Lady Saints Open 2014 With Tough Weekend
The #13 Seward County Lady Saints tennis team opened their 2014 season Friday in Plano, Texas at their annual trip to the Collin County Bash and had a bit of a rough weekend, finishing 1-3 as they took on #1 Tyler, #3 Collin County, #10 North Central Texas, as well as #17 New Mexico Military.
Seward couldn't have gotten a tougher draw to open the season as they started across the nets from the #1 team in the country, the Tyler Lady Apaches. The match started in doubles play where the Lady Saints had a hard time getting any footing against the mighty Tyler duos. Paula Lopez and Paula Coyos were the closest of any of the three Seward pairs, falling by a count of 8-2 to the top ranked doubles team in the country of Fausthyara Pietersz and Joanna Savva. Tyler swept doubles action 3-0 and the Lady Saints didn't have much more luck in the singles portion of the match. Lopez was the only player to win more than one game in the match as she went up against Pietersz in a match between the #14 and #2 players in the country. Pietersz defended her rank, downing Lopez 6-4, 6-2 to take the #1 singles match and the rest of the Lady Apaches followed suit as Seward lost 6-0, 6-0 at every spot from #3 to #6 with Coyos getting just one game at #2 singles, losing 6-0, 6-1. The Lady Saints lost the match 9-0.
#13 SEWARD COUNTY/#1 TYLER MATCH RESULTS
Things lightened up for the Lady Saints in their second match of the day as they took on a shorthanded #17 New Mexico Military team. The Lady Saints started the match up 2-0 as New Mexico Military was forced to forfeit #6 singles as well as #3 doubles due to an unfilled lineup. Lopez and Coyos got the Lady Saints a point at #1 doubles with an 8-4 victory over Amanda Korinihona and Leilani Dulhnak to put Seward up 3-0. Kathryn Roohan and Jackie Arnold also earned the Lady Saints a tally as they blanked Lily Espinosa and Tristan Chico 8-0 in #2 doubles to bring Seward to within a point of the match win. Coyos played the #1 spot in singles for this one and beat 49th ranked Pao Hernandez 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the match for Seward. Lopez had no trouble at #2 singles, wining 6-0, 6-1 over Korinihona. The Broncos got their only point in #3 singles, but Jackie Arnold and Naomie Bukassa both picked up easy wins in #4 and #5 singles to give the Lady Saints an 8-1 match win.
#13 SEWARD COUNTY/#17 NEW MEXICO MILITARY MATCH RESULTS
The hard luck that found Seward in the Tyler match resurfaced on day two of the tournament. In their first match on Saturday the Lady Saints met #3 Collin County. Collin picked up two early wins in #2 and #3 doubles play to take an early 2-0 lead, but Lopez and Coyos got a point back for the Lady Saints, winning a grinder 8-5 against 8th ranked Clorinda Wessels and Amanda Gilson to make it 2-1 as the teams went to singles. The match for Seward was lost in the bottom half of singles action as no Lady Saint got closer than 6-2, 6-2 as Collin went in front 6-1 in the match. Gilson, who was ranked 18th going into the match got her revenge on 27th ranked Coyos in #2 singles, downing the Lady Saints freshman 7-5, 6-2 to open up the Collin lead to 7-1. Seward earned their lone singles point at the #1 spot where 14th ranked Lopez upset 6th ranked Wessels 6-3, 6-3 to finish the dual. Collin won the match 7-2 to send the Lady Saints to 1-2 on the year.
#13 SEWARD COUNTY/#3 COLLIN COUNTY MATCH RESULTS
The Lady Saints took the court in their final match of the weekend against 10th ranked North Central Texas. Lopez and Coyos gave the Lady Saints an early 1-0 lead with an 8-1 win in #1 doubles, but the Lady Lions roared back with 8-1 and 8-2 wins in #2 and #3 doubles to take the lead back 2-1. Lopez and Coyos both cruised in their singles matches at #1 and #2 to put Seward back in front 3-2, but no other Lady Saints were able to even sniff a win against North Central in singles action as The Lady Lions won 48 games to Seward's 3 in the #3 through #6 spots to take the match 6-3.
#13 SEWARD COUNTY/#10 NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS MATCH RESULTS
The Lady Saints open the season 1-3 and were 13-23 overall in matches on the weekend. They will have a lengthy layoff before their next match as they will not play again until March 8th when they go to Wichita to take on regional rival Cowley in a dual meet.