No. 15 Bulldogs fall one court short in R23 title match
ELLISVILLE — No. 15 Mississippi Gulf Coast played another down-to-the-wire match against No. 13 Jones in the NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Tournament championship game on Saturday.
Like they did in the regular season, the Bulldogs came up just short, losing 5-4 to finish as region runners-up. Both teams had already clinched a berth in the national tournament.
"I can't say enough about the guys' effort," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "I told them in the post-match meeting that we put ourselves in a position to win the match today. We didn't, and that's tough, but that's life. I'm very proud of the effort from everybody on the team. Whether they play or not, everybody contributed, and it was a heckuva fight."
Gulf Coast (13-2) will play in the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship in Florence, S.C. It starts May 12. Jones is 19-5.
After dropping No. 1 doubles, the Bulldogs' No. 3 team of Jordan Mitchell (Fr., Natchez/Natchez) and Connor Hartfield (Fr., Hattiesburg/Oak Grove) even the match with an 8-6 win.
Gonzalo Cotter (So., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) and Ryland Buford (Fr., Gulfport/Gulfport) trailed 6-1 in No. 3 doubles before rallying. They knotted the match at 7-7 and wound up headed to a tiebreaker after the teams split the next two games. Jones pulled it out 9-8 to take a 2-1 lead.
Buford and Moritz Stroebel (Fr., Metzingen, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Schule Reutlingen) put the Bulldogs ahead 3-2 by winning the first two singles courts, Nos. 4 and 3, respectively.
After Jones won No. 1 singles, Nick Dulaney (Fr., Long Beach/Long Beach) finished up his No. 6 win 6-2, 6-2.
The Bobcats won No. 5 singles, and Cotter tried to force a third set at No. 2, but lost in a tiebreaker.
Gulf Coast will spend the next couple of weeks getting ready for its South Carolina trip for nationals.
"That's a big goal of ours at the beginning of the year," Blackburn said. "We earned a trip there, and I'm really excited to see what these guys can do at the top of the top of the game at the nationals. It's gonna be great."
Results
Team: Jones 5, Gulf Coast 4
Doubles (in order of finish)
No. 1: Thomas Garrett-Matias Ruiz (JC) def. Vicente Faria-Moritz Stroebel, 8-5
No. 3: Jordan Mitchell-Connor Hartfield (GC) def. Ridge Jones-Reese Touchet, 8-6
No. 2: Diego Castellanos-Alex Holder (JC) def. Gonzalo Cotter-Ryland Buford, 9-8 (5)
Singles (in order of finish)
No. 4: Buford (GC) def. Holder, 6-1, 6-2
No. 3: Stroebel (GC) def. Castellanos, 6-1, 6-1
No. 1: Ruiz (JC) def. Faria, 6-2, 6-0
No. 6: Dulaney (GC) def. Luke Westmoreland, 6-2, 6-2
No. 5: Jones (JC) def. Mitchell, 6-4, 6-1
No. 2: Garrett (JC) def. Cotter, 7-5, 7-6 (3)
NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Championship
Ellisville
April 24-26
Quarterfinals
Thursday
No. 1 Jones 5, No. 8 Northeast Mississippi 0
No. 4 Northwest Mississippi 5, No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln 3
No. 2 Gulf Coast 5, No. 7 East Central 0
No. 3 Itawamba 5, No. 6 Meridian 1
Semifinals
Friday
Ellisville
Jones 5, Northwest 1
Hattiesburg-Wiggins
Gulf Coast 5, Itawamba 2
Saturday
Championship
Jones 5, Gulf Coast 4
Third-place match
Itawamba 5, Northwest 1
For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
