Rush have 4 singles players in ITA national rankings

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's season-long run as the No. 2 NAIA men's team has not gone unnoticed by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which Wednesday listed four singles players and two doubles teams from the Gold Rush in the initial national individual rankings of the 2017 spring semester.

Ranked from XULA are:

     •  Antoine Richard, fifth nationally and third in the South in singles.
     •  Moses Micheal, 16th nationally and seventh in the South in singles.
     •  Karan Salwan, 19th nationally and eighth in the South in singles.
     •  Catalin Fifea, 38th nationally and 11th in the South in singles.
     •  Tushar Mandlekar, 18th in the South in singles.
     •  Richard and Micheal, eighth nationally and second in the South in doubles.
     •  Pierre Andrieu and Fifea, 23rd nationally and seventh in the South in doubles.
     •  Mandlekar and Salwan, 10th in the South in doubles.
     
XULA firsts include two freshmen in the same singles ranking (Richard and Michael), a ranked all-freshman doubles team (Richard and Micheal) and five singles players and three doubles teams ranked in the region.
     
Richard, from Laval, Quebec, is the sixth Gold Rush player and the second freshman to earn a top-5 national singles ranking. Micheal is from Kaduna, Nigeria. Fifea is a junior from Bucharest, Romania, and a transfer from VCU, and Andrieu is a sophomore from Tours, France. All four enrolled at XULA in January.
     
Salwan, a senior from New Delhi, India, is in the national singles rankings for the sixth time in as many opportunities. Mandlekar, a senior from Bhilai, India, earned a regional singles ranking for the sixth time.
     
Richard and Micheal's No. 2 in the South equals the highest regional ranking ever by a XULA doubles team.
  
Oracle Corporation sponsors the ITA rankings.
     
The XULA men are in Florida for dual matches against ASA Miami at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday and St. Thomas at 10 a.m. Friday. The next home dual will start at 1 p.m. March 22 against Ouachita Baptist at XULA Tennis Center.


Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Gold Nuggets again break school record in 3,200 relay

ATLANTA, Georgia — Xavier University of Louisiana's women's 3,200-meter relay team of Maliya Vaughan, Carlie Calais, Taylor Price and Brianna Pace set a school record of 9 minutes, 54.69 seconds Friday in the Emory Invitational track and field meet.

XULA broke the record for the second consecutive meet. The same four runners finished third in 9:58.68 at the McNeese Cowboy Relays six days earlier. The record entering the 2017 season was 10:00.83.

Vaughan, Calais, Price and Pace finished fourth. Emory won in 9:46.10.

XULA also got a seventh-place finish from Tamia Scott in the women's javelin — she had a season best of 33,68 meters (110 feet, 6 inches) — and 16ths from Dionysia Love in the women's 3,000 steeplechase (12:51.53) and Keairez Coleman in the men's long jump (6.34 meters/20-9 3/4).

XULA is tied for 23rd in combined team scoring with seven points. Rowan leads with 87 points, followed by Hope with 63 and Shorter with 58. Thirty-five teams scored in a meet attracted schools from the NAIA and all three NCAA levels. The two-day meet will conclude Saturday.


Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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UH, TSU negotiating football game in 2018

PHOTO COURTESY: TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

HOUSTON, Texas -- The University of Houston and Texas Southern are in talks to play a non-conference football game in 2018.

UH vice president for intercollegiate athletics Hunter Yurachek and TSU athletic director Dr. Charles McClelland have been in discussions for several months about the game, which would be held at TDECU Stadium. The payout to TSU would be part of the compensation package for UH's men's and women's basketball teams playing some home games next season on the TSU campus while renovations are underway on what will become the Fertitta Center.

While not finalized, the current plan is for the UH men to play most of its non-conference schedule at TSU's H&PE Arena — site of Wednesday night's NIT opener against Akron — and the majority of its American Athletic Conference schedule at Toyota Center. The UH women would play their entire home schedule at TSU.

Yurachek said TSU has been "very accommodating" in sharing its facility and meeting on the football field would be a "win-win situation."

The two schools are separated by just a few blocks but have only met once in football, a 59-6 win by UH in 2007.

"It'd be great for TSU, " Yurachek said. "It'd be great for the University of Houston to keep that money in the city and allow TSU and Houston to create a one-year rivalry, per se.

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Rush, Nuggets defeat ranked STU teams on the road

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida
— St. Patrick's Day was a good time for Alan Green

Green, the Xavier University of Louisiana tennis coach, watched his teams win 17-of-18 matches Friday against St. Thomas (Fla.) in matchups of ranked NAIA teams. Green's second-ra.nked men beat the 19th-ranked Bobcats 8-1, and his 10th-ranked women won 9-0 against the 22nd-ranked Bobcats.

It was the third time this season that both XULA teams won on the same day on the road against ranked opponents. For the season, the Gold Rush (7-3) and Gold Nuggets (5-6) have four victories apiece against ranked teams.

Karan Salwan, Catalin Fifea and Tushar Mandlekar won in doubles and singles for the Gold Rush. Salwan and Fifea both extended their singles win streaks to five matches. Salwan clinched the dual with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Rasmus Lindstrom.

Double winners for the Gold Nuggets were Lacee Ancar, Emma Kranendonk, Charlene Goreau, Lyndsey Clark and Yi Chen Pao. Clark and Pao, paired for the first time in doubles, beat Alexandria Curry and Katalina Pineda 8-0, and Clark blanked Curry 8-0 in singles. Ancar clinched the dual with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory against Ksenia Slavina.

The Gold Nuggets' doubles teams won 24-of-25 games. Ancar and Kranendonk — who moved into the national doubles rankings Wednesday at No. 12 — beat Victoria Slavina and Ksenia Slavina 8-0. Goreau defeated Cassandra Lemieux 6-0, 6-0 at the top singles flight.

Next for XULA will be a 1 p.m. Wednesday men's dual against Ouachita Baptist at XULA Tennis Center. OBU is ranked 37th in NCAA Division II. Next for the Gold Nuggets will be an April 1 visit to NAIA No. 12 LSU-Alexandria.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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North Carolina ends TSU's run at the NCAA Tournament

GREENVILLE, South Carolina – Texas Southern gave top-seeded North Carolina an initial wake up call, leading 10-8 in the early minutes of the game, before it was all Tar Heels from there as UNC went on pair of big runs and extended the lead to 25 by halftime before winning 103-64.

North Carolina's Justin Jackson made 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the opening half as UNC eventually went on to defeat No. 16 Texas Southern 103-64 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's South Region at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

The Tigers (23-12), winners of three of the previous four SWAC Championships under head coach Mike Davis, came out energized as Kevin Scott made a lay in, and followed it up with a 3-pointer.

Demontrae Jefferson came up with a steal and a dunk by Marvin Jones on a feed from Zach Lofton gave TSU a 7-6 lead.

UNC's Kennedy Meeks made a bucket to give the Tar Heels the lead back, but Scott answered with a 3-pointer for TSU.

Jumpers by Jackson and Isaiah Hicks gave UNC (28-7) the lead for good at 12-10 with 15:49 remaining the first half.

Scott made 6-of-14 field goals and scored a team-high 19 points with five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Jefferson scored 13 points while Jones finished with six points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Jackson had 21 points and seven rebounds while Hicks added 17 points and six rebounds for the Tar Heels, who will advance to play Arkansas in the second round on Sunday.

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NCCU Eagles Fall to UC Davis in NCAA Tournament Thriller

DAYTON, Ohio. – North Carolina Central University went right down to the wire with UC Davis, but the Aggies were able to hold off the Eagles, 67-63 at UD Arena on Wednesday, March 15.

NCCU finishes the season with a 25-9 mark, and the second-most wins in a season with head coach LeVelle Moton. 25 wins also stands as the third-most wins in a season in program history.

The first half of the contest was very even, with both teams having an almost equal time in the lead. NCCU (25-9) led for 7:19 minutes, UC Davis (23-12) had the advantage of 8:56 minutes, and the score was level for 3:45 of the first 20.

The Eagles rode a strong effort from Dajuan Graf (Charlotte, N.C.) into the half as he nailed a big triple to put NCCU ahead 34-31 at the intermission. Kyle Benton (Long Beach, Calif.) was a big inside presence against the Aggies with nine points and four rebounds.

UC Davis took over in the second half as they started the period on a 21-9 run over the first nine minutes, boosted by the team shooting 70 percent from the floor during that stretch. The Eagles fired back with a run of their own, and that set up a game that sizzled right down to the wire.

Rashaun Madison (Norfolk, Va.) and Graf hit a pair of big treys down the stretch, and the Eagles had a few looks to either tie or take the lead within the final two minutes. However, the Aggies were able to outlast the Eagles and make a few free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Benton finished with 13 points and a joint game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year, and seventh of his career. Graf tallied a team-high 15 points, and Cole put in 13 points and five boards with three assists. Pablo Rivas (Phoenix, Ariz.) was the fourth Eagle in double-digits with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Of note, Cole passed John Bishop (1980-81, 625) for the second-most points in a single-season with 636.

UC Davis was led by Chima Moneke (Canberra, Australia) who had a double-double with a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Brynton Lemar (San Diego, Calif.) with 15 points and five rebounds. Lawrence White (Burbank, Calif.) picked up 14 points with four boards and four assists.

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Virginia Union Lady Panthers to Face Columbus State in Elite 8

RICHMOND, Virginia -- The Virginia Union University women's basketball team, champions of the NCAA Atlantic Region, will face Columbus State University at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, in the first round of the Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio.

VUU will enter the Elite Eight as the #6 seed while Columbus State will enter as the #3 seed.

Ashland University was named the #1 seed followed by California Baptist University as the #2 seed.

Columbus State won the NCAA Southeast Region by defeating Lincoln Memorial University 86-75 on Monday, March 13.

The Cougars are 31-1 on the season while VUU enters the Elite Eight at 26-4. Columbus State is led in scoring by Alexis Carter, who averages 16.6 points per game.

VUU, however, is led in scoring by Atlantic Region MVP Lady Walker. Walker averages 14.4 points and 11.2 rebounds for the Lady Panthers. In the Atlantic Region Championship Game Walker scored a season-high 32 points.

This will mark the second straight appearance for the Lady Panthers in the Elite Eight.

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