Lady Saints Move Into Top 10 at NJCAA Nationals
The move in a positive direction continued for the Seward County Lady Saints at the 2015 NJCAA National Tournament on Tuesday as Paula Lopez and Paula Coyos picked up six big points to move Seward into the top 10 in the standings at the end of day three.
Seward had three singles players and one doubles team still alive on day three of the tournament. Their first player to hit the court was Xochitl Gonzalez in the #5 singles bracket. Gonzalez took on Alexandra Martinez from Jacksonville in the consolation quarterfinal round. It was a great match between Gonzalez and Martinez, going past the initial finish line to a tiebreaker where Martinez prevailed in the end 9-7 to end Gonzalez's tournament.
One of two players still alive on the winners side of the bracket Paula Coyos was set for her #2 singles quarterfinal matchup against McKenna Nelson of Eastern Arizona. Coyos breezed through the Gila Monsters star, winning the first set 6-1 before bouncing Nelson from the tournament with a 6-2 win in the second to reach the semifinals on Wednesday.
In #1 singles it was a grudge match between Seward's Paula Lopez and Cowley's Anna Buiukian who battled for the third time during the 2015 season. After playing a close match at the Region VI Tournament just two weeks prior, Lopez was determined not to have so much drama at nationals, hammering Buiukian 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the Final Four of the tournament.
In doubles action, Lopez and Coyos ran up against their toughest challengers to this point in the tournament as they squared off against Burge/Jinkertz of Abraham Baldwin. In the #2 vs. #7 seed matchup it was as advertised with 2nd seeded Lopez and Coyos grinding out a 7-6 (6) win in the first to grab the early advantage. In the second it was another close one, but once again, Seward's Argentinians came out on top, winning 7-5 to take the match in highly contested straight sets. The pair advances to the tournament semifinals where they will play their arch nemesis' from Tyler on Wednesday afternoon with a berth to the National Championship match on the line.
With three days in the books at the National Championship event, the Lady Saints move up two spots to #9 where they now sit with 19 points with two days to go. ASA and Tyler lead the pack with 36 overall points while fellow Region VI members Cowley are 6th with 22 points and Barton is in 21st with 8.5 points.
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