Results
NEW ORLEANS —
Kareemah Muhammad, playing singles for the first time in nearly seven weeks,
won 6-2, 6-3 Thursday on court one against Southeastern's 27th-ranked Beatrice Letizia
to help Xavier University of Louisiana's women earn a 4-3 victory at XULA Tennis Center.
Juliette Finch defeated 21st-ranked Martina Picardi 6-4, 6-4 on court two to clinch.
Muhammad and Finch are unranked.
Muhammad, who has been injured most of the spring semester, and
Valaine Clarke clinched the doubles point
on court one with a 6-3 victory against Letizia and Abigail Damon.
The Gold Nuggets (11-9), ranked 15th in the NAIA, moved two wins above .500
for the first time this season and snapped the nine-match win streak of the Fire (12-4), a Florida team ranked 16th.
"Having Kareemah back in the lineup was a huge boost,"
XULA head coach
Alan Green said. "It shows the difference one player can make on the
outcome of the match. We still have some opportunities to erase some of the bad losses we've
had this year, and I'm excited for what these Nuggets have in front of them."
XULA's women and men will travel to
Mississippi for matches against a pair of NCAA Division I opponents: 2 p.m. Friday
at Alcorn State and noon Saturday at Jackson State.
