Rush roll past No. 2 Reinhardt to reach semifinals

MOBILE, Ala. — When Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis lost 5-4 at Reinhardt March 29, Gold Rush coach Alan Green hoped for a postseason rematch with the Eagles — and he was confident the second result would be different.
     
Green got his wish Thursday when the Gold Rush and Eagles met in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championship tournament — and Green's team produced a different result. XULA, ranked and seeded seventh, won 5-1 against Reinhardt, ranked and seeded second, to advance to the national semifinals for the fourth consecutive year.
     
XULA's 9 a.m. Friday opponent will be Cardinal Stritch, ranked and seeded third and a 5-2 winner against Middle Georgia.
     
What was different this time? XULA won 2-of-3 doubles matches — it won once in the earlier meeting — and got singles victories from seniors Gabriel Niculescu and Pierre Andrieu, neither of whom won against Reinhardt in March.
     
Andrieu ended the dual when he defeated Mario Belloni Tomas 6-1, 6-4. It was Andrieu's second clinch of the season and first since Feb. 24.
     
Niculescu made it 4-1 with his 6-4, 6-4 victory against Jordi Puig. Ghassan Alansi was the first to finish in singles after beating Myrohn Miranda 6-1, 6-4.

  
XULA's doubles lineup was retooled since the first Reinhardt meeting. Alansi and Andrieu cruised to an 8-3 victory against Bruno Juarez and Miranda, and Shaikh Abdullah and Santiago Perez won 9-7 against Martin Mendoza and Sam Alexander after trailing 5-3 and 7-6.
     
It was the first time ever that the XULA men defeated the NAIA's second-ranked team. In addition to the March loss to Reinhardt, there were six losses to No. 2s from 2010-14.
     
XULA joined Lindsey Wilson (2016) as the only No. 7 seeds to reach the men's semifinals. It's just the second time that the No. 2 seed will not be among the semifinalists.
     
Reinhardt, which reached the 2018 semifinals as a No. 14 seed, finished 17-3.

Quarterfinals — Thursday
Georgia Gwinnett 5, Keiser 0
William Carey 5, Point 1
Cardinal Stritch 5, Middle Georgia 2
XULA 5, Reinhardt 1

Semifinals — 9 a.m. Friday
No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett (25-0) vs. No. 5 William Carey (15-3)
No. 3 Cardinal Stritch (16-4) vs. No. 7 XULA (16-8)

BOX SCORE

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