XU Gold Rush defeat seventh-ranked Point Loma Nazarene

SAN DIEGO, California — Loic Didavi defeated Tyler Bowman 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 Monday to clinch a 5-4 NAIA men's tennis victory for ninth-ranked Xavier University of Louisiana against No. 7 Point Loma Nazarene.

Point Loma's sixth-ranked women defeated No. 24 Xavier 8-1, but XU's Kourtney Howell defeated Maika Adair 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5 in a matchup of ranked singles players.

The Gold Rush (11-4) won for the seventh time in nine duals this season against ranked opponents and beat a seventh-ranked team for the second consecutive year. The XU men have two victories this season against top-10 teams.

Didavi's victory gave Xavier a 5-2 lead. The Gold Rush won all three doubles matches, two against ranked teams.

The other Xavier singles victory came from Amir Rahbar, who is 5-0 in three-set matches this spring after his 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 decision against Diego Tavera to give the Rush a 4-2 lead.

Didavi and Zach Taylor completed the doubles sweep with their 8-5 victory against Bowman and Gregory De Andrade. It was Didavi and Taylor's sixth consecutive victory and their 13th in 14 matches this spring. Including fall tournaments, Didavi and Taylor are 20-3.

Viktor Svoboda and Corey Huggins scored XU's first point with an 8-0 decision against Andrew Combs and Kaptan Kaster, then Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson won 8-4 against Angel Tavera and KC Ensley.

Chad Rubin ended the 10-match singles win streak of XU's Sean Richardson with a 6-3, 6-1 decision at the sixth flight.

"This was a hard-fought match," XU coach Alan Green said, "and a great start for us in doubles."

Howell's victory was her third of the season against a ranked singles player. Freshman teammate Amanda Materre also went three sets but lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Jessica Kwan at No. 2.

Wileen Chiu improved to 13-0 in singles this semester with her 6-0, 6-0 victory against the Gold Nuggets' Jordyn Goody at No. 5.

Point Loma's men are 9-7, and its women are 11-5. Xavier's women are 3-17, 1-7 against ranked teams.

This was the first of four consecutive days that both XU teams play ranked teams in California. They'll travel to Santa Barbara on Tuesday to play Westmont's 10th-ranked men and 21st-ranked women at 2 p.m. PDT.

Results: Men Women

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