MGCCC Women aiming for the top
PERKINSTON — The Mississippi Gulf Coast Women's Tennis team will field a strong team from top to bottom in 2023, and the Bulldogs have conference and region championships as goal this year.
Coach Sam Blackburn has been drumming that message into his squad since it assembled in the fall, and they showed their depth at the ITA Regional in Meridian.
The Bulldogs won the top-flight singles and second- and third-flight doubles in Meridian and had a player in the top singles finals, as well as the third-flight singles.
"I tell our team every day at practice that we're going to treat every single match like we're playing for the national championship," Blackburn said. "And that goes for playing the first match of the year or we're actually playing for national championship."
Gulf Coast opens play Saturday at the MGCCC Tennis Complex with the first of two scrimmages against four-year schools to start the season. Loyola-New Orleans University visits Perkinston, with 10 a.m. first serves. They'll travel to play Birmingham Southern the following weekend.
Gulf Coast will host Meridian on Feb. 9 for its first match against NJCAA competition. It will be a non-conference match, with the MACCC season starting the following week. Teams will play each other only once in the MACCC regular season, and Gulf Coast has added a four-day March swing in Texas to pick up some additional matches.
Tanyaradzwa Kaome (So., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) went 18-8 in singles last year, and she lost in the finals of the top flight at Meridian.
"Whatever match she's in, I give her a chance to win the match," Blackburn said. "Whether she's playing the No. 1 player in the country or she's playing anybody else, she's someone who can go in there and fight and battle."
Angela Moreno (Fr., Sevilla, Spain/IES V Centenario) gives Gulf Coast its full complement of out-of-state players for the first time in a couple years, which automatically make the squad deeper. She and Kaome lost a tight three-set final at the ITA Regional. An animated player, Moreno's fighting spirit, attitude and tenaciousness can lift her game even if she's not playing her best tennis.
Bayley Askin (So., St. Martin/St. Martin) and Hayden Hensarling (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) advanced to the finals at Meridian, with Askin winning the title. Askin went 15-7 in singles last season, playing mostly at No. 3, and both bring loads of experience to the court for second seasons.
Kendall Burn (Fr., Wiggins/Stone) teamed with Hensarling to win the second-flight doubles at the ITA Regional. She's an athletic player who will frustrate opponents by running down shots. Abigail Garman (So., Diamondhead/Hancock) played as high as No. 3 singles last year, which helped her make a big leap in playing ability.
Niyah Strickland (Fr., Quitman/Pacuta) and Ashlegh Wine (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) won the third-flight doubles in Meridian, and Gracie Crump (Fr., Pass Christian/Pass Christian) made it to the semis in the third-flight singles.
"You know, any of them could jump into that five or six spot and or three-doubles beat them and do good work," said Blackburn.
Jones and Meridian figure to be other teams at the top of the MACCC standings. The Bulldogs will take on the Eagles in that non-conference match on Feb. 9, which should be a good barometer for the season.
"I think there are a lot of good teams in the conference that are going to test us," Blackburn said. "This team loves tennis and they love to come back so excited every day. And I think it's going to translate over to the matches where they actually are bringing their competitive spirit and doing everything they've worked so hard for this whole year. I think this team is capable of doing really special things this season."
For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
