No. 12 MGCCC Men zoom past No. 23 East Central

No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast won its second straight match to open the 2024 men's tennis season, powering past No. 23 East Central 7-2 in Decatur on Friday.

"We played pretty well," Bulldogs coach Sam Blackburn said. "From top to bottom, we had some good matches and some not-as-good matches, but as a team, we looked pretty good. I'm happy they didn't have much of a letdown after a good win on Tuesday."

The Bulldogs, who played their second straight MACCC match, got a pair of comeback wins from Gonzalo Cotter (Fr., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) and Vicente Faria (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária de Fonseca Benevides) on the first two singles courts.

Gonzalo lost a first-set tiebreaker at No. 1, then swept the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. Faria came back from dropping the first set to win 6-1, 6-0.

"Some of the guys didn't have their best days, but they found a way to win," Blackburn said. "Gonzalo still managed to pull out a good win against a good player. Vicente did well coming back, too."

Cotter and Faria won their No. 1 doubles match easily, and Duarte Mestre (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária Sebastiao e Silva) and Triston Hill (So., Perkinston/Stone) won their doubles match together and individual singles courts. 

East Central falls to 0-5, 0-2 MACCC.

The men will play a scrimmage at NCAA Division I Jacksonville State on Sunday. First serves in Alabama are set for 2 p.m. The Bulldogs will be back to regular-season play Tuesday with a trip to New Albany to play Northeast Mississippi starting at 11 a.m.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast Men 7, East Central 2

Doubles

No. 1: Gonzalo Cotter-Vicente Faria (GC) def. Batuhan Saban-Cade Cooley, 8-3

No. 2: Duarte Mestre-Triston Hill (GC) def. Maximo Estrada-Trey Posey, 8-1

No. 3: Luke Bruntlett-Tate Baucum (EC) def. Hiram Havard-Jeremiah Layton, 8-6

Singles

No. 1: Cotter (GC) def. Saban, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2

No. 2: Faria (GC) def. Estrada, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

No. 3: Mestre (GC) def. Baucum, 6-1, 6-0

No. 4: Hill (GC) def. Posey, 6-3, 6-3

No. 5: Havard (GC) def. Bruntlett, 6-2, 6-0

No. 6: Cooley (EC) def. Layton, 6-3, 6-2

For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.