Bulldogs headed to national tournament

No. 17 Mississippi Gulf Coast punched its ticket to the NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Tournament on Saturday by beating No. 19 Hinds 5-2.

The Bulldogs won the third-place match in the NJCAA Region 23 tournament to earn the automatic berth.

"It's a very big deal," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "Going into the season with a team as young as they are without a lot of experience, I was really wondering what they were going to turn the season into. They turned it into a heckuva year. They really earned that third-place spot."

Hayden Hensarling (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) and Abigail Garman (Fr., Diamondhead/Hancock) won 8-5 at No. 2 doubles. Bayley Askin (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) and Ashleigh Chelette (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead heading to singles after winning at No. 3.

Tanyaradzwa Kaome (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) set the tone by winning 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

"Tanya won her match in less than an hour, which really fired up the girls," Blackburn said. "That meant we were only two matches away from winning. That really inspired them."

Askin dominated her match, too.

"Bayley played a girl at No. 4 singles who beat her the last time in the regular season," Blackburn said. "She beat her really quickly, 6-1, 6-1. It was one of the best matches of her college career so far."

Hensarling played clean tennis from the first point to clinch the match at No. 2 singles.

"They played a really good Hinds team and played their hearts out," Blackburn said. "This was their best match of the season as a whole team, and there was no better time to do it than the last team match of the year."

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 5, Hinds 2

Doubles

No. 1: Eni Anic-Itzel Lara Gonzalez (HIN) def. Tanyaradzwa Kaome-Kasey Kent, 8-6

No. 2: Hayden Hensarling-Abigail Garman (GC) def. Emi Smith-Morgan Ross, 8-5

No. 3: Bayley Askin-Ashleigh Chelette (GC) def. Myesha Nealon-Nyesha Nealon, 8-2

Singles

No. 1: Kaome (GC) def. Anic, 6-1, 6-1

No. 3: Hensarling (GC) def. Smith, 6-4, 6-1

No. 4: Askin (GC) def. M. Nealon, 6-1, 6-1

No. 5: Ross (HIN) def. Garman, 6-3, 1-6, 10-4

NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Championship

April 21-23, Ellisville

Thursday

Quarterfinals

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

No. 3 Gulf Coast 5, No. 6 Itawamba 2

Friday

Semifinals

No. 1 Jones 5, Hinds 1

No. 2 Meridian 5, Gulf Coast 1

Saturday

Championship

Jones 5, Meridian 2

Third-place match

Gulf Coast 5, Hinds 2

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.