6 student-athletes join XULA tennis for spring 2017

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has added six more student-athletes to the tennis teams for the 2017 spring semester.

Coach Alan Green announced the signing of five men and one woman:

     •  Pierre Andrieu, a sophomore from Tours, France, and a business major at XULA.
     •  Catalin Fifea, a junior from Bucharest, Romania. He's a sociology major.
     •  Moses Micheal, a freshman from Kaduna, Nigeria, and a business major.
     •  Oran Reznick, a freshman from Ashkelon, Israel. Reznick is majoring in business.
     •  Antoine Richard, a freshman from Laval, Quebec, and a finance major.
     •  Yi Chen Pao, a freshman from Taichung City, Taiwan. Pao is undecided on her major.
     
The XULA men, the NAIA national runner-up last season, will open their season Saturday with a pair of dual matches at NCAA Division I Louisiana-Lafayette. Times will be 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. At noon Sunday, the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets will play city rival Loyola at XULA Tennis Center. Admission is free to all XULA home matches.
     
"We lost three All-Americans from a team that reached the national championship match last year," Green said. "We brought in some guys that we feel good about that can hopefully elevate our team to contend for another shot at the final match again. We will have some early tests in our schedule that will give us a good indication if we can get back there."
     
Of Pao, Green said, "She is going to add good depth to the Gold Nuggets."
     
Fifea is a transfer from NCAA Division I member VCU, where he was first-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference this past season. The other men have considerable experience in junior tennis; all combined they've won nearly 30 tournament championships at that level.
     
Pao is one of four Gold Nuggets in their first year in the program. The others — freshmen Lacee Ancar of Harvey, La., and Lyndsey Clark of Jacksonville, Fla., and seniorEmma Kranendonk of Heemskerk, The Netherlands — competed for XULA during the fall semester.
     
XULA's men were No. 2, and the women were No. 19 in the NAIA coaches polls announced Tuesday.

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