Rush, Nuggets Returning to NAIA National Championships

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's tennis teams held their positions Monday in the NAIA coaches polls, and both received at-large bids to next week's NAIA National Championships.

The Gold Nuggets (15-9) are ranked fifth, and the Gold Rush (12-7) are No. 6. Both received the first of nine at-large bids.

Twenty-four women's teams and 24 men's teams qualified for the national tournament, which will begin May 12 at Copeland-Cox Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala. The NAIA will announce seedings and pairings by 5 p.m. CDT Tuesday.

Xavier's women qualified for nationals for the fourth consecutive year and the ninth time overall in the last 11 seasons. The XU men qualified for the seventh consecutive year after never reaching nationals before 2009.

"We're happy about earning bids to play in the national tournament again," said Alan Green, in his 12th season as coach of Xavier's women and men. "We're worked hard all year to get to this point, and now it's time to go into the final tournament of the year and look to make a good showing. We just want to compete as hard as we can and see where it leads us."

The Gold Nuggets reached the national semifinals in 2013 and 2014 — the best finish by an XU team in any sport at an NAIA national tournament — and the Gold Rush reached the quarterfinals in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Both XU teams have lengthy current streaks in the NAIA's top 10: 37 straight for the men, 24 straight for the women. Both also are among the NAIA leaders in active streaks of appearances at the national tournament. The Nuggets are one of nine women's programs making a fourth consecutive appearance, and the Rush are one of eight men's programs making a seventh consecutive appearance.

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll  (first-place votes in parentheses — records through May 2) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Georgia Gwinnett (12) 8-6 373 1 2 Auburn Montgomery (2) 19-4 363 2 3 Lindsey Wilson 15-7 349 3 4 SCAD Savannah 12-4 338 4 5 Xavier 15-9 327 5 6 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 13-5 311 6 7 William Carey 12-7 305 7 8 Brenau 12-5 293 8 9 Northwood (Fla.) 8-6 277 9 10 Cardinal Stritch 21-2 265 10 11 Arizona Christian 22-2 246 tie-12 12 Oklahoma Baptist 11-7 226 tie-12 13 Concordia (Calif.) 12-11 223 11 14 Northwestern Ohio 17-6 221 14 15 Lewis-Clark State 7-12 212 15 16 Evangel 10-3 201 16 17 Westmont 13-9 184 20 18 Cambellsville 12-8 169 18 19 Graceland 8-3 152 19 20 Vanguard 8-16 144 17 21 Davenport 16-10 133 21 22 LSU-Alexandria 10-2 130 22 23 Olivet Nazarene 16-7 114 23 24 Southeastern (Fla.) 12-5 105 24 25 Coastal Georgia 9-7 89 25 Others receiving votes:  Indiana Wesleyan 67, Aquinas 41, St. Thomas (Fla.) 37, McPherson 24, Missouri Valley 23, Campbellsville 19, Marian (Ind.) 14, SCAD Atlanta 9, Reinhardt 3

NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll  (first-place votes in parentheses — records through May 2) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Georgia Gwinnett (14) 12-2 374 1 2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 18-3 358 2 3 Vanguard 25-1 350 3 4 Auburn Montgomery 19-4 342 4 5 Lindsey Wilson 19-1 326 5 6 Xavier 12-7 314 6 7 Northwestern Ohio 18-5 302 7 8 San Diego Christian 14-7 288 8 9 William Carey 13-6 280 9 10 Concordia (Calif.) 12-9 265 10 11 Coastal Georgia 11-7 251 11 12 Northwood (Fla.) 10-2 241 12 13 Westmont 10-14 228 13 14 Bethany (Kan.) 11-1 205 14 15 Dalton State 11-7 204 15 16 Graceland 12-3 194 16 17 Cambellsville 15-5 179 18 18 McPherson 16-5 171 17 19 Belhaven 16-5 167 19 20 Oklahoma Baptist 10-7 146 20 21 Cardinal Stritch 20-7 132 21 22 Reinhardt 11-3 120 22 23 Lewis-Clark State 4-10 104 23 24 Olivet Nazarene 12-6 92 24 25 SCAD Savannah 6-7 79 25 Others receiving votes:  Indiana Wesleyan 53, Tennessee Wesleyan 50, Davenport 48, Martin Methodist 29, Asbury 27, Aquinas 24, Marian (Ind.) 10, Middle Georgia 5, Biola 3

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

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