NEW ORLEANS -- Radford, winner of the last five Big South Conference regular-season men's championships in NCAA Division I, defeated NAIA No. 8 Xavier University of Louisiana 8-1 Thursday at the University of New Orleans Tennis Center.
    Xavier (8-4) scored its point in the final completed match when freshman Jonathan Aubrey defeated Alex Metzner 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 6 singles.
    Radford (7-3) ended a couple of Xavier streaks. Ivan Salec and Thomas Dehaen won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles to end the five-match win streak of Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas. Dehaen won 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 at No. 2 singles to end Abbas' four-match streak.

    Salec, ranked 67th in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, played doubles only. Freshmen Stijn Meulemans and Paul Boslet won in singles and doubles for the Highlanders, with Meulemans beating Taylor 6-0, 6-2 at the top flight. Radford freshmen Joe Mills and Randall Carter also won in singles.

    Radford has won three straight duals and six of its last seven. Xavier has dropped two straight. Three of the Gold Rush's four losses this season are to D-I teams.

    It was Xavier's first home match since Feb. 8. The dual, scored by NAIA rules, was postponed Wednesday because of morning thunderstorms and moved from City Park.

    Both Xavier teams will play NAIA opponents Friday in the AUM Invitational at Montgomery, Ala. XU's women, ranked 24th, will play No. 13 Lindsey Wilson at 9:30 a.m., and the XU men will play Georgetown (Ky.) at 10 a.m.