Diep wins first-round match at national tourney

Mississippi Gulf Coast's Chris Diep picked up the Bulldogs only win Monday in the first round of the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Tournament in Plano, Texas.

Diep defeated Glendale's Leo Rodriguez 6-0, 7-5 in No. 5 singles. He'll play Harford's Bradley Schug on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

The No. 2 doubles team of Noah Tippen and Brennan O'Keefe got a first-round bye. They will play Mesa's David Felix and Shimon Murukami at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

The rest of the Bulldogs dropped first-round matches and will play in the consolation draw. In other action:

In No. 1 singles, Bryan Allen fell to Jon Koons of Lewis & Clark, 6-2, 6-2.

In No. 2 singles, Sam Blackburn extended Harford's Tomas Parra to 3 sets before losing 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 6-1.

In No. 3 singles, Noah Tippen fell to Jacksonville's Cristian Pons, 6-2, 6-1.

In No. 4 singles, Brett Bowen fell to Collin's Daniel Stormon, 6-2, 6-0.

In No. 6 singles, Brennan O'Keefe lost in three sets in No. 6 singles to Prairie State's Sasa Bozic, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

In No. 1 doubles, Allen and Sam fell to Collin's Jack Riesse and Daniel Stormon, 6-3, 6-1

No. 3 doubles, Bowen and Diep lost to ASA's Tomas Dirube and Emmanuel Popadinec, 6-2, 6-1.