JONESBORO, Ga. — Xavier University of Louisiana's tennis teams posted a 6-2 victory against Milligan in the men's final and a 5-3 victory against SCAD Atlanta in the women's final of an NAIA unaffiliated group qualifying tournament Sunday.
The Gold Rush (14-7), ranked fifth in the NAIA, extended a school record by winning an eighth consecutive conference/group tournament championship. The Gold Nuggets (17-7), ranked first, won their ninth conference/group tournament championship in 11 seasons and repeated as champion of this event.
Both XU teams earned automatic bids to the NAIA National Championship at Mobile, Ala. It's the fifth consecutive year that the XU men qualified for nationals and the seventh time in nine seasons that the women qualified.
Loic Didavi, Nikita Soifer, Kyle Montrel and Viktor Svoboda won in singles and doubles for the XU men, who have won three straight and 11 of their last 14 duals. Soifer and Svoboda beat Andy Pullen and Colin Bumann 8-2 for their 13th victory in their last 14 doubles matches. Montrel, a freshman, won for the 13th time in his last 15 singles matches with a 6-1. 6-1 decision against Bumann.
Svoboda clinched the dual with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Caleb Fridell. It was Svoboda's 12th victory in his last 13 singles matches.
Didavi and Montrel posted their first shutout of the season with an 8-0 doubles victory against Sebastian Jonsson and Jackson Lenoir. In singles, Didavi beat Jonsson 6-1, 6-1, and Soifer defeated Pullen 6-2, 6-3.
Kourtney Howell and freshman Simone-Alyse Ewell won in singles and doubles for the Gold Nuggets. Howell and Brion Flowers, the NAIA's top-ranked doubles team, beat Lee-Anne Lingo and Amanda Morrow 8-4 for their ninth consecutive victory. Howell clinched the dual with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory against Alina Tseplukhova in a matchup of NAIA top-50 singles players.
Ewell and Amber Brown beat Tseplukhova and Katya Kiseleva 8-4, and Ewell defeated Marrow 6-3, 6-0. Amanda Materre's 6-3, 6-0 decision against Kiseleva was her sixth consecutive singles victory, and it gave the Nuggets a 4-1 lead in the dual.
The Gold Nuggets matched a program with their ninth consecutive victory. The 2005 and 2004 teams also won nine duals in a row. The XU women are 14-0 against NAIA opponents this season and 10-0 against ranked opponents. SCAD Atlanta (7-3) is ranked 19th.
Both the Gold Rush and the Gold Nuggets will receive first-round byes at nationals and play second-round duals May 15. The tournament, which consists of 24 men's and 24 women's teams, will conclude May 18.
All of the XU appearances at nationals and all but one of the championships have occurred under Alan Green, who is in his 10th season as coach of the Rush and Nuggets.
Sunday's two championships give Xavier a school-record-tying nine on the conference/group level for the 2012-13 academic year. It's also the second consecutive year that XU qualified seven teams for nationals.
Results: Men Women
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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