggins, Taylor and Le Guillou are freshmen.
Le Guillou is the GCAC Setter of the Year.
XULA's
Anna Dalla Vecchia, the GCAC Freshman of the Year, had a match-high 18 digs,
nine in the first set.
Shelby Stewart led Dillard (21-19) with eight
kills and three blocks, but the GCAC Player and Attacker of the Year
finished her career 0-6 against XULA. Stewart hit .150 against the Gold Nuggets,
.257 against everyone else in her four seasons. Saturday she hit .103.
"We played a cleaner game than we did yesterday
in the semifinals," first-year XULA coach
Pat Kendrick said. "I thought
we missed too many serves today, but other than that I thought we played with
more energy today than yesterday."
Dillard led 4-1 in the first set, but XULA
took the lead for good with seven consecutive points after a tie at 8.
Rikondja and Taylor each had a kill and a block during the run.
Two Price-Spraggins kills fueled a 6-0 run that gave XULA a 16-9
lead in the second set, and the Gold Nuggets dominated the final
period after Tomasoni served back-to-back aces during a 7-1 opening run.
Black ended the 70-minute match and secured her double-double
with a kill after a Phillips set.
XULA outhit Dillard .266 to .038 and held
advantages of 45-23 in kills, 4-0 in aces, 53-39 in digs and 7-4 in blocks.
In three matches this season with the Lady Bleu Devils, XULA outhit them
.258 to minus-.019 and had a 114-60 advantage in kills.
Kendrick won her ninth conference tournament championship
as a head coach. She won eight Colonial Athletic Association tourney titles
while at NCAA Division I George Mason, most recently in 2009. This
was the 13th time a Kendrick-coached team reached a final.
The GCAC did not announce an all-tournament team or most valuable player.
Tomasoni, the 2016 MVP, appeared to be a strong candidate this year after
producing double-doubles in each of the final two rounds.
