Gold Rush win, Gold Nuggets lose at Prairie View
February 10, 2012

Results:  Men    Women

     PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Xavier University of Louisiana, ranked ninth in NAIA men's tennis, defeated NCAA Division I member Prairie A&M 7-0 Friday in the Prairie View A&M Invitational. Xavier's women lost 6-1 to Prairie View.
     Loic Didavi, Zach Taylor, Viktor Svoboda, Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson won in doubles and singles for the Gold Rush (2-1). Taylor clinched the dual with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory against Karim Fotso at No. 2 singles.
     It was the XU men's fifth consecutive victory against Prairie View in six seasons but the first time that the Gold Rush won every match.
     "Our guys fought hard to come out with that win," XU coach Alan Green said. "There were a lot of tough points out there. Prairie View has a good team and should contend for the SWAC championship."
     Freshman Amanda Materre scored the lone point for the Gold Nuggets (0-4) with her 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-3) victory against Lerato Ndlovu at No. 3 singles. At No. 1 singles XU's Kourtney Howell went to a third-set super-tiebreaker for the fourth consecutive dual but lost 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-2) to Brittany Harrell. Howell and Nicole DeLoach also lost in a tiebreaker to Raven Lewis and Ndlovu at No. 1 doubles.
     "Our women played much better today," Green said. "We still have a lot of work to do, but the important thing is that we are playing hard and getting better."
     Prairie View's men are 0-4, and the women are 2-4.
     The Gold Rush will play NAIA No. 16 Bethany (Kan.) at 10 a.m. Saturday in this event. The Gold Nuggets are done at Prairie View, but they'll play McNeese State at noon Sunday at Lake Charles, La.