Saints Fall Short in Clash of Titans
The 3rd ranked Seward County Saints and the 4th ranked Cowley Tigers hooked up Saturday morning in Arkansas City, Kansas in an epic match between two NJCAA National Championship contenders. The match lived up to its billing as the Saints and Tigers battled it out in nine solid matches in what could end up being a preview of the Region VI Championships with Cowley eventually coming out on top 6-3.
The match started with three great doubles matchups, unfortunately for the Saints, all three going the way of Cowley. In #1 singles it was Cowley's Erik Eldagson and Seth Moore outlasting Seward's Ronzai Saurombe and Vitor Galvao 8-6 to grab the early lead and the Tigers took another 8-6 decision in #2 doubles to go up 2-0. Even topping those two matches was the contest at #3 doubles where Cowley's Juan Bermudez and Jorge Gotay knocked off the Saints Tare Mariga and Paul Arslanian 9-8 (2) in a tiebreak to sweep the doubles action.
Arslanian got the Saints their first point of the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win in #6 singles, but Cowley answered with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at #3 to go ahead 4-1 in the match. The Saints stayed alive as 14th ranked Vitor Galvao had little trouble with 22nd ranked Marcelo Baldarama in #2 play, knocking him off 6-4, 6-1 to get the Saints back to within two 4-2. Tare Mariga gave the Saints a chance, winning 6-1, 7-6 (3) at #5 singles, but Cowley won 6-3, 7-5 at #3 and 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 at #1 to take the match 6-3.
The Saints drop their first decision of the season in the defeat. Seward falls to 6-1 with the loss while Cowley improves to 8-6 in the win.
The Saints road will not get any easier this week as they now set their sights on the Seminole State Dual Match Classic where they will take on four teams ranked in the top 11 in the country in a two day span.