Lopez/Coyos Alone Not Enough in 6-3 Loss
The 5th ranked Seward County Lady Saints struggles as a team continued Tuesday afternoon in Winfield, Kansas as for the second straight match, their only wins came from their top two players Paula Lopez and Paula Coyos as they fell 6-3 to Southwestern College.
Once again it was no contest at #1 doubles where Paula Lopez and Paula Coyos, the 2nd ranked duo in the country, had little trouble with Sydney Shields and Nye Cheatnam, downing the Moundbuilders top pair 8-1 to pick up Seward's first point of the day. Southwestern responded though, earning 8-1 and 8-2 wins at #2 and #3 doubles respectively and the Builders headed to singles play up 2-1.
Lopez and Coyos took care of business in singles play as well, Lopez winning 6-1, 6-1 at #1 over Morgan Hughes while Coyos defended her #10 national ranking with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over Shields at #2 to give Seward the lead back 3-2. That lead would be short-lived however as the Lady Saints other four players in their lineup couldn't mount much of a fight against the Builders. Seward managed just four games total at #4, #5, and #6 singles, losing each one of those matches while Kellyn Peters put up a battle at #3 singles before losing 7-6 (6), 6-3 as Southwestern went on to take the match 6-3.
The Lady Saints drop their second straight match by a count of 6-3 in which Lopez and Coyos earned their only wins as they fall to 1-3 on the year. Southwestern wins their fourth straight after an 0-2 start and is now 4-2 on the year.
Seward will look to get things going back in the right direction before hosting their 2015 home opener on Saturday, March 21st against Tabor in Liberal.