HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The battle between No. 11 Xavier and the homesteading No. 7 William Carey Crusaders was as competitive as one would expect a top-20 contest to be. Ultimately, William Carey prevailed 4-2, but the Gold Rush acquitted themselves well. 

XULA (3-2) got a great performance from all of its doubles teams. No. 1 doubles team Nereo Suarez and Emmanuel Jebutu defeated Islam Orynbassar and Vinh Nguyen 6-3. 

In the No. 2 match, the results were identical, as Martin Rivera and Gabriel Velez downed Artur Ibragimov and Leo Phijidvijan, again 6-3. 

Edilson Rosa and Samy Dahmany had Xavier ahead 5-3 in the No. 3 doubles match when that event was called, thanks to the Gold Rush securing the doubles point. 

Unfortunately for Xavier, William Carey (1-0) went 4-1 in the singles matches to claim the win. Suarez was the only Gold Rush player to secure a singles win, defeating Orynbassar 6-3, 6-0 in the No. 1 match. 

XULA will continue its road trip later this week with a three-day visit to Georgia for the Coastal Invitational. The first play date is Thursday, when the Gold Rush visit SCAD Savannah.