Nuggets' Opata is GCAC Player of the Week again
March 17, 2009

     NEW ORLEANS — Anastesia Opata of Xavier University of Louisiana is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women's tennis for the second time in three weeks.
     Opata, a junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., and a graduate of Central Gwinnett High School, was 2-1 in singles and 3-1 in doubles at the Auburn Montgomery Invitational at Montgomery, Ala., and helped the Gold Nuggets defeat two ranked NAIA teams in the same day for the first time in the program's history.
     Opata, No. 22 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association/NAIA preseason singles rankings, defeated Shorter's 31st-ranked Emmanuelle DeBeaucoudrey 6-4, 6-4 Friday en route to a 5-1 Xavier victory over the 13th-ranked Lady Hawks. Later that day Opata teamed with Angelina Callis to defeat eighth-ranked Samantha Attard and Paolo Costa 9-8 in doubles, giving the Nuggets a 3-0 lead in an eventual 6-3 victory over 23rd-ranked Oklahoma Baptist.
     Opata is 12-5 in singles and 11-3 in doubles this season, which includes two fall tournaments.
     Xavier — 11-4 overall, 5-0 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and 17th in the NAIA — will travel to Mobile Ala., for GCAC matches Saturday against Mobile at 10 a.m. and Spring Hill at 2 p.m. The Nuggets have won 50 consecutive dual matches in the GCAC regular season.