Xavier Gold Rush win, Gold Nuggets lose at AUM Invitational

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (March 11, 2011) — Hassan Abbas, Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson won in doubles and singles Friday, leading NAIA No. 8 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 6-0 men's tennis victory over Georgetown (Ky.) in the AUM Invitational.

Xavier's women, ranked 24th, suffered their fifth consecutive loss in a 5-1 decision against No. 13 Lindsey Wilson.

The Gold Rush (9-4), winless in this event a year ago, bounced back from two straight losses over the past three days. Abbas and Zach Taylor scored the first point when they defeated Benjamin Aspillaga and Jose Baeza 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Amir Rahbar and Jonathan Aubrey made it 2-0 when they beat Carlos Del Valle and Alec Lewis 8-0 at No. 3 — it was Rahbar and Aubrey's first shutout of the season — and Giles-Osborn and Richardson completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 decision against Gustavo Echeverria and Zach Thomas.

In singles Richardson gave Xavier a 4-0 lead when he defeated Thomas 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5. Giles-Osborn snapped his three-match singles losing streak and clinched the dual with his 6-1, 6-1 victory against Echeverria at No. 3. Soon afterward Abbas wrapped up a 6-0, 6-3 victory against Baeza at No. 2, and the other three matches were stopped with Xavier leading by a set in each.

Abbas, the Gold Rush leader in singles winning percentage and combined winning percentage last season, is 10-3 in singles and 10-3 in doubles this year.

The highlight of the Nuggets' loss to Lindsey Wilson was senior Melissa DeLoach's 6-3, 6-0 victory against Edelmira Ferri at No. 4 singles. Also playing well was freshman Amber Brown at No. 2, who won a second-set tiebreaker against Slavica Milanovic but lost 10-7 in a third-set super-tiebreaker. Milanovic was ranked 12th nationally in the preseason by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Trina Slapeka, ranked sixth in singles, beat XU's Carmen Nelson 6-2, 6-3 at the top flight. Slapeka and Milanovic, ranked eighth in doubles, beat Nelson and Brown 8-1 to score the first point of the dual.

The XU women will play Campbellsville at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and the men will play unbeaten and fifth-ranked Oklahoma Christian at 12:30 p.m.

Results:  Men    Women

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
Xavier University of Louisiana
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