No. 7 Rush make 71st consecutive top-10 appearance

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis extended its NAIA-best streak and maintained its No. 7 ranking Tuesday in the sixth coaches poll of the season.
     
XULA's active streak of 101 consecutive top-25 appearances is the longest in NAIA men's tennis. The streak began April 4, 2007. XULA also made its 71st consecutive top-10 appearance, extending a streak that began May 3, 2011.
     
The Gold Rush (13-6) were 3-2 since the previous poll, including 5-4 road losses at Reinhardt and Point — both are in the new top five — and a 5-4 home victory Saturday against William Carey, which dropped from sixth to eighth.
     
Point climbed from 13th to fifth. Reinhardt (12-0) remained second for the third consecutive poll. But everyone's still chasing Georgia Gwinnett (20-0), the five-time defending national champion and a unanimous No. 1 for the 43rd straight poll.
     
The Gold Rush will not compete this week but will play three straight days on the road April 18-20 to close the regular season. First of the three matches will be at No. 15 Mobile, followed by matches in Pensacola, Fla., against No. 6 Keiser and West Florida, 10th-ranked in NCAA Division II.
     
XULA will not play in a conference or unaffiliated group end-of-season tournament for the fifth consecutive year, but the Gold Rush are expected to earn an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship tournament, which will begin May 14 in Mobile, Ala. Qualifiers will be announced April 29, and the 24-team bracket will be revealed April 30.
 

NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through April 7)

RANK	PREVIOUS	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	Georgia Gwinnett (13)	20-0	343
2	2	Reinhardt (Ga.)	12-0	332
3	3	Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)	12-4	321
4	4	Middle Georgia	10-2	302
5	13	Point (Ga.)	12-5	299
6	5	Keiser (Fla.)	13-4	295
7	7	Xavier (La.)	13-6	279
8	6	William Carey (Miss.)	9-3	268
9	9	William Woods (Mo.)	12-2	254
10	10	Tennessee Wesleyan	10-4	244
11	16	Union (Ky.)	8-7	226
12	12	Arizona Christian	15-1	220
13	8	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	5-5	216
14	18	Cumberlands (Ky.)	10-4	199
15	15	Mobile (Ala.)	10-2	189
16	14	Cumberland (Tenn.)	11-5	182
17	17	Hope International (Calif.)	17-4	167
18	20	Marian (Ind.)	20-6	142
19	11	Campbellsville (Ky.)	12-6	130
20	RV	Southwestern (Kan.)	10-2	124
21	22	Coastal Georgia	11-4	120
22	24	Indiana Wesleyan	21-9	108
23	23	Northwestern Ohio	9-9	104
24	21	Missouri Valley	9-5	93
25	19	McPherson (Kan.)	4-6	92

Dropped from the Top 25: Westmont (Calif.)
Others Receiving Votes: Westmont (Calif.) 70, Asbury (Ky.) 48, Texas A&M-Texarkana 31, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 27, Loyola (La.) 24, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 16, Southeastern (Fla.) 13, SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) 5, Webber International (Fla.) 5, Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) 3.

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