Nuggets, Rush beat ranked Northwestern Ohio teams

Wayne Bryan, father of the world's No. 1 men's doubles team, won't be at every match
 during XU's California trip. "But he's a fan of us now," XU coach Alan Green said.

WHITTIER, California  -- For the second time this season, Xavier University of Louisiana's tennis teams defeated ranked opponents on the same day. The Gold Nuggets beat Northwestern Ohio, ranked 24th in the NAIA, 8-1 Sunday, and the Gold Rush beat UNOH's 10th-ranked men 6-3.

The Gold Nuggets (13-8) are ranked seventh in the NAIA, and the Gold Rush (11-5) are sixth. The XU men beat a top-10 opponent for the second straight day, and the Nuggets beat a top-25 team for the second time in three days.

Nour Abbes, Caroline Vernet, Carmen Nelson and Simone-Alyse Ewell won in doubles and singles for Xavier's women. Abbes and Nelson trailed 7-4 before winning the final five games in a 9-7 No. 2 doubles victory against Kate Bondarenko and Vladica Djurdjevic.

Vernet rallied at No. 2 singles in a 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4) victory against Djurdjevic. Abbes defeated 15th-ranked Melena Lopez 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the dual, and Nelson beat 48th-ranked Raquel Marques 6-3, 6-2.

Vernet and Ewell won 8-0 at No. 1 doubles against Lopez and Marques. Brion Flowers and Brandi Nelson defeated Valeria Popko and Ana Lacerda 8-5.

Ewell beat Bondarenko 6-4, 7-5, and Sha'Nel Bruins defeated Lacerda 6-4, 6-3 for her fifth consecutive singles victory.

In the men's dual, Xavier followed the same script of Saturday, when it beat eighth-ranked Westmont. Tushar Mandlekar and Adam Albrecht won in doubles and singles, and Kyle Montrel and Nikita Soifer beat ranked singles opponents.

Albrecht and Kevin Chaouat trailed 6-3 before earning a 9-7 No. 3 doubles victory against Ronnie Myburgh and Akira Kuwada. Albrecht beat Gabriel Cleto 6-2, 6-1.

Mandlekar and Manav Chakma needed a tiebreaker to defeat 11th-ranked Rik van Gerwen and Emin Alpan 9-8 (7-5), and Mandlekar clinched the dual with his 7-5, 6-4 victory against Alpan.

Montrel beat ninth-ranked Daniel Rueda 6-4, 6-2, and Soifer defeated 29th-ranked van Gerwen 6-0, 7-5.

UNOH's women are 8-6, and its men are 10-5. Site of the duals was Whittier College, an NCAA Division III member.

Next for the Nuggets and Rush will be 1 p.m. PDT duals at Vanguard in Costa Mesa, Calif. Vanguard's women are 5-11 and ranked 15th -- UNOH defeated them 5-4 Friday -- and the men are 18-0 and ranked fourth.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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