No. 15 Bulldogs lose in semifinals

ELLISVILLE — No. 15 Mississippi Gulf Coast crucially fell behind in doubles against No. 14 Copiah-Lincoln and couldn't mount a comeback on Friday in the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament semifinals here.

The Bulldogs, who lost 5-3 and are 10-7 on the season, will play Northwest Mississippi at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner earning an automatic berth in the newly created NJCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship.

"Credit to Co-lin; they came to play from start to finish," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "They did a really good job. Our girls fought really hard, and a few points go different on a few courts, and the match is still going on. That's how tennis goes. We were beaten by a good team."

The third-place match will start at 2 p.m.

The new doubles duo of Victoria Ros Fabuel (Fr., Valencia, Spain/Colegio Sagrado Corazon Hermanos Maristas) and Meredith Matthews (So., Wiggins/Stone) won 8-3 at No. 3, but the Bulldogs headed to singles down 2-1.

Ros Fabuel won her No. 3 singles match 6-0, 6-2 to get the match tied at two, but Co-Lin won Nos. 1 and 5.

Paige Baronich (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) won her No. 4 court 6-4, 6-3, but a defeat on No. 5 ended the Bulldogs' day. Andee Rogers (So., Wiggins/Stone) was up 6-3, 3-4 at No. 6.

Co-Lin is 12-3.

"We're going to have to bounce back," Blackburn said. "We know we're a good team, and we know we can compete. We know we deserve a spot at the national tournament. Just because you deserve it doesn't mean it's going to be handed to you. We're going to have to bounce back strong and play loose, the way we've been playing the last month."

Results

Team: Copiah-Lincoln 5, Gulf Coast 3

Doubles

No. 1: Ruri Takeuchi-Georgina Labusch (CL) def. Isona Arnaus-Katelyn Walker, 8-2

No. 2: Domenica Gruezo-Ady Locke (CL) def. Pia Pugliese-Paige Baronich, 8-4

No. 3: Victoria Ros Fabuel-Meredith Matthews (GC) def. Clara Barton Calcote, 8-3

Singles

No. 1: Takeuchi (CL) def. Arnaus, 6-1, 6-0

No. 2: Gruezo (CL) def. Pugliese, 6-3, 6-1

No. 3: Ros Fabuel (GC) def. Labusch, 6-0, 6-2

No. 4: Baronich (GC) def. Locke, 6-4, 6-3

No. 5: Calcote (CL) def. Walker, 6-0, 6-3

No. 6: Andee Rogers (GC) vs. Ella Thompson, 6-3, 3-4

NJCAA Region 23 Women's Tennis Tournament

April 9-11

Ellisville

Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 9

No. 1 Jones 5, No. 8 Meridian 0

No. 4 Northwest Mississippi 5, No. 5 Hinds 2

No. 2 Copiah-Lincoln 5, No. 7 Southwest Mississippi, 0

No. 3 Gulf Coast 5, No. 6 East Central 1

Semifinals

Friday, April 10

Jones 5. Northwest 0

Copiah-Lincoln 5, Gulf Coast 3

Championship

Saturday, April 11

Jones vs. Copiah-Lincoln, 10 a.m.

Gulf Coast vs. Northwest, 2 p.m.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.