No. 3 Gold Nuggets await next week's announcements

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana remained No. 3 Tuesday in the NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25. It's the final ranking before the national tournament.
     
The Gold Nuggets (17-7) are in the top five for the fifth consecutive poll. It's their 15th all-time top-3 ranking; all occurred during the last six seasons.
     
The top-25 appearance is XULA's 56th in a row.
     
The postseason timeline:
     •  Monday:  NAIA will announce at 3 p.m. CDT the 24 women's teams that qualified for the NAIA National Championships.
     •  Tuesday:  NAIA will announce at 1 p.m. CDT the seeds and bracket for nationals. The top eight seeds will receive first-round byes.
     •  May 13 (Sunday):  XULA will depart for Mobile, Ala., the site of nationals.
     •  May 14 (Monday):  Tournament banquet, which will include the presentation of ITA end-of-season and NAIA Champions of Character awards.
     •  May 15 (Tuesday):  First round of competition at Copeland-Cox Mobile Tennis Center (851 Gaillard Drive, zip code 36608, phone 251-208-5181). Admission is free for every round. Women's matches will start in the morning.
     •  May 16 (Wednesday):  Round of 16. The Gold Nuggets are expected to receive a first-round bye and play their first match on this day.
     •  May 17 (Thursday):  Quarterfinals.
     •  May 18 (Friday):  Semifinals.
     •  May 19 (Saturday):  Championship.
     •  May 22 (Tuesday):  NAIA announces its All-America team.
     •  May 23 (Wednesday):  NAIA announces postseason top 25, and ITA announces its end-of-season singles and doubles rankings.
 

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through April 29)

RANK	PREVIOUS	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	Keiser (Fla.) (13)	20-2	343
2	2	Georgia Gwinnett	14-2	332
3	3	Xavier (La.)	17-7	321
4	4	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	12-2	308
5	5	William Carey (Miss.)	11-5	293
6	6	Brenau (Ga.)	16-7	292
7	8	William Woods (Mo.)	16-6	263
8	9	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	13-6	258
9	7	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	11-4	255
10	11	Northwestern Ohio	15-4	252
11	10	Indiana Wesleyan	29-4	241
12	12	LSU-Alexandria (La.)	10-6	226
13	13	San Diego Christian (Calif.)	11-6	208
14	14	Middle Georgia State	11-6	207
15	15	Westmont (Calif.)	9-11	186
16	16	SCAD Atlanta (Ga.)	11-6	182
17	17	Arizona Christian	10-11	164
18	18	Union (Ky.)	15-5	159
19	19	Cumberlands (Ky.)	10-10	141
20	20	Campbellsville (Ky.)	12-7	129
21	21	Loyola (La.)	12-7	126
22	22	Cumberland (Tenn.)	13-10	111
23	23	Reinhardt (Ga.)	12-7	107
24	24	Mobile (Ala.)	11-6	91
25	25	Marian (Ind.)	17-4	76

Dropped from the Top 25: None

Others Receiving Votes: Georgetown (Ky.) 50; Southwestern (Kan.) 46; St. Thomas (Fla.) 27; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 18; Asbury (Ky.) 17; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 11; Tennessee Wesleyan 11; Missouri Baptist 9; Huntington (Ind.) 6; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 6; Midland (Neb.) 4.

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