NEW ORLEANS — It's a new league but the same result for Xavier University of Louisiana volleyball.
        The Gold Nuggets clinched at least a share of the Red River Athletic Conference regular-season championship with a 25-17, 25-18, 25-17 victory Friday against Louisiana Christian University at the Convocation Center.
        XULA (11-6 overall, 10-1 RRAC) will win the championship outright if Southwest defeats Our Lady of the Lake in a 1 p.m. MDT match Saturday in Hobbs, N.M. If OLLU wins, the Saints and the Gold Nuggets will share the title.
        "We are happy to have had a good first year in the Red River," XULA fifth-year head coach Pat Kendrick said. "We look forward to finishing the year strong."
        XULA joined the RRAC July 1 after 40 seasons in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Gold Nuggets won the past 10 GCAC regular-season and tournament titles.
        Double-doubles by Kennedy Wade (12 kills, 16 digs) and Semira Blair (17 assists, 11 digs) helped XULA extend its season-best win streak to seven and win for the ninth time in the last 10 matches.
        XULA outhit the Wildcats .292 to .142. Louisiana Christian — known as Louisiana College until a name change this week — is 5-10 and 4-7.
        XULA is one of six teams that will compete in the RRAC Tournament, which will begin Friday in San Antonio, Texas. Pairings and match times for the two-day, single-elimination event will be announced late Saturday or Sunday.
        "We worked on a number of things this week in practice," Kendrick said, "and we saw some of those things come into play tonight. We're trying to be more efficient."
        The victory was XULA's 58th in a row in a conference home match. The streak, which began in 2010, includes 55 GCAC victories.