No. 14 Lady Bulldogs finish 12th at NJCAAs
No. 14 Mississippi Gulf Coast lost its three matches on Day 3 of the NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship, but that won't dampen a great trip to Waco, Texas, this week.
"It's the best performance by any women's team at a national championship since I've been here," Gulf Coast coach Gary Bourgeois said. "The matches we won the first day. The quality of the matches we won the first day. Bianca beating a really good player, and Margarita upsetting the No. 8 seed (on the second day)."
The Lady Bulldogs finished with 16.5 points. They will finish the tournament in 12th place, tops among MACJC teams in the field.
Gulf Coast had two matches in the main draw semifinals on Tuesday. Margarita Lopareva (Fr, Moscow, Russia/School No. 1101) lost to No. 2-seeded Hana Kvapilova of Hillsborough 6-1, 6-1 in No. 2 singles.
Megan Bankston (Fr, Gulfport/Gulfport) and Tierney Holmes (Fr, Greenwood/Greenwood) were up 5-2 in the first set of their match against ASA Miami's Kyra Akinnibi and Claudia Barboza, before losing to the fourth-seeded team.
"We were playing lights out," Bourgeois said. "That's the best I've ever seen Tierney and Megan play."
In the consolation quarterfinals of No. 5 singles, Jenna Lyons (So, Pascagoula/Pascagoula) lost to Seward's Martina Borges 8-2.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to Perkinston later this week having reached their goals.
"It's a tribute to their hard work and dedication," Bourgeois said. "We talked about this being a business trip before we left. There's time for fun after this is over, but everybody treated it like a business trip and took care of business."
NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship
Waco, Texas
Tuesday schedule
Main draw
Doubles semifinals
No. 2: (4) Kyra Akinnibi-Claudia Barboza (ASA Miami) def. Megan Bankston-Tierney Holmes (MGCCC) 7-5, 6-3
Singles semifinals
No. 2: (2) Hana Kvapilova (Hillsborough) def. Margarita Lopareva (MGCCC) vs. 6-1, 6-1
Consolation draw
Singles quarterfinals
No. 5: Martina Borges (Seward) def. Jenna Lyons (MGCCC) 8-2
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