Defending champ AUM ends Gold Nuggets' season
May 19, 2010

Results

     MOBILE, Ala. — Auburn Montgomery, the six-time defending NAIA women's tennis champion, eliminated Xavier University of Louisiana 5-0 Wednesday in the second round of the NAIA National Championship.
     The top-seeded Lady Senators (19-3) lost a combined five games in five completed matches. The closest completed match was Ana Veselinovic and Morgane Zowczak's 8-4 doubles victory over Anastesia Opata and Angelina Callis. Veselinovic and Zowczak are No. 2 in the ITA's NAIA doubles rankings, and Opata and Callis are 25th.
     AUM's other two doubles teams also are ranked in the top 20.
     The Lady Senators advanced to the quarterfinals for the 11th straight year and will play eighth-ranked Oklahoma Christian at 9 a.m. Thursday. Xavier, in the tournament for the third straight year and fifth time in six seasons, finished 17-14. The Gold Nuggets are 0-5 in second-round matches at nationals.
     It was the final collegiate dual for XU seniors Opata, Callis and Colleen McArthur. Opata and Callis were All-Americans in 2009 and won a combined 76 percent of their singles and doubles matches their final two seasons.
     NOTES:   It was Xavier's 14th match of the season against an NAIA top-25 opponent. The Gold Nuggets were 5-9 in those matches . . . Xavier never has played a team ranked lower than fifth in the second round at nationals . . . AUM is 6-0 the last six seasons against Xavier — 3-0 in the postseason — and has not lost a match. The Lady Senators also eliminated Xavier in the 2004 second round at nationals and in the 2008 Region XIII semifinals.