Scores
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's
Kyra Akinnibi and
Shaikh Abdullah reached the singles semifinals of the
NAIA Gulf Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships,
and two XULA doubles teams reached the championship round Saturday.
Akinnibi, seeded first in the women's bracket,
defeated Blue Mountain's Kristina Kozakova 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Abdullah, a men's No. 4 seed,
beat teammate
Guillermo Coiras 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5) in that same round.
Akinnibi and Abdullah are seniors, and both were NAIA
All-Americans this past season. Akinnibi won 36-of-42 games through her first three singles matches
of this tournament.
Akinnibi will play freshman teammate
Kareemah Muhammad — a 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-1) quarterfinal winner against fifth-seeded NAIA All-American
Lucy Carpenter of city rival Loyola — in the semifinals. Muhammad scored the first seven points
of the super-tiebreaker. Abdullah will face second seeded Leo Bresson, one of three William Carey semifinalists.
Three XULA women reached the singles semifinals.
In the last match completed Saturday, second-seeded
Aisha Niyonkuru defeated teammate
Juliette Finch 6-1, 6-1.
Both are freshmen. Niyonkuru will play Blue Mountain's third-seeded Tsveti Trifonova.
Advancing to doubles finals were the women's
unseeded team of Muhammad and
Valaine Clarke — Clarke is a freshman, too — and the
third-seeded men's team of freshman
Jacobi Bain and senior
Juan Ramirez.
Muhammad and Clarke prevailed 8-5 in their semifinal
against another unseeded XULA pairing, sophomores
Valentina Largacha and
Ariana Stephens. Both XULA teams
defeated seeded opponents in the quarterfinals.
Bain and Ramirez reached their final with
a 9-8 (7-5) victory against William Carey's Eric Caleguer and Tom Tillger.
Muhammad is the lone XULA athlete still competing
in singles and doubles.
Rain started around 2 p.m., and several matches
were moved to the indoor courts at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Sunday matches will be played,
weather permitting, at XULA Tennis Center (3619 Pine St., New Orleans LA 70125). Admission is free.
Leading off at 9 a.m. will be the singles semifinals matches.
