Saturday, 09/12/2009

LAFAYETTE, La. -- Xavier University of Louisiana's Cameron Knowles and Sean Richardson won men's tennis matches Saturday in the season-opening UL Invitational.
Knowles, a three-time All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference player, defeated top-seeded Devin Hartley of Lamar 8-4 in singles D-flight. Richardson, who led the Gold Rush in combined winning percentage as a freshman this past season, beat third-seeded John Holliman of UAB 8-1 in the same flight.
XU's Steffen Giles-Osborn lost 8-2 to top-seeded Piotr Banas of Louisiana-Lafayette in the A-flight. Mikhail Vaval lost 8-6 to UAB's Thomas Petrich in the B-flight, and Hassan Abbas, in his XU debut, lost 8-3 to UL Lafayette's second-seeded Carlin Murray in the C-flight.
Rain caused additional delays Saturday and resulted in the cancellation of both doubles flights and all consolation singles matches. Play will resume at 8 a.m. Sunday, but the National Weather Service forecasts a 70-percent chance of heavy rain.