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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