Seward Slips in National Semis
The final two individual National Championship dreams for the Seward County Saints came to an abrupt end Thursday at the NJCAA National Tournament in Plano, Texas as Felipe Casares and Ngoni Makambwa were both upended in their semifinal matches to leave Seward in 6th place and without any players left fighting in the championship brackets.
With rain altering schedules in Plano on Thursday, the only Saints to see the court were Felipe Casares and Ngoni Makambwa who were still left in their main draws. Casares took the court first in #5 singles, going up against defending National Champion Rasheed Carey of ASA, who eliminated Seward's Tare Mariga in last season's NJCAA title match. Casares never got going Thursday, getting blanked in the first 6-0 before salvaging two games in a 6-2 second set loss. Casares ends his Seward County career with a 3rd place finish at the tournament.
In #6 singles it was Makambwa trying to earn his way to the championship match for Seward as he took on Anru Faurie of Seminole State. Makambwa dominated the first set, hammering Faurie 6-2 to take the early lead. In the second Makambwa had four chances to close with match points, but each time Faurie fought them off, eventually taking the second 7-6 (8) in a tiebreak to even the score. In the third Fuarie led 3-0 before a little known NJCAA rule kicked in as Makambwa was disqualified from the tournament after the referee decided that he had called his fifth ball wrong of the match, in one second ending Makambwa's dream of winning a National Championship. Makambwa finishes his freshman season for the Saints as a 3rd place finisher at the tournament.
Seward will have one singles player and one doubles duo in action in the consolation bracket on Friday as the tournament draws to a close.
The Saints remain steady in 6th place with 24.5 points, now an unreachable three points behind Mesa who sits 5th and 2.5 points up on 7th place Laredo. ASA continued to lead the way with 44 points while Seminole and Tyler are sticking around with 40 and 39 points respectively.