No. 14 Bulldogs want to make waves in Texas

PERKINSTON — The No. 14 Mississippi Gulf Coast makes its third straight trip to the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship next week.

The tournament will be played May 15-19 at the Collin County Tennis Facilities in Plano, Texas, and the Bulldogs have one goal left to play for.

"I think three out of the last four years we've been the top NJCAA-ranked team in Mississippi," Gulf Coast coach Gary Bourgeois said. "We think with our developmental program, the high-performance coaching, we peak right before state. Getting to nationals, we feel like we can be the top team there from Mississippi."

Gulf Coast finished as MACJC/Region 23 Tournament runners-up after putting together a 12-2 conference record. The Bulldogs picked up a pair of individual state championships.

Travis Bell (Fr, Jackson/Calloway) won at No. 1 singles, and Reid Cudd (Fr, Wiggins/Stone) cruised through the No. 5 singles field.

"It nice. I haven't won a tournament in a long time," said Bell, who was a top junior player before dropping out of the sport about five years ago. "I'm ready for (nationals). I'm going back up to Jackson and train for it, get really ready for it. I really want to make a name for the school."

Cudd pointed to improvements in his conditioning and his ability to keep more balls in play since he arrived at Perkinston.

"It's been good," he said. "I'm looking forward to playing a bunch of really good players. We want to place the highest in the state out there.

Bourgeois is hoping for some good luck in the opening matches of the main draw and productivity in the consolation draw. Teams get two points for first-round wins, then half-points for each win in the back draw.

"Hopefully we can get some good first-round matchups for our top players," he said, "then go into that second and third day to get some more points."

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