Results

        LIMA, Ohio — Juan Varon clinched in three sets on the fifth singles court Thursday in Xavier University of Louisiana's 4-2 men's tennis victory against Northwestern Ohio in the IWU Invitational.
        XULA, 9-8 and ranked 11th in the NAIA, won its fourth in a row and climbed above .500 for the first time since early February. Northwestern Ohio is 9-4 and ranked 20th.
        XULA lost the doubles point and trailed 2-1, then took the lead with victories from Shaikh Abdullah on court two and Juan Ramirez on court four. Varon ended the suspense with his 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory against Alex de Vilar.
        "This match took a turn each team's way about four times," said Alan Green, XULA's head coach/director of tennis. "Varon came up huge with the match on the line."
        Varon, who joined the team in January, clinched for the first time this season.
        Abdullah was the only XULA player to win in doubles and singles. Abdullah and Megh Patel defeated Alfredo Barcelo and de Vilar 6-3 at No. 2 doubles, and Abdullah defeated Marcos Salazar — No. 47 in ITA NAIA singles — 6-4, 6-3. Abdullah, the reigning Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Week, is 8-0 in his last nine singles matches and won eight of his last nine in doubles.
        Perez defeated Sergio Conde — No. 39 in ITA NAIA singles — 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1, and Ramirez defeated Martin Stanchev 6-1, 6-4.
        Because of wet courts at the tournament venues in Marion, Ind., XULA and UNOH moved to the Racers' indoor home facility, Westwood Tennis & Fitness Center. For XULA, that resulted in a round-trip drive of approximately 200 miles after flying Wednesday to Indiana.
        XULA will play NAIA No. 8 Union (Ky.) at 1 p.m. EDT Friday at Marion High School. The weather forecast: partly cloudy, high of 73 degrees.