No. 13 Bulldogs fall in R23 semifinals

No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast's defense of its NJCAA Region 23 title ended in Friday's semifinals when the Bulldogs lost 5-3 to No. 17 Itawamba in Ellisville.

"Credit to Itawamba," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "They played really well. I don't think we had our best day, but we still gave ourselves a chance to win."

Gulf Coast can earn an automatic berth in the national tournament Saturday with a win over No. 21 Copiah-Lincoln. The match is starting earlier than scheduled and moving to Tatum Park in Hattiesburg because of the threat of rain later in the day. First serves are set for 8 a.m.

The Bulldogs battled back from losing the first doubles court to finish, winning No. 1 and No. 2. Gonzalo Cotter (Fr., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) and Vicente Faria (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária de Fonseca Benevides) won 8-6, setting the stage for an epic 10-8 tiebreaker win by Duarte Mestre (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária Sebastiao e Silva) and Triston Hill (So., Perkinston/Stone).

Faria won his No. 2 singles match 6-4, 6-0, and Gulf Coast fought back from first-set setbacks in on No. 4 and No. 6 to force third sets. The Bulldogs couldn't pull out wins on either to extend the match to the final court.

Gulf Coast had a strange quarterfinal on Friday. It started more than two hours late, then had a two-hour-plus rain delay that forced the match to move to Hattiesburg. It finished just before 11 p.m.

"I don't know if last night mattered too much," Blackburn said. "We had a really long doubles match, and for some reason, they didn't prepare well enough before the match. Sometimes that can make or break it. It's something we have to learn and mature from."

Results

Team: Itawamba 5, Gulf Coast 3

Doubles

No. 3: Ben Orr-Cade Teeple (ICC) def. Hiram Havard-Jeremiah Layton, 8-1

No. 1: Gonzalo Cotter-Vicente Faria (GC) def. Tasso Moreira-Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual, 8-6

No. 2: Duarte Mestre-Triston Hill (GC) def. Knox Waterer-Jack Semper, 9-8 (10-8)

Singles

No. 5: Waterer (ICC) def. Havard, 6-3, 6-0

No. 2: Faria (GC) def. Ramis Pascual, 6-4, 6-0

No. 1: Moreira (ICC) def. Cotter, 6-4, 6-2

No. 4: Teeple (ICC) def. Hill, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

No. 6: Orr (ICC) def. Layton, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Tournament

Ellisville

Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 18

No. 1 Jones 5, No. 8 Northeast Mississippi 0

No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln 5, No. 4 Meridian 4

No. 3 Itawamba 5, No. 6 Hinds 1

No. 2 Gulf Coast 5, No. 7 East Central 0

Semifinals

Friday, April 19

Jones 5, Copiah-Lincoln 0

Itawamba 5, Gulf Coast 3

Championship

Saturday, April 20

Jones vs. Itawamba, 8 am

Third Place

Saturday, April 20

Gulf Coast vs. Copiah-Lincoln, 8 a.m. (Tatum Park, Hattiesburg)

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