Xavier tennis standouts earn All-American honors

Goreau is Nuggets’ 1st 3-time 1st-team All-American

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana’s Charlene Goreau and Mariia Borodii were named Tuesday to the 2018 NAIA Women’s Tennis All-America first team, and Angela Charles-Alfred was named to the second team.

Goreau, a junior from Toulouse, France, is the first Gold Nugget to make the first team three times. Borodii, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and Charles-Alfred, from Saint-Pierre, Martinique, are freshmen.

Receiving honorable mention was XULA’s Yi Chen Pao, a sophomore from Taichung City, Taiwan.

These four student-athletes helped the Gold Nuggets finish 19-8, reach the semifinals of the NAIA National Championships, earn a No. 3 national ranking entering the tournament and set a school record with 16 consecutive dual-match victories.

XULA, NAIA champion Georgia Gwinnett and runner-up Keiser were the only schools with multiple first-team selections.

It’s the fourth time in five years that a Gold Nugget freshman made first-team All-America.

End-of-season honors still to be announced include ITA All-America and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s All-Louisiana team.

Fifea, Richard repeat as 1st-team All-Americans

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana’s Catalin Fifea and Antoine Richard were repeat selections Tuesday on the 2018 NAIA Men’s Tennis All-America first team, and Samir Chikhaoui was named to the second team.

Two XULA streaks continued. It’s the seventh straight year that the Gold Rush are represented on the first team and the third straight year that Rush have a pair of first-team players.

Richard, from Laval, Quebec, is the first Gold Rush player to make the NAIA’s committee-selected first team as a freshman and sophomore. Fifea is a senior from Bucharest, Romania, and Chikhaoui is a sophomore from Lille, France.
Receiving honorable mention was XULA’s Shaikh Abdullah, a freshman from Hyderabad, India.

Fifea, Richard, Chikhaoui and Abdullah helped the Gold Rush finish 13-12, reach the semifinals of the NAIA National Championships and earn a No. 4 national ranking entering the tournament.

XULA, NAIA champion Georgia Gwinnett, runner-up Keiser and quarterfinalist Campbellsville were the only schools with multiple first-team selections.

End-of-season honors still to be announced include ITA All-America and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s All-Louisiana team.