Rain pushes back postseason start for No. 12 Bulldogs
PERKINSTON — No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast has anxiously been awaiting the start of postseason, and now the women's tennis team will have to wait an extra day. The weather forecast has pushed the start of the NJCAA Region 23 Championship back.
The Bulldogs will take on Northwest Mississippi in a quarterfinal at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Ellisville.
"I was really pumped up about getting started Thursday, but I guess we'll just have to take that and make that energy even bigger Friday," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We'll be ready. We'll stay sharp, and the girls are practicing really, really well now. They've looked great the last few days. One more day won't hurt us."
Gulf Coast (12-4, 9-1 MACCC) finished the regular season as the MACCC runners-up to earn the No. 2 seed. Northwest (4-9, 4-6) is the seventh seed. The teams played just last Tuesday, with Gulf Coast winning 9-0 in Senatobia. It was the regular-season finale for both teams.
The winner will play the No. 17 Meridian-No. 23 East Central winner in the semifinal at 2 p.m. on Friday. Gulf Coast beat both those teams in the regular season, and Meridian edged East Central 5-4 when they played in February.
"Meridian is not a team to take lightly, but we've been successful against them a couple times already this year," Blackburn said. "I think we have a good shot there, and we know No. 1 seed Jones will probably be waiting in the final, hopefully for us. They're a tough team, but our girls are playing their best all together, so it's a winnable tournament."
The tournament is a straight single-elimination bracket. The championship will be played Saturday at 10 a.m., with a third-place match at 2 p.m. The top three teams will advance to the NJCAA Women's Tennis Championship starting May 6 in Tyler, Texas.
No. 11 Jones plays Southwest Mississippi at the top of the bracket, and No. 22 Itawamba and No. 24 Copiah-Lincoln square off in the other quarterfinal Friday.
Live scoring: https://ioncourt.com/leagues/2023-womens-njcaa-region-23-championships
Tournament Central: https://jcbobcats.com/sports/2023/4/10/2023-njcaa-region-23-wtennis-championships.aspx
NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Championship
April 13-15
Ellisville
Friday
Quarterfinals
No. 1 Jones vs. No. 8 Southwest Mississippi, 8:30 a.m.
No. 3 Meridian vs. No. 6 East Central, 10:30 p.m.
No. 4 Itawamba vs. No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln, 1 p.m.
No. 2 Gulf Coast vs. No. 7 Northwest Mississippi, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday
Semifinals
Jones/Southwest winner vs. Itawamba/Copiah-Lincoln winner, 10 a.m.
Meridian/East Central winner vs. Gulf Coast/Northwest winner, 2 p.m.
Sunday
Championship, 10 a.m.
Third-place match, 2 p.m.
For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
