Saturday, September 28, 2013

XU Nuggets, Rush advance in South Regionals main draw


NEW ORLEANS -- Seven singles players and two doubles teams from Xavier University of Louisiana advanced Friday in the main draw of the USTA/ITA NAIA South Regional Championships at the City Park/Pepsi and XU tennis centers.

Four Gold Nuggets, including third-seeded Kourtney Howell and fifth-seeded Brion Flowers, reached the women's singles round of 16. Three XU men, including fourth-seeded Kyle Montrel and sixth-seeded Nikita Soifer, advanced to the men's singles round of 16.

Howell defeated Belhaven's Ainsley Wright 6-0, 6-3. Flowers beat Brenau's Kelley Cohron 6-0, 6-2. The Nuggets' Amber Brown defeated Belhaven's Katie Campbell 6-0, 6-0, and Brandi Nelson beat Georgia Gwinnett's Rocio Fernandez 6-2, 6-4.

Montrel defeated Belhaven's Enrico Patriarca 6-2, 6-2 to extend his collegiate singles win streak to 10 dating to last season. Soifer beat Point's Andrew Hays 6-0, 6-1. Also advancing was Xavier's Kevin Chaouat, who defeated Loyola's David Mayhall 6-0, 6-2 and Point's Nate Moore 6-0, 6-0.

Howell and Flowers, top-seeded in women's doubles, defeated Belhaven's Abigail Watkins and Joy Bethea 8-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Montrel and Mandlekar, seeded fourth in men's doubles, reached the quarterfinals with an 8-2 victory against Belhaven's Lachlan Puyol and Jim Scott.

All No. 1 seeds advanced, including Auburn Montgomery's Jade Curtis in women's singles and Nicolas Pinones in men's singles. Pinones and Miguel Grifol, the No. 1 men's doubles seed, had a bye and will play at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in the round of 16.

All matches Saturday will be played at City Park, starting with men's and women's singles main-draw matches at 9 a.m. Semifinals and championship matches are scheduled for Sunday at the XU Tennis Center.

Results:  Men    Women

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

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