Win Over #12 San Jac Highlights Lady Saints Weekend

The Seward County Lady Saints managed just a 1-3 record in this weekend's Tyler Junior College Invitational in Tyler, Texas, but the one win that Seward was able to capture was a big one as the Lady Saints put it on #12 San Jacinto Saturday morning to the tune of a 3-0 victory to improve to 16-9 on the year.

In their first match of the weekend, the Lady Saints took on #5 and red hot Panola.  Seward was never able to get anything going against the Fillies, falling 25-16 in the first and 25-17 in both the second and third sets.  Seward managed a season low 25 kills in the loss and had just two blocks as a team, also a seasons worst.  Mariana Nascimento was a lone bright spot, finishing with six kills on eight swings without an error to hit .750.

SEWARD COUNTY/#5 PANOLA BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints second match of the weekend, on paper at least, looked to be their best chance of victory as they took on 5-17 Navarro.  It became evident early on that it was going to be far from easy for Seward in this one as it was the Bulldogs holding on for a 25-23 first set win before the Lady Saints answered with a 25-23 win of their own to send things to the third tied at one.  In the third Seward looked better, collecting a 25-21 victory, but the Lady Saints missed out on numerous chances to close Navarro out in the fourth before finally the Bulldogs snuck out a 26-24 win to send things to five.  In the fifth, Seward again looked in control, up 8-6 at the changeover, but Navarro left some voodoo on their side of the floor as the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run to close the set, coming away with a 15-8 win to take the match 3-2.  Nascimento and Maritza Mesa led the Seward offense with 32 combined kills while Belissa Guidotti had a team best eight blocks and both Lady Saint setters, Amanda Pereira and Giovanna Kuntze put together double-doubles in the loss. 

SEWARD COUNTY/NAVARRO BOX SCORE

Things certainly didn't look like they were going to get any easier on Saturday for the Lady Saints as their first match of the day pitted them against 16-4 and 12^th ranked San Jacinto.  However, the Lady Saints woke up on the right side of the bed on Saturday, coming out and putting it to the Gators in the first to the tune of a 25-14 victory and followed it up with a 25-19 win in the second to go ahead 2-0 in the match.  Seward didn't let up there, finishing San Jac off 25-15 in the third to easily sweep the match 3-0.  The Lady Saints were efficient offensively, hitting .352 against the top 15 Gators, getting 14 kills and just one error from Mesa, 13 more kills from Nascimento, and 10 kills with just one error from outside hitter Kaysie Paxton.  In the win, Kuntze notched a career high by assisting on 42 of the Lady Saints 45 kills in the match. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#12 SAN JACINTO BOX SCORE

In their final match of the weekend, the Lady Saints stood toe to toe with the #2 ranked team in the country, the Missouri State- West Plains Grizzlies.  Seward showed no fear in the first, trading leads with the Grizzlies until West Plains finally outlasted them 26-24 to go ahead 1-0.  The Lady Saints bounced back in the second in a major way, taking it right to the Grizzlies, leading the whole way in a 25-18 trouncing to even up the match at one.  West Plains answered right back in the third with a one sided victory of their own, downing the Lady Saints 25-15 to again take a one set lead in the match.  In the fourth Seward again hung tough with the countries #2 ranked team, but in the end, the Grizzlies were too much, winning 25-20 to close out the Lady Saints 3-1 to take the match.  Nascimento had a huge match for Seward in the loss, banging home a career high 16 kills while missing her career high in blocks by just one with eight.  Mesa also had a big match, going for 14 kills and 10 digs in a double-double, while Paxton notched her career high in kills with 13. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#2 MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS BOX SCORE

The up and down weekend for the Lady Saints puts them at 16-9 overall on the year. Seward will now turn their attention exclusively to Jayhawk West Conference action where they will play their final seven matches over the next four weeks, beginning with a long road trip to El Dorado to take on Butler Wednesday in the Power Plant.