Rush, Nuggets win every match against Graceland

NASHVILLE, Tennessee  — Xavier University of Louisiana, back on the road for four consecutive days of tennis, opened its trip Thursday with 9-0 men's and women's victories against Graceland.
   
It was the fourth victory of the season for the Gold Rush (5-7) against a ranked NAIA opponent. Xavier is ranked seventh, and Graceland (5-5) is 13th. The Gold Nuggets (9-4), ranked second, extended their winning streak to six, which includes five road victories. Graceland's women, who missed this week's top 25 by six points, are 5-3.
   
Winning for the Rush in doubles and singles were Kyle Montrel, Nikita Soifer, Tushar Mandlekar and Adam Albrecht.
   
Montrel snapped a three-match losing streak in singles with a 6-2, 6-2 decision against regionally ranked Jamie Sordyl at the top flight. Soifer earned his second victory of the semester against a nationally ranked opponent when he defeated Jose Daniele Razo Torres 6-1, 6-2. The ITA ranks Soifer 40th and Razo Torres 23rd. Mandlekar snapped an eight-match singles losing streak with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Brezile Hamilton, and he teamed with Kevin Chaouat for their fifth doubles victory in six attempts, 8-3 against David James Parker and Adolfo Guerrero Contreras.
   
Albrecht, one of three Rush freshmen to win singles matches — Mandlekar and Jordan Harrell were the others — defeated Oscar Chang Tun Jie 6-4, 7-5.
   
Kourtney Howell, Brandi Nelson, Nour Abbes and Simone-Alyse Ewell earned doubles and singles victories for the Gold Nuggets. Howell and Brion Flowers defeated Jessica Worring and Zahra El Otmany, ranked 13th in NAIA doubles, 8-0. Howell won 6-0, 6-0 against El Otmany, who is regionally ranked, and Nelson won by the same score against Ilse Karina Cardiel.
   
Abbes, in the lineup for the first time since Feb. 24, teamed with Ewell for an 8-1 doubles victory against regionally ranked Melynda Simmons and Sofia Jaramillo. Abbes improved to 8-0 in singles with a 6-2, 6-2 decision against Worring — Abbes is ranked fourth nationally and Worring 13th — and Ewell beat Simmons, who is regionally ranked, 6-3, 6-1.
   
Nelson and her older sister, Carmen, improved to 4-1 in doubles with an 8-3 decision against Amy Haberthier and Cardiel. Amber Brown defeated Jaramillo 6-4, 6-3 for her fifth consecutive singles victory,
   
XU graduate and former player Monroe Walker coaches both Graceland teams.
   
Both XU teams will travel to Columbia, Ky., to play Lindsey Wilson's fourth-ranked women and sixth-ranked men at 11 a.m. Friday.

Results:  Men    Women

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
https://twitter.com/xulagold
https://www.facebook.com/xulagold