No. 13 Bulldogs ready to defend R23 title

PERKINSTON — No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast won NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Championship last year, and the Bulldogs will have to take a similar path to repeat.

Gulf Coast begins its title defense Thursday in Ellisville against No. 23 East Central. It's the same place the squad won the belt last year, and wearing that belt brings prestige — and challenges.

"It means a lot, but it also means people don't want you to do it again," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We're ready for that and expecting it, and we're expecting to get the other teams' best."

Seven of the eight teams in the single-elimination bracket are ranked in the ITA top 25, and the Bulldogs are the No. 2 seed in the tourney. No. 11 Jones won the MACCC title to earn the right to host, the same position the Bobcats were in last year.

The winner of Gulf Coast's Thursday match will play No. 17 Itawamba or No. 22 Hinds on Friday afternoon. The championship match will be played Saturday morning.

"Hopefully we play well against East Central because they played a good match against us in the regular season," Blackburn said. "If we gear up and do our job, we should get through that. We'll have a tough semifinal."

The Bulldogs beat East Central 7-2 at Decatur way back in February and hold wins over every team in the field except Jones.

No. 19 Meridian and No. 21 Copiah-Lincoln are the other ranked teams in the tournament. 

Gulf Coast hasn't played since closing out the regular season on April 5, but the Bulldogs have been grinding in preparation.

"We're playing good," Blackburn said. "We've had great practice this week, and we're gearing up for a great tournament. We're playing our best, and it's the best time to play your best. We're on the right track to do something special."

Region 23 Tournament Central: https://jcbobcats.com/sports/2023/4/10/2024-njcaa-region-23-mens-tennis-championships.aspx

NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Tournament

Ellisville

Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 18

No. 1 Jones vs. No. 8 Northeast Mississippi, 8:30 a.m.

No. 4 Meridian vs. No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln, 10:30 am

No. 3 Itawamba vs. No. 6 Hinds, 1 p.m.

No. 2 Gulf Coast vs. No. 7 East Central, 3:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Friday, April 19

Jones/Northeast winner vs. Meridian/Copiah-Lincoln winner, 10 a.m.

Gulf Coast/East Central winner vs. Itawamba/Hinds winner, 2 p.m.

Championship

Saturday, April 20

Championship, 10 am

Third Place

Saturday, April 20

Third-Place match, 2 p.m.

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