Roohan Wins Region

In the Seward County Lady Saints only home match of the
2013 season, they narrowly squeaked out a 5-4 win over visiting Barton
to pick up their first region win of the season. This weekend in
Wichita at the Region VI Tournament, the Lady Cougars got their revenge,
beating Seward County out 13 to 12.5 for 3rd place in the tournament to
secure their trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Glendale.

In #1 singles, freshman Anna Braun earned a victory in
her first Region VI Tournament match of her career, taking down Samantha
Aeschliman of Hesston 6-4, 6-3 to move to the semifinal round of the
tournament. In the semis Braun ran up against a tough matchup in Ana
Ruzir of Cowley who downed the Seward rookie 6-3, 6-1 to send Braun to
the third place match. The match for third was important for both
parties involved as Braun dueled with Karina Ono of Barton. After
winning the first set in a tiebreak 7-6 (2), Braun fell 6-4 in the
second set and Ono sealed the deal with a 10-6 win in the third set
tiebreak to put 1.5 points on the board for the Lady Cougars while Braun
earned 1 for Seward.

Katiuska Adarmes earned the Lady Saints 2 points in #2
singles, receiving a first round bye and taking down Sarah Giraldo of
Cowley 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a great match to move onto the Region
Championship match. In the Championship battle Adarmes hung tough with
Erika Castillo-Lopez of Johnson County in the first set, forcing a
tiebreak before falling 7-6 (1), but was unable to put up the same fight
in the second set as she fell 6-3 to end her tournament in 2nd place.

At the #3 spot the Lady Saints sent Leticia Monteiro to
the court and the Seward County had trouble in her first round match,
falling 6-1, 6-3 to Lexie Maytubby of Cowley and despite winning the
first set of the third place match against Darrien Beckwith 6-3, lost
the next two sets 7-5 and 10-7 to end her tournament winless and in 4th
place.

The hero for the Saints during their run at the Region
VI and National Tournament in 2012, Kurstie Zepeda just about pulled off
an upset in #4 singles against Melissa Bassoo of Cowley in the
semifinals, playing the Tigers start to 6-4 in the first set and 6-4 in
the second set while falling to the third place match. Zepeda squared
off against Aspen McCann from Barton in the third place match and picked
up a big win for the Lady Saints against the Cougars as she won 6-3, 6-4
to earn 1.5 points.

Kathryn Roohan, the Lady Saints most consistent player
all year long did it again for Seward in the tournament. The freshman
from San Antonio, Texas had no trouble in her #5 singles opening match,
easily taking care of Kara Hoegerl of Johnson County 6-3, 6-1 to move
onto the championship match. In the title match Roohan again was the
aggressor and the far superior player. After winning the first set 6-4
over Erianne Adams of Cowley, Roohan sealed the championship up with a
6-2 second set win to bring home the championship and give the Lady
Saints 3 big points.

Seward’s only two sport athlete in 2013, Whitney
Garinger, who joined the team midseason, battled in #6 singles against
Kaci Diener of Hesston, losing the first set just 6-4, but struggled in
the second set as she was blanked 6-0 to end her tournament in singles
play.

Forced to play the pigtail game as the #4 seed, Braun
and Adarmes teamed up in #1 doubles to easily bury Aescliman and
Mitchell of Hesston in the first round 6-0, 6-1 to move onto the
semifinal round of the tournament. In the semis it was a little bit
different case however as Beckett and Castillo from Johnson County
torched the Lady Saints top team 6-1, 6-3 to bounce them to the third
place match. In a key match between Seward and Barton, Braun and
Adarmes won the first set 6-4 against Ono and Miller, but tripped up in
the second set losing 6-2 and were outplayed 10-6 in the tiebreaker to
give Barton the match win and the crucial .5 extra in the team
standings.

The scrappy #2 doubles team for Seward comprised of
Zepeda and Roohan pulled out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a long battle with
Bassoo and Adams of Cowley in the semifinal round to reach the finals,
but in the championship tilt it was Johnson County’s duo of Ochs and
Buenger that prevailed in a 6-1, 6-3 decision to put the Lady Saints
pair 2nd in the bracket.

In #3 doubles it was Monteiro and Garinger going at it
for Seward. The pair had little trouble advancing to the round of four
as they defeated the Unruh sisters of Hesston 6-2, 6-3 in the first
round, but ran into trouble in their second match, falling 7-5, 6-0 to
Giraldo and Cornejo of Cowley to send them to the third place match. IN
the third place match Seward once again was unable to capitalize on a
head to head battle with Barton. Monteiro and Garinger won their first
set 7-5 against Christiansen and McLeland of Barton, but were downed 6-3
in the second set and were blown away in the third 10-3 to seal their
tournament fate in 4th place.

The Lady Saints fell .5 point short of qualifying for
their 14th straight NJCAA National Tournament appearance but this year
it will be the Cougars of Barton who will represent Region VI as their
#3 seed. Johnson County won the team title with 23 points, easily
defeating Cowley who finished second with 18 points, while Barton was
third with 13 points and Seward was fourth with 12.5. Seward was 1-4
against Barton in the tournament, all 3rd place matches in which the
Cougars picked up an extra .5 point for winning.

It is a disappointing end to the Lady Saints season as
they finish 4-7 as a team in 2013 and 45-71 combined in all of their
2013 matches. Seward finishes the 2013 campaign ranked #16 in the ITA
rankings.