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ATLANTA, Georgia -- Xavier University of Louisiana's tennis teams won 14 of 23 main-draw matches Friday at the USTA/ITA NAIA South Regional.
Reaching the quarterfinals were Loic Didavi, Amir Rahbar and Steffen Giles-Osborn in men's singles and Kourtney Howell in women's singles. Advancing to semifinals were the men's doubles teams of Didavi and Zach Taylor and Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson. Howell and Nicole DeLoach reached the women's doubles semifinals.
Didavi, seeded second, improved to 5-0 in singles for the fall semester with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Shorter's Arturo Lifshitz.
Rahbar defeated Shorter's Colt Kelley 6-1, 6-0 and William Carey's fourth-seeded Thomas Rizk 5-7, 7-6, 7-5. Giles-Osborn beat Auburn Montgomery's Josh Reason 6-4, 7-5 and will play Rahbar in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Howell and DeLoach upset Brenau's fourth-seeded Hannah Thompson and Theresa Neumeyr 8-3.
NEW ORLEANS — For the third straight time Xavier University of Louisiana is No. 8 in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The fifth of eight polls this season was announced Tuesday.
The No. 8 ranking is the highest ever for an XU men's tennis team.
The Gold Rush (11-7) are in the the top 25 for the 29th consecutive time dating to April 4, 2007. It's the 20th straight time dating to April 30, 2008, that the Gold Rush are among the top 18.
The top nine teams are the same as the previous poll, with Fresno Pacific ranked first for the 12th consecutive time.
A new team in the rankings, No 19 William Carey, will play host to the XU men at 10 a.m. Sunday. Xavier defeated the Crusaders 5-4 on March 13 in the AUM Invitational at Montgomery, Ala.
The Gold Rush will close the regular season April 13 at city rival Tulane in a 3 p.m. dual, then travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30.
NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, April 3)
Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Fresno Pacific (10) 15-2 250 1
2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 10-5 240 2
3 Auburn Montgomery 17-3 231 3
4 Azusa Pacific 13-4 227 4
5 Oklahoma Christian 13-1 220 5
6 Point Loma Nazarene 11-3 211 6
7 Westmont 8-5 202 7 8 Xavier 11-7 191 8
9 Concordia (Calif.) 6-9 189 9
10 Vanguard 5-11 174 12
11 Graceland 4-4 171 11
12 Shorter 7-1 163 13
13 St. Thomas (Fla.) 10-2 151 14
14 Aquinas 16-3 139 16
15 Lewis-Clark State 8-7 136 15
16 SCAD Savannah 7-3 126 25
17 Olivet Nazarene 11-0 121 19
18 McKendree 12-1 117 tie-20
19 William Carey 6-8 103 RV
20 Martin Methodist 8-4 102 24
21 Webber International 13-4 91 17
22 Cumberland 4-2 83 18
23 Lee (Tenn.) 3-4 76 22
24 Lindenwood 5-1 56 RV
25 Bethany (Kan.) 11-3 50 RV
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana was among the others receiving votes for the second consecutive time when the NAIA announced its women's tennis top 25 Tuesday.
The Gold Nuggets are 29th overall after receiving 16 points and missing the top 25 by 41 points. Xavier's women had appeared in 44 consecutive top 25s dating to 2004 before falling short in the March 22 poll.
Defending NAIA champion Fresno Pacific is No. 1 for the fifth time in as many polls this season. The Sunbirds collected nine of 10 first-place votes, with No. 2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) receiving the other.
Xavier (3-14), loser of three straight duals and 12 of its last 13, will travel to 13th-ranked William Carey for a 10 a.m. dual Sunday. The Gold Nuggets will close the regular season against South Alabama at 11 a.m. on April 16 at City Park, then travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30.
Videographer: EdFunders; Dr. Norman Francis, America's longest serving university president, speaks at Grantmakers for Education's 2010 conference, "The Fierce Urgency of Now: Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence and Equity."
NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, April 3)
Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Fresno Pacific (9) 12-4 250 1
2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (1) 15-3 242 2
3 Point Loma Nazarene 12-1 233 3
4 Auburn Montgomery 17-5 227 4
5-tie Oklahoma Christian 10-2 214 6
5-tie Azusa Pacific 15-3 214 5
7 Concordia (Calif.) 10-5 196 tie-8
8 Brenau 5-5 194 7
9 SCAD Savannah 9-1 192 tie-8
10 Vanguard 8-6 174 10
11 Shorter 8-0 173 11
12 Southern Nazarene 7-4 161 12
13 William Carey 8-5 156 13
14 Olivet Nazarene 13-1 142 NR
15 Oklahoma Baptist 7-5 137 15
16 Lee (Tenn.) 7-3 124 18
17 Indiana Wesleyan 17-1 116 14
18 St. Thomas (Fla.) 9-7 111 17
19 Lewis-Clark State 5-11 102 19
20 Martin Methodist 7-4 96 22
21 Campbellsville 8-4 95 RV
22 William Jewell 11-6 90 20
23 Cumberlands 6-8 72 RV
24 Webber International 12-5 68 21
25 Belhaven 12-2 57 24
Others receiving votes: Lindsey Wilson 54, Westmont 45, Indiana Southeast 23, Xavier 16, Northwestern Ohio 8, Taylor 7, Georgetown (Ky.) 5, McKendree 3, Spring Hill 3, Mobile 1, Northwood (Fla.) 1, Robert Morris (Chicago) 1, The Master's (Calif.) 1, Marian (Ind.) 1, Milligan 1.
NEW ORLEANS — Southern University, the Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division champion, defeated Xavier University of Louisiana 9-0 Sunday in a women's dual at City Park Tennis Center.
The Lady Jaguars (9-5) won every set but one and picked up defaults at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles to defeat the shorthanded Gold Nuggets (3-14) for the second straight season.
Jo'Vonna Gaines, Carlista Mohammed and Kathryn Curtis won singles and doubles matches for Southern. Gaines and Mohammed defeated sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach 8-0 at No. 1 doubles, and Mohammed beat Amber Brown 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Curtis and Lois Alexis improved their win streak to 10 matches with an 8-0 decision against Brown and Carmen Nelson at No. 2 doubles.
Nelson won her first set against Demetria Woods at No. 3 singles, but Woods rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) victory. Freshman Lisbeth Castaneda clinched the dual with her 6-3, 6-0 victory against Ashley McGill at No. 5 singles.
Xavier, an NAIA member, has dropped three consecutive duals — its second in as many days against an NCAA Division I opponent — and 12 of its last 13. Half of the Gold Nuggets' losses this season are against NCAA D-I.
Xavier's women and men will visit William Carey at 10 a.m. next Sunday. Southern will visit Nicholls State at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
NEW ORLEANS — Two men from Xavier University of Louisiana — junior Zach Taylor and senior Hassan Abbas — are ranked nationally in NAIA singles and doubles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The rankings, the first of the spring semester, were announced this week.
Taylor is 23rd and Abbas 39th in singles, and as a doubles team they're 15th. In the NAIA's South rankings, Taylor is eighth, Abbas 14th and Steffen Giles-Osborn 20th in singles. Taylor and Abbas are fifth in doubles, and Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson are 10th.
The women's doubles team of Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson is 14th in the South.
Taylor is from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School. Abbas is from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School. Both are graduates of Ventura College.
Giles-Osborn is a junior from Atlanta and a graduate of Westlake High, and Richardson is from Ellenwood, Ga., and a graduate of Stockbridge High. Brown is a home-schooled freshman from Decatur, Ga., and Nelson is a sophomore from Jonesboro, Ga., and a Faith Academy graduate.
The fifth NAIA team rankings of the season will be announced Tuesday.
Where the NAIA ranks Xavier tennis Men's Singles
Zach Taylor: 23rd nationally, 8th in South
Hassan Abbas: 39th nationally, 14th in South
Steffen Giles-Osborn: 20th in South Men's Doubles
Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas: 15th nationally, 5th in South
Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson: 10th in South Women's Doubles
Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson: 14th in South
NEW ORLEANS -- Radford, winner of the last five Big South Conference regular-season men's championships in NCAA Division I, defeated NAIA No. 8 Xavier University of Louisiana 8-1 Thursday at the University of New Orleans Tennis Center.
Xavier (8-4) scored its point in the final completed match when freshman Jonathan Aubrey defeated Alex Metzner 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 6 singles.
Radford (7-3) ended a couple of Xavier streaks. Ivan Salec and Thomas Dehaen won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles to end the five-match win streak of Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas. Dehaen won 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 at No. 2 singles to end Abbas' four-match streak.
Salec, ranked 67th in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, played doubles only. Freshmen Stijn Meulemans and Paul Boslet won in singles and doubles for the Highlanders, with Meulemans beating Taylor 6-0, 6-2 at the top flight. Radford freshmen Joe Mills and Randall Carter also won in singles.
Radford has won three straight duals and six of its last seven. Xavier has dropped two straight. Three of the Gold Rush's four losses this season are to D-I teams.
It was Xavier's first home match since Feb. 8. The dual, scored by NAIA rules, was postponed Wednesday because of morning thunderstorms and moved from City Park.
Both Xavier teams will play NAIA opponents Friday in the AUM Invitational at Montgomery, Ala. XU's women, ranked 24th, will play No. 13 Lindsey Wilson at 9:30 a.m., and the XU men will play Georgetown (Ky.) at 10 a.m.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director Xavier University of Louisiana Visit: XULA Athletics
Rahbar defeated Shorter's Colt Kelley 6-1, 6-0 and William Carey's fourth-seeded Thomas Rizk 5-7, 7-6, 7-5. Giles-Osborn beat Auburn Montgomery's Josh Reason 6-4, 7-5 and will play Rahbar in the quarterfinals Saturday.
Howell and DeLoach upset Brenau's fourth-seeded Hannah Thompson and Theresa Neumeyr 8-3.
