Bulldogs reach goals with 9th-place NJCAA finish
The goal for the Mississippi Gulf Coast men's tennis team was totally organic. The Bulldogs took a big step forward this week at the NJCAA Division I Championship in Florence, S.C.
The finished ninth in the country, the best among six MACCC teams participating, and a new high-water mark for the conference in national tournament history.
"I heard the guys talking before the tournament started last week that that we could get top 10," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "They said we have the ability to do that if we take advantage of any draws we get that are good, if we stepped up in some matches that we have the capability to step up and win. If we do those things that we can get top 10. Sure enough, we did, and the team is really excited about what they accomplished."
The Bulldogs started the tournament 15th in the ITA rankings, and won all six opening-round matches in singles. Moritz Stroebel (Fr., Metzingen, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Schule Reutlingen) was seeded sixth in No. 2 singles, and he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by the three-seed.
The team also made hay in the doubles draws. The No. 2 duo of Ryland Buford (Fr., Gulfport/Gulfport) and Gonzalo Cotter (So., Valencia, Spain/IVLA), and the No. 3 team of Connor Hartfield (Fr., Hattiesburg/Oak Grove) and Jordan Mitchell (Fr., Natchez/Natchez) advanced to the quarterfinals to earn three points each.
Cotter and Buford beat the fifth-seeded team from Wallace State to make it to the semifinals, where they pushed the top-seeded team to a first-set tiebreaker. That Tyler squad eventually won the national championship in the bracket, and the Apaches won the team title.
Rival Jones finished 12th, with fellow MACCC teams Northwest Mississippi in 16th, Copiah-Lincoln in 18th, Meridian in 21st and Itawamba 22nd.
"Moving forward, if you got the right group of guys, the right team with the right culture and the right standards, you can really hang with anybody," Blackburn said. "We know if we all buy into that and play together, can really compete with anybody in the country. I saw us beat good teams and legitimately hang with the best teams in the country. If everybody buys in and is on the same page, we can really do something special."
2025 NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship
Florence, S.C.
May 12-16
Final Team Standings
1. Tyler 42
2. Barton 33
3. Collin 32.5
4. Pratt 32
5. Cowley 31
6. Eastern Florida State 28
7. Seward 27
8. Wallace State 26.5
9. Gulf Coast 22
T10. Harford 20
T10. USC Sumter 20
12. Jones 18.5
13. Iowa Central 17.5
T14. Weatherford 15.5
T14. Coastal Alabama-South 15.5
16. Northwest Mississippi 13
17. Bevill State 11.5
T18. Prairie State 8
T18. Copiah-Lincoln 8
T18. Southwestern Illinois 8
21. Meridian 7.5
22. Itawamba 6.5
23. Mesa 3.5
T24. Lake County 2
T24. Marion Military 2
26. Paradise Valley 0.5
27. Jacksonville State 0
Friday
Semifinals
Doubles Consolation Draw
No. 1: (6) Tom Garrett-Matias Ruiz (Jones) def. Vicente Faria-Moritz Stroebel (GC), walkover
For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
