Men’s Tennis wants to build on great fall
PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast wants to climb back to the MACCC Men's Tennis summit in 2023, and Bulldogs coach Sam Blackburn's team has shown early signs that's a possibility.
His squad was a force at the ITA Region in Meridian in September, sweeping the top singles and doubles titles. They also won the other two doubles flights, as well as the third flight in singles. Two Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals in the second-flight singles bracket.
"The guys have been working real hard since Day 1 in August," Blackburn said. "I told them in August, every single day, let's get one percent better so that we're ready to go do something special this year."
Gulf Coast opens play Saturday at the MGCCC Tennis Complex with the first of four straight scrimmages against four-year schools. Loyola-New Orleans University visits Perkinston, with 10 a.m. first serves. Dillard University, also from New Orleans, is in town Sunday.
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.
Paul Gayk (So., Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany/Berufskolleg Lehnerstrasse) won the main singles draw at Meridian, then went on to finish seventh in the country at the ITA Cup in Georgia in October. He played at the top of the Gulf Coast lineup last season, and Blackburn said he's taken another step thanks to that year of experience.
He teamed with Owen Stice (Fr., Atlanta, Ga./Laurel Springs) to win the region doubles, and after a narrow loss to the top seed and eventual champs, finished seventh in Georgia.
Stice moves well, has great reflexes and hands to hit a range of shots.
"Paul and Owen did something real special," Blackburn said. "In the fall, they really set the tone for them and for the whole team. We're going to be tough from top to bottom."
Gayk is a co-captain along with Anderson Dulaney (So., Long Beach/Long Beach), who is back for his third season. Dulaney has been a dominant player in his first two seasons. He went 23-4 in singles last year, with three of those losses coming to four-year players, and had the same mark in doubles, with two losses to four-year players.
Orren Ladner (So., Perkinston/Stone) has transferred in from East Central, where he went 13-11 playing most of the season at No. 3 singles before closing it out at No. 2.
Kyle Bond (So., Wiggins/Stone) is another local product. He doesn't say a lot on the court, but lets his racket do the talking. Chace Bolan (So., Laurel/Northeast Jones) returns and figures to fight for a spot in the starting lineup. He went 13-6 in singles last season.
John Thomas Frank (Fr., Eupora/Eupora), Tucker Smith (Fr., Perkinston/Stone) and Triston Hill (Fr., Perkinston/Stone) will also be in the mix for the top six spots.
Gulf Coast won the MACCC title two years ago, topping Jones in the regular season and in the postseason at the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament. The Bulldogs want to make it two titles in three years.
"I want those guys to go out there and win every match they play," Blackburn said. "Now I don't expect them to play perfect tennis every single time they step on the court, but I think we have the team that could that go win in conference this year, go win in the region tournament at end of the season and compete against some of the top teams in the country come at nationals."
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