ELLISVILLE – No. 13 Jones College defeated No. 18 Northwest here Friday morning, 5-1, in the semifinals of the NJCAA Men's Region 23 Championship at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.
Top-seeded Jones will face No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast at 10 a.m. Saturday for the region championship.
The No. 15 Bulldogs downed No. 3 seed Itawamba 5-2 on Friday afternoon in a semifinal match that was moved to Tatum Park in Hattiesburg because of rain.
No. 17 ICC faces fourth-seed Northwest at 2 p.m. Saturday in the third place match.
The top three teams qualify for the NJCAA Division I Tournament in Florence, S.C., May 12-16. Jones and Gulf Coast are in.
The Bobcats won two of the doubles matches agianst the Rangers.
Matias Ruiz (Argentina) and
Tom Garrett (Australia) beat Luca Morris and Joshua Tedford in No. 1 doubles, 8-2, and
Diego Castellanos (Bolivia) and
Alex Holder (Madison Central) downed Holden Cooke and Miguel Lazaga Robayna in No. 2 doubles, 8-2.
Ridge Jones (Northeast Jones) and
Reese Touchet (Madison Central) lost a close one to Gabriel Koonce and Cole Stoddard in No. 3 doubles, 8-9 (5-7).
Garrett blanked Lazaga Robayna in No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-0, and
Ridge Jones defeated Brady Holliman in No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-0. Ruiz clinched it with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Morris in No. 1 singles.
The Bobcats are seeking their second straight region championship.
