Showing posts with label Zach Taylor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zach Taylor. Show all posts

Sunday, May 29, 2011

For 2nd time in 3 years, XU's Green is state Coach of the Year

Hassan Abbas
Zach Taylor
Coach Alan Green
NEW ORLEANS — For the second time in three years, Xavier University of Louisiana's Alan Green is Coach of the Year on the All-Louisiana men's tennis team selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

The team, announced late Saturday, includes two Xavier players. Senior Hassan Abbas made the first team, and junior Zach Taylor is on the second team.

Green, a New Orleans native in his eighth season at Xavier, led the Gold Rush to a 13-9 record, a third consecutive berth in the NAIA National Championship, the program's first top-10 ranking and the first victory against a top-10 NAIA opponent — 6-3 at Vanguard on March 4. XU had five victories against teams in the final NAIA coaches poll and two victories vs. NCAA Division I. All the losses were to ranked NAIA opponents or D-I.

This was the first Xavier team in any sport to be ranked in the top 10 of a final NAIA poll since women's basketball in 1997-98. XU was top 10 in four of the last five polls.

Abbas, from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura (Calif.) College, is the first XU men's tennis player to make the All-Louisiana first team twice or in consecutive seasons. Abbas was 15-6 in singles and 15-8 doubles this season and was 31st in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA singles rankings.

Taylor, from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, was 11-10 in singles and 15-8 in doubles. He was 24th in ITA/NAIA singles rankings. Taylor and Abbas are 15th nationally in doubles.

2010-11 All-Louisiana Collegiate Men's Tennis Team




First Team
Name
School
Class
Hometown
Idan Mark
Tulane
So.
Santana Hod Hasharon, Israel
Neal Skupski
LSU
Jr.
Liverpool, England
Sebastian Carlsson
LSU
Sr.
Uppsala, Sweden
Dmitry Kozionov
Nicholls State
So.
Ivhevsk, Russia
Hassan Abbas
Xavier
Sr.
Saltaire, England
Abdelrahman Zaki
New Orleans
Jr.
Egypt
Second Team
Name
School
Class
Hometown
Hossam Meligy
New Orleans
So.
Egypt
Julien Gauthier
LSU
Sr.
Repentigny, Canada
Joe Young
Tulane
So.
Redlands, Calif.
Palash Tiwari
Nicholls State
So.
New Delhi, India
Zach Taylor
Xavier
Jr.
Monroe, La.
Yanick Mandl
Louisiana-Lafayette
Jr.
Thalwil, Switzerland

Player of the Year:  Neal Skupski, LSU
Newcomer of the Year:  Idan Mark, Tulane
Freshman of the Year:  Hossam Meligy, New Orleans
Coach of the Year:  Alan Green, Xavier


By Ed Cassiere, Xavier University of Louisiana
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Friday, May 6, 2011

XU's Taylor selected NAIA and GCAC Player of the Week

Zach Taylor
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Zach Taylor was selected NAIA Men's Tennis Player of the Week for April 25-May 1. He also won a similar honor from the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.

Taylor, a junior from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, won 38 of 47 games to help the Gold Rush win both its dual matches in a qualifying tourna
ment at Chattanooga, Tenn., for the NAIA National Championship. Taylor and Hassan Abbas, the NAIA's 15th-ranked doubles team, defeated Martin Methodist's Vinicius Santos — the TranSouth Athletic Conference Player of the Year — and Juan Suarez 8-0 in the championship dual, and Taylor put the Gold Rush ahead to stay with his 6-1, 6-3 victory against Renato Castro.

"Our men had never been in the top 10 or beaten a top-10 team before Zach started playing for us this year," said eighth-year XU Coach Alan Green. "He has been a difference-maker."

Taylor, 10-10 in singles and 15-7 in doubles this season, is the first Xavier athlete to win an NAIA national player-of-the-week award since Brittany Powell (women's basketball) did it for Jan. 18-24, 2010. This is the first season of the NAIA's weekly tennis awards. The GCAC award is Taylor's third this season.

XU's men, 13-9 and ranked ninth, will compete in the NAIA National Championship at Mobile, Ala., from May 17-21.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS