XU Gold Rush doubly disappointed in loss at William Carey

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — William Carey swept three doubles matches and rolled to a 6-3 victory over Xavier University of Louisiana in a meeting of ranked NAIA men's tennis teams Sunday.

William Carey's 13th-ranked women defeated Xavier 8-1.

Carey's men (10-8), ranked 19th, avenged a 5-4 loss to the No. 8 Gold Rush (11-8) from four weeks ago at the AUM Invitational, when Xavier won two of three doubles matches. Jody Claassen and Thomas Rizk, a 9-8 loser to Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas in March, won 8-2 against the ITA's 15th-ranked tandem to give the Crusaders their first point of the dual. Anton Ivanov and Alvar Ribalta made it 3-0 when they beat Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson 9-8 (7-5), and Claassen clinched at No 1 singles when Giles-Osborn retired while trailing 5-7, 6-1, 1-0.



Results:  Men    Women

Abbas, Amir Rahbar and Richardson won in singles for Xavier. Abbas rallied to beat Toni Gauta 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 at No. 2, Rahbar defeated Younes Hidass 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 at No. 4, and Richardson beat Dominik Kardell 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6. But the Abbas and Rahbar victories came after the dual was decided.

Xavier (3-15) scored its only point of the women's dual when sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach snapped a three-match losing streak by holding off Anastasia Khabirova and Petra Pesic 8-6 at No. 2. But the Gold Nuggets again were shorthanded, defaulting the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches, and William Carey (12-5) clinched when Joyce Oliviera defeated Ashley McGill 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.

Melissa DeLoach lost 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6) to Alexandra Kaluza at No. 3 in DeLoach's first singles super-tiebreaker of the season.

Both William Carey teams have four-dual win streaks. Xavier's men have lost three in a row, and the Gold Nuggets have lost four straight and 13 of their last 14.

Both Xavier teams will close the regular season this week — the Gold Rush at Tulane at 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Gold Nuggets against South Alabama at 11 a.m. Saturday at City Park — then travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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Xavier's Abbas repeats as GCAC Player of the Week

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Hassan Abbas is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in men's tennis for the second consecutive time.

Hassan Abbas

Abbas, a senior from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura College, won in doubles and singles Saturday in a 4-3 loss at the University of New Orleans, an NCAA Division I member. Abbas and Zach Taylor won 8-6 against Benjamin Bouhana and Hossam Meligy at No. 1 doubles, then Abbas tied the dual at 3 with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) victory against Vinay Kamineni at No. 1 singles.

Abbas — 12-5 in singles and 13-5 in doubles this season — also won the GCAC award for March 7-13. There were no nominees for March 14-20 or March 21-27. Abbas won the award once in 2010.

Xavier's men and women will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., for duals with William Carey at 10 a.m. Sunday. Xavier's men are 11-7 and ranked eighth in the NAIA.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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