Seward Sticks in Third With Two Days Remaining at Nationals
The Seward County Saints held onto their third place spot in the standings Wednesday at the conclusion of day three of the NJCAA National Tournament in Plano, Texas. Seward checks in with 31 points after three days of action with Tyler leading the pack with 34 and Abraham Baldwin just ahead of Seward with 32.
Carlos Anez continued his march through the consolation bracket in #1 singles on Wednesday, breezing past Paradise Valley's Nicholas Marroquin 6-0, 6-1 to reach the semifinal round on Thursday.
Duro Opacic picked up a straight sets win over 36th ranked Linus Holthey of Mesa 6-3, 6-2 in #2 singles, pushing through the semis where he will take on top seeded Jorge Martinez of Tyler on Thursday morning.
In the #3 bracket, Ondrej Nice held off Abraham Baldwin's Matthias Rogel in the second set to win his quarterfinal dual 6-1, 7-6 (1). Nice will now square off against ASA Miami's Sacha Modica Thursday morning with a ticket to the National Championship match on the line.
In a rematch of the #4 singles championship at the Region VI Tournament, Przemek Zielinski again took care of Cowley's Julian Aubry-Damon 6-4, 7-5, pushing him through to the round of four Thursday where he will take on Tyler's Reid Feehan.
The match of the day came at #5 for the Saints where Claudio Quinones battled Harford's Bradley Schug. Schug took the first 6-4 to put Quinones behind the eight ball, but the Seward freshman battled back, taking the second 6-4 and the deciding third 7-5 in an extra game to clinch his spot in the semis.
Ngoni Makambwa will make his second straight trip to the semifinal round Thursday after defeating Collin's Thompson Tomg 6-0, 7-5 in the quarters Wednesday. Makambwa will square off against ASA's Eric Moonga in another big dual for Seward this morning.
The Saints #1 doubles pair of Nice and Anez shook off a 7-5 first set loss against Laredo on Wednesday, coming back to take the second 6-1 and the third 7-5 to earn their way into Thursday's semifinals where they will battle ASA with a spot in the National Championship match in the balance.
Seward dropped both of their quarterfinal matches in #2 and #3 doubles, putting the duos of Mosehle/Nery and Opacic/Zielinski 5th to end the 2017 season.
The Saints continue to challenge for the tournament lead, going into day four just three points off the top spot. Seward will open play Thursday with 31 points, tied with ASA Miami for third while Tyler leads the way with 34 and Abraham Baldwin one ahead of the Saints with 32.