No. 13 Jones College defeated No. 18 Northwest 5-1 here Friday morning 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 consolation match.
The top three teams qualify for the NJCAA Division I Tournament in Florence, S.C., May 12-16.
The Bobcats won two of the doubles matches vs. 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.
