Gold Rush tame Panthers for third consecutive victory

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Xavier University of Louisiana won four singles matches Thursday to earn a 4-0 men's tennis victory against Prairie View A&M.
     
The Gold Rush (4-6), ranked second in the NAIA, have won three straight, all in the last five days. The Panthers are 0-10.
     
"We started out with singles because we were pushed for time," XULA coach Alan Greensaid. "The guys came out ready to play and really took care of business. Things are getting better."
     
XULA's top four singles players — Catalin Fifea, Shaikh Abdullah, Samir Chikhaoui and Pierre Andrieu — won. Chris Anders, playing in his hometown, and Gabriel Niculescu were leading when Chikhaoui beat Kevin Ugarteche 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the dual.
     
Abdullah defeated Anirudh Yadav 6-3, 6-2; both are from Hyderabad, India. Fifea blanked Xavier Lawrence 6-0, 6-0, and Andrieu defeated Cesar Reyna 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.
     
It was the first time since 2003 — Green's first season as coach of the Rush and Gold Nuggets — that the XULA men defeated NCAA Division I opponents on consecutive days. The Gold Rush won 4-0 Wednesday at Nicholls State.
     
The XULA men and women will be back on the road Friday to play the University of Mobile at 3 p.m. in Mobile, Ala. The Mobile men are 4-0 and ranked 11th in the NAIA, and the women are 2-2 and ranked 12th. XULA's women are 3-7 and ranked 13th.

Results

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold