No. 15 Men’s Tennis starts region tourney Thursday

PERKINSTON — It's been more than two weeks since No. 15 Gulf Coast played a match, but they'll get thrown right into the fire Thursday when the NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Tournament starts.

The Bulldogs will play East Central in a quarterfinal match scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in Ellisville.

"We've been working hard off the court to keep our fitness up," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We want to make sure we're as fit as we can be. We've been hitting a lot of the basics, playing a lot of doubles, working on strategies that can help us win doubles matches. I think if we can jump on everybody in doubles and get the lead, it gives us a much better chance to win."

The winner of that quarterfinal advances to Friday's 2 p.m. semifinal against the winner between No. 17 Meridian and No. 23 Hinds. The championship is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. Organizers are keeping their eyes on Friday's weather, which may force a shuffling of the schedule.

Top-seeded and fourth-ranked Jones will play No. 24 at the top of the bracket, with No. 19 Itawamba and No. 22 Northwest Mississippi in the other quarterfinal.

"We've got East Central first. We did well against them last time, and I expect us to come out and play great and take care of business," Blackburn said. "As long as we get through them, we'll probably face Meridian, and we beat them 7-2 last time. But they're no easy match because there could be lineup switches that throw a wrench into things. We're ready for it, and as long as we have the right mindset in each match well be fine."

The top three teams advance to the NJCAA Men's Tennis Championship next month in McKinney, Texas.

NJCAA Region 23 Men's Tennis Championship

April 20-22

Ellisville

Thursday, April 20

Quarterfinals

No. 1 Jones vs. No. 8 Copiah-Lincoln, 8:30 a.m.

No. 3 Meridian vs. No. 6 Hinds, 10:30 p.m.

No. 2 Gulf Coast vs. No. 7 East Central, 1 p.m.

No. 4 Itawamba vs. No. 5 Northwest Mississippi, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, April 21

Semifinals

Jones/Co-Lin winner vs. Itawamba/Northwest winner, 10 a.m.

Meridian/Hinds winner vs. Gulf Coast/East Central winner, 2 p.m.

Saturday, April 22

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.