Lady Saints on the Brink of National Tournament Return
After a big day one of the 2014 Region VI Tournament, the Seward County Lady Saints are knocking on the door for a return trip to the NJCAA National Tournament next week. Seward's top two singles players and their top doubles team will play for a Region Championship Saturday while the Lady Saints need just one win in nine matches to punch their ticket to the big dance.
The top seeded player in the tournament, Seward's Paula Lopez had just about as easy of a trip to the tournament final that any player could have. As the #1 seed in the #1 singles bracket, Lopez was set to face the winner of Friday's play-in match, but after winning the play in match, Johnson County's Jasmine El Gahzi decided that she would forfeit the match to Lopez while trying to save her energy for what the Cavaliers thought would be a more winnable match in doubles action. With that, 4th ranked Lopez marched onto the #1 singles finals without ever even taking off her warmup suit. In Saturday's final Lopez will do battle with Cowley's returning All-American Ana Ruzir who is ranked 5th in the latest ITA rankings.
Nearly the identical thing happened for Paula Coyos in the #2 singles draw. Johnson County's Jessi Holman won the play-in match for the right to take on top seeded Coyos, but again the Cavs forfeited the next match and just like that Coyos reached the final, like Lopez, without breaking a sweat. In Saturday's final, 16th ranked Coyos will collide with 34th ranked Sarah Giraldo of Cowley.
Seward's Kathryn Roohan drew the #2 seed in the #3 singles bracket. Roohan dropped her first set of the tournament 6-3 to Omelia Thomas of Barton, but bounced back to even things at 1 with a 6-4 win in the second to force a deciding third set. In the third set it was all Thomas, who buried Roohan 6-2 to take the match and advance to the final. Roohan falls to the third place match where Saturday she will take on Johnson County's Kara Hoegerl at 10:30 AM.
It was a rough go of things at #4 singles for Seward where Jackie Arnold fell flat against Sydney Shields of Johnson County in her first round matchup. Shields dominated and Arnold was unable to even squeeze out a game in a 6-0, 6-0 loss to drop her to the third place match. Saturday, Arnold will take on Barton's Kelly Brauer in that third place match at 10:30.
Seward might have gotten its biggest win of the day in #5 singles where Naomie Bukassa knocked out Barton's Courtney Irwin 6-1, 6-2 in the first round to advance to the semifinals. In the semi's Bukassa faced a tough task, where she squared off with top seeded Erianne Adams of Johnson County and fell there 6-1, 6-0 to drop to the third place match. In her third place match Saturday, Bukassa will take on Narumi Hayano of Hesston, looking for another key ½ point for the Lady Saints.
In #6 singles, Seward's Grace Golden had a tough time getting anything going as she dropped her first match of the tournament 6-2, 6-2 to Sarah Ong of Johnson County to miss the finals round. Golden will play in the third place match on Saturday where she will battle Barton's Brittanie Eskut.
Even after resting through singles action and forfeiting their matches to Lopez and Coyos, Johnson County's top duo couldn't get past their first round matchup and therefore Seward's top pair battled Hesston in their first test of the tournament in #1 doubles. It was a walk in the park for 6th ranked Lopez and Coyos as they breezed by the Larks 6-0, 6-1 in the match to reach yet another final. In the final, they will be opposite of Cowley who grinded out a three set win over Barton in the other semi.
Seward sent Roohan and Arnold to the courts in #2 doubles and the pair struggled against Johnson County's #2 duo, as they were blanked in the opening set 6-0 before battling to a 6-4 defeat in the second set to drop to the third place match. In their third place match they will square off with Barton in another match between the Lady Saints and the Lady Cougars.
The best match of the day in the #3 doubles bracket came between Seward's Bukassa and Golden against a pair from Johnson County. Johnson won the first set 6-2, but Bukassa and Golden stormed back to win the second 6-1 to send the match to a deciding third set. In the third set it was Johnson County getting the best of the Lady Saints with a 6-3 score to win the match 2-1. In the third place match Bukassa and Golden will take on Hesston at 1:00 PM Saturday.
The Lady Saints are in good shape after day one of the tournament as they sit comfortably in third place. Cowley leads all teams and will have players in the championship matches in all nine spots. The Tigers have 18 points while Johnson County checks in second with 13 and the Lady Saints close behind them with 12. Barton has 8 points and are fourth while Hesston rounds out the pack with 3 points after a day.
Cowley needs just two wins in nine matches Saturday to win the Region Championship and the Tigers have already clinched their spot at next week's NJCAA National Tournament. Johnson County has also qualified for the National Tournament while Seward can punch their ticket to the big dance with a single win tomorrow in one of their nine matches.