Results

        NEW ORLEANS — Alan Green reached a milestone Saturday — his 300th victory as women's tennis head coach at Xavier University of Louisiana. The Gold Nuggets delivered a 4-1 home decision against William Carey.
        Green's women are 300-197 (.604) in 20 seasons (2002-05, 2006-present). The Gold Nuggets have been stellar this season, winning 19-of-23 times, climbing to No. 4 in the NAIA coaches poll and achieving much of their success this semester without two of their top three singles players, who are injured.
        Freshman McKenna Wheatley, niece of XULA Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Donald "Slick" Watts (men's basketball), clinched on the fifth singles court with her 6-1, 6-3 victory against Nina Westkamp. The XULA women are 6-0 at home this season and have won 14 of their last 15 overall.
        These merely are the latest successes for a program that became XULA's first in any sport to reach the semifinals (2013) of a bracketed NAIA national tournament. The Gold Nuggets are the only XULA team to reach No. 1 in an NAIA coaches poll; they did it five times over the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
        Six times in the last nine NAIA national tournaments, the Gold Nuggets reached the semifinals.
        Green did not know he was on the threshold of 300 victories until publicist Ed Cassiere informed him late in the week. In Green's typical low-key fashion, he didn't mention the milestone to his players until after the competition.
        "To say I have 300 wins as a coach means I'm getting up there in age," said Green, who is 49 years old, earned bachelor's and master's degrees from XULA and was a standout tennis player for the Gold Rush. "There's been a lot of great players and great teams that have been a part of that 300. They are the ones that earned that. I always say I never hit one ball in any of those matches. This accomplishment is for them, the women that did it. But I'm still having fun doing this, and hopefully we can get more wins — especially in the most important part of the year."
        Wheatley and Tianna Dixon clinched the doubles point on court two with their 6-3 victory against Sunny Logan and Tiffany Chang. Mbali Langa and Valentina Largacha won 6-1 on court one against Emelie Koch and Malak Abarkane.
        In singles, Dixon won 6-0, 6-2 against Abarkane on court three, and Langa defeated Jordan Ortega Mendez 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 on court one. Abarkane is 17th, Mendez ninth in the ITA NAIA singles rankings.
        William Carey, No. 17 in the coaches poll, is 4-8.
        Another ranked NAIA opponent, No. 11 St. Thomas (Fla.), will visit the Gold Nuggets at 1 p.m. CDT Wednesday. Start time was moved up two hours. The XULA men, ranked eighth, will play No. 17 St. Thomas at that same time. Green is 285-179 (.614) as coach of the Gold Rush and could reach 300 victories with the men next season.

photo of Alan Green by Yamlak Tsega