Xavier's Didavi, Taylor advance at small college championships

MOBILE, Ala. -- Xavier University of Louisiana's second-seeded Loic Didavi and Zach Taylor defeated Olivet Nazarene's Sebastian Esquetini and Diego Gonsalvez 6-4, 6-2 Thursday in the opening round of doubles in the NAIA division of the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships.

Didavi, however, suffered his first loss in nine singles matches for the Gold Rush when top-seeded Chris Freeman of Embry-Riddle (Fla.) defeated him 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Didavi and Taylor broke Esquetini and Gonsalvez to take a 4-2 lead in the first set. The XU tandem has won six of seven matches this fall.

"Loic and Zach were steady," Xavier coach Alan Green said. "Then they picked up their intensity in the second set and got a couple more service breaks."

Didavi-Freeman was the only one of four singles matches in the NAIA division to go three sets.

"It was a pretty close match," Green said. "Freeman made a couple of big shots in the last set which made the difference. He broke Loic to go up 6-5 in the third."

Didavi and Taylor will play Fresno Pacific's third-seeded Cledson Carvalho and Nathan Martinet in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday. Didavi will play fourth-seeded Vladislav Khudziy of Huntington (Ind.) in the singles consolation semifinals at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

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XU's Didavi, Taylor take aim at national event for small colleges

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana will take another significant step in its modern era of men's tennis when Loic Didavi and Zach Taylor compete Thursday in the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships at Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.

It's the first time that Xavier has competed in this event. Didavi will play Embry-Riddle's top-seeded Chris Freeman in the opening round of NAIA men's singles. Didavi and Taylor are seeded second in NAIA men's doubles and will play their first match against Olivet Nazarene's Sebastian Esquetini and Diego Gonsalvez.

Zach Taylor

Loic Didavi

Also competing are men's and women's regional singles and doubles winners and at-large selections from NCAA Division II and III and the junior colleges. Survivors of all the brackets will meet this weekend to determine overall champions.

"It's like a Super Bowl of small-college tennis," Xavier coach Alan Green said.

All singles players and doubles teams will play a minimum of three matches, and Green says he wouldn't be surprised if Didavi and Taylor spent all their time in the winners bracket.

"Loic has a great shot to win in singles because he's left-handed and because it's humid down here," Green said. "When left-handers hit, the ball spins in the opposite direction compared to a right-hander's hit. Right-handers have to really be careful when playing a left-hander. In doubles Loic and Zach's chemistry is not 100 percent yet, but what's making it work is that they're both talented. Both have pretty good hands around the net. The more familiar they become with each other, the more lethal they'll be."

Didavi, a junior from Cotonou, Benin, and a transfer from Auburn Montgomery, is 8-0 in singles and 5-1 in doubles through two fall tournaments. Both he and Taylor, a senior from Monroe, La., were second-team NAIA All-Americans this past season, and both had top-10 NAIA doubles rankings.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

XU wins 10 of 11 in singles at HBCU Championships

JONESBORO, Ga. -- Xavier UniversIty of Louisiana's men's and women's tennis teams won 10 of 11 singles matches Thursday in the HBCU National Championships. Five players -- Jordyn Goody, Kourtney Howell and Amanda Materre on the women's team and Loic Didavi and Viktor Svoboda on the men's -- opened their XU careers with victories.

Xavier, an NAIA member, won all eight of its matches against NCAA Division I.
Howell defeated Alcorn State's Keti Mebuke 6-2, 0-6, 1-0 (10-3) to reach the A-flight quarterfinals. Materre beat Hampton's Tabita Daolo 7-5, 6-0 in the B-flight, Goody beat Savannah State's Ge'Anne Hilton 6-2, 6-0 in the C-flight.

Didavi and Taylor, both second-team All-Americans this past season, both reached the men's A-flight semifinals. Didavi defeated Bowie State's Piotr Kruk 6-1, 6-3 and Alcorn's Ernesto Santillian 6-1, 6-2. Taylor beat North Carolina Central's Jack Waissen 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 and
Bowie's Shikhar Kapur 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10).

In the men's B-flight, Amir Rahbar defeated Prairie View A&M's Trenton Johnson 6-2, 6-4, and Steffen Giles-Osborn lost 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-6) to Bowie's Conner Pickering. Svoboda won 6-0, 6-0 in the C-flight against Hampton's Isaiah Stewart, and Sean Richardson beat Prairie View's Jamaal James 6-2, 6-1.

Svoboda, Richardson and Materre all were up one set in their second matches when rain halted play.

The tournament, Xavier's first of two in the fall semester, will continue through Sunday.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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Xavier signs three, opens fall season at HBCU Championships

NEW ORLEANS -- A two-time NAIA All-American is one of three men's tennis players to sign scholarships with Xavier University of Louisiana.

Joining the Gold Rush for the 2011-12 season are junior Loic Didavi of Cotonou, Benin, freshman Nikita Soifer of Beer Sheva, Israel, and sophomore Viktor Svoboda of Kamenice, Czech Republic. Didavi transferred from Auburn Montgomery, and Svoboda transferred from Lewis-Clark State.

The Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets will begin their season Thursday in the HBCU National Championships at Clayton County Tennis Center in Jonesboro, Ga. Xavier will return to Georgia next week for its other fall event, the USTA/ITA NAIA South Regional on Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in Atlanta.

Didavi was second-team NAIA All-America twice at AUM. He was an ITA NAIA All-American in doubles this past season, when he was 29th in singles and fourth in doubles with Boris Obama in the final rankings. Didavi helped AUM win the NAIA championship in 2010.

Soifer, who was born in Russia but moved to Israel when he was six years old, was ranked first in singles among Israelis in the 14 and 18 age groups. His highest overall singles ranking in Israel was 12th, and he spent 2½ years in Israel's army before signing with Xavier. Nicholls State, UNC Asheville and James Madison, all of NCAA Division I, also recruited Soifer.

Svoboda helped Lewis-Clark State qualify for the NAIA National Championship in May and won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 singles in the Warriors' first-round loss to Lindsey Wilson. Svoboda recorded two singles victories and two doubles victories against NCAA Division I opponents.

The Gold Rush ranked a program-record-tying eighth in the final coaches poll this past season. Xavier will announce its schedule of spring-semester dual matches near the end of 2011.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

For 2nd time in 3 years, XU's Green is state Coach of the Year

Hassan Abbas

Zach Taylor

Coach Alan Green

NEW ORLEANS — For the second time in three years, Xavier University of Louisiana's Alan Green is Coach of the Year on the All-Louisiana men's tennis team selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

The team, announced late Saturday, includes two Xavier players. Senior Hassan Abbas made the first team, and junior Zach Taylor is on the second team.

Green, a New Orleans native in his eighth season at Xavier, led the Gold Rush to a 13-9 record, a third consecutive berth in the NAIA National Championship, the program's first top-10 ranking and the first victory against a top-10 NAIA opponent — 6-3 at Vanguard on March 4. XU had five victories against teams in the final NAIA coaches poll and two victories vs. NCAA Division I. All the losses were to ranked NAIA opponents or D-I.

This was the first Xavier team in any sport to be ranked in the top 10 of a final NAIA poll since women's basketball in 1997-98. XU was top 10 in four of the last five polls.

Abbas, from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura (Calif.) College, is the first XU men's tennis player to make the All-Louisiana first team twice or in consecutive seasons. Abbas was 15-6 in singles and 15-8 doubles this season and was 31st in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA singles rankings.

Taylor, from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, was 11-10 in singles and 15-8 in doubles. He was 24th in ITA/NAIA singles rankings. Taylor and Abbas are 15th nationally in doubles.

2010-11 All-Louisiana Collegiate Men's Tennis Team

First Team Name School Class Hometown Idan Mark Tulane So. Santana Hod Hasharon, Israel Neal Skupski LSU Jr. Liverpool, England Sebastian Carlsson LSU Sr. Uppsala, Sweden Dmitry Kozionov Nicholls State So. Ivhevsk, Russia Hassan Abbas Xavier Sr. Saltaire, England Abdelrahman Zaki New Orleans Jr. Egypt Second Team Name School Class Hometown Hossam Meligy New Orleans So. Egypt Julien Gauthier LSU Sr. Repentigny, Canada Joe Young Tulane So. Redlands, Calif. Palash Tiwari Nicholls State So. New Delhi, India Zach Taylor Xavier Jr. Monroe, La. Yanick Mandl Louisiana-Lafayette Jr. Thalwil, Switzerland
Player of the Year:  Neal Skupski, LSU Newcomer of the Year:  Idan Mark, Tulane Freshman of the Year:  Hossam Meligy, New Orleans Coach of the Year:  Alan Green, Xavier

By Ed Cassiere, Xavier University of Louisiana
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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Xavier Gold Rush to play Vanguard in second round of nationals

The 2010-11 Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis team: from left,
 Zach Taylor, Jonathan Aubrey, Steffen Giles-Osborn, Coach Alan Green,
 Amir Rahbar, Sean Richardson and Hassan Abbas.
(Photo courtesy - Xavier University Sports Information)

MOBILE, Ala. — Xavier University of Louisiana will get a rematch with Vanguard in Wednesday's second round of the NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship at Copeland-Cox Tennis Center.

Xavier, 13-9 and the No. 8 seed, had a first-round bye Tuesday. Vanguard, 8-13 and the No. 9 seed, advanced to the second round with a 9-0 victory against No. 24 Mobile.

The XU men won 6-3 at Vanguard on March 4 for their first-ever victory against a top-10 NAIA opponent. The Gold Rush won at the top two doubles flights and got singles victories from Zach Taylor, Hassan Abbas, Amir Rahbar and Sean Richardson. Taylor clinched the dual with his 6-2, 7-5 victory against Pereira, the NAIA's 10th-ranked singles player.

This is Xavier's third consecutive appearance at nationals. The Gold Rush lost in the second round to the eventual runner-up each of the past two seasons after first-round victories against Oklahoma Christian in 2009 and Tennessee Wesleyan in 2010.

The Gold Rush will try to become the second Xavier team in any sport to reach the NAIA quarterfinals. The only time it happened was in men's basketball in 1973.

NAIA National Championship (seedings in parentheses) First Round — 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 17 St. Thomas (Fla.) (17) d. Aquinas (16) 5-4 Vanguard (9) d. Mobile (24) 9-0 Graceland (12) d. Huntington (Ind.) (21) 8-1 Concordia (Calif.) (13) d. Bethany (Kan.) (20) 5-3 Lindsey Wilson (14) d. Lewis-Clark State (19) 6-3 Shorter (11) d. Hastings (22) 8-1 Union (Ky.) (10) d. Brescia (23) 9-0 William Carey (15) d. Olivet Nazarene (18) 6-3 Second Round — 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18 Fresno Pacific (1) vs. St. Thomas (Fla.) (17) Xavier (8) vs. Vanguard (9) Azusa Pacific (5) vs. Graceland (12) Oklahoma Christian (4) vs. Concordia (Calif.) (13) Auburn Montgomery (3) vs. Lindsey Wilson (14) Westmont (6) vs. Shorter (11) Point Loma Nazarene (7) vs. Union (Ky.) (10) Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (2) vs. William Carey (15) Quarterfinals — 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 19 Semifinals — 9 a.m. on Friday, May 20 Championship — 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 21 Xavier at Nationals (2-2) May 12, 2009 (first round): Xavier 5, Oklahoma Christian 4 May 13, 2009 (second round): Auburn Montgomery 5, Xavier 0 May 18, 2010 (first round): Xavier 5, Tennessee Wesleyan 3 May 19, 2010 (second round): Fresno Pacific 5, Xavier 1

Vanguard, from Costa Mesa, Calif., reached the NAIA quarterfinals six of the last seven seasons and was a semifinalist in 2004 and 2000. The Lions tied for fifth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference and are one of six GSAC teams ranked among the final top 12.

Higher seeds won seven of eight first-round matches Tuesday. The exception was No 17 St. Thomas (Fla.), which defeated No. 16 Aquinas 5-4.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS