No. 7 Lady Saints lose close one to No. 8 Tigers

LIBERAL, Kan. – The seventh-ranked Seward County Community College women's tennis team had its winning streak snapped at seven with a 5-4 loss to No. 8 Cowley College on Friday at Blue Bonnet Park. The Lady Saints fell to 10-4.

Seward and Cowley battled it out in less than ideal conditions with winds gusting throughout the matches.

The teams split the first two doubles matches with No. 1 Patricia Panta and Maria Aveiga beating Takalani Molaoa and Georgina Kaindoah, 8-4, and No. 3 Alisa Handrugan and Eva Liu losing Margot Fontaine and Coraline Lamer, 4-8.

The Lady Saints took the third match and a 2-1 lead after a thrilling match between

No. 3 Alena Macharova and Sofia Belluco against Mariana Rodriguez and Aletta Macheli. Macharova and Belluco fell behind early, but rallied for the 9-8 victory.

Seward started off strong on the singles side taking a 4-2 lead on victories by No. 2 Aveiga and No. 3 Macharova. Aviega beat Allana Molnar, 6-2, 7-6, while Macharova defeated Macheli, 6-2, 6-4.

That would be the only matches the Lady Saints would win the rest of the way. The Tigers came back and won the next four matches to score a 5-4 victory. No. 1 Panta lost a tough battle with Molaoa, 6-2, 3-6, 8-10, No. 4 Belluco fell to Kaindoah, 1-6, 4-6, No. 5 Handrugan was defeated by Fontaine, 0-6, 6-7, and No. 6 Liu lost to Lamer, 4-6, 2-6.

The Lady Saints play at the Southwest Junior College Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Plano, Texas.