NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Mbali Langa defeated two ranked opponents Saturday, and as a result she was announced Tuesday as Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women's tennis for March 6-12.
        It's the first weekly award for Langa, who's in her first season at XULA and is a junior from Johannesburg, South Africa.
        Langa and Valentina Largacha won their No. 1 doubles match 6-2 Saturday against Ave Maria's Lara Teodoro and Vitoria Baranda, who are seventh in the ITA NAIA rankings. In singles Langa won 6-3, 6-0 on the first court against Teodoro, who is ranked 30th.
        XULA, ranked fifth in the NAIA, won 4-2 against No. 15 Ave Maria at Mobile, Ala. The Gold Nuggets are 8-2 this season against ranked teams.
        It's the sixth straight week that the Gold Nuggets won the RRAC award. Tianna Dixon, Largacha and McKenna Wheatley contributed to the streak; Dixon won each of the last three weeks.
        The Gold Nuggets are 13-3 and won eight straight and 13 of their last 14 matches. Next for XULA will be women's and men's home matches at 3 p.m. CDT Thursday against city rival Dillard at XULA Tennis Center.