KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Belhaven tennis teams both made appearances in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll for the third straight time, as released by the NAIA national office on Tuesday afternoon. 
 
Each team lost to Xavier University-New Orleans last week, which resulted in a slight dip in the rankings to No. 24 for the women and caused the men to stay put at No. 12 in the NAIA. The Gold Nuggets of Xavier are ranked in the top 10 in both the women's and men's polls.
 
Belhaven's women's tennis team struggled through a 9-0 loss to the No. 10 Lady Gold Nuggets, but the men were barely beaten by 5-4. The men's team had match points at the second doubles flight, a match that they would end up losing and it became the difference in the overall score.
 
The Southern States Athletic Conference has plenty of representatives in the top 25 in the men's poll with Auburn-Montgomery headlining with a No. 2 ranking. The Warhawks have started the season at 5-1, including a win over D-III 2012 champion Emory University.
 
William Carey checks in at sixth, followed by Belhaven and No. 22 Coastal Georgia. Bethel University, a newcomer to the conference in 2013, entered the rankings at 24^th.
 
On the women's side, William Carey vaulted into the top spot in the country after defeating defending champion Auburn-Montgomery last weekend. The loss against the Crusaders caused the Lady Warhawks to fall to second in the NAIA.
 
Brenau sits in third, creating an all-SSAC top three in the latest poll. Coastal Georgia jumped all the way from being unranked to 16^th despite posting a 1-4 record.  Lee lost a match last week and fell three spots to 18^th.
 
The Blazers were in action at home against Louisiana College during the time of this publication.