Saints Smash Cowley For Third Place Finish in OKC
It was just a third place match at the Seminole State Dual Match Classic in Oklahoma City, but it was more than that to the 4th ranked Seward County Saints as they took on the rival Cowley Tigers. After splitting their matches on Friday against #12 Jacksonville and #3 Seminole State, the Saints crushed the Tigers on Saturday for 3rd place, blanking Cowley 9-0 in a statement win as the two teams prepare for the upcoming Region VI Tournament later this month.
In their first match of the weekend, the Saints took on 12th ranked Jacksonville. Despite resting a number of their normal starters, the Saints had no trouble with the Jaguars. Seward swept all three doubles spots, getting wins from Gabriel Nery and Alex Mosehle at #1, Duro Opacic and Przemek Zielinski at #2, and Renato Santos and Ngoni Makambwa at #3 to take a 3-0 lead in the match. That meant Seward only needed two singles wins to advance in the bracket and that didn't take long as Opacic and Ondrej Nice cruised to straight set wins at #2 and #3 to wrap up a 5-0 win for the Saints.
#4 SEWARD COUNTY/#12 JACKSONVILLE BOX SCORE
The win set up a #3 vs. #4 showdown in the semifinals as the Saints took on the Seminole State Trojans. Seward didn't fare very well against Head Coach Greg Owen's alma mater as they managed just one doubles win, coming from Carlos Anez and Nice at #1 as they trailed 2-1 to singles action. The Saints lost key third set tiebreaks at #1 and #3 as Seminole charged ahead 4-1 and then sealed the victory with a win at #4 to finish off the match 5-2. Seward's only singles point came courtesy of Opacic at #2 who downed Karim Ouattra 6-3, 6-2.
#4 SEWARD COUNTY/#3 SEMINOLE STATE BOX SCORE
The Saints came out focused on Saturday as they squared off against their rivals from Arkansas City, the 9th ranked Cowley Tigers in the 3rd place match. It was a top five ranked matchup in #1 doubles where the Saints #1 ranked pair in Anez and Nice took on 4th ranked Aubry/Michenka from Cowley. Anez and Nice held serve against the Tigers with an 8-5 win while Nery and Mosehle hung on for an 8-6 win at #2 to put Seward up 2-0. Opacic and Zielinski sealed the doubles sweep for the Saints with an 8-3 victory to make it 3-0 Seward to singles. After losing third setters on Friday at #1 and #3, the Saints collected tiebreak victories at those two spots Saturday as Anez knocked off Guillerme dos Santos and Zielinski bounced Michenka to put the Saints up 5-0. Opacic knocked off 17th ranked Lucas Freitas at #2 and Nice downed 35th ranked Julian Aubrey-Damon at #4 while Claudio Quinones and Makambwa finished off a dominating 9-0 win for Seward with victories at #5 and #6.
#4 SEWARD COUNTY/#9 COWLEY BOX SCORE
Seward continues to extend their school record for wins in a season to 17 as they improve to 17-4 on the year with the 2-1 weekend.
The Saints will be back at it on Friday and Saturday as they hit the road to take on Midwestern State and Cameron as they continue to prepare for the upcoming Region VI Tournament in Great Bend.