NEW ORLEANS, La. – If the NAIA had a match of the week, then the tennis match between Belhaven and Xavier University-New Orleans would have made the short list this week. The No. 10 Gold Nuggets and No. 12 Blazers battled back and forth, until Xavier was able to take the third singles spot to claim a 5-4 victory.

Belhaven faced a team that has had the hardest schedule in the NAIA coming into the day, with three matches against NCAA teams, including losses to Tulane and La-Lafayette. The Gold Nuggets came into the match with a 3-4 record, but they only had two losses in NAIA competition. Those losses came against No. 5 William Carey and No. 7 Bethany (Kan.).

The Blazers had yet to see a Top 25 opponent after their match with Lee University was postponed due to rain over the weekend. Facing a top 10 opponent so early in the season gave the Blazers a chance to provide a statement victory, but they fell on the wrong side of a three-set match at third singles.

Xavier kicked off the match by winning two of the three doubles matches. Belhaven's duo of Enrico Patriarca and Andres Yepez won at third doubles with a defaulted match.

David Mejia, Patriarca and Daniel Duarte all picked up wins in the bottom half of the singles matches to complete the scoring for the Blazers.

Singles
 
1. Loic Didavi (XU-M) def. Nikita Lisov (BU-M) 6-4, 6-1
2. Nikita Soifer (XU-M) def. Jefferson Nino (BU-M) 6-2, 6-2
3. Kyle Montrel (XU-M) def. Daniel Prado (BU-M) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. David Mejia (BU-M) def. Viktor Svoboda (XU-M) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6)
5. Enrico Patriarca (BU-M) def. Benjamin Brading (XU-M) 6-4, 7-5
6. Daniel Duarte (BU-M) def. No player (XU-M), by default
 
Doubles
 
1. Didavi/Montrel (XU-M) def. Mejia/Daniel Duarte (BU-M) 8-3
2. Soifer/Svoboda (XU-M) def. Nino/Prado (BU-M) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Patriarca/Andres Yepez (BU-M) def. No player/No player (XU-M), by default
 
Match Notes:
Belhaven 3-1
Xavier 4-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,5,1,2,3,4)