The Gold Nuggets, the tournament's No. 1 seed and ranked first in the most recent coaches poll, lost the first game in each of their three doubles matches against 17th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan, then stormed back for a 5-0 second-round victory.
Xavier (18-7) set a program record with its 10th consecutive victory. The previous record was nine, set in 2004 and tied the following season. The Nuggets also became the first XU women's team in any sport to reach the NAIA quarterfinals. The women's tennis program was 0-5 in second-round matches before Wednesday.
The Nuggets will play ninth-ranked Embry-Riddle (Fla.), a 5-2 winner against eighth-seeded Westmont, at 1 p.m. Thursday. For the first time in XU tennis history, both teams have reached the quarterfinals. The XU men, who defeated Belhaven 5-3 earlier in the day, will play Vanguard at 9 a.m. Thursday. No Xavier team in any sport has reached the NAIA semifinals.
"It was a great start for us to win all three doubles matches," said coach Alan Green, whose Nuggets are 11-0 this season against ranked NAIA opponents. "We probably had some early jitters, and Indiana Wesleyan had the advantage by playing the day before when we had a bye. But we got past that in a hurry."
Xavier's Kourtney Howell and Brion Flowers, No. 1 in the ITA NAIA doubles rankings, gave the Nuggets a 1-0 lead in the dual when they defeated Andrea Meyering and Lauren Wilson 8-1. At the third flight, Amanda Materre and Olivia West made it 2-0 with an 8-3 decision over Rachael Heiniger and Kristen Futrell. Then Simone-Alyse Ewell and Amber Brown completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 victory against Katie Wilson and Kim Mella.
It was the third time in 12 duals at nationals — the first time since the 2009 opening round against McKendree — that the Nuggets won all three doubles matches.
Howell and Materre, the Nuggets' winningest singles players, finished the rout. Materre defeated Meyering 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3, and Howell beat Heiniger 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 for her team-leading seventh clinching victory of the season. Of the four uncompleted matches, Flowers led at No. 2, and Ewell led at No. 4.
"Kourtney and Amanda got on and off the court pretty quick, and it was over," Green said.
Materre has a seven-match singles win streak, and Howell has won 11 of her last 14 decisions. In doubles, Howell and Flowers have won 10 in a row, and Ewell and Brown have won three straight since losing 5-of-6.
Indiana Wesleyan, which started the season 18-0 and was making its 14th consecutive appearance at nationals, finished 24-4.
The Xavier - Embry-Riddle quarterfinal will be a rematch of a March 28 dual which the Nuggets won 7-2 at Embry-Riddle. All five XU singles victories that day were in straight sets.
Green's initial assessment of the quarterfinal pairing? "I don't think it will be easy," he said.
By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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