No. 17 Mississippi Gulf Coast was missing a player because of illness and couldn’t overcome No. 16 Meridian on Wednesday, falling 8-1 on the road.
The Bulldogs (8-5, 8-4 MACCC) had a four-match win streak snapped by the Eagles (13-3, 9-2).
Hayden Hensarling (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) and Abigail Garman (Fr., Diamondhead/Hancock) won their No. 2 doubles match, and Hensarling was one of three to take their singles opponents to third-set tiebreakers. She did it at No. 3.
Tanyaradzwa Kaome (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) and Ashleigh Chelette (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) also did that at No. 1 and No. 5, respectively.
The ITA NJCAA Women’s National Rankings were released earlier Wednesday, and the Bulldogs jumped up four spots.
They’ll turn right around and play Northeast Mississippi on Thursday at the MGCCC Tennis Complex. First serves are set for 2 p.m.
Results
Team: Meridian 8, Gulf Coast 1
Doubles
No. 1: Ana Julissa De Mata-Isabella Warham (MER) def. Tanyaradzwa Kaome-Kasey Kent, 8-1
No. 2: Hayden Hensarling-Abigail Garman (GC) def. Sarah Cline-Kamryn Rodriguez, 8-6
No. 3: Harper Bryan-Kolbi Holifield (MER) def. Ashleigh Chelette-Ashlegh Wine, 8-5
Singles
No. 1: De Mata (MER) def. Kaome, 6-3, 2-6, 11-9
No. 2: Warham (MER) def. Kent, 6-3, 6-1
No. 3: Cline (MER) def. Hensarling, 6-4, 0-6, 10-3
No. 4: Bryan (MER) def. Garman, 6-4, 6-3
No. 5: Rodriguez (MER) def. Chelette, 0-6, 6-3, 10-7
No. 6: Holifield (MER) def. Wine, 6-2, 6-2.
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