Championship Matchup for NJCAA Region 23 Tournament Is Set

The first two days of the 2025 NJCAA Men’s Tennis Region 23 Tournament is in the books, and Saturday’s championship and third place matches are set. The top-seeded and 13th ranked Jones Bobcats will face the second-seed and 15th ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs at 10 a.m.

Quarterfinals

In Thursday’s quarterfinal action, the four matches brought a lot of intensity and excitement. No. 1 seeded Jones took down No. 8 seed Northeast Mississippi 5-0 to kick off the matches. Jones won all three of the doubles matches before Ridge Jones defeated Turner Foster in No. 4 singles. Jones’ Luke Westmoreland then clinched the match for the Bobcats with a 6-1, 6-0 victory in the fifth singles spot.

The second match was a battle between No. 4 seeded and 18th-ranked Northwest and No. 5 seeded and 19th-ranked Copiah-Lincoln, where Northwest came out victorious 5-3. Afterwards, No. 2 Gulf Coast defeated No. 7 East Central 5-0, and No. 3 Itawamba closed out the day with a 5-1 win over No. 6 Meridian 5-1 to set the semifinal matchups.

Semifinals

Top-seeded Jones College beat the fourth-seeded Northwest Rangers by a score of 5-1. Jones has now won both matches by a dominant combined score of 10-1. The Bobcats led by a score of 2-1 going into the singles matches. In No. 2 singles, Thomas Garrett defeated Miguel Lazaga Robayna 6-0, 6-0. Ridge Jones was victorious over Brady Holliman at the No. 5 singles spot 6-1, 6-0 to push the score to 4-1. Matias Ruiz then clinched the match for the Bobcats after he took down Northwest’s Luca Morris at the No. 1 singles spot 6-0, 6-1.

In the afternoon’s semifinal match, second-seeded Gulf Coast clinched the last championship spot after they defeated No. 3 Itawamba 5-1. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in doubles when Ryland Buford and Gonzalo Cotter took down Itawamba’s Jack Semper and Luca Hoffman in the No.2 doubles spot by a score of 8-1, followed by an 8-3 victory in No. 1 doubles for Vicente Faria and Moritz Stroebel over Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual and Knox Waterer.

In singles on the number six court, Nick Dulaney claimed the first point for the Bulldogs after defeating Ben Orr 6-4, 6-1. On court three, Moritz Stroebel followed up with a 6-3, 6-1 win of his own over Jack Semper to extend the lead to 4-1. Afterwards, Ryland Buford sent Gulf Coast to the championship when he defeated Santiago Diaz 6-4, 6-4.

Championship Day Preview

The top two seeds in the tournament will meet in the championship as No. 13 ranked Jones College will face off tomorrow against No. 15 ranked Gulf Coast. The two teams met once in the regular season where Jones was victorious 5-4.

Meanwhile, the third place match will be a battle between third-seeded Itawamba and fourth-seeded Northwest. The two teams will be competing for the last spot in the NJCAA Division II Men’s Championship, as the top three teams from this tournament are selected to participate and compete for a National Championship.

Author administrator Kellen Walker