No. 12 Bulldogs take home R23 runner-up honors

No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast lost Saturday in the NJCAA Region 23 championship match, but the Bulldogs had already clinched a trip to the national tournament by finishing in the top three.

No. 10 Jones beat Gulf Coast 5-0 in Ellisville, with the Bulldogs taking home the runner-up plaque.

"We really tried to really shine a lot of light on the fact that we qualify for national tournament," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We made it to the championship, and there are nine other teams (in the MACCC) who would like to be in our shoes. We're happy to qualify for the last tournament of the year." 

No. 18 Meridian beat No. 19 Northwest Mississippi 5-0 in the third-place match to sew up the final automatic qualifying spot.

The No. 3 doubles team of Dallas Tanner (So., Hattiesburg/Oak Grove) and Mikenzy Dubrow (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) was even until the final service game, getting broken at the end to lose 8-6.

"That one could've gone either way, and that would've definitely been a change in momentum," Blackburn said. "You're going to singles without as much pressure on them, and we could've had a little more wiggle room."

The NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship starts May 3 in Tyler, Texas.

Results

Team: Jones 5, Gulf Coast 0

Doubles

No. 3: Ansley Tomkins-Josie Tullos def. Dallas Tanner-Mikenzy Dubrow, 8-6

No. 2: Theresa Emelio-Maria Martinez (JC) def. Isona Arnaus-Lauren Sullivan, 8-5

No. 1: Molly Bennett-Helen Hernandez (JC) def. Danique Vermue-Valeria Callejo-Vivar, 8-4

Singles

No. 1: Hernandez (JC) def. Vermue, 6-0, 6-0,

No. 6: Tomkins (JC) def. Bethea, 6-2, 6-1

NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Championship

Ellisville

April 10-12

Quarterfinals

Thursday

No. 1 Jones 5, No. 8 East Central 0

No. 4 Northwest Mississippi 5, No. 5 Hinds 1

No. 2 Gulf Coast 5, No. 7 Itawamba 2

No. 3 Meridian vs. No. 6 Copiah-Lincoln, 3:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Friday

Jones 5, Northwest 0

Gulf Coast 5, Meridian 1

Saturday

Championship

Jones 5, Gulf Coast 0

Third-place match

Northwest vs. Meridian, 2 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.