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| NOUR ABBES |
Abbes, 26-0 in singles during her XU career, will play Adelaide Wood of Northwood (Fla.) at 8:30 a.m. EDT at Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C. Semifinal matches will start at 10:30 a.m. Friday, followed by the championship at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. All eight NAIA singles players are guaranteed three matches.
Abbes, a sophomore from Tunis, Tunisia, qualified automatically after beating Georgia Gwinnett's Valeria Podda 6-3, 6-2 on Sept. 28 in the South Regional Championships at XU Tennis Center. Podda received an at-large bid and is seeded second. Abbes and Podda were seeded 1-2 at the South Regional.
The other national seeds are No. 3 Anastasiya Baranova of Oklahoma Baptist and No. 4 Amy Fritz of Evangel.
"Nour is fast, strong, relentless and can hit every shot in the book," XU coach Alan Green said. "It's very hard to break her will. If she gets down, she'll get back pretty quickly."
Abbes, 9-0 in singles in two fall tournaments, said she never anticipated her success. "I've just tried to work hard and take one match at a time," Abbes said. "I never see far, far ahead. But I have enjoyed the responsibility. When you keep winning, you have something to prove the next time."
The NAIA bracket winner will join the NCAA Division II, Division III and junior / community college winners in a Sunday playoff to earn a wild card into the USTA / ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November.
This is the fourth time in four years that Xavier qualified for the National Small College Championships. In 2011, Loic Didavi and Zach Taylor placed third in NAIA men's doubles, and Didavi was fifth in singles. Last year in women's doubles, Kourtney Howell and Brion Flowers placed third.
Ed Cassiere,
Sports Information Director
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