Tennis competes in back-to-back matches

McKinsey Boss got a win against Jones and two wins against East Central Mar. 5-6.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College tennis team got a little bit of everything in the last two days with a close loss to Jones on Monday at home and a win over East Central on the road Tuesday.

Against Jones, the men’s squad lost 7-2 with several matches going to tiebreakers.

Winning in number two singles was Lachlan Puyol of MGCCC defeated Nick Williams of Jones 2-6, 6-3 tiebreaker (10-7) while in number two doubles Travis Burdick and Grant Bell took down Lee Butler and Casper Wamsley 9-8.

The Lady Bulldogs also fell to Jones 7-2 with two matches going to Jones in tiebreakers. In number five singles Kayleigh Grantham of Gulf Coast defeated Ali Rudolph of Jones 6-3, 6-7, 10-4 in the third set tiebreaker. In number two doubles McKinsey Boss and Stacy Everhart defeated Freeman/Rudolph 8-6.

“Anytime we play Jones, it usually comes down to tiebreakers and they were on the winning side,” said Gulf Coast tennis coach Gary Bourgeois. I feel that we match up well with them and look forward to the rematch April 12.”

Gulf Coast bounced back the following day with two wins on the road against East Central. The men (5-2) took care of the Warriors 7-2 as the Puyol Brothers, Alexander and Lachlan, led the way were both double winners. In singles Alexander defeated French of EC 6-1, 6-1 and Lachlan took care of Cochran 6-2, 6-0. In doubles they defeated the number one doubles team of EC French/Mays 8-0.

Also winning for MGCCC were Travis Burdick who defeated Mays of EC 6-0, 6-2, and Cameron Wolfe, who stopped Peoples of EC 6-3, 6-0.

In doubles Burdick/Bell took care of Cochran/Peoples 8-1 and in number three doubles Wolfe and Caleb Baughman of Gulf Coast defeated Calvert/Hanna 8-6 despite being behind 5-0 earlier in the match.

The Lady Bulldogs (5-2) shut down East Central 8-1 as Arielle Fischer defeated Case Munn of East Central 6-1, 6-0 in number one singles. In number two singles McKinsey Boss defeated Lauren Lurk of EC 6-1, 6-0. In number one doubles Boss/Fischer defeated Munn/Lurk 8-3. The remaining matches were defaults.

“I felt that we recovered fast from the Jones match and played some really inspired tennis,” Bourgeois added. “It’s a long season and you have to pace yourself.”

Gulf Coast hosts Holmes Friday, Mar. 9 at the Biloxi Tennis Center.