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| Photo Courtesy of Xavier Athletics |
Angela Charles-Alfred, an All-American tennis player for Xavier University, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Female Amateur Athlete of the Year for 2019-20. The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.
Charles-Alfred earned NAIA All-America honors for the third straight season as she closed the COVID-19-abbreviated 2020 season with the No. 10 singles ranking in the country. She teamed with freshman Lailaa Bashir to be ranked No. 1 among small college doubles teams. The duo won four doubles titles during the fall: HBCU National Championships, ITA NAIA South Regional, ITA Cup NAIA and ITA Cup Small College. They also registered wins against UCLA (No. 37 in the NCAA) and South Alabama. For the year, Charles produced 15 singles wins and 25 doubles victories for the Gold Nuggets, who ranked third nationally.
“I am really happy and proud to be a Xavierite winning this award,” Charles-Alfred said. “Nothing would be possible without my family, my teammates and coach (Alan) Green. It has been a tough year with this pandemic, but we did a good job with the team. I am preparing already to be ready for the next year and do even better. I thank God for everything.”
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has presented annual awards to amateur athletes in the region since 1958 – Charles-Alfred is the first Xavier University athlete to be honored. Her coach, Alan Green, was honored by the group as Louisiana’s top collegiate coach in 2016.
“Angela put together a great season despite it being cut short,” Green said. “I challenged her to be more of a leader and embrace being the one who the team could look up to this season. She accepted the challenge and went even further by joining the XULA-ASA (Association of Student-Athletes). I couldn’t be more proud of the player and person Angela has become since coming to Xavier.”
The other finalists for Greater New Orleans Female Amateur Athlete of the Year were Jerkaila Jordan (John Curtis Basketball), Arina Kleshchukova (UNO Track & Field) and Kai Williams (Cabrini Volleyball). Jordan, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana, earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the fourth consecutive year in a state championship game for John Curtis, an unprecedented accomplishment. She led Curtis to a 27-4 record, averaging 21.8 points, 3.1 assists, 3.1 steals and two blocks per game. Kleshchukova won the Southland Conference Cross Country Championship and the Southland’s 5,000-meter indoor track championship as she was named the league’s Women’s Runner of the Year. She was also named the Louisiana Runner of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Williams led the Crescents to the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Division III state championship – their first state title since 2008. The senior finished with a team-high 447 kills and 398 digs along with 53 blocks and 37 aces.
