Results
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis, relegated to its lowest pre-March position in the NAIA coaches poll since 2013, appears ready for a significant climb.
The Gold Rush, ranked 10th, won 4-1 Monday at No. 7 William Carey. It was XULA's third victory in 11 days against a top-15 opponent and the second during that time against a top-7 team.
"Our guys were in a nationals-type battle out there," XULA head coach
Alan Green said. "The atmosphere was hectic and loud. But our guys stepped up and played like some grown men. I'm proud of them for that."
Santiago Perez,
Jacobi Bain and
Megh Patel won in doubles and singles for XULA (6-3), which won 4-0 against No. 15 Cumberlands on Feb. 18 and 4-1 against No. 4 Lindsey Wilson the following day.
Perez and
Juan Ramirez clinched the doubles point on the first court with a 6-3 victory against Daniil Klimov and Iskandar Karimov. Perez ended the dual on the first singles court when he rallied to defeat Klimov — No. 3 in the ITA NAIA rankings — 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11).
It was more of the same for Perez, who in his previous dual won 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Georgia Gwinnett's Matthias Haim, a first-team NAIA All-American and the most outstanding player of NAIA nationals in 2021. Perez won that match at the Grizzlies' facility.
Bain and Patel earned the other doubles victory, 6-1 at No. 2 against Tim Fischer and Tom Tillger. Bain also rallied in singles and beat Lachlan Vickery 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4. Patel won 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) at No. 3 against Karimov.
William Carey is 1-1. The next coaches top 25 will be announced Wednesday, but the XULA victory against William Carey will not be considered in the voting.
Next for XULA's men and women will be their second trip in three weeks to Lawrenceville, Ga. The Rush and Gold Nuggets will compete in the GGC Spring Invitational Thursday through Sunday.
