NEW ORLEANS — Kayla Black won a slew of honors Thursday but did not rest on her laurels Friday.
     Black had 22 kills — the most ever by a Xavier University of Louisiana player in a three-set match — and led the Gold Nuggets to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-13 volleyball victory against Edward Waters in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conferenc Tournament at SUNO's The Castle.
     The Gold Nuggets (25-6) will play Tougaloo or Dillard at 2 p.m. Saturday at SUNO. XULA seeks its eighth consecutive GCAC Tournament championship victory and automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship tournament.
     Black — named Thursday as the league's Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year — broke the XULA three-set kills record for the second consecutive match. She had 20 Sunday in a victory against Tougaloo. Black hit .486 against Edward Waters in 35 attacks.
     Jaida Dowd had nine kills and clinched the first and second sets with kills. Angele McClain had five kills and two blocks, and her solo block ended the match.
     Eva Le Guillou had 42 assists for the Gold Nuggets. Taylor Ducros and Adili Rikondja served two aces apiece. Beatrice Formilan had 10 digs, and Elena Duru had two blocks.
     Nerealice Quirindongo Torres had six kills and two aces for the Lady Tigers (13-11), and Andrea Diaz Merced had 12 digs.
     XULA outhit Edward Waters .276 to .015 and had advantages of 46-13 in kills, 7-3 in aces, 37-27 in digs and 4-2 in blocks.