MERIDIAN – The No. 20 Jones County Junior College men's tennis dropped a hard-fought, 5-4 match to No. 14 Meridian here Saturday at the Northeast Tennis Center.
The Bobcats are now 11-5, while Meridian is 23-5.
Both teams will compete in the MACJC/Region 23 Tournament April 20-23 at Mississippi Gulf Coast.
It was a lengthy match, as four of the six singles' matches went three sets.
MCC won two of the doubles' points and the teams split the singles' matches.
JCJC's Chase Pennington and Taylor Tamberg took No. 2 doubles over Sam Butler and Walt Harrington, 8-6. MCC's Jason Pimenta and Breno Goncalves won No. 1 doubles over Taqel Lewis and Diego Leal, 8-1. MCC's Noah James and J.T. Champion defeated Luke Armstrong and Josh Hester in No. 3 doubles, 8-5.
Leal beat Goncalves in No. 2 singles, 4-6, 6-3, 10-2. Tamberg rallied by Butler in No. 4 singles, 2-6, 6-4, 10-3. Hester outlasted Harrington in No. 6 singles, 4-6, 6-3, 11-9.
Pimenta beat Lewis in No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-3. James edged Pennington in No. 3 singles, 5-7, 6-1, 10-5. MCC's Will Irvin beat Armstrong in No. 5 singles, 7-5, 6-0.
In an extra doubles' match, MCC's Irvin and Sean Grice beat John Leggett and Brandon McCary, 8-2.
In extra singles' matches, JCJC's Peyton Ramsey blanked Josh Redmond, 6-0, 6-0; MCC's Nathan Ellis beat Leggett, 6-2, 6-2; and MCC's Alex Vaughn defeated McCary, 6-1, 7-5.