Rahbar, Nelson lead Xavier at HBCU Championships
September 23, 2010

     COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — The Xavier University of Louisiana tennis teams, led by freshman Amir Rahbar and sophomore Carmen Nelson, won seven of 11 matches Thursday on the opening day of the HBCU National Championships at South Fulton Tennis Center.
     Rahbar defeated Bethune-Cookman's Kip Jackson 6-2, 6-1 and Alcorn State's Anton Krutkin 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the men's B-flight singles. Rahbar was 3-0 for the day, including an 8-6 B-flight doubles victory with Jonathan Aubrey against Alcorn State's Winfried Weinbeer and Pushpendra Rajpurohit.
     Nelson won both her matches in the B-flight. She beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff's Lauren Valecillos 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (11-9) to reach the singles quarterfinals, and she teamed with Melissa DeLoach for a 9-8 (7-4) victory over UAPB's Fabiola Cardoso and Maria Cabane.
     Aubrey, the other Gold Rush freshman, defeated Florida A&M's Fabrice Myrtil 6-3, 6-4 to reach the C-flight singles quarterfinals.
     Xavier won all three of its doubles matches. The other victory came from Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson in the A-flight, where they defeated FAMU's Levan Clark and Michael Moore 8-6.
     Giles-Osborn lost 5-7,6-2, 1-0 (10-8) to Winston-Salem State's Brian Coxton in A-flight singles.