Monday, 05/18/2009

NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana's Anastesia Opata was a first-team selection on the 2009 NAIA Women's Tennis All-America Teams announced Saturday, and Angelina Callis made the second team.
It's the second straight year the Gold Nuggets have first- and second-team All-Americans, and it's the third consecutive year that Xavier has a first-team All-American in women's tennis. Dominique Bell was the Nuggets' first All-American in 2007.
Opata, a junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., and Central Gwinnett High School, is the first Xavier athlete to make first-team All-America twice since Henrietta Mitchell, an NAIA Kodak All-American in women's basketball in 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Opata was 20-5 in singles and 22-3 in doubles this season, winning 18 of her final 19 singles decisions and her final 13 doubles matches with Callis. She was 22nd in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA singles rankings.
Callis, a junior from Los Angeles and a graduate of Dorchester (Mass.) High School, was 20-7 in singles and 24-4 in doubles. She and Opata were 11th in the ITA/NAIA doubles rankings.
Xavier was 19-7 this season, winning the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championship for the sixth time in eight seasons and reaching the second round of the NAIA National Championship for the fourth time in five seasons.
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