Lady Saints Upset By Cowley For First Loss
Despite a mismatch on paper between the 15-0 and 4th ranked Seward County Lady Saints and the 4-7 and 9th ranked Cowley Lady Tigers, everyone around the two programs knew that Monday's dual between the two Jayhawk Conference rivals would be a battle. A battle it was, coming down to the final two singles matches, unfortunately for the Lady Saints, they were only able to pull out one of the victories as the Tigers hung on for a 5-4 upset win to hand Seward their first loss of the 2016 season.
Tensions were high from the start as Seward and Cowley got things underway with doubles action. The first point to be put on the board came at #3 where Madison Hoelting and Tadi Mrewa easily handled Stormi Tipton and Peyton Adams 8-1 to improve to 14-0 on the year and give Seward an early 1-0 lead in the match. At #1 it was the Lady Saints sisterly combo of Mialiniaina Rakotondrazafy and Maminiaina Rakotondrazafy taking on fellow French duo Sarah Frendo and Eva Forneiron. Cowley jumped ahead early and never looked back, hanging on for an 8-5 win to even the match at 1. The final doubles match on either side to get done was at #2 where Thalita Rodrigues and Nthabi Mogopodi outlasted Sara Petric and Andjela Rajovic in a tiebreak 9-8 (2) to put Seward up 2-1 going into singles play.
Seward looked like they were in control of the match as Rodrigues picked up a straight set, 6-2, 7-6 (4) win at #2 singles over 30th ranked Forneiron to put the Lady Saints ahead 3-1. The Tigers fought back though, picking up a 6-3, 6-3 win at #3 and a come from behind 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory at #1 to even the match at 3 all. The Lady Saints struggles continued as Mogopodi dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision at #4 to give Cowley their first lead of the match at 4-3. With two singles matches left and the Lady Saints needing them both for the win, Seward was only able to pick up one, falling 6-0, 6-3 at #5 as the Tigers clinched the win before Tadi Mrewa wrapped things up with a 6-4, 6-4 win for Seward to improve to 11-0 on the year and make it a 5-4 final.
The #4 Lady Saints drop their first match of the season to fall to 15-1 on the year while #9 Cowley improves to 5-9 with the victory.
Seward will hit the road for their longest road trip of the season on Wednesday when they travel to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to take on NCAA Division II foes Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State.