Nuggets, Rush close regular season with 9-0 victories

NEW ORLEANS — Playing for the fourth time in five days, Xavier University of Louisiana tennis closed the regular season Monday with 9-0 victories against Lewis-Clark State.
     
The Gold Nuggets (17-7), ranked fourth in the NAIA, extended their school-record win streak to 14 and won for the 16th time in their last 17 dual matches. The Gold Rush (11-11), ranked third, snapped a three-dual losing streak.
     
There is no conference or unaffiliated group tournament on the schedule, so the next time these teams play likely will be May 16 in the round of 16 at the NAIA National Championships in Mobile, Ala.
     
"We're just glad that we got through today," coach Alan Green said. "We're tired. Coach is tired. The players are tired. But it was good to get a win on senior day for Catalin Fifea."
     
Fifea, the only senior on either XULA team, won in doubles and singles. He and Chris Anders won their third in a row, 8-4 against Ignacio Salom and Guilherme Medeiros. Fifea beat Salom 6-4, 6-4 on the first singles court.
     
Anders, Antoine Richard, Shaikh Abdullah and Pierre Andrieu also won in doubles and singles for the Rush. Abdullah clinched when he defeated Luca Menezes 6-2, 6-3.
     
Meanwhile, there was no letdown for the Gold Nuggets less than 24 hours after their stunning 5-3 victory at West Florida, the second-ranked team in NCAA Division II. Mariia Borodii, Charlene Goreau, Angela Charles-Alfred, Farah Baklouti and Lacee Ancar all won in doubles and singles.
     
Goreau, who clinched Sunday in three sets, did it again against the Warriors — but this time under less stressful circumstances. She rolled past Begona Andres 6-1, 6-0 for her 14th consecutive singles victory.
     
Borodii defeated Hannah Uhlenkott 6-1, 6-1 and will enter nationals with a 15-0 singles record. Charles-Alfred cruised past Stephanie Buckingham 6-1, 6-0 to improve her record to 10-0. Borodii and Charles-Alfred are freshmen.
     
"We've been on a nice little streak," Green said of the Gold Nuggets. "We think we can play with anybody."
     
Ancar, a sophomore who sat out the majority of 2017-18 because of a shoulder injury, played singles for the first time this season and defeated Sophie Uhlenkott, Hannah's younger sister, 6-4, 6-2. Ancar was medically cleared last week for competition, and her season debut was Thursday in a doubles victory against William Carey.
     
Lewis-Clark State's women are 4-16 — 0-2 against the Nuggets — and its men are 5-13.
     
The NAIA will announce May 7 the 24 men's teams and 24 women's teams that qualified for nationals. The 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.
     
"We're going to recuperate a little bit," Green said. "We'll recover and get ready for final exams, but we'll still continue to train and try to get a couple of practice matches in.
     
"We'll be hungry when we get to nationals. We won't let down."

Results:  Men   •   Women

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