Friday, April 6, 2012

Gold Rush, Nuggets lose to Vanguard in California finales

COSTA MESA, California — Vanguard, ranked seventh in NAIA men's tennis, won all three doubles matches and a pair of three-set singles matches Thursday in a 6-3 victory against ninth-ranked Xavier University of Louisiana.

Vanguard's 15th-ranked women defeated Xavier 5-4.

Loic Didavi and Zach Taylor of the Gold Rush (12-6) defeated ranked opponents in singles. Sean Richardson earned XU's other singles victory. In the women's dual the Gold Nuggets (3-20) got singles victories from Amanda Materre, Nicole DeLoach and Ashley McGill, plus a doubles victory from DeLoach and Kourtney Howell.

Vanguard's women (8-9) overcame a 4-3 deficit by winning two doubles matches.

The Lions' Lucas Pereira, ranked ninth by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, retired with an injury against No. 11 Didavi, who led 6-3, 1-0. XU's 17th-rated Taylor defeated No. 43 Roger Muri 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Vanguard's men, who eliminated Xavier in the second round of the 2011 national tournament, are 10-7. The Lions clinched when Robin Wagner beat Viktor Svoboda 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 at No. 4 singles.

"Our men got off to a slow start and dug a huge hole by losing all the doubles," XU coach Alan Green said. "It is almost impossible to come back from that. We fought hard and came within the final three matches. It was too much to overcome."

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
MEN'S TENNIS TEAM
ROSTER
Nicole DeLoach ended her five-match singles losing streak when she defeated Gabriele Alford 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4, and Ashley McGill snapped her four-match losing streak by beating Ashley Tebeau 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 at No. 6. Tebeau and Ekaterina Gabashvili clinched at No. 3 doubles with an 8-3 decision against McGill and Jordyn Goody.

"The Nuggets almost pulled off a big upset," Green said. "The match was back and forth the whole time. I was proud of the fight we gave them."

The Gold Rush finished 2-2 on their California trip, and the Nuggets were 0-4. All the matches were against ranked NAIA teams.

Results:  Men    Women

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

No comments: