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
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XU's Taylor selected NAIA and GCAC Player of the Week

Zach Taylor

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Zach Taylor was selected NAIA Men's Tennis Player of the Week for April 25-May 1. He also won a similar honor from the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.

Taylor, a junior from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, won 38 of 47 games to help the Gold Rush win both its dual matches in a qualifying tourna
ment at Chattanooga, Tenn., for the NAIA National Championship. Taylor and Hassan Abbas, the NAIA's 15th-ranked doubles team, defeated Martin Methodist's Vinicius Santos — the TranSouth Athletic Conference Player of the Year — and Juan Suarez 8-0 in the championship dual, and Taylor put the Gold Rush ahead to stay with his 6-1, 6-3 victory against Renato Castro.

"Our men had never been in the top 10 or beaten a top-10 team before Zach started playing for us this year," said eighth-year XU Coach Alan Green. "He has been a difference-maker."

Taylor, 10-10 in singles and 15-7 in doubles this season, is the first Xavier athlete to win an NAIA national player-of-the-week award since Brittany Powell (women's basketball) did it for Jan. 18-24, 2010. This is the first season of the NAIA's weekly tennis awards. The GCAC award is Taylor's third this season.

XU's men, 13-9 and ranked ninth, will compete in the NAIA National Championship at Mobile, Ala., from May 17-21.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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