Saints Tennis Opens 2017 With Big Win
The #5 Seward County Saints opened their 2017 season with a bang Friday afternoon in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, knocking off NCAA Division II #39 Harding University in dominating fashion by a count of 8-1.
Seward put their first point of the year on the board at #3 doubles as Przemek Zielinski and Renato Santos teamed up to knock off Adri Abello and Brandon Hogland 8-3 to give the Saints an early lead. Defending ITA National Champions Carlos Anez and Ondrej Nice took the court for the first time this season at #1 doubles and played a grinder against AJ Barrington and Neto Cacace, eventually outlasting the Bison's top pair 9-7 to give Seward a 2-0 lead. The #2 doubles match was the one to watch as Seward's Alex Mosehle and Gabriel Nery went back and forth with Harding's Carlos Crisostano and Pablo Trevino before finally securing a 9-8 win to sweep the doubles action 3-0.
In singles play, 5th ranked Anez struggled in his first set battle with Crisostano, falling 6-1, but bounced back for a 6-4 win in the second and 10-8 win in the tiebreak to secure the win for Seward. At #2 Duro Opacic made his Saints debut with a 7-5, 6-1 win over AJ Barrington and Ondrej Nice split 6-3 decisions in the first two sets against Abello before winning the tiebreak 10-8 to give Seward a commanding 6-0 lead in the match. Harding's only win came at #4 singles while Zielinski and Claudio Quinones dominated in straight sets at #5 and #6 to finish off an 8-1 win for Seward.
The Saints will continue action on Saturday in Arkadelphia as they take on another ranked Division II foe in #29 Ouachita Baptist to wrap up the weekend.