Mixed Results For Seward on Day Two in Plano
There were some ups and there were some downs for the Seward County Lady Saints Saturday at the Southwest Juco Championships in Plano, Texas as Seward failed to bring home any hardware from the tournament, but won all three of their head to head matches against the rival Cowley Tigers just one week ahead of the 2017 NJCAA Region VI Tournament.
Thalita Rodrigues won her lone match of the day, defeating Seminole State's Viktoria Seifert 6-2 in the first set before Seifert retired to give Rodrigues a third place finish in the #1 draw.
Sarah Manseri marched through to the championship match on Friday, but Saturday was a different story as she ran into a buzz saw in Tyler's Kalani Soli in a 6-2, 6-0 loss to finish second at #2.
In #3 singles, Lisa Suzuki took a 6-1, 6-3 match in the backdraw over Jaymie Waites of Colin County to finish 5th.
Steffany Bermudez cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Cowley's Mabi Garduno for third place at #4 while Martina Borges fell in her third place match at #5, 6-3, 6-3 against Essence Green of North Central Texas to finish fourth.
Fernanda Santana put up a fight against Tyler's Elena Tendero at #6, but came up on the short end of a 6-2, 7-5 decision in the title match to finish second.
In doubles action, Rodrigues and Suzuki put together a statement win at #1, burying Cowley 8-3 in the semis before going down 8-2 in the championship match against Tyler to finish second.
Bermudez and Manseri earned a spot in the championship match at #2 with an 8-4 win over Colin in the semis, but like Rodrigues and Suzuki, couldn't overcome the Apaches in the title match, falling in a tight 8-6 dual to finish second.
Tadi Mrewa and Madison Hoelting opened some eyes at #3 by advancing to the title match with an 8-6 grinding win over Cowley in the second round and just about pulled off the upset against Tyler in the championship match, just barely falling in a 9-8 tiebreak to settle for second.
Seward finished Saturday 6-6 overall and will have one final tuneup Wednesday at Blue Bonnet Courts in Liberal against Cowley before heading to Great Bend for the Region VI Tournament next weekend.