Monday, May 4, 2015

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)

RankTeamRecordPointsLast
1Georgia Gwinnett (12)8-63731
2Auburn Montgomery (2)19-43632
3Lindsey Wilson15-73493
4SCAD Savannah12-43384
5Xavier15-93275
6Embry-Riddle (Fla.)13-53116
7William Carey12-73057
8Brenau12-52938
9Northwood (Fla.)8-62779
10Cardinal Stritch21-226510
11Arizona Christian22-2246tie-12
12Oklahoma Baptist11-7226tie-12
13Concordia (Calif.)12-1122311
14Northwestern Ohio17-622114
15Lewis-Clark State7-1221215
16Evangel10-320116
17Westmont13-918420
18Cambellsville12-816918
19Graceland8-315219
20Vanguard8-1614417
21Davenport16-1013321
22LSU-Alexandria10-213022
23Olivet Nazarene16-711423
24Southeastern (Fla.)12-510524
25Coastal Georgia9-78925

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)

RankTeamRecordPointsLast
1Georgia Gwinnett (14)12-23741
2Embry-Riddle (Fla.)18-33582
3Vanguard25-13503
4Auburn Montgomery19-43424
5Lindsey Wilson19-13265
6Xavier12-73146
7Northwestern Ohio18-53027
8San Diego Christian14-72888
9William Carey13-62809
10Concordia (Calif.)12-926510
11Coastal Georgia11-725111
12Northwood (Fla.)10-224112
13Westmont10-1422813
14Bethany (Kan.)11-120514
15Dalton State11-720415
16Graceland12-319416
17Cambellsville15-517918
18McPherson16-517117
19Belhaven16-516719
20Oklahoma Baptist10-714620
21Cardinal Stritch20-713221
22Reinhardt11-312022
23Lewis-Clark State4-1010423
24Olivet Nazarene12-69224
25SCAD Savannah6-77925

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

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