Lady Saints Sharp in Preseason Scrimmages
The Seward County Lady Saints showed Saturday in the Greenhouse that they took exception to being picked 3rd in the KJCCC Coaches Poll which was released on Thursday. The gals in green blazed to four wins in four matches, winning all 13 sets that they played against Garden City, Lamar, Clarendon, and Oklahoma Panhandle State to open their scrimmage season.
Seward finally took the court against someone other than themselves bright and early Saturday morning as they welcomed Jayhawk West rival Garden City to the Greenhouse. The Lady Saints rolled through the Busters 25-17 and 25-16 in the first two sets they played before holding off Garden City late to take the third 25-23. With it being a scrimmage, the two continued on and played a fourth set which saw Seward's Megan Sharratt give them a 25-19 win with a barrage of aces late in the set.
Next up for the Lady Saints was Clarendon, a team that Seward will take on in Lamar when the regular season kicks off this weekend. It was all Seward County early on as the Lady Saints slammed the Bulldogs 25-10 in the first and backed that up with a 25-15 win in the second. In the third the Lady Saints withstood a late Clarendon rally to come away with a 25-22 win to finish their morning session with a perfect 2-0 record.
After the lunch break, the Lady Saints went head to head with another club that they will take on opening weekend, the Lamar Runnin' Lopes. Lamar offered little resistance against the Lady Saints in the first set as Seward blew them out of the water 25-8, but the Lady Saints were forced to come from behind for the first time on the day in the second to win 25-20. There would be no such repeat in the third as the gals in green took control early on and never relinquished it, burying the Lopes 25-5 before taking the fourth set by a 25-18 score to sweep the match 4-0.
In their final test of the day, the Lady Saints battled a more veteran squad in Oklahoma Panhandle State. With energy dwindling on both sides after the long day, the two teams decided to start their sets with a 10-10 score rather than from 0. The Lady Saints took the first set by a score of 25-19 and finished the day off in style with a 25-20 win to wrap up an undefeated day one slate.
Seward won all 13 sets played in their first scrimmages of the 2014 season. The Lady Saints played all 11 healthy players on the day and toyed with a number of different lineups and combinations in the four matches. Seward will have a couple of days off before taking the court once again on Wednesday when they travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma to take on Dodge City and OPSU in a pair of scrimmages. The Lady Saints will officially open their 2014 season on Friday in Lamar when they battle Otero and Clarendon in the Runnin' Lopes Kick Off Classic.