Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Great run at nationals earns Rush No. 2 in final poll

NEW ORLEANS — After a sensational week at the NAIA National Championship tournament, Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis is No. 2 in the postseason coaches poll.
     

It's the 10th straight year that XULA is in the final top 10. It's XULA's 103rd consecutive appearance in the top 25 — the longest active streak in NAIA men's tennis.
     

Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennisThe Gold Rush (17-9) were national runner-up for the third time in four years and a semifinalist for the fourth consecutive season. XULA climbed five spots from its April 23 ranking and made the biggest jump in the last 20 seasons by an NAIA men's team into the final top four.
     
XULA won 3-of-4 dual matches at nationals. The Gold Rush had a first-round bye, then defeated three top-10 teams — Union (Ky.), Reinhardt and Cardinal Stritch — to reach the championship round, where Georgia Gwinnett defeated the Rush and won its sixth consecutive national title.
     

The Gold Rush were the lowest seeded team (seventh) ever to reach an NAIA men's final and the first NAIA men's team to beat the No. 2 (Reinhardt) and 3 (Cardinal Stritch) seeds in the same tournament.
     

It's the second consecutive year and the second time overall that both XULA tennis teams finished in the national top three. The XULA women are No. 3.
     

The Gold Rush active poll streaks:
     •  103 consecutive appearances in the top 25 . . . streak began April 4, 2007.
     •  94 consecutive appearances in the top 20 . . . streak began April 30, 2008.
     •  79 consecutive appearances in the top 15 . . . streak began Feb. 1, 2011.
     •  73 consecutive appearances in the top 10 . . . streak began May 3, 2011.
 

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

RANKPREVIOUSSCHOOL RECORDPOINTS
11Georgia Gwinnett (14)27-0374
27Xavier (La.)17-9362
33Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)16-5346
48William Carey (Miss.)15-4340
52Reinhardt (Ga.)17-3320
64Middle Georgia14-4306
76Keiser (Fla.)17-7305
85Point (Ga.)16-7302
910William Woods (Mo.)22-3276
109Union (Ky.)14-9268
1111Tennessee Wesleyan12-7249
1212Arizona Christian19-2237
1313Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)11-7236
1415Mobile (Ala.)14-6222
1514Cumberlands (Ky.)12-7203
1616Cumberland (Tenn.)13-7189
1724Northwestern Ohio14-12171
1818Campbellsville (Ky.)19-9164
1920Coastal Georgia12-6151
2017Hope International (Calif.)16-6146
2119Marian (Ind.)20-10144
2220Indiana Wesleyan23-10114
2325Missouri Valley15-798
2423Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)9-1195
25RVMcPherson (Kan.)11-792
Dropped from the Top 25: Southwestern (Kan.)
Others Receiving Votes: Asbury (Ky.) 78, Texas A&M-Texarkana 59, Judson (Ill.) 44, Westmont (Calif.) 37, Midland (Neb.) 23, Southeastern (Fla.) 15, Ottawa (Kan.) 6, Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) 5, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 4, Webber International (Fla.) 4

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