No. 17 Bulldogs lose to No. 12 Jones

PERKINSTON — No. 17 Mississippi Gulf Coast lost 8-1 to No. 12 Jones on Sophomore Day at the MGCCC Tennis Complex, but the final score could have been closer.

"The scoreboard doesn't show what happened in the match," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We lost in a tiebreaker in No. 2 doubles and lost 9-7 in 3-doubles. The difference in being down 0-3 and being up 2-1 or even getting one point, that's could have been a momentum switch with Tanya winning No. 1 singles."

Tanyaradzwa Kaome (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) reversed a straight set loss to Andrea Vlasceanu in the first meeting where she won just three games to a 6-4, 6-2 win this time around.

If Gulf Coast could have won one or two of those close doubles matches, things might have been different. The result still gives the Bulldogs hopes for the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, which will be hosted by Jones later this month.

"We competed hard, so I'm proud of the girls for their fight," Blackburn said. "They took a hard loss, but they see they can hang with the team that's at the top right now. We shouldn't be afraid of anybody."

Kasey Kent (So., Ridgeland/Ridgeland) and Ashleigh Chelette (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) played their final matches at Perk on Sophomore Day.

Gulf Coast plays an exhibition match against Point University on Monday before closing our MACCC regular-season play Tuesday at Southwest Mississippi.

Results

Team: Jones 8, Gulf Coast 1

Doubles

No. 1: Mia Hoddinghaus-Andrea Vlasceanu (JC) def. Tanyaradzwa Kaome-Kasey Kent, 8-1

No. 2: Michaela Anderson-Addy Seward (JC) def. Hayden Hensarling-Abigail Garman, 9-8

No. 3: Allie Johnson-Sophie Endt (JC) def. Ashleigh Chelette-Bayley Askin, 9-7

Singles

No. 1: Kaome (GC) def. Vlasceanu, 6-4, 6-2

No. 2: Hoddinghaus (JC) def., Kent 6-1, 6-2

No. 3: Seward (JC) def. Hensarling, 6-2, 6-3

No. 4: Powell (JC) def. Askin, 6-1, 6-2

No. 5: Johnson (JC) def. Garman, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8

No. 6: Endt (JC) def. Chelette, 6-2, 6-2

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