Men’s Tennis finishes as R23 runners-up
No. 15 Mississippi Gulf Coast couldn't defend its NJCAA Region 23 men's tennis title Saturday, falling to No. 14 Jones 5-2 on the Bobcats' home court.
The Bulldogs had one last year on the same court, but couldn't match that feat this time around. Gulf Coast clinched a berth in the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship by advancing to the finals.
"Runner-up is never the goal, but it's an exciting accomplishment," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "They punched a ticket to Tyler, the big dance. That's where every team wants to go. We're excited."
Meridian earned the third automatic berth in the NJCAAs earlier Saturday by beating Copiah-Lincoln 5-1 in the third-place match.
Pedro Molero (So., Maracaibo, Venezuela/U.E. Instituto Americano Joseph John Thomson) and Clay Fudge (So., Madison/Madison Central) picked up the only doubles point for the Bulldogs. Gulf Coast dropped a close match at No. 2 when they had four break points to get back on serve only to lose the game and the match 8-6.
"Our No. 1 doubles team stepped up and played an incredible match," Blackburn said. "We've been waiting for that for a while now."
Alex King (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) stormed back from losing the first set 2-6 to win the second 6-3, then cruised 10-4 in the tiebreaker.
Anderson Dulaney (So., Long Beach/Long Beach) was a game away from closing out his No. 4 singles match in straight sets when the final point was won by Jones. Paul Gayk (Fr., Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany/Berufskolleg Lehnerstrasse) was trying to battle back in the second set to force a tiebreaker, down 4-6, 4-5.
"It was an un-and-down roller coaster the whole match," Blackburn said. "Clay Fudge lost a 10-point tiebreaker to lsoe the match, but if he wins a few more points, we've got two more guys with very winnable matches going on. It could have gone either way."
Results
Team: Jones 5, Gulf Coast 2
Doubles
No. 1: Pedro Molero-Clay Fudge (GC) def. Tomas Nader-Wallace Brewer, 8-3
No. 2: Ignacio Vanecek-Trey Hilton (JC) def. Paul Gayk-Anderson Dulaney, 8-6
No. 3: Tanner Bevard-Jackson Peoples (JC) def. Kyle Bond-Alex King, 8-4
Singles
No. 2: Brewer (JC) def. Fudge, 6-1, 3-6, 10-5
No. 3: Vanecek (JC) def. Molero, 6-0, 6-4
No. 5: Peoples (JC) def. Bond, 6-2, 6-2
No. 6: King (GC) def. Hilton, 2-6, 6-3, 10-4
NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Championship
April 21-23, Ellisville
Thursday
Quarterfinals
No. 4 Copiah-Lincoln 5, No. 5 Hinds 3
No. 3 Meridian 5, No. 6 East Central 0
Friday
Semifinals
No. 2 Gulf Coast 5, No. 3 Meridian 4
No. 2 Jones 5, No. 4 Copiah-Lincoln 1
Saturday
Championship
Jones 5, Gulf Coast 2
Third-place match
Meridian 5, Co-Lin 1
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