Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Xavier Nuggets No. 1 again; national tournament is next week

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's women's tennis team will enter next week's NAIA National Championship as the No. 1 team.
    
The Gold Nuggets (17-7) received nine first-place votes Monday, one more than this past week, to edge two-time defending champion Auburn Montgomery by five points in the final poll before the national tournament. It's the third consecutive poll that Xavier has been No. 1. This is the first Xavier team in any sport to be ranked atop an NAIA poll.
    
The Gold Nuggets were 13th in the preseason poll and climbed to No. 10 — the first of six consecutive top-10 appearances — on March 5.
    
Also Monday, the NAIA announced the field for the national tournament. The Gold Nuggets were one of 24 women's teams chosen; they were one of 13 automatic qualifiers after winning an unaffiliated group tournament in April. SCAD Atlanta, a 5-3 loser to Xavier in the championship dual of that event, received an at-large berth.
    
The NAIA will announce tournament pairings by 5 p.m. CDT Tuesday. The Gold Nuggets will have one of eight first-round byes and play in the second round at 1 p.m. on May 15. The Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala., will be the tournament site for the 10th consecutive year.


NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, May 5)

Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Xavier (9) 17-7 309 1
2 Auburn Montgomery (3) 13-8 304 2
3 Brenau 12-4 293 3
4 SCAD Savannah 12-2 282 4
5 William Carey 11-8 270 5
6 Lindsey Wilson 17-2 259 6
7 Lewis-Clark State 11-9 256 7
8 Westmont 17-2 241 8
9 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 10-10 234 9
10 Oklahoma Baptist 13-10 221 10
11 Vanguard 11-16 209 11
12 Northwood (Fla.) 8-7 203 12
13 Concordia (Calif.) 9-11 187 13
14 Olivet Nazarene 16-6 179 14
15 SCAD Atlanta 7-3 178 15
16 Coastal Georgia 8-8 155 16
17 Indiana Wesleyan 22-1 154 17
18 Cumberland 14-6 144 18
19 Milligan 19-3 137 19
20 Campbellsville 11-9 121 20
21 Marian (Ind.) 16-9 109 22
22 Davenport 20-9 96 23
23 Southeastern (Fla.) 7-11 88 25
24 Lee (Tenn.) 4-7 79 24
25 Nebraska Wesleyan 13-7 63 RV

Others receiving votes: Ashford 59, Bethel (Kan.) 47, Ave Maria 25, Belhaven 24, Northwestern Ohio 17, Robert Morris (Chicago) 16, Cumberlands 14, Hope International 10, Evangel 9, Georgetown (Ky.) 3


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

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