Callejo-Vivar grabs another W
Valeria Callejo-Vivar continued her run in the championship bracket, and two other Mississippi Gulf Coast players remain alive in the consolation draw after the second day at the NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship in Tyler, Texas.
Callejo-Vivar won her second match at No. 2 singles to advance to the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs are tied for 13th.
"We played pretty good today," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We had some really, really tough matches we had to battle through. Everybody played pretty well. We just ran into some tough teams and had some really close matches that we didn't come out on top of."
Callejo-Vivar (So., Madrid, Spain/I.E.S. Ortega y Gasset) beat Wallace State's Sophia Baillos 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16. She had beaten the fourth-seeded player Saturday on Day 1.
"She's just quite confident," Blackburn said. "I think she knows that this is her last time to play in a Bulldog uniform, and she wants to leave it all out there. She's playing with the kind of grit and discrimination we know she has. She's doing whatever it takes to win. She's out-toughing her opponent and getting it done."
Callejo-Vivar and Danique Vermue (So., 's-Heerenhoek, Netherlands/Scheldemon College) almost pulled off an upset in No. 1 doubles. Playing Maria Gento and Elena Martinez Prado from Eastern Florida State, the seventh-seed, the bounced back from dropping the first set to force a third. They staved off a slew of match points before forcing the tiebreaker but couldn't complete the comeback.
Lauren Sullivan (So., Laurel/Laurel Christian) won her No. 4 singles match in the consolation bracket 8-0 over Moraine Valley's Maya Morris. Karla Bethea (So., Edwards/Homeschool) didn't play Sunday but remains alive in the No. 6 consolation bracket.
2025 NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship
Tyler, Texas
May 3-7
Sunday
Main Draw Round of 16
Singles
No. 1: #8 Claire Mahere (Weatherford) def. Danique Vermue (GC), 6-4, 6-2
No. 2: Valeria Callejo-Vivar (GC) def. Sophia Baillos (Wallace State), 7-5, 6-2
No. 3: #8 Ebonie Russell (Pratt) def. Isona Arnaus (GC), 6-3, 7-6
No. 5: #8 Emma Garcia Gomez (Iowa Central) def. Dallas Tanner (GC), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1: #7 Maria Gento-Elena Martinez Prado (Eastern Florida State) def. Valeria Callejo-Vivar-Danique Vermue (GC), 6-0, 2-6, 7-6
No. 3: #4 Alyssa Glasgow-Marqaylar Tere (Collin) def. Mikenzy Dubrow-Dallas Tanner (GC), 6-1, 6-0
Consolation Draw
Singles
No. 4: Lauren Sullivan (GC) def. Maya Morris (Moraine Valley), 8-0
Doubles
No. 2: #7 Rosaline Akombo-Mazamesso Tchamoussa (Iowa Central) def. Isona Arnaus-Lauren Sullivan (GC), 8-2
Monday
Main Draw Quarterfinals
No. 2: Valeria Callejo-Vivar (GC) vs. #5 Elena Martinez Prado (Eastern Florida State), 8 a.m.
Consolation Draw Quarterfinals
Singles
No. 4: Lauren Sullivan (GC) vs. Rylan Gulley (Southwestern Illinois), 11 a.m.
No. 6: Karla Bethea (GC) vs. Makenna Swasey (Mercer County), 11 a.m.
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