No. 13 MGCCC loses classic showdown

PERKINSTON — An epic No. 6 singles match ended a marathon match between No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast and No. 14 Jones on Tuesday.

The Bobcats' Luke Westmoreland edged the Bulldogs' Jordan Mitchell in a nail-biting third-set tiebreak to win 5-4, taking the lead in the MACCC men's tennis standings.

"That's what every player college dreams about being the last guy on the court and it comes down to the last match," Gulf Coast coach Sam Blackburn said. "We got an opportunity today, and it didn't go our way. That was anybody's match, but next time it very well may. It was a good day of tennis overall."

Mitchell and Westmoreland played for more than three hours, and the final set featured only two holds of serve. There were breaks aplenty, with Mitchell not able to hold serve up 6-5.

The teams played for about 5-1/2 hours, and there was drama everywhere.

After Gulf Coast dropped Nos. 2 and 3 singles, Vicente Faria (So., Lisbon, Portugal/Escola Secundaria de Fonseca Benevides) and Moritz Stroebel (Fr., Metzingen, Germany/Theodor-Heuss-Schule Reutlingen) rallied from down 6-5 to win the last three games for a vital point.

"We started a little slow in doubles, but No. 1 doubles stepped up and got momentum on our side to start singles," Blackburn said. "It was up and down in singles, but we gave ourselves a chance to win. There's a lot to be proud of."

Stroebel and Ryland Buford (Fr., Gulfport/Gulfport) won at Nos. 2 and 3 singles to even the match at 3. Buford won in three sets, as did Faria at No. 1 to set up the climactic No. 6 singles court.

Gulf Coast (7-1, 6-1 MACCC) will travel to Itawamba on Monday. The match in Fulton begins at 2 p.m.

Jones is 11-0, 7-0. 

Results

Team: Jones 5, Gulf Coast 4

Doubles

No. 1: Vicente Faria-Moritz Stroebel (GC) def. Thomas Garrett-Matias Ruiz, 8-6

No. 2: Diego Castellanos-Alex Holder def. Gonzalo Cotter-Ryland Buford, 8-5

No. 3: Ridge Jones-Reese Touchet def. Jordan Mitchell-Nick Dulaney, 8-4

Singles

No. 1: Matias def. Cotter, 6-2, 6-2

No. 2: Faria (GC) def. Garrett, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

No. 3: Stroebel (GC) def. Castellanos, 6-3, 6-2

No. 4: Buford (GC) def. Jones, 5-7, 6-0, 6-0

No. 5: Holder def. Dulaney, 6-1, 6-1

No. 6: Mitchell (GC) def. Luke Westmoreland (JC) def. Mitchell, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3)

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