NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana led after the doubles matches, but William Carey rallied for a 6-3 victory Friday in a matchup of NAIA top-10 men's tennis teams.
The Gold Rush (1-2), ranked eighth, lost for the first time in two duals at the new XU Tennis Center, which opened in October. The Crusaders, ranked sixth, are 2-0.
Xavier led 2-1 after Loic Didavi and Kyle Montrel defeated Ricky Keppeler and Marthinius Visser 8-4 at No. 1 doubles and Nikita Soifer and Viktor Svoboda beat Jody Claassen and Robin Semal 8-6 at No. 2, but the Gold Rush didn't score another point until the final completed match — Didavi's 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6) decision against Claassen at No. 1 singles.
William Carey won three singles matches in straight sets. The only other XU player to win a set was freshman Kyle Montrel, who lost 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-5) to Keppeler at No. 3.
Xavier defaulted No. 3 doubles and No. 6 doubles. That will be a season-long occurrence because unexpected attrition reduced the Gold Rush roster of available players to five.
"It was a tough loss for us," XU coach Alan Green said. "We went toe-to-toe with the sixth-ranked team in the country. The match could've gone either way. I can see where we can make a lot of improvement."
Didavi avenged a 6-2, 6-0 loss to Claassen from their 2012 dual, which Xavier won 5-4. The Gold Rush and Crusaders will meet again April 5 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Next for the XU men and women will be three duals apiece at Prairie View, Texas. They'll play Prairie View A&M at 3 p.m. next Friday, Bethany (Kan.) at 1 p.m. on Feb. 16 and Oklahoma Baptist at 10 a.m. on Feb. 17. Bethany's men are ranked 10th in the NAIA, and Oklahoma Baptist's women are ranked 18th. Xavier's women are 13th.
Results
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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