No. 15 Women’s Tennis rallies for Texas win

No. 15 Mississippi Gulf Coast didn't have a ton of time after getting off the van in Texas following a seven-hour drive before its match against No. 13 Pratt, but it was enough. The Bulldogs rallied for a 5-4 win in their first match at the Tyler Invitational.

"That's a great way to start off this Texas trip with a win against a higher-ranked team," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "It was a really good team win where everybody had to come together, especially down 2-1 after doubles. I'm very proud of everybody."

The Bulldogs improved to 5-3, while Pratt is 3-3.

Isona Arnaus (So., Barcelona, Spain/Centre Lopez Vicuna) and Victoria Ros Fabuel (Fr., Valencia, Spain/Colegio Sagrado Corazon Hermanos Maristas) picked up the sole Gulf Coast points in doubles on the No. 1 court.

That meant the Bulldogs needed to win at least four singles matches to win, and they showed guts doing so. Andee Rogers (So., Wiggins/Stone) won at straight sets at No. 6 to even the match at 2.

"That was a really big win," Blackburn said. "It got the singles going for us, and it got us going in the right direction."

Arnaus and Ros Fabuel bounced back from dropping the first sets in their matches at Nos. 1 and 2, winning in three sets.

Pia Pugliese (Fr., San Juan, Argentina/Colegio Central Universitario Mariano Moreno) clinched the match with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3.

"We probably actually got on the court for warmups about 35 minutes before the match started," Blackburn said. "It was crazy, and maybe it wasn't even that long."

Gulf Coast will play No. 3 Tyler, the hosts, on Friday at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs have two matches scheduled there Saturday: No. 2 Cowley County at 9 a.m. and No. 4 Collin County at 3 p.m. They'll wrap things up Saturday morning playing Jacksonville at 9 a.m.

Results

Team: Gulf Coast 5, Pratt 4

Doubles

No. 1: Isona Arnaus-Victoria Ros Fabuel (GC) def. Sandra Rodriguez-Ilse Smaalders, 8-6

No. 2: Ebonie Russell-Emma Guzman (PCC) def. Pia Pugliese-Paige Baronich, 8-3

No. 3: Alyse Zimmerman-Barbara Mattar (PCC) def. Katelyn Walker-Meredith Matthews, 8-4

Singles

No. 1: Arnaus (GC) def. Guzman, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7

No. 2: Ros Fabuel (GC) def. Russell, 2-6, 6-4, 10-3

No. 3: Pugliese (GC) def. Smaalders, 6-4, 7-5

No. 4: Rodriguez (PCC) def. 6-0, 6-3

No. 5: Mattar (PCC) def. Walker, 6-1, 6-2

No. 6: Andee Rogers (GC) def. Zimmerman, 6-2, 6-3

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