Gold Nuggets 4th nationally for first time in 3 years

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana climbed Tuesday in the NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 for the third time in four attempts and has its highest ranking in three years.
     
The Gold Nuggets (13-7) moved from fifth to fourth to equal their best position since the 2015 postseason rankings. XULA is 2-0 since the previous poll March 27 — home victories against NCAA Division I Southern and Jackson State to extend the win streak to 10.
     
XULA will play two top-10 teams in the next five days. The Gold Nuggets will play host to NAIA No. 6 William Carey at 2 p.m. Thursday, then visit NCAA Division II's No. 2 team, West Florida, at noon Sunday. Thursday's start time was pushed back one hour.
     
Although XULA dropped from second to third in the men's rankings, it's the first time ever that both XULA teams are in the national top four simultaneously.

Here are all the Gold Nuggets' active poll streaks:
     •  54 consecutive appearances in the top 25 . . . streak began May 1, 2012.
     •  54 consecutive appearances in the top 20 . . . streak began May 1, 2012.
     •  13 consecutive appearances in the top 15 . . . streak began Feb. 28, 2017.
     •  4 consecutive appearances in the top 10 . . . streak began Feb. 27, 2018.
     •  3 consecutive appearances in the top 5 . . . streak began March 13, 2018.
 

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through April 8)

Rank	Previous	School	Record	Points
1	1	Keiser (Fla.) [14]	18-2	374
2	2	Georgia Gwinnett	11-2	362
3	4	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	9-3	342
4	5	Xavier (La.)	13-7	337
5	3	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	6-2	334
6	6	William Carey (Miss.)	7-3	305
7	7	William Woods (Mo.)	8-3	303
8	10	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	5-5	293
9	9	Indiana Wesleyan	25-3	275
10	11	LSU Alexandria (La.)	6-5	266
11	12	San Diego Christian (Calif.)	8-6	246
12	14	Brenau (Ga.)	11-6	244
13	13	Middle Georgia State	9-5	225
14	8	Northwestern Ohio	7-4	223
15	16	SCAD Atlanta (Ga.)	9-5	202
15	15	Westmont (Calif.)	8-8	202
17	18	Campbellsville (Ky.)	10-4	174
18	22	Mobile (Ala.)	10-5	166
19	17	Arizona Christian	10-9	164
20	19	Cumberland (Tenn.)	10-7	158
21	21	Union (Ky.)	11-4	153
22	24	Reinhardt (Ga.)	10-5	108
23	NR	Loyola (La.)	10-6	107
24	23	St. Thomas (Fla.)	6-8	87
25	NR	Marian (Ind.)	16-3	86

Dropped from the Top 25: Olivet Nazarene (Ill.); Martin Methodist (Tenn.)

Others Receiving Votes: Georgetown (Ky.) 68; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 43; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 36; Southwestern (Kan.) 31; Huntington (Ind.) 23; Cumberlands (Ky.) 18; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 18; Tennessee Wesleyan 8; Coastal Georgia 7; Asbury (Ky.) 5

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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