Nicholls State wins men's, women's duals against Xavier
Monday, 02/14/2011
THIBODAUX, La. -- Xavier University of Louisiana lost 6-1 Sunday to NCAA Division I opponent Nicholls State in men's tennis and 7-0 in women's tennis.
The Colonels (2-2) snapped the five-dual win streak and the 11-dual February win streak of the Gold Rush (5-2), ranked 14th in the NAIA.
Nicholls' women are 2-0, and the Gold Nuggets, ranked 22nd, are 2-4.
The XU men earned the doubles point after the teams of Zach Taylor-Hassan Abbas and Steffen Giles-Osborn - Sean Richardson won at the top two flights. Taylor and Abbas defeated Damjan Despotovski and Dmitry Kozionov 8-5, and Giles-Osborn and Richardson won by the same score against Roy Knight and Palash Tiwari.
Although the Gold Rush did not in singles, Taylor's and Giles-Osborn's matches both went three sets. Despotovski beat 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 at No. 1, and Kozionov defeated Giles-Osborn (XU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 3.
It was the first XU men 's loss in February since an 8-1 home decision against Florida A&M on Feb. 22, 2009.
Nicholls' women won every match against Xavier for the second staight year. The closest match was at No. 2 doubles, where Sumana Kalyanasundaram and Tatiana Denezhkina defeated sisters Melissa DeLoach and Nicole DeLoach 8-5.
Next for Xavier's men will be matches at Nashville, Tenn., against NAIA No. 17 Martin Methodist on Friday and NCAA D-I Tennessee State on Sunday. Coach Alan Green is making changes to both XU schedules, and the next women's matches will be announced soon.
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