Lady Saints Wrap Fall in Plano
The Seward County Lady Saints wrapped up their 2016 fall season this weekend in Plano, Texas, posting a 20-11 overall record as a team in the Collin County Open.
Seward sent two to the draw in #1 singles in Thalita Rodrigues and Sarah Manseri. Rodrigues cruised to a pair of wins in the first two rounds of the bracket, but ran into a buzz saw in the semifinals, falling 6-3, 6-3 to eventual tournament champion Sandra Reljic of Southeastern Oklahoma to finish her weekend in third place. Manseri never got it going, dropping a straight set decision in the first round and was handled 8-1 by Victoria Seifert of Seminole State in the first round of the consolation bracket to bring her tournament to a disappointing end.
Nthabi Mogopodi took the court at #3 for the Lady Saints and collected a pair of wins to reach the semifinals before seeing her run end with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat at the hands of NCAA Division I player Marli Van Heerden of Central Arkansas.
Seward dominated the #4 draw as both players sent to the fold ran their course against the competition. Lisa Suzuki started on one side of the bracket, winning each of her six sets played without losing more than three games to advance to the finals while on the other side, teammate Steffany Bermudez breezed to two early wins before gutting out a 7-6, 6-1 win in the semis to meet Suzuki in the final. The two Lady Saints decided not to play the final against each other, instead choosing to share the title at #4.
As well as the Lady Saints did in the #4 bracket, they struggled equally as much at #5. Neither Martina Borges or Fernanda Santana could come away with a main draw victory, each falling in straight sets in the first round, but both bounced back, dominating the consolation bracket, both winning two matches to reach the final where they agreed on a draw rather than playing each other.
Tadi Mrewa was Seward's representative in the #6 draw. She cruised in the first round with a 6-0, 6-0 win and pulled out a thrilling 7-6, 6-4 win in the second round to reach the semifinals. In the semis she took a 1-0 lead with a 6-4 victory in the first against Maria Vlaskina of Arkansas Tech, but dropped the second 6-2 to force a tiebreak which Vlaskina edged her out 10-8 in to end her tournament in 3rd.
After winning the ITA Regional Championship one week ago, Rodrigues and Bermudez had high hopes going into Plano for the weekend, but the two suffered a major setback as they finished the tournament 0-2 as they were blanked in the opening round of the main draw 8-0 and couldn't regroup with an 8-6 defeat in the first round of the consolation draw to bring their weekend to a premature end.
Suzuki continued her flawless weekend with partner Sarah Manseri in #3 doubles as the two cruised to three straight wins to march into the final. The final was not played due to time constraints. Mrewa and Madison Hoelting also played in the #3 bracket, earning a win against North Central Texas to go along with a pair of losses.
Overall the Lady Saints went 20-11 on the weekend, wrapping up action for the Fall 2016 season. The only players that will remain in action will be Rodrigues and Bermudez who will represent Seward County in the ITA National Tournament later this week in Surprise, Arizona.