Nuggets cap stellar season with No. 3 postseason ranking

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana ranked third in the NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Postseason Top 25 Poll announced Tuesday.
    
The Gold Nuggets (19-8) dropped after three consecutive No. 1 rankings. They entered the NAIA National Championship as the top seed but lost 5-0 to William Carey in the semifinals Friday. The following day, Auburn Montgomery defeated William Carey 5-1 to win its third consecutive championship and 12th in 15 years.
    
Auburn Montgomery and William Carey ranked 1-2 in the postseason poll. Xavier defeated both in April.
    
It's the eighth time in nine seasons that the Gold Nuggets appear in the final top 25 of the season.

This is the second consecutive year that the last rating occurs after the NAIA National Championship.
The XU women were 19th in the 2012 postseason poll.
    
Xavier ranked 13th in the preseason, entered the top 10 on March 5 and remained there for the final seven polls. When the Gold Nuggets climbed from sixth to first on April 16, it was the first time an XU team in any sport was No. 1 in an NAIA coaches poll.
    
The 2013 Gold Nuggets were the first XU team in any sport to reach the semifinals of an NAIA national tournament.

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through end of season) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Auburn Montgomery (12) 17-8 312 2 2 William Carey 14-9 302 5 3 Xavier 19-8 289 1 4 Lindsey Wilson 19-3 285 6 5-tie SCAD Savannah 13-3 268 4 5-tie Brenau 13-5 268 3 7 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 12-11 252 9 8 Northwood (Fla.) 10-8 239 12 9 Lewis-Clark State 11-10 231 7 10 Westmont 17-3 226 8 11 Oklahoma Baptist 14-11 210 10 12 Vanguard 12-17 204 11 13 Concordia (Calif.) 10-12 187 13 14 Olivet Nazarene 18-9 185 14 15 SCAD Atlanta 8-4 178 15 16 Indiana Wesleyan 24-4 160 17 17 Coastal Georgia 7-9 150 16 18 Cumberland 14-7 142 18 19 Milligan 19-3 133 19 20 Campbellsville 11-12 117 20 21 Marian (Ind.) 16-9 105 21 22 Davenport 20-10 99 22 23 Southeastern (Fla.) 7-11 89 23 24 Nebraska Wesleyan 13-8 81 25 25 Bethel (Kan.) 14-4 66 RV Others receiving votes: Lee (Tenn.) 57, Ashford 56, Ave Maria 23, Evangel 20, Cumberlands 15, Belhaven 15, Northwestern Ohio 12, Robert Morris (Chicago) 7, Indiana Southeast 6, Georgetown (Ky.) 3.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULA ATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA