No. 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast won its second straight match to open the 2024 men’s tennis season, powering past No. 23 East Central 7-2 in Decatur on Friday.
“We played pretty well,” Bulldogs coach Sam Blackburn said. “From top to bottom, we had some good matches and some not-as-good matches, but as a team, we looked pretty good. I’m happy they didn’t have much of a letdown after a good win on Tuesday.”
The Bulldogs, who played their second straight MACCC match, got a pair of comeback wins from Gonzalo Cotter (Fr., Valencia, Spain/IVLA) and Vicente Faria (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária de Fonseca Benevides) on the first two singles courts.
Gonzalo lost a first-set tiebreaker at No. 1, then swept the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. Faria came back from dropping the first set to win 6-1, 6-0.
“Some of the guys didn’t have their best days, but they found a way to win,” Blackburn said. “Gonzalo still managed to pull out a good win against a good player. Vicente did well coming back, too.”
Cotter and Faria won their No. 1 doubles match easily, and Duarte Mestre (Fr., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundária Sebastiao e Silva) and Triston Hill (So., Perkinston/Stone) won their doubles match together and individual singles courts.
East Central falls to 0-5, 0-2 MACCC.
The men will play a scrimmage at NCAA Division I Jacksonville State on Sunday. First serves in Alabama are set for 2 p.m. The Bulldogs will be back to regular-season play Tuesday with a trip to New Albany to play Northeast Mississippi starting at 11 a.m.
Results
Team: Gulf Coast Men 7, East Central 2
Doubles
No. 1: Gonzalo Cotter–Vicente Faria (GC) def. Batuhan Saban-Cade Cooley, 8-3
No. 2: Duarte Mestre–Triston Hill (GC) def. Maximo Estrada-Trey Posey, 8-1
No. 3: Luke Bruntlett-Tate Baucum (EC) def. Hiram Havard-Jeremiah Layton, 8-6
Singles
No. 1: Cotter (GC) def. Saban, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
No. 2: Faria (GC) def. Estrada, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0
No. 3: Mestre (GC) def. Baucum, 6-1, 6-0
No. 4: Hill (GC) def. Posey, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5: Havard (GC) def. Bruntlett, 6-2, 6-0
No. 6: Cooley (EC) def. Layton, 6-3, 6-2
For more information on MGCCC’s 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
This post originally posted at https://www.mgcccbulldogs.com/landing/index by MGCCC Athletics
