Richardson reaches Region XIII men's quarterfinals
September 19, 2008

Results:  Men    Women

     MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Xavier University of Louisiana's Terry Richardson defeated Shorter's David Araiza 6-1, 6-4 Friday to reach the men's singles quarterfinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA Region XIII Championships.
     Richardson will play Auburn Montgomery's Francisco Redondo, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Xavier's Steffen Osborn, at 10 a.m. Saturday.
     Osborn and Matthew Walker of the Gold Rush and Anastesia Opata and Colleen McArthur of the Gold Nuggets won first-round matches before being eliminated.
     Opata, seeded sixth in women's singles, beat Brenau's Jolene Wong 6-1, 6-1 before retiring because of leg and hand cramps in a 3-6, 6-2, 3-0 second-round loss to AUM's Whitney Byrd.
     For the day the Gold Rush was 3-5, and the Gold Nuggets were 2-7.
     "It was pretty encouraging," Xavier coach Alan Green said. "For the most part we played well. Our record wasn't better because some of our women were facing players who are higher in the lineup in dual matches.
     "We should be in about the same spot in the preseason national rankings that we were at the end of last season. But our region looks stronger."
     Osborn, ranked 190th in the United States by tennisrecruiting.net this year, began his collegiate career with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Shorter's Davis Bennett. He then lost 6-3, 6-3 to Redondo, the third seed, but drew raves from Green.
     "Steffen has nothing to hang his head on," Green said. "He lost by a break in each set to a guy (Redondo) who was consistently in the top five in the nation two years ago.
     "Osborn's serve kept him in the match. If he keeps working and the rest of his game catches up, he's going to be one of the best players around."
     The Gold Rush's other freshman, Sean Richardson, is Terry's younger brother. Sean lost 6-4, 6-3 to Shorter's Romain Baudry in the opening round. The Gold Nuggets' lone freshman, Marian Lang, lost 6-4, 6-0 to Berry's Kendal Ruffner.
     The tournament is the first of two fall events for Xavier.