Thursday, March 7, 2013

For the first time, Gold Nuggets join Gold Rush in top 10

COACH ALAN GREEN
NEW ORLEANS — In his 10th year as coach of the Xavier University of Louisiana men's and women's tennis teams, Alan Green finally has the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets in the top 10 simultaneously. It happened Tuesday when the NAIA released its third top-25 polls of the season.

The XU men are familiar with the top 10. They're 10th for the second consecutive poll, and this is their 14th consecutive appearance in the top 10. But it's been a long climb back to the top 10 for the XU women, whose only previous appearance was No. 9 on March 7, 2007. The Gold Nuggets are 10th in the new poll, up one place from the previous poll on Feb. 19.

This is the 44th consecutive top-25 appearance for the Gold Rush, which equals the Gold Nuggets' poll streak from 2004-11. The XU men are in the top 20 for the 35th consecutive time, the top 15 for the 20th consecutive time and the top 10 for the 17th time in 18 polls. For the Gold Nuggets, this is their sixth consecutive top-25 appearance and their 51st appearance in the last 61 polls.

The Gold Rush are 1-1 since the previous poll, including a 5-4 home victory last week against Belhaven, which remained No. 12. The Gold Nuggets are 1-4 since the previous poll, but all the losses were to NCAA Division I opponents. The victory was 9-0 against Belhaven, which dropped from 22nd to 24th.

Both XU teams will compete Friday in the AUM Invitational at Montgomery, Ala. The women will play NAIA No. 22 Cumberland at 9 a.m. at the AUM Tennis Complex, and the men will play 22nd-ranked Coastal Georgia at 1 p.m. at Lagoon Park Tennis Center. XU coach Alan Green announced Tuesday that the men of NAIA No. 4 Lindsey Wilson have dropped the Gold Rush from its schedule — they were to meet March 13 in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Several other ranked NAIA teams will compete in the AUM Invitational — Auburn Montgomery (women No. 2, men No. 2), Belhaven, Campbellsville (women No. 13, men No. 15), Cumberland (men No. 11) and the men of Graceland, ranked 17th and coached by XU graduate and former player Monroe Walker.

William Carey, which defeated AUM 5-4 this past week, collected 10-of-12 first-place votes and replaced AUM as the No. 1 women's team. Embry-Riddle (Fla.), despite receiving a season-low 7-of-12 first-place votes, is No. 1 for the third time in as many men's polls this year.

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, March 3)

RankTeamRecordPointsLast
1William Carey (10)3-33417
2Auburn Montgomery3-23291
3Brenau6-03182
4SCAD Savannah (2)3-23093
5Lindsey Wilson2-23024
6Westmont7-12905
7Embry-Riddle (Fla.)3-52766
8Concordia (Calif.)4-52658
9Lewis-Clark State3-32569
10Xavier4-524011
11Vanguard4-623910
12Indiana Wesleyan15-021912
13Campbellsville1-120813
14Oklahoma Baptist1-418916
15Olivet Nazarene2-318214
16-tieCoastal Georgia1-4179NR
16-tieNorthwood (Fla.)4-1179RV
18Lee (Tenn.)1-214415
19Marian (Ind.)11-214219
20Robert Morris (Chicago)0-013117
21St. Thomas (Fla.)3-313018
22Cumberland0-111120
23Nebraska Wesleyan1-49921
24Belhaven3-18822
25Milligan5-173RV

Others receiving votes: Davenport 61, Bethel (Kan.) 61, Martin Methodist 52, Georgetown (Ky.) 33, SCAD Atlanta 22, Evangel 13, Arizona Christian 8, Graceland 7, Indiana Southeast 6, Ashford (Iowa) 5.

NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, March 3)

RankTeamRecordPointsLast
1Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (7)6-13081
2Auburn Montgomery (1)5-12992
3Vanguard (4)9-02983
4Lindsey Wilson2-12814
5Westmont5-4267tie-5
6William Carey3-1265tie-5
7Bethany (Kan.)6-12537
8Concordia (Calif.)4-52358
9Aquinas3-32349
10Xavier4-422710
11Cumberland1-020611
12Belhaven3-119812
13Lewis-Clark State3-118715
14Olivet Nazarene3-218413
15Campbellsville1-117414
16Oklahoma Baptist3-415321
17Graceland4-114818
18Northwood (Fla.)3-1144RV
19McPherson7-214017
20Pikeville1-113019
21Northwestern Ohio6-29322
22Coastal Georgia4-290tie-24
23Georgetown (Ky.)2-28923
24Bethel (Tenn.)6-087RV
25Spring Arbor11-272tie-24

Others receiving votes: Davenport 70, Warner 63, St. Thomas (Fla.) 30, Indiana Wesleyan 21, Webber International 17, Missouri Valley 13, Asbury 11, Hope International 8, Our Lady of the Lake 4.

Familiar situation: Rush, Nuggets headed to nationals

NEW ORLEANS -- The basketball teams of Xavier University of Louisiana will play again. Based on their high rankings in Wednesday's coaches polls, both the Gold Nuggets and Gold Rush received at-large bids to next week's NAIA Division I National Championships.

The Gold Nuggets (24-5) fell from 10th to 12th in the women's poll. The Gold Rush (24-7) fell from 13th to a tie for 16th in the men's poll. The XU women received one of 14 at-large bids, and the XU men received one of 17 at-large bids.
The NAIA will announce first-round pairings and times early Wednesday evening. Both tournaments -- the men in Kansas City, Mo., the women in Frankfort, Ky. -- will begin Wednesday, March 13. Thirty-two teams qualified for each site.

Xavier's women qualified for nationals for the fourth consecutive year and the 17th time overall. All of the Gold Nuggets' appearances have occurred in the last 19 seasons. The Gold Nuggets reached the second round seven times, including 2011 and 2012, but never have advanced to the quarterfinals.

Xavier's men qualified for nationals for the third consecutive year, the seventh time in nine seasons and the 14th time overall. The deepest advance of the Gold Rush was the quarterfinals in 1973; the most recent first-round victory was in 2007.

Both XU teams won Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championships this year -- the men shared theirs with Philander Smith -- but both were upset in the quarterfinals of the GCAC Tournament at Little Rock, Ark., last week.

Also qualifying for nationals from the GCAC were the tournament champions, SUNO's women and Philander Smith's men. Philander Smith is ranked 22nd.



By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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