Xavier Openers are Saturday; Green nears coaching milestones

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Coach Alan Green

NEW ORLEANS — Alan Green is on the verge of a pair of coaching milestones as he leads his Xavier University of Louisiana tennis teams into the 2018 spring semester.
     
Green, in his 15th season as coach of the XULA men and women, needs one dual-match victory to reach 200 in his career with the Gold Rush (men) and two victories to reach 200 with the Gold Nuggets. Green's career records: 199-134 with the men and 198-157 with the women.
     
XULA, a perennial NAIA power, will play its first dual matches at 2 p.m. Saturday against NCAA Division I's South Alabama at Mobile, Ala. The home opener for the Rush and Nuggets will be Jan. 28 — one week from Sunday — against city rival Loyola at XULA Tennis Center. Admission is free to all XULA home matches.
     
Both the men's and women's schedules again will feature a heavy dose of NCAA DI teams and ranked NCAA DII and NAIA opponents. Both teams will play defending NAIA champion Georgia Gwinnett during the Grizzly Invitational at Lawrenceville, Ga., Feb. 16-18. The XULA men will play defending NCAA DIII champion Emory during the Grizzly Invitational, and they'll visit last season's NCAA DII champion, West Florida, April 15.
     
he Gold Rush — the NAIA national runner-up in 2016 and 2017 and No. 2 in the 2017 postseason coaches poll — will play nine duals against NCAA DI (Louisiana-Lafayette twice, Abilene Christian, Jackson State, Jacksonville State, South Alabama, Nicholls State, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State), three against top-10 NCAA DII opponents (No. 1 West Florida, No. 4 Valdosta State, No. 10 Embry-Riddle [Fla.]), one against a ranked NCAA DIII opponent (No. 1 Emory) and six against ranked NAIA teams (No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett, No. 3 Keiser, No. 7 William Carey twice, No. 11 Mobile, No. 25 SCAD Atlanta).
     
The Gold Nuggets — ranked No. 1 a combined five times in 2012 and 2013 and No. 10 in the 2017 postseason — will play nine duals against NCAA DI (Louisiana-Lafayette twice, Grambling, Jackson State, Nicholls State, Prairie View A&M, South Alabama, Southern, Southern Miss), two against ranked NCAA DII opponents (No. 5 West Florida, No. 25 Valdosta State) and 11 against ranked NAIA teams (No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett, No. 6 William Carey twice, No. 8 San Diego Christian, No. 9 LSU-Alexandria twice, No. 13 Mobile, No. 14 Cumberlands, No. 15 SCAD Atlanta, No. 16 Arizona Christian, No. 17 Lewis-Clark State).
     
All NAIA team rankings are from the 2017 postseason polls. The first of nine rankings in 2018 will be announced Tuesday.
     
The NAIA National Championships will be played at Mobile, Ala., for the 15th consecutive season. The Gold Rush will attempt to qualify for nationals for the 10th consecutive year and the 10th time overall; the Gold Nuggets will try to qualify for the seventh consecutive year, the 10th time in 11 years and the 12th time overall.
     
Green expects his teams to be well-equipped to handle the demanding schedules. He has eight players with current or previous national or regional ITA rankings during their XULA tenures. The Gold Rush roster includes returning All-Americans Antoine Richard and Catalin Fifea, plus newcomer Samir Chikhaoui, ranked 19th in the NAIA in singles. Richard was third in the 2017 postseason singles rankings; Fifea currently is 42nd. Also back is Pierre Andrieu, who was 12th with Fifea in doubles at the close of 2017.
     
Two-time All-American Charlene Goreau returns for the Gold Nuggets, and she's ranked 23rd nationally. Also back for the XULA women are Yi Chen Pao, No. 50 in singles, and Lacee Ancar, who ranked as high as 12th last year in doubles. Newcomer Manon Bonada is 18th in the South in singles.

2018 XULA Tennis Schedule
Team(s)	Date(s)	Opponent	Site	Time(s)
Both	Jan. 20 (Sat.)	at South Alabama	Mobile, Ala.	2 p.m.
Men	Jan. 27 (Sat.)	at Louisiana-Lafayette  (DH)	Lafayette, La.	10 a.m./2 p.m.
Both	Jan. 28 (Sun.)	LOYOLA (N.O.)	XULA TENNIS CENTER	Noon
Men	Feb. 2 (Fri.)	JACKSONVILLE STATE	XULA TENNIS CENTER	2 p.m.
Women	Feb. 3 (Sat.)	at Louisiana-Lafayette  (DH)	Lafayette, La.	10 a.m./1:30 p.m.
Women	Feb. 8 (Thu.)	at Southern Miss	Hattiesburg, Miss.	2:30 p.m.
Women	Feb. 9 (Fri.)	Grambling	Baton Rouge, La.	3 p.m.
Women	Feb. 10 (Fri.)	LSU-Alexandria	Alexandria, La.	Noon
Both	Feb. 16-18 (Fri.-Sun.)	Grizzly Invitational	Lawrenceville, Ga.	TBA
Both	Feb. 21 (Wed.)	at Nicholls State	Thibodaux, La.	1 p.m.
Men	Feb. 22 (Thu.)	Prairie View A&M	Baton Rouge, La.	2 p.m.
Both	Feb. 23 (Fri.)	at Mobile	Mobile, Ala.	3 p.m.
Both	March 2 (Fri.)	at William Carey	Hattiesburg, Miss.	3 p.m.
Women	March 8 (Thu.)	at Arizona Christian	Phoenix, Ariz.	4 p.m. MST
Women	March 9 (Fri.)	Lewis-Clark State	Phoenix, Ariz.	6:30 p.m. MST
Women	March 10 (Sat.)	Westmont	Phoenix, Ariz.	Noon MST
Women	March 10 (Sat.)	Ottawa (Ariz.)	Phoenix, Ariz.	6 p.m. MST
Women	March 11 (Sun.)	San Diego Christian	Phoenix, Ariz.	Noon MST
Both	March 18 (Sun.)	SCAD ATLANTA	XULA TENNIS CENTER	TBA
Men	March 23 (Fri.)	ABILENE CHRISTIAN	XULA TENNIS CENTER	3 p.m.
Women	March 24 (Sat.)	LSU-ALEXANDRIA	XULA TENNIS CENTER	Noon
Men	March 26 (Mon.)	at Embry-Riddle	Daytona Beach, Fla.	3:30 p.m. EDT
Men	March 27 (Tue.)	Keiser	Orlando, Fla.	1 p.m. EDT
Women	April 6 (Fri.)	SOUTHERN	XULA TENNIS CENTER	3 p.m.
Both	April 8 (Sun.)	JACKSON STATE	XULA TENNIS CENTER	Noon
Both	April 12 (Thu.)	WILLIAM CAREY	XULA TENNIS CENTER	1 p.m.
Both	April 14 (Sat.)	Valdosta State	Pensacola, Fla.	3 p.m.
Both	April 15 (Sun.)	at West Florida	Pensacola, Fla.	Noon
Both	April 16 (Mon.)	LEWIS-CLARK STATE	XULA TENNIS CENTER	10 a.m.
Both	TBA	NAIA Unaffiliated Group Tournament	TBA	TBA
Both	May 15 (Tue.)- May 19 (Sat.)	NAIA National Championships	Mobile, Ala.	TBA
(DH) doubleheader Home matches (in bold and CAPITAL LETTERS) are played at XULA Tennis Center (capacity 200), Xavier University campus, New Orleans TBA — to be announced All times are Central, except where noted Schedule is subject to change Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold