HOUSTON — Outside hitters Kayla Black and Jaida Dowd gave stellar performances for Xavier University of Louisiana, but Huston-Tillotson scored six of the final seven points to escape with a 17-25, 26-24, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10 victory Saturday in the UST Volleyball Classic.
     The Gold Nuggets (19-5) will play host St. Thomas in the event's finale at 3 p.m.
     The Rams (16-4) won their 10th in a row and snapped XULA's 11-match win streak.
     Black, a standout athlete in this city at St. Pius X High School, gave family and friends plenty to cheer about. She hit .356 in 59 attacks and tied her XULA record for kills in a match with 27. It was the sixth 20-kill match of her career, which broke a tie with Taylor Reuther for the most in program history.
     Black also produced 22 digs, a match high, two aces and two blocks.
     Dowd hit .429 over the final four sets to finish with 16 kills, a career high, and a .306 percentage.
     Huston-Tillotson scored 5-of-6 points to tie the second set after trailing 23-21 and 24-23. The Rams never trailed in the fifth after scoring the first three points, although XULA managed a tie at 9 after back-to-back kills by another Houstonian, Bria Mayes, and an attack error.
     Huston-Tillotson's Tatyana Tyson had four kills and two blocks in the final set and finished with 16 kills and three blocks. Tyson hit .500.
     KeYonna Ganious hit .591 with 14 kills and six blocks for Huston-Tillotson.
     XULA finished with 68 kills, a season high, nine aces and 89 digs. The Rams outhit the Gold Nuggets .237 to .222 — .450 to .227 in the fifth set.
     XULA is 0-2 in five-set matches this season.