WIGGINS — The No. 21 Mississippi Gulf Coast women’s tennis team nearly pulled off the upset of No. 13 Meridian, but the Eagles came back from the brink to win 5-4.

 

The Bulldogs battled back from losing the first two doubles matches to win four straight courts, but couldn’t close things out at the Wynn Tennis Center.

 

Bayley Askin (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) picked up two points for the Bulldogs with wins at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles alongside Ashlegh Wine (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs).

 

Tanyaradzwa Kaome (Fr., Harare, Zimbabwe/The Heritage School) won the match of the afternoon, battling back from losing the first set 6-1 and being down 5-4 in the second to win in a third-set tiebreaker.

 

The Bulldogs (1-2, 1-2 MACCC) return to action Monday when they take on Blue Mountain in a match just added to the schedule. They’ll play an MACCC match the next day at Northeast Mississippi.

 

Results

Team: Meridian 5, Gulf Coast 4

Doubles

No. 1: Ana Julissa De Mata-Isabella Warham (MER) def. Tanyaradzwa-Hayden Hensarling, 8-2

No. 2: Sarah Cline-Kamryn Rodriguez (MER) def. Abigail Garman-Ashleigh Chelette, 8-3

No. 3: Bayley Askin-Ashlegh Wine (GC) def. Harper Bryan-Kolbi Holifield, 8-5

Singles

No. 1: Kaome (GC) def. De Mata, 1-6, 7-5, 10-6

No. 2: Hensarling (GC) def. Warham, 7-5, 7-5

No. 3: Askin (GC) def. Cline, 6-2, 3-6, 10-7

No. 4: Bryan (MER) def. Garman, 7-6, 6-1

No. 5: Rodriguez (MER) def. Chelette, 6-3, 6-2

No. 6: Holifield (MER) def. Josie Vuyovich, 6-4, 6-1

 

For more information on MGCCC’s 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.