NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis coach Alan Green had been waiting all season for Ghassan Alansi to get eligible and contribute on the court. The former happened this week, and the latter occurred Friday, when Alansi won twice in a 5-1 victory against William Woods.
     The Gold Rush (10-4), ranked eighth in the NAIA, gave the fourth-ranked Owls (6-1) their first loss of the season.
     Alansi and Pierre Andrieu scored the last three points in a 9-8 (7-5) doubles victory against Zach Frisbie and Juan Esteban Duran to give the Gold Rush a 2-1 lead. Alansi made it 4-1 when he defeated Oscar Barreriro 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
     Alansi is a transfer from NCAA Division II Chowan University in Murfreesboro, N.C. Last season Alansi was 15-5 in singles and 16-8 in doubles and played No. 1 singles and doubles for the Hawks. Alansi was 68th in the ITA's Division II end-of-season singles ranking and first-team All-Conference Carolinas.
     Gabriel Niculescu clinched with his 6-2, 6-4 victory against Aaron Westerland on the fourth singles court.
     Also winning twice was freshman Santiago Perez. He and Chris Anders rallied for a 9-7 No. 1 doubles victory against Westerland and Barreriro. At No. 1 singles Perez was first to finish after his 6-2, 6-2 decision over Javier Callejo.
     XULA has won three straight against top-25 teams in the last eight days.
     Next for the Gold Rush will be a home match against Lewis-Clark State at 3 p.m. Thursday.