No. 12 Men’s Tennis gets tough W vs. No. 16 Co-Lin

PERKINSTON — Two points in doubles and a strong performance by the final three singles courts led No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast past No. 16 Copiah-Lincoln 6-3 Tuesday at the MGCCC Tennis Complex.

"Give Co-Lin a lot of credit; they came out and played some really good tennis top to bottom," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "It really pushed our guys and made us come up with some good stuff. But our guys did, and they came through in a lot of big moments."

The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 overall, 2-0 MACCC.

Santiago Enriquez (Fr., Encarnacion, Paraguay/CEUCE) and Connor Hartfield (So., Oak Grove/Oak Grove) picked up the first doubles point on No. 3 court, and Jan Bako (Fr., Ostrava, Czech Republic/Hladnov) and Warren Hudson (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) won 8-6 at No. 2.

Ryland Buford (So., Gulfport/Gulfport), Warren Hudson (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) and Nick Dulaney (So., Long Beach/Long Beach) won Courts 4-6 in straight sets.

Bako mounted a tremendous comeback at No. 2 singles after dropping the first set 6-4. He won the next two 7-5, 6-4 to clinch the match.

"He had a really big win, getting the fifth point of the match against a really good player that was playing at a really high level," Blackburn said. "Jan had to make some adjustments in the game plan, and he was able to do that successfully to get the win."

Co-Lin took its first loss, falling to 2-1, 1-1.

Gulf Coast finishes a busy week Friday when Itawamba visits Perk. First serves are set for 2 p.m.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 6, Copiah-Lincoln 3

Doubles

No. 1: Nikoloz Gurgenidze-Jake Bucek (CL) def. Angel Hernandez-Ryland Buford, 8-6

No. 2: Jan Bako-Warren Hudson (GC) def. Jax Leggett-Nicholas Tozer, 8-6

No. 3: Santiago Enriquez-Connor Hartfield (GC) def. Lane Breland-James Rooks, 8-3

Singles

No. 1: Gurgenidze (CL) def. Hernandez, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6

No. 2: Bako (GC) def. Tozer, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

No. 3: Bucek (CL) def. Enriquez, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4

No. 4: Buford (GC) def. Rooks, 6-1, 6-1

No. 5: Hudson (GC) def. Brand, 6-1, 6-0

No. 6: Nick Dulaney (GC) def. Leggett, 6-4, 6-1

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