Seward Rises to 10th at NJCAA Nationals
Day two at the NJCAA National Tournament in Plano, Texas was much more enjoyable than day one for the Seward County Saints Men's Tennis team as the guys in green rose from 17th place into the top 10 in the team standings.
Ronzai Saurombe picked up a win for Seward at #1 singles, taking down Parker Featherston of Elgin 8-3 in the first round of the consolation bracket. Saurombe advances in that draw to play Cody Taplin of Lewis and Clark at 11:00 Wednesday morning.
Vitor Galvao followed Saurombe's lead, blanking Austin McElwain from Itawamba 8-0 in his first consolation match in #2 singles. Galvao will look to repeat his success on Wednesday as he takes on Dominick Budzik of Oakton at 11:00 in the consolation second round.
Alvaro Rengifo was idle on Tuesday as he received a bye in the #3 consolation bracket. He will play 2nd seeded Jose De Sario of Laredo in the consolation quarterfinals Wednesday at 11:00.
Felipe Casares played his first match of the tournament on Tuesday at #4 singles after receiving a first round bye in the championship bracket. Casares coasted to a 6-1, 6-4 win over David McElwain of Itawamba and now advances to the round of eight where he will take on top seeded Rasheed Carey of ASA Wednesday at 9:30 AM.
In the same boat as Casares with a first round bye, Tare Mariga took the court in #5 singles action for Seward for the first time on Tuesday. Mariga went up against Landon Ibbott of Collin County and like the regular season, it was all Mariga in this battle as the Saints freshman won 6-3, 6-4 to move on to the quarterfinals. His Wednesday matchup will put him against Mesa's Andy Nguyen at 9:30 AM with a trip to the semis on the line.
Paul Arslanian had to wake up bright and early Tuesday morning for his first match in the #6 singles bracket. That didn't seem to faze the Frenchman as Arslanian put a 6-0, 6-1 beating on Reynard Julian of Spartanburg Methodist in their 8:00 AM match to advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday where he will take on Patrick Nguyen of Collin County in a 9:30 AM start.
Doubles play was a struggle for the Saints on Tuesday. Seward earned their only doubles win of the day at #1 where Saurombe and Galvao teamed to knock off Basso/Sanches of Harford 6-1, 6-0 in a second round matchup. But later in the day, the Saints duo was derailed from their championship aspirations as they were beaten in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 by Poland/Watson of ASA to end their tournament in 5th place.
Casares and Rengifo played an epic three set battle with Ibbott/Riess of Collin County in the #3 doubles quarterfinal on Tuesday. Seward took the first set 6-3, but Collin battled back to take the second 6-2 to even the match at 1-1. In the deciding third set, it went to the wire, but in the end, Ibbott/Riess were too much for the Saints, winning 7-6 (3) to take the match and end Casares and Rengifo's run in 9th place.
After receiving a first round bye in #3 doubles, Arslanian and Mariga struggled in their only match of the tournament as they were bounced in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 by Kotelianets/Nguyen of Mesa to end their tournament in 9th place.
The day two points push Seward up to 10th place in the team standings at the end of day two. ASA and Tyler predictably lead the tournament pack with 30 points apiece at the top of the standings while the Saints Region VI rival Cowley sit in 5th with 23 points.
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