Showing posts with label Gulf Coast Athletics Conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulf Coast Athletics Conference. Show all posts

Sunday, May 29, 2011

For 2nd time in 3 years, XU's Green is state Coach of the Year

Hassan Abbas
Zach Taylor
Coach Alan Green
NEW ORLEANS — For the second time in three years, Xavier University of Louisiana's Alan Green is Coach of the Year on the All-Louisiana men's tennis team selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

The team, announced late Saturday, includes two Xavier players. Senior Hassan Abbas made the first team, and junior Zach Taylor is on the second team.

Green, a New Orleans native in his eighth season at Xavier, led the Gold Rush to a 13-9 record, a third consecutive berth in the NAIA National Championship, the program's first top-10 ranking and the first victory against a top-10 NAIA opponent — 6-3 at Vanguard on March 4. XU had five victories against teams in the final NAIA coaches poll and two victories vs. NCAA Division I. All the losses were to ranked NAIA opponents or D-I.

This was the first Xavier team in any sport to be ranked in the top 10 of a final NAIA poll since women's basketball in 1997-98. XU was top 10 in four of the last five polls.

Abbas, from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura (Calif.) College, is the first XU men's tennis player to make the All-Louisiana first team twice or in consecutive seasons. Abbas was 15-6 in singles and 15-8 doubles this season and was 31st in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA singles rankings.

Taylor, from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, was 11-10 in singles and 15-8 in doubles. He was 24th in ITA/NAIA singles rankings. Taylor and Abbas are 15th nationally in doubles.

2010-11 All-Louisiana Collegiate Men's Tennis Team




First Team
Name
School
Class
Hometown
Idan Mark
Tulane
So.
Santana Hod Hasharon, Israel
Neal Skupski
LSU
Jr.
Liverpool, England
Sebastian Carlsson
LSU
Sr.
Uppsala, Sweden
Dmitry Kozionov
Nicholls State
So.
Ivhevsk, Russia
Hassan Abbas
Xavier
Sr.
Saltaire, England
Abdelrahman Zaki
New Orleans
Jr.
Egypt
Second Team
Name
School
Class
Hometown
Hossam Meligy
New Orleans
So.
Egypt
Julien Gauthier
LSU
Sr.
Repentigny, Canada
Joe Young
Tulane
So.
Redlands, Calif.
Palash Tiwari
Nicholls State
So.
New Delhi, India
Zach Taylor
Xavier
Jr.
Monroe, La.
Yanick Mandl
Louisiana-Lafayette
Jr.
Thalwil, Switzerland

Player of the Year:  Neal Skupski, LSU
Newcomer of the Year:  Idan Mark, Tulane
Freshman of the Year:  Hossam Meligy, New Orleans
Coach of the Year:  Alan Green, Xavier


By Ed Cassiere, Xavier University of Louisiana
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

XU's Abbas, Taylor are second-team NAIA All-Americans

Hassan Abbas
Steffen Giles-
Osborn
Zach Taylor

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Hassan Abbas and Zach Taylor were second-team selections on the 2011 NAIA Men's Tennis All-America Teams announced Tuesday.

Earning honorable mention was XU's Steffen Giles-Osborn.

Abbas and Taylor are Xavier's fourth and fifth men's tennis All-Americans of the modern era. Mike Green (2009), Terry Richardson (2009) and Miroslav Vukicevic (2008) also were second-team selections. Abbas, a senior from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School and Ventura (Calif.) College, was 15-6 in singles and 15-8 doubles this season and was 31st in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA singles rankings.

Taylor, a junior from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School and Ventura College, was 11-10 in singles and 15-8 in doubles. He was 24th in ITA/NAIA singles rankings. Taylor and Abbas are 15th nationally in doubles.

Giles-Osborn, a junior from Atlanta, Ga., and a graduate of Westlake High School, was 12-14 in singles and 13-14 in doubles. He was 17th in the South in the ITA/NAIA singles rankings and 15th in the South in doubles with Sean Richardson.

Xavier was 13-9 this season, winning the NAIA Unaffiliated Group 2 Tournament and qualifying for the NAIA National Championship for the third consecutive year. The XU men's No. 8 final ranking was their highest ever.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Rush get first-round bye at NAIA National Championship

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana received a first-round bye when pairings were announced Tuesday for the NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship.

The Gold Rush (13-9) are seeded eighth — the same position as in the final coaches poll announced Monday — and will play at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18 against the winner of a first-round match between ninth-seeded Vanguard (7-13) and 24th-seeded Mobile (6-7).

All matches will be played at Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala. The Vanguard-Mobile dual will be one of eight played May 17, and the tournament will conclude May 21. Twenty-four teams qualified, and eight received byes.

Xavier qualified automatically for nationals by winning the Unaffiliated Group 2 Tournament April 29-30 at Chattanooga, Tenn. Vanguard received an at-large bid, and Mobile qualified as host institution.

Xavier earned its first victory against a top-10 NAIA opponent with its 6-3 decision at Vanguard on March 4. The Lions, a quarterfinalist five of the last six seasons and a semifinalist in 2000 and 2004, beat the Gold Rush 6-3 in 2010 and 5-4 in 2008 in regular-season duals.

Xavier did not play Mobile this year, but the Gold Rush were 8-0 against the Mobile the previous three seasons, including victories in the finals of Gulf Coast Athletic Conference tournaments in 2008 and 2009. Mobile competed in the Southern States Athletic Conference this year.

This is the third consecutive year that the XU men qualified for the national tournament. In 2009 the Gold Rush defeated Oklahoma Christian 5-4 in the first round, then lost to eventual runner-up Auburn Montgomery 5-0. Last year the Gold Rush beat Tennessee Wesleyan 5-3 in the first round, then lost 5-1 to eventual runner-up Fresno Pacific.

Fresno Pacific, a 5-2 loser to Auburn Montgomery in the 2010 final, is the No. 1 seed and could play Xavier in the quarterfinals May 19.

Bracket


NAIA National Championship
(seedings in parentheses)

First Round — 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 17
Aquinas (16) vs. St. Thomas (Fla.) (17)
Vanguard (9) vs. Mobile (24)
Graceland (12) vs. Huntington (Ind.) (21)
Concordia (Calif.) (13) vs. Bethany (Kan.) (20)
Lindsey Wilson (14) vs. Lewis-Clark State (19)
Shorter (11) vs. Hastings (22)
Union (Ky.) (10) vs. Brescia (23)
William Carey (15) vs. Olivet Nazarene (18)

Second Round — 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18
Fresno Pacific (1) vs. Aquinas-St. Thomas winner
Xavier (8) vs. Vanguard-Mobile winner
Azusa Pacific (5) vs. Graceland-Huntington winner
Oklahoma Christian (4) vs. Concordia-Bethany winner
Auburn Montgomery (3) vs. Lindsey Wilson - Lewis-Clark State winner
Westmont (6) vs. Shorter-Hastings winner
Point Loma Nazarene (7) vs. Union-Brescia winner
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (2) vs. William Carey-Olivet Nazarene winner

Quarterfinals — 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 19

Semifinals — 9 a.m. on Friday, May 20

Championship — 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 21

Xavier at Nationals (2-2)
May 12, 2009 (first round): Xavier 5, Oklahoma Christian 4
May 13, 2009 (second round): Auburn Montgomery 5, Xavier 0
May 18, 2010 (first round): Xavier 5, Tennessee Wesleyan 3
May 19, 2010 (second round): Fresno Pacific 5, Xavier 1

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Friday, April 15, 2011

SUNO Lady Knights Team Up With Science Major for Day of Service

New Orleans, La. - SUNO's women's basketball team united with members of the Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Honor Society and SUNO's National Institute of Science chapter to lend a helping hand to doing community service at City Park. The SUNO student athletes and science majors visited field number eighteen at Harrison and Marconi Blvds., to help lay down new clay for the softball leagues. The service project took place on Saturday, April 2nd.

"There are going to be a lot of happy players (when they see this)," said Lori Colgan, the Assistant Commissioner of the NOLA Softball League and manager of one of the teams. Colgan said that after the league bought the clay, there was no one to help the leagues do the hard part. She was going to ask the players to do the dirty work, and they would have had to play the next day. Eight leagues use the fields at City Park, inlcuding a youth league.

The SUNO students arrived at 9 a.m., and worked consistently for the next couple of hours. Later in the morning, students from Tulane University arrived to lend their backs to the process to give City Park nearly fifty volunteers on the morning.

The students were joined by Elston King, Athletic Director and Women's Basketball Coach, Roshaun Ambrose, Assistant Women's Basketball Coach, Dr. Murty Kambhampati, Professor of Biology, and Dr. Illya Tietzel, Assistant Professor of Biology.

"This is great!" exclaimed a smiling Jim Morrisson, Volunteer Coordinator of City Park. "You guys really saved the day."

VISIT: SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY AT NEW ORLEANS
VISIT: SUNOKNIGHTS