No. 15 Bulldogs cruise into semis

ELLISVILLE — No. 15 Mississippi Gulf Coast advanced into the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament semifinals Thursday with a 5-1 win over No. 24 East Central.

Gulf Coast, the third seed, will play second-seeded Copiah-Lincoln at 2 p.m. here on Friday.

"Today was a good opportunity for us to face some nerves, face some adversity, and overcome the adversity, which is a part of sports," Bulldogs coach Sam Blackburn said. "We'll definitely have some ups and downs as we play our semifinal match tomorrow, so I'm excited for us to get through today and be ready for it."

Gulf Coast (11-6) rearranged the doubles lineup ahead of the region tournament, splitting their internationals across the three courts. It paid off, with new partners Victoria Ros Fabuel (Fr., Valencia, Spain/Colegio Sagrado Corazon Hermanos Maristas) and Meredith Matthews (So., Wiggins/Stone) cruising to an 8-0 win at No. 3.

The usually strong pairing of Pia Pugliese (Fr., San Juan, Argentina/Colegio Central Universitario Mariano Moreno) and Paige Baronich (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) won 8-6 at No. 2.

"We kind of made every position a little more even, which strengthens us," Blackburn said. "When you look at the whole picture, that's exactly what happened. No. 3 doubles is very strong; our No. 2 dubs was strong. One dubs played really tough against one of the best doubles teams in our conference and the country, especially in the beginning."

Postseason matches end when a team clinches, and the Bulldogs closed out three singles courts quickly, dropping only one game in six sets on those courts. Victoria Ros Fabuel (Fr., Valencia, Spain/Colegio Sagrado Corazon Hermanos Maristas) and Andee Rogers (So., Wiggins/Stone) double-bageled their opponents at Nos. 3 and 6. Baronich won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4.

East Central is 8-7.

Gulf Coast will be trying to avenge a 6-3 loss to Co-Lin

"We're gonna have to come to match playing loose, playing free, recognizing that technically on paper we're the underdog," Blackburn said. "We've got to go show them that we belong in the finals."

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 5, East Central 1

Doubles

No. 1: Shana Mao-Ivanna De Gregorio (EC) def. Isona Arnaus- Katelyn Walker, 8-2

No. 2: Pia Pugliese-Paige Baronich (GC) def. Isabella Estrada Avila-Samantha Boykin, 8-6

No. 3: Victoria Ros Fabuel-Meredith Matthews (GC) def. Cecelia Burroughs-Aaliyah Coghlan, 8-0

Singles

No. 3: Ros Fabuel (GC) def. Estrada Avila, 6-0, 6-0

No. 4: Baronich (GC) def. Boykin, 6-1, 6-0

No. 6: Andee Rogers (GC) def. Coghlan, 6-0, 6-0 

NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament

April 9-11

Ellisville

Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 9

No. 1 Jones 5, No. 8 Meridian 0

No. 4 Northwest Mississippi vs. No. 5 Hinds, 10:30 a.m.

No. 2 Copiah-Lincoln vs. No. 7 Southwest Mississippi, 1 p.m.

No. 3 Gulf Coast vs. No. 6 East Central, 3:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Friday, April 10

Jones vs. Northwest/Hinds winner, 10 a.m.

Copiah-Lincoln/Southwest winner vs. Gulf Coast/East Central winner, 2 p.m.

Championship

Saturday, April 11

Finals, 10 a.m.

Third-place, 2 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.