No. 3 Gold Rush make 66th straight top-10 appearance

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis rolls on in a new year, earning its 66th consecutive top-10 ranking in Tuesday's NAIA preseason coaches poll.
     
Coach Alan Green's Gold Rush — the NAIA national runner-up in 2016 and 2017 and a semifinalist in 2018 — are No. 3. It's the fourth straight year that the XULA men are in the preseason top four and the eighth straight time they're in the preseason top 10.
     
The Gold Rush will try to qualify for the national tournament for the 11th consecutive year and the 11th time overall. Men's tennis is the only XULA sport to qualify for nationals 10 consecutive years.
     
XULA's top-25 appearance is its 96th in a row, the longest active streak in NAIA men's tennis. No. 17 Westmont is second with 82 straight appearances.
     
Five-time defending national champion Georgia Gwinnett is a unanimous No. 1 for the 38th consecutive time. The Grizzlies — unbeaten each of the past three seasons and a 5-0 winner against XULA in the 2018 NAIA national semifinals — begin 2019 with an 84-dual win streak.
     
The Gold Rush active poll streaks:
     •  96 consecutive appearances in the top 25 . . . streak began April 4, 2007.
     •  87 consecutive appearances in the top 20 . . . streak began April 30, 2008.
     •  72 consecutive appearances in the top 15 . . . streak began Feb. 1, 2011.
     •  66 consecutive appearances in the top 10 . . . streak began May 3, 2011.
     •  28 consecutive appearances in the top 5 . . . streak began Jan. 26, 2016.
     •  28 consecutive appearances in the top 4 . . . streak began Jan. 26, 2016.

NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records from previous season)

RANK	PREVIOUS	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	Georgia Gwinnett [14]	27-0	374
2	2	Keiser (Fla.)	18-7	362
3	3	Xavier (La.)	13-12	350
4	4	William Carey (Miss.)	13-4	334
5	5	Reinhardt (Ga.)	18-4	323
6	6	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	14-1	314
7	7	William Woods (Mo.)	16-7	302
8	8	Cumberland (Tenn.)	21-4	295
9	9	Campbellsville (Ky.)	20-7	274
10	10	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	16-4	270
11	11	Mobile (Ala.)	19-3	254
12	12	Arizona Christian	19-8	241
13	13	Middle Georgia	12-8	232
14	15	Tennessee Wesleyan	12-5	216
15	14	Union (Ky.)	14-6	204
16	15	Northwestern Ohio	13-6	194
17	17	Westmont (Calif.)	8-10	180
18	18	San Diego Christian (Calif.)	8-8	164
19	19	McPherson (Kan.)	15-4	162
20	20	Lawrence Tech (Mich.)	20-6	138
21	21	Asbury (Ky.)	15-2	127
22	22	Coastal Georgia	11-7	122
23	NR	Marian (Ind.)	13-1	104
24	24	Point (Ga.)	15-8	82
25	25	Cumberlands (Ky.)	8-11	73

Others Receiving Votes: Indiana Wesleyan 71, Texas A&M-Texarkana 49, Loyola (La.) 27, Ottawa (Kan.) 26, Missouri Valley 24, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 17, St. Thomas (Fla.) 10, St. Francis (Ill.) 7, Midland (Neb.) 6, Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) 5, Georgetown (Ky.) 4, Hastings (Neb.) 3, Southwestern (Kan.) 3

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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