NEW ORLEANS — Abilene Christian rallied with victories on the sixth and fourth singles courts Friday to defeat Xavier University of Louisiana 5-4 at XULA Tennis Center and snap the Gold Rush's six-dual-match win streak.XULA (7-7), ranked second in the NAIA, got doubles and singles victories from freshman Shaikh Abdullah. Antoine Richard — the ITA/NAIA National Rookie of the Year last season — teamed with Abdullah in Richard's first competition in seven weeks.
"Overall I thought our team played pretty well," XULA coach Alan Green said. "I'm a little disappointed in the result because we had chances to win, but I am looking at this match long-term to take us into the rest of the NAIA season."
The Wildcats (13-9), an NCAA Division I and Southland Conference member, won their fourth straight. They tied the dual at 4 when Hunter Holman defeated Chris Anders 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6 singles. Henry Adams clinched at No. 4 when he beat Gabriel Niculescu 7-6 (7-0), 6-4.
XULA led 3-2 on all three doubles courts and took a 2-0 lead in the dual when Niculescu and Samir Chikhaoui defeated Brad Gleason and Adams, then Abdullah and Richard defeated Josh Sheehy and Paul Domanski. Both scores were 8-5.
XULA got singles victories from Abdullah, who defeated Niko Moceanu 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3, and Pierre Andrieu, who beat Domanski 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5.
The Gold Rush will play twice next week in Florida — against NCAA Division II No. 10 Embry-Riddle on Monday and NAIA No. 3 Keiser on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Gold Nuggets will be home Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. dual against LSU-Alexandria and a matchup of the NAIA's No. 5 and 11 teams. Green said late Friday that the XULA-LSUA start time was pushed back 90 minutes.
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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