Nuggets No. 3 nationally; fourth climb in five polls

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana, still awaiting its postseason details, climbed Tuesday from fourth to third in the NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25.
     
The Gold Nuggets (17-7) possess their highest national ranking since Feb. 17, 2015, when they were No. 3. Excluding the 2005-06 academic year, when XULA did not compete, the Nuggets are in the top 25 for 100th time in the last 110 polls.
     
XULA has climbed in four of the last five polls.
     
XULA was 4-0 since the previous poll April 10 to close the regular season with a school-record 14-dual-match win streak. The Gold Nuggets won 5-3 April 15 at West Florida, then-No. 2 in the NCAA Division II rankings and currently No. 3.
     
XULA will not compete in a conference or unaffiliated group tournament. The NAIA will announce May 7 the next top 25 poll and the 24 women's teams and 24 men's teams that qualified for the NAIA National Championships. Tournament brackets will be revealed May 8, and the first round will begin May 15 at Copeland-Cox Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala. This year the women will play the morning matches. The championship finals are scheduled for May 19.
     
If the Gold Nuggets are one of the top eight seeds, they would receive a first-round bye and play their first match at nationals May 16 in the round of 16.
     
Here are all the Gold Nuggets' active poll streaks:
     •  55 consecutive appearances in the top 25 . . . streak began May 1, 2012.
     •  55 consecutive appearances in the top 20 . . . streak began May 1, 2012.
     •  14 consecutive appearances in the top 15 . . . streak began Feb. 28, 2017.
     •  5 consecutive appearances in the top 10 . . . streak began Feb. 27, 2018.
     •  4 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 22)

RANK	PREVIOUS	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	Keiser (Fla.) [14]	20-2	374
2	2	Georgia Gwinnett	14-2	362
3	4	Xavier (La.)	17-7	350
4	5	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	12-2	334
5	6	William Carey (Miss.)	11-5	316
6	12	Brenau (Ga.)	15-7	306
7	3	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	10-5	300
8	7	William Woods (Mo.)	13-5	298
9	8	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	9-6	286
10	9	Indiana Wesleyan	29-4	257
11	14	Northwestern Ohio	13-4	253
12	10	LSU-Alexandria (La.)	8-6	251
13	11	San Diego Christian (Calif.)	11-6	244
14	13	Middle Georgia State	10-6	218
15	15	Westmont (Calif.)	9-11	202
16	15	SCAD Atlanta (Ga.)	11-6	201
17	19	Arizona Christian	10-11	171
18	21	Union (Ky.)	15-5	167
19	RV	Cumberlands (Ky.)	10-10	161
20	17	Campbellsville (Ky.)	12-7	142
21	23	Loyola (La.)	12-7	140
22	20	Cumberland (Tenn.)	13-10	125
23	22	Reinhardt (Ga.)	12-7	108
24	18	Mobile (Ala.)	11-6	100
25	25	Marian (Ind.)	17-4	75

Dropped from the Top 25: St. Thomas (Fla.)

Others Receiving Votes: Georgetown (Ky.) 68; St. Thomas (Fla.) 57; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 29; Southwestern (Kan.) 28; Missouri Baptist 19; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 19; Tennessee Wesleyan 8; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 6; Huntington (Ind.) 6; Hastings (Neb.) 3; Asbury (Ky.) 3

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