Perry's upstart and 15th-seeded badminton team started out winning the first set of two different singles matches Thursday night to heighten the aspirations the Pumas had toward an upset of defending champ Xavier.

But the grittiness the top-seeded Gators displayed later in the those matches helped translate to a 5-0 victory over Perry and a second consecutive title for Xavier at Xavier's auxilary activity center. This marked the sixth year in a row Xavier reached the team final and the fifth time the Gators have won under current coach Nancy Meyer. Xavier also went unbeaten (18-0) for the second year in a row.

"(Perry) was unbelieveable in getting here," Meyer said. "We were concerned. We had never seen them so we weren't sure. They had a great tournament."

But Meyer's players were too much as they rolled to a fourth straight lopsided win in the team competition. Xavier dropped just one match in its four triumphs. The Gators No. 1 singles player Areta Buness and No. 3 Teal Weaver were beaten quickly in the first sets of their matches. But Buness, who finished third last weekend in the singles tournament, hung tough after losing her opening set to Perry's Jenna Reynolds, 11-2.

Buness trailed 9-3 in the second set, but began clicking and ended up taking the second 11-9. She won handily in the third, 11-4.

"The first game I was really beating myself," Buness said. "I got focused after that and started making my shots."

Weaver fell 11-8 in her first set to Perry's Lauren Kater. Weaver was in a zone from there, pulling out the match with 11-0 and 11-4 victories.

"We started out with a few nerves," Meyer said. "That showed. But these girls play hard, and love a challenge. They responded to it. They got after it."

Xavier reached the finals with ease in every round. The Gators defeated No. 16 Millennium (5-0), No. 9 Mountain Ridge (5-0) and No. 5 Desert Vista (5-1). Perry (13-5) qualified for the final with a trio of 5-3 victories over No. 2 Ironwood, No. 7 Horizon and No. 3 Corona del Sol, respectively. Ironwood and Horizon were section champs and Corona was runner-up in its section to Desert Vista.

Three weeks ago Perry was not in the top 16 in the power rankings and the outlook was not good for a playoff berth. The Pumas, who finished third in their section behind Red Mountain and Skyline, strung together three wins in their final three matches and let the chips fall where they may.

"We got up to No. 16 and the last match of the season Desert Vista beat Chandler," Perry coach Lerina Johnson said. "That bumped us up to 15. The bracket came out and it was a little top heavy in our favor. Not being inand then realizing were we in  gave us a second chance late and fueled the girls to get here. They've just kept going."

Perry did not have any of its players reach the semis in single or doubles competition. It's No. 2 doubles team did the best, reaching the quarterfinals

"We were so happy to be here," Johnson said after the loss. "We had great support here, even from other coaches. Xavier is very good. The atmosphere was great with both sides having their fans.To get this far, we consider it a victory.

Perry had plenty of smiles as they accepted the runner-up trophy, having been the first Division I school with a double-digit seed to reach a championship match. The previous low seed to reach a final was a 6.

Rounding out the other scores in the match -- Xavier's No. 2 Kirielle Singarajah beat Perry's Laike Reader, 11-5, 11-4; Xavier No. 4 Mallory Belknap defeated Perry No. 4 Adela Martinez, 11-0, 11-6 and Xavier No. 5 Baani Khurana topped Perry No. 5 Michaela Dye, 11-5, 11-5.