Seward Battles Midwest's Best at OKC Open
The Seward County Lady Saints traveled to Oklahoma City over the weekend to compete in the 2015 Oklahoma City Collegiate Open Tournament. Seward had their ups and downs on the weekend, finishing 8-15 overall as a team.
Seward sent two players into the tournament's top draw in singles as Mialiniaina Rakotondrazafy and Alba Payeras took the court for the Lady Saints. Each had a tough time in their opening round matches with Payeras going down in straight sets and Rakotondrazafy falling in a tight third set tiebreak. Rakotondrazafy battled back with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the consolation bracket over Taylor Jordan of Southwest Christian, before falling in the consolation semis to Lindsy Pearce of Arkansas- Fort Smith.
The Lady Saints had a little bit more luck in the #2 singles draw behind Maminianina Rakotondrazafy and Nthabi Mogopodi. Each player won their first round matchup, Rakotondrazafy knocking off Whitley Langford of Texas A&M Texarkana 6-1, 6-0 and Mogopodi downing Caroline Abbe over Oklahoma Baptist 6-2, 6-3. In the quarters, both of Seward's players saw their run come to an end though as Rakotondrazafy and Mogopodi were each blanked in the opening set 6-0 before falling in their second sets to wrap up their singles play for the weekend.
Tadi Mrewa was the Lady Saints lone representative in #3 singles. She took on Ashton Willis of Texas Wesleyan in her first round match, taking care of her 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarters. After a 7-6 opening set loss to Arianna Raga of Newman in the quarterfinals, Mrewa was unable to finish the match, withdrawing with an injury to end her tournament.
In #4 singles Crizta Goslin picked up a win for the Lady Saints in her opening round match, defeating Sydney Haerens of North Central Texas 6-2, 6-3 to move on to the next round. In the second round she played Tristen Brunson of Arkansas-Fort Smith tough in the first set, but fell 6-4 and couldn't recover for the second set, dropping it 6-0 to finish her singles play for the weekend.
The final Lady Saint in action this weekend was Ana Cabrera in #5 singles. Playing in her first matches for Seward this season, Cabrera struggled to find her swing, falling 6-2, 6-1 in each of her matches to end the tournament 0-2.
Seward sent three doubles teams to the court in pairs play. Mogopodi and Maminiaina Rakotondrazafy were first up, but never got things going in an 8-2 loss in the #1 doubles opening round. Payeras and Mialiniaina Rakotondrazafy suffered the same fate in their match, dropping an 8-1 decision to Newman. The Lady Saints only win in five matches in #1 doubles came thanks to Payeras and Rakotondrazafy in the consolation bracket who outlasted Keylon and Lynch of Texas A&M Texarkana 9-8 in a thriller.
Goslin and Mrewa took the court in #3 doubles for the Lady Saints, winning their opening match 8-6 over Griffith/Haerens of North Central Texas to advance to the quarters. In the second round they scratched out another close win, taking down Charvat/Morales of Oklahoma Baptist 8-6 to mark the deepest run for any Seward players on the weekend. In their third round match they ran into a buzz saw in Brunson/Wright from Arkansas-Fort Smith however, falling 8-2 to end their tournament in 3rd place.
Seward was 8-15 overall on the weekend, moving their 2015 fall mark to 10-31 overall. The Lady Saints will have the week off before traveling back to the Sooner State where they will take part in the Northeastern State Tournament Friday and Saturday in Bixby.