Bulldogs send 3 to finals
Mississippi Gulf Coast has three chance Friday to claim consolation draw titles at the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship.
The Bulldogs won semifinals on three courts Thursday in the Plano, Texas, area. Pedro Molero (Fr., Maracaibo, Venezuela/U.E. Instituto Americano Joseph John Thomson) and Anderson Dulaney (Fr., Long Beach/Long Beach) won their singles matches. Seth Macute (Fr., Brisbane, Australia/St Joseph's Nudgee College) and Wesley Fontaine (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) won at No. 1 doubles.
Molero easily beat Marion Military's Eddie Hunter at No. 2, and Dulaney took care of Lake County's Mason Cohen 8-3 at No. 5.
"Pedro played really solid," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "The guy he played had beaten some good opponents this year, and he'd beaten a Wallace State guy who beat us this. Pedro won 8-1, so I was very impressed."
Macute and Fontaine pulled out a clutch win over Iowa Central's Juan Gomez and Nico Zumba. They won 8-5 at No. 1 singles.
"They had probably their best performance of the year," Blackburn said. "The beat Iowa Central, who had a really strong team. It was a very good performance, and I'm pumped for them especially because they're sophomores."
Gulf Coast is in 17th place heading into the final day. The Bulldogs are a half-point back of Jones in the battle for the top spot among MACCC teams. Jones is finished in Plano, and each Gulf Coast win in the finals would be worth a half-point.
Itawamba is a half-point back in 18th with four courts alive in the finals. That makes the Macute-Fontaine match against ICC a huge swing match. The Gulf Coast duo won both meetings in the regular season.
"We have some work to do," Blackburn said. "It's not going to be anything easy tomorrow."
NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship
Collin College/Southern Methodist University
Plano, Texas
May 17-21 (all times CT)
Thursday's Results
Consolation Draw
Doubles
No. 1 semifinals: Seth Macute-Wesley Fontaine (GC) def. Juan Gomez-Nico Zumba (Iowa Central), 8-5
Singles
No. 1 semifinals: Sebastian Gamez-Para (Wallace State) def Seth Macute (GC), 8-3
No. 2 semifinals: Pedro Molero (GC) def. Eddie Hunter (Marion Military), 8-1
No. 5 semifinals: Anderson Dulaney (GC) def. Mason Cohen (Lake County), 8-3
Friday's Schedule
Consolation Draw
Singles
No. 2 finals: Pedro Molero (GC) vs. Heimanarii Lai-San (USC-Sumter), 8 a.m.
No. 5 finals: Anderson Dulaney (GC) vs. Gage Anderson (Wallace State), 8 a.m.
Doubles
No. 1 finals: Seth Macute-Wesley Fontaine (GC) vs. Sergio Garcia-Rhonzo Olaechea (Itawamba), 11 a.m.
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