Saturday, June 2, 2012

XU All-Americans: Didavi 1st team, Taylor again 2nd team

Zach Taylor
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Loic Didavi is a 2012 NAIA Men's Tennis All-America first-team selection, and doubles partner Zach Taylor made the second team for the second straight year.

Earning honorable mention was XU's Viktor Svoboda.

Taylor is Xavier's first two-time men's tennis All-American of the modern era. But Didavi made the team for the third straight year — he was second team in 2011 and 2010 at Auburn Montgomery.

Loic Didavi
Didavi became Xavier's sixth men's tennis All-American of the modern era, all in the past five seasons. Hassan Abbas (2011), Mike Green (2009), Terry Richardson (2009) and Miroslav Vukicevic (2008) were second-team selections.

Didavi, a junior from Cotonou, Benin, was 25-6 in singles and 27-8 doubles and earned top-10 rankings in singles and doubles from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. He was ITA/NAIA South Regional champion in singles and doubles (with Taylor) in October and was NAIA Player of the Week for April 2-8.

Viktor Svoboda
Taylor, a senior from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, was 19-6 in singles and 25-7 in doubles. He was a three-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week and set a GCAC career record with six weekly awards.

Svoboda, a sophomore from Kamenice, Czech Republic, and a transfer from Lewis-Clark State, was 18-12 in singles and 19-10 in doubles in his XU debut. He recorded three singles victories and three doubles victories (with Corey Huggins) against NCAA Division I opponents.

Xavier was 18-8 this season, winning a conference/group championship for the seventh consecutive season, setting a school record for season victories and qualifying for the NAIA National Championship for the fourth straight year. The Gold Rush reached the quarterfinals at nationals and became the first XU team in any sport to advance that far since 1973.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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