No. 13 MGCCC beats No. 19 Eagles

PERKINSTON — No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast got off to a strong start and just kept rolling Thursday at the MGCCC Tennis Complex.

The Bulldogs (8-6, 8-1 MACCC) downed No. 19 Meridian 7-2, dropping only one doubles and one singles court.

"The guys played great," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "Doubles was solid. The 2's and 3's played great tennis, and I was proud of the 3's for stepping up. We kept it going in the singles."

Hiram Havard (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) and Jeremiah Layton (Fr., Brookhaven/Brookhaven) cruised at No. 3 doubles, winning 8-2. Duarte Mestre (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária Sebastiao e Silva) and Triston Hill (So., Perkinston/Stone) won 8-5 at No. 2.

Gonzalo Cotter (Fr., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) rebounded from a loss in doubles to cruise to a 6-2, 6-1 win over a strong No. 1 singles opponent. Havard dropped only one game at No. 5, and Layton dropped two at No. 6.

Mestre and Hill grabbed the other two singles points.

"We didn't have too many negatives today," Blackburn said. "A couple guys didn't play their absolute best, but the team result was great."

Gulf Coast closes out its home regular-season schedule Tuesday against Northwest Mississippi. First serves on Sophomore Day will be at 2 p.m. It will also be the final conference match, and the Bulldogs will be trying to wrap up the second seed in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast men 7, Meridian 2

Doubles

No. 1: Loic Hiss-Sebastian Vaquero (MER) def. Gonzalo Cotter-Vicente Faria, 8-6

No. 2: Duarte Mestre-Triston Hill (GC) def. Simon Ojeda-Denzel Jones, 8-5

No. 3: Hiram Havard-Jeremiah Layton (GC) def. Isaac James-Blakeny Allen, 8-2

Singles

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

No. 2: Vaquero (MER) def. Faria, 6-4, 6-2

No. 3: Mestre (GC) def. Ojeda, 7-5, 6-3

No. 4: Hill (GC) def. Jones, 6-1, 6-4

No. 5: Havard (GC) def. James, 6-1, 6-0

No. 6: Layton (GC) def. Allen, 6-1, 6-1

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