Women’s Tennis starts Thursday

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast serves up another women's tennis season starting with an exhibition Thursday, and the Bulldogs are champing at the bit. 

They finished 12th at the NJCAA Tournament last season, after placing as MACCC and Region 23 runners-up. The new year starts at 2 p.m. against Loyola-New Orleans at MGCCC Tennis Complex.

"We're gonna have like a dynamic team full of lots of different kinds of tennis, full of lots of camaraderie and intensity from the girls," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "I think they're going to play how they practice. Practices are intense. Everybody's giving 100 percent every single day. I don't ever have to bring that out of them, and so I think that's what we're going to get when they actually play."

Blackburn earned ITA Region III Coach of the Year honors, and this year's squad is led by three sophomores: Isona Arnaus (So., Barcelona, Spain/Centre Lopez Vicuna), Meredith Matthews (So., Wiggins/Stone) and Andee Rogers (So., Wiggins/Stone).

Arnaus is one of three internationals, joined by fellow Spaniard Victoria Ros Fabuel (Fr., Valencia, Spain /Colegio Sagrado Corazon Hermanos Maristas) and Argentine Pia Pugliese (Fr., San Juan, Argentina/Colegio Central Universitario Mariano Moreno).

"Isona is strong and healthy, and she's playing the best tennis that I've ever seen her play," Blackburn said. "I think she's playing confidently, and she's going to be a good player for us. Having that kind of match experience is going to help us in a leadership role."

Ros Fabuel and Pugliese have adaptable playing styles that give them options according to what they see on the other side of the net.

The Mississippi players group includes Paige Baronich (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) and Katelyn Walker (Fr., Sumrall/Sumrall). They are led by Matthews and Rogers

"They're both playing the best tennis of their lives," Blackburn said. "Their confidence level is really high. I'm expecting a lot of good things out of them this season as leaders. As sophomores, they are going to win a lot of matches."

The Bulldogs will have to dethrone Jones in the MACCC and Region 23 for those titles, but there will be three automatic qualifiers for the new NJCAA Division II Tournament in Sumter, S.C., in May.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to play in that D2 kind of division and see what kind of a run we can make as a team at the end. We got to earn a way there first, but I think once we get there, we'll be playing our best tennis, and I think we can make a deep run."

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