Saints Continue Hot Start
An undefeated start to the 2017 season continued for the #5 Seward County Saints on Thursday, as they went on the road and blanked NCAA Division II member Emporia State by a count of 9-0 to improve to 5-0 on the year.
The Saints started their strong play in doubles action where the top ranked duo in the country, Carlos Anez and Ondrej Nice won an 8-4 decision at #1 and Duro Opacic and Przemek Zielinski took an 8-5 match at #3 to put Seward up 2-0. Gabriel Nery and Alex Mosehle played a tight one in #2, eventually escaping with a 9-8 win to give Seward the sweep of pairs play.
Zielinski opened up the scoring for the Saints in singles, dominating Lukas Winkler 6-1, 6-0 at #3 to put Seward on the brink of victory. Opacic sealed the deal with a 6-4, 6-4 win to give the Saints a 5-0 lead in the match. The other four spots all went three sets as Anez at #1 and Ngoni Makamba at #5 pulled off come from behind wins and Nery at #4 and Claudio Quinones at #6 bounced back after losing second sets for victories to wrap up the sweep.
Seward improves to 5-0 on the year with the win with all five victories coming over four year competition. The Saints will kick off their 2017 home schedule on Saturday at Blue Bonnet Park in Liberal when they take on the Bethel Threshers in a 1:00 dual.