Gold Rush record first victory; Nuggets win their opener

NEW ORLEANS — NAIA-ranked Xavier University of Louisiana defeated city rival Loyola Saturday in the first dual matches of the spring semester at XU Tennis Center. The Gold Rush won 8-1, and the Gold Nuggets won 9-0.
    
The XU men (1-2), ranked fourth, got singles and doubles victories from Karan Salwan, Tushar Mandlekar, Kevin Chaouat and Adam Albrecht. For the XU women (1-0), ranked 11th, Charlene Goreau, Jana van der Walt, Brandi Nelson and Sha'Nel Bruins won in singles and doubles.
    
Also scoring for Xavier were Kyle Montrel and Manav Chakma in men's singles and Dasia Harris in women's singles.
    
"It was a good day overall," 13th-year XU coach Alan Green said. "The women took care of business. Our men had one hiccup in doubles as we're still trying to figure out our best lineups."
    
Salwan, ranked eighth among singles players by the ITA, defeated Steven Le 6-3, 6-0. Montrel, ranked 10th and a three-time All-American, beat Maxime Rumeau 6-0, 6-0. Mandlekar, ranked 43rd, clinched the dual by beating Sean Presti 6-1, 6-0.
    
Albrecht defeated Ernesto de Diego 6-3, 6-1, Chaouat defeated Ricardo Mercado 6-3, 6-1, and Chakma beat George Fourmaux 6-1, 6-1.
    
"I was impressed with Kevin Chaouat," Green said. "He played pretty good singles. He didn't play a lot of singles for us last year, but I'm looking for him to maybe stay in our lineup this year. He's been working hard a lot on his singles, so we'll see."
    
Salwan and Mandlekar, the NAIA's 13th-ranked doubles team, defeated Le and de Diego 8-2.

Chaouat and Albrecht defeated Sebastian Gomez and Mercado 8-0. But Loyola (0-2) recorded its first-ever on-court victory against the Gold Rush in six duals when Presti and Rumeau beat Montrel and Chakma 8-5 at the second flight.

The Gold Nuggets lost two games in seven played matches. Loyola (0-2) had five players and defaulted matches at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles.
    
Goreau, a freshman in her XU debut, beat Margaret Adams 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and teamed with Nelson for an 8-0 victory against Adams and Lauren Rosales at the top doubles flight.
    
Also winning 6-0, 6-0 were Nelson against Rosales, van der Walt against Alexa Mancuso and Bruins against Madeline Smith. Harris beat Wesley Dejoie 6-2, 6-0. Nelson clinched the dual.
    
In doubles, Bruins and van der Walt defeated Mancuso and Dejoie 8-0.
    
The Rush and Nuggets will play William Carey — whose women are ranked sixth in the NAIA and whose men are seventh — at 11 a.m. next Saturday at XU Tennis Center. Admission is free to all XU home tennis events.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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