Bulldogs lose in semifinals
Photo by Shawn Wansley/JCBobcats.com
No. 17 Mississippi Gulf Coast lost to No. 16 Meridian in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament, but the Bulldogs still have a path to the NJCAA Tournament.
The Eagles beat a battling Bulldogs squad 5-1, but Gulf Coast was fighting back in three matches still on the court when it ended.
"Coming out of doubles down 1-2, we knew we had a lot of work to do," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get it done in the end, but I was telling the girls after that every court that was on was very winnable. We weren't as far away from winning that match as it may appear. We were able to put a lot of pressure on Meridian."
The Bulldogs will play No. 19 Hinds in the third-place match Saturday. It's scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Meridian (22-9) will play top-seeded Jones at 10:30 a.m. for the region title.
Gulf Coast (14-7) and Hinds (14-9) split the regular-season meetings. Hinds beat the Bulldogs 8-1 in Wiggins when they were missing Kasey Kent. With her back in the lineup, Gulf Coast won 6-3 in Raymond.
Bayley Askin (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) and Ashleigh Chelette (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) picked up the only point for Gulf Coast, winning 9-8 in a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles.
Askin lost her No. 4 singles first set 2-6 but rebounded to win the second by the same score. She was down 8-9 on serve in the third-set tiebreaker when the clinching court finished.
Tanyaradzwa Kaome (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) was down a set in No. 1 singles, but she was up 4-1, and Abigail Garman (Fr., Diamondhead/Hancock) was tied 5-5 in the second set after losing the first set at No. 5.
"I challenged them about how we're going to react to a loss," Blackburn said. "We can feel bad for ourselves or let it fuel the fire to be even more pumped up to get the third-place trophy and a ticket to nationals. It's going to be a decision they have to make, but it sounds like they're up for the challenge."
Results
Team: Meridian 5, Gulf Coast 1
Doubles
No. 1: Ana Julissa De Mata-Ally Bowen (MER) def. Tanyaradzwa Kaome-Kasey Kent, 8-4
No. 2: Sarah Cline-Kamryn Rodriguez (MER) def. Hayden Hensarling-Abigail Garman, 9-7
No. 3: Ashleigh Chelette-Bayley Askin (GC) def. Harper Bryan-Isabella Warham, 9-8
Singles
No. 2: Bowen (MER) def. Kent, 6-1, 6-1
No. 3: Warham (MER) def. Hensarling, 7-5, 6-4
No. 6: Rodriguez (MER) def. Chelette, 6-0, 6-2
NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Championship
April 21-23, Ellisville
Thursday
Quarterfinals
No. 4 Hinds 5, No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln 4
No. 3 Gulf Coast 5, No. 6 Itawamba 2
Friday
Semifinals
No. 1 Jones 5, Hinds 1
No. 2 Meridian 5, Gulf Coast 1
Saturday
Championship
Jones vs. Meridian, 10:30 p.m.
Third-place match
Hinds vs. Gulf Coast, 4:30 p.m.
For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
