Seward Wraps Preseason With Pair of Wins

The Seward County Lady Saints wrapped up their 2016 preseason schedule on Saturday in Goodwell, Oklahoma, battling against a pair of NCAA Division II foes in Oklahoma Panhandle State and West Texas A&M, as well as taking on two NJCAA opponents in Dodge City and Trinidad State.  The Lady Saints split 1-1 decisions against both the Aggies and the Buffs, before finishing the day with a flurry, taking home a pair of 2-0 victories over Dodge and Trinidad. 

It was an early morning for the Lady Saints on Saturday as they took on the host Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies right off the bat.  As was the case when the two hooked up Thursday in Liberal, the set was tight as it neared its midpoint until a flurry of three straight points for the Lady Saints, including an ace from Mariana Nascimento and a kill from Briana Domino staked them out to a 12-9 lead.  Slowly the Seward lead evaporated as the Aggies grabbed a 20-19 advantage and scored four straight points to give themselves five cracks at taking the set with a 24-19 lead.  The Lady Saints fought back, scoring four straight to make it a 24-23 score, but eventually OPSU got the clinching point they needed to close Seward out 25-23 to take the first.  Seward was in slow motion offensively in the first, hitting just .136 with eight kills in the set. 

Seward carried its late momentum from the first into the second , immediately grabbing a 4-0 advantage on the Aggies.  They continued to push, opening their lead to 13-6 midway through after three straight kills from Maritza Mesa, Nascimento, and Domino.  This time the Lady Saints didn't let up, ballooning their lead to 20-10 before finally finishing the Aggies off 25-12 on a right side kill from Paulina Zach to split the match 1-1.  After waking up from a dreary first set, the Lady Saints hit .393 in the second, putting away 12 kills and committing just one error on 28 swings. 

Mesa led Seward with six kills in the victory while Amanda Pereira dished out 12 assists and Belissa Guidotti finished with four total blocks to pace the Lady Saints. 

SEWARD COUNTY/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE STATE BOX SCORE

In their second match of the morning, the Lady Saints took on another NCAA Division II member in West Texas A&M.  Seward came out guns a blazing against the Buffs, jumping out to a 9-3 lead in the first before reeling off an 8-0 run to blow their lead wide open to 17-4.  The Lady Saints put it on cruise control from there, coasting to a 25-10 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.  West Texas had no answer for the Lady Saints attack in the first as Seward hit .526 in the period, finishing off 11 kills on just 19 swings as a team. 

The Buffs flipped the script on the Lady Saints in the second, taking a 10-6 lead to start and then using a 6-0 run midway through the set to open their lead up to 16-9.  Seward fought back, drawing to within five twice, but in the end, the Lady Saints errors were too much for them to overcome as West Texas took home the 25-15 win to tie the match at 1-1.

Mesa and Nascimento combined for nine kills for the Lady Saints in the match, neither committing an error to finish the contest with a .485 hitting percentage together.  Giovanna Kuntze had seven digs to lead the way for Seward and also dished out six assists while Nascimento was the Lady Saints block leader with five. 

SEWARD COUNTY/WEST TEXAS A&M BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints took on their first NJCAA opponent of the day in the afternoon as they squared off against Jayhawk West rival Dodge City.  Seward got off to a bad start against the Conqs as Dodge scored the first five points of the first set before the Lady Saints woke up to tie the score at 14 midway through.  It continued to be a nip and tuck affair until a 4-0 burst late in the set by the Lady Saints put them up 21-17, a lead that they would never relinquish.  A big block from Kaysie Paxton and Briana Williams gave Seward set point and after two attacks went long as they tried to seal the win, Mesa whacked one down the line to finish off a 25-21 victory.  Seward won the set despite hitting just .111 in the period.

Seward and Dodge went back and forth in the second to a 10-10 draw at the 20 point mark.  It remained tied 10 points later at 15-15 and was 17-17 until an ace from Kuntze and a kill from Paxton gave the Lady Saints their first two point lead of the set.  Dodge cut it to a one point game at 23-22 late, but a kill by Nascimento in the middle and an attack into the net for the Conqs wrapped up a 25-22 win for the Lady Saints to take the match 2-0. 

After a slow start offensively, the Lady Saints hit .619 in the second, going 13-21 without a single error in the period to finish the match at .298 overall.  Nascimento, Paxton, and Mesa each had six kills for the gals in green while Kimberly Diaz led the back line with seven digs and Williams was in on three of Seward's six blocks as a team in the victory. 

SEWARD COUNTY/DODGE CITY BOX SCORE

Seward saved their best for last as they took on Trinidad State in their final match of a busy day.  After a slow start put them behind 5-1 early on in the first, the Lady Saints stepped on the gas, quickly closing the gap and tying the score at five before pushing themselves out to an 11-7 lead on a dump kill by Kuntze.  After a sideout by the Trojans, the Lady Saints went on another big run, this time a 5-0 jaunt to stretch their lead out to 16-8.  The Lady Saints took a 10 point lead at 21-11 on a block from Domino and Nascimento and Nascimento finished Trinidad off in the first with a kill to give Seward a 25-15 win.  Seward finished the first set with 17 kills on 30 swings, their most kills in a set this preseason. 

The Lady Saints didn't waste any time jumping all over Trinidad again early in the second, getting out to a 13-4 lead as the Seward defense held the Trojans to just one kill over the first 17 points of the period.  The Lady Saints took their largest lead of the set at 21-9 and cruised to a 25-14 second set win to take the match 2-0. 

Seward hit .436 as a team in the match, getting solid efforts out of Nascimento, Mesa, and Paxton who combined for 18 kills.  Kuntze ran the offense to near perfection with 24 assists for the Lady Saints while Jazlyn Smith led the team with seven digs and Guidotti again played big at the net with three blocks. 

SEWARD COUNTY/TRINIDAD STATE BOX SCORE

Seward wraps up the preseason with a soccer like 3-0-2 record.  The Lady Saints will open the regular season on Friday when they travel to Roswell, New Mexico to take part in the New Mexico Military Institute Invitational where they will take on Cedar Valley and Pima on Friday before locking up with Eastern Arizona and South Mountain on Saturday.