No. 13 Bulldogs top No. 17 ICC

PHOTO BY CAYCE SMITH/LETSGOICC.COM

No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast rebounded from its first loss of the men's tennis season by winning easily at No. 17 Itawamba on Monday.

The Bulldogs beat ICC 7-2 in Fulton, taking off after a shaky start in doubles.

"It was tricky in the beginning," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We wanted to bounce back from the loss last week, but doubles was tough. It's a lot easier to win when you're up 2-1 after doubles than when you're down 1-2. I'm proud of the way No. 2 doubles came back and won. That set the tone for the rest of the match."

Jordan Mitchell (Fr., Natchez/Natchez) and Connor Hartfield (Fr., Hattiesburg/Oak Grove) closed out their No. 3 doubles match quickly, winning 8-2.

Gonzalo Cotter (So., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) and Ryland Buford (Fr., Gulfport/Gulfport) were down 5-1 on the No. 2 court, but rallied to force a tiebreaker. They won the first six points of that tiebreak to get the important second point after ICC had tied it up.

Moritz Stroebel (Fr., Metzingen, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Schule Reutlingen) won his singles match quickly without dropping a game, followed by Vicente Faria (So., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria de Fonseca Benevides) at No. 2 singles.

Buford clinched the match with a straight-set win at No. 4 singles.

Itawamba is 6-3, 4-2.

Gulf Coast (8-1, 7-1 MACCC) plays an exhibition match against the University of New Orleans on Wednesday. First serves will be at 1 p.m., and the Bulldogs will resume MACCC play Friday when they host Southwest Mississippi at 2 p.m.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 7, Itawamba 2

Doubles

No. 1: Knox Waterer-Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual (ICC) def. Vicente Faria-Moritz Stroebel, 8-6

No. 2: Gonzalo Cotter-Ryland Buford (GC) def. Jack Semper-Santiago Diaz, 9-8 (4)

No. 3: Jordan Mitchell-Connor Hartfield (GC) def. Ben Orr-Luca Hoffman, 8-2

Singles

No. 1: Ramis Pascal (ICC) def. Cotter, 7-5, 7-6 (2)

No. 2: Faria (GC) def. Waterer, 6-0, 6-3

No. 3: Stroebel (GC) def. Semper, 6-0, 6-0

No. 4: Buford (GC) def. Diaz, 6-3, 6-4

No. 5: Dulaney (GC) def. Hoffman, 6-1, 6-2

No. 6: Mitchell (GC) def. Orr, 6-4, 6-4

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