No. 12 Bulldogs sweep Southwest

No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast came roaring out of the gate Friday, sweeping to a 9-0 win against No. 23 Southwest Mississippi in Summit to open MACCC men's tennis action.

The Bulldogs split their three international players across the three doubles courts and started rolling from there.

"There was a lot of energy and motivation, and the guys were fired up from the moment the warmup started until the very last ball that we hit, the energy was there," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "They were fired about to get in the conference play."

Angel Hernandez (Fr., Puebla, Mexico/UPAEP) played with Ryland Buford (So., Gulfport/Gulfport) at No. 1 doubles and won 8-4. At No. 2, Jan Bako (Fr., Ostrava, Czech Republic/Hladnov) and Warren Hudson (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) cruised 8-3, and Santiago Enriquez (Fr., Encarnacion, Paraguay/CEUCE) and Connor Hartfield (So., Oak Grove/Oak Grove) won at No. 3 by the same score.

Enriquez didn't drop a game at No. 4 singles, and Bako and Hudson dropped only two games at Nos. 2 and 5, respectively.

"We were a little bit shaky on the doubles courts at the beginning, and even in the beginning of singles, I think we were a little bit too up and down," Blackburn said. "We were trying to find our rhythm and groove against the team."

Southwest is 2-5.

Gulf Coast plays its first regular-season home match on Monday when Coastal Alabama-South visits for a non-conference event. First serves at the MGCCC Tennis Complex are scheduled for 2 p.m.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 9, Southwest Mississippi 0

Doubles

No. 1: Angel Hernandez-Ryland Buford (GC) def. Juan Manuel Cividini-Juan Luca Cifuentes, 8-4

No. 2: Jan Bako-Warren Hudson (GC) def. Manan Kumar-Thomas Simpson, 8-3

No. 3: Santiago Enriquez-Connor Hartfield (GC) def. Taylor Allen-Cole Beard, 8-3

Singles

No. 1: Hernandez (GC) def. Cividini, 6-1, 6-3

No. 2: Bako (GC) def. Kumar, 6-2, 6-0

No. 3: Buford (GC) def. Cifuentes, 6-1, 6-3

No. 4: Enriquez (GC) def. Beard, 6-0, 6-0

No. 5: Hudson (GC) def. Simpson, 6-1, 6-1

No. 6: Brennan McGlothin (GC) def. Allen, 6-2, 6-3

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