NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana teams won two championships and 12-of-14 rounds in online fan voting conducted separately by Black College Sports Network and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
        BCSN sponsored a pair of 32-team HBCU fantasy basketball tournaments. XULA, a longtime NAIA member, defeated five NCAA Division I opponents to win the men's division. The XULA women also made a deep run, winning three times against NCAA Division I opponents to reach the semifinals.
        In the ITA's Top Moments of 2019-20 Bracket Challenge, small-college doubles champions Angela Charles-Alfred and Lailaa Bashir won the the women's title by outpolling, in order, Princeton, Pepperdine, North Carolina and Hawaii Pacific. XULA was runner-up for the overall top moment, falling in the final to the men of Tufts, which collected 54.7 percent of the votes.
        Basketball voting was conducted on BCSN's website; tennis votes were compiled via the ITA's Twitter and Facebook pages.
        "These were fun runs for all three of our teams," said Jason Horn, XULA's assistant vice president for student affairs/director of athletics and recreation. "Their success in the fan votes generated a lot of talk, good feelings and pride in the Xavier community."
        Men's basketball, in order, outpolled Alcorn State, North Carolina Central, Tennessee State, Southern and Prairie View A&M. The Gold Rush received 58.9 percent of the vote in the championship round.
        Women's basketball won the Bo Browder Region — named for the Gold Nuggets' longtime head coach — by defeating Texas Southern, Morgan State and Alabama A&M. Prairie View, with 53.1 percent of the vote, eliminated XULA in the semifinals Tuesday; that matchup had two published lead changes.
        "Something notable is that except for Hawaii Pacific, 11 of Xavier's 12 fantasy victories occurred against NCAA Division I members with significantly larger enrollments," said Ed Cassiere, XULA's assistant athletics director for communications. "Xavier is grateful to all who voted for our teams and kept them in the spotlight."
        The online votes replaced athletic competitions which were shut down nationwide in mid-March due to concerns about the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak.