MGCCC finishes 16th at NJCAA Tourney
Mississippi Gulf Coast wound up in 16th place after the final day at the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Tournament in Plano, Texas.
The Bulldogs' Reid Cudd (Fr, Wiggins/Stone) suffered an injury after dominating the opening set in his consolation bracket No. 5 singles finals match against Seminole State's Andrew Parker and lost 1-6, 6-2, 10-5.
"Had he not have had that arm situation, he would have won easily. The other player was a good player, but Reid took control early," Gulf Coast coach Gary Bourgeois said. "He gets the courage award fro the week. After every match, he'd have to go to the trainers to get therapy. He didn't let it stop him. He came out today and didn't miss. He was playing some high-level tennis."
Gulf Coast finishes 16th at the national tournament. Three other MACJC schools participated in the tournament: Meridian (11th), Copiah-Lincoln (tied 17th) and Jones County (tied 17th).
The Bulldogs, who were MACJC/Region 23 Tournament runners-up, rebounded from a bad start in Plano. They were ranked 14th by the ITA heading into the final event of the year.
"It started off really bad," Bourgeois said. "We had a bad draw and came out flat, but the second day we rallied. We won a lot matches and put us back into contention for the ranking we came in there with."
He said he sees a lot of room for improvement in the squad he'll bring back to Perkinston next year. There were many cases this year where players won opening sets only to lose the match, and they'll be focusing on making adjustments to combat that next fall.
"I'm very happy," Bourgeois said. "We've got a lot of people coming back next year with some good freshmen. I think we'll be set. We only lose two sophomores."
NJCAA Division I Men's Championship
Plano, Texas
Friday results
Consolation Bracket
No. 5 singles finals: Andrew Parker (Seminole State) def. Reid Cudd (MGCCC) 1-6, 6-2, 10-5
Final team standings
1. ASA Miami - 44
2. Tyler - 43
3. ABAC - 35
4. Seward - 32
5. Laredo - 29
6. Cowley - 28
7. Mesa - 27
8. Collin - 23
9. Jacksonville - 20.5
10. Seminole - 17.5
11. Meridian - 17
12. Harford - 15
12. NMMI - 15
14. Paradise Valley - 11.5
15. Pima - 11
16. Mississippi Gulf Coast - 10.5
17. Copiah-Lincoln - 8
17. Jones County - 8
19. Marion Military - 7
19. Wallace St. - 7
21. Barton - 6.5
22. Prairie St. - 5
23. Lewis & Clark - 3
24. College of DuPage - 2
24. Oakton - 2
26. Lake County - 0
For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCAthletics on Twitter and BulldogLIVE on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
