Two Saints Win Weekend Tournaments

Last week is was Alejandro Gonzalez winning the A Draw Singles
Championship over teammate Ronzai Saurombe for Seward County and this
week it was Saurombe’s turn to earn his first crown, defeating Laurentsi
Arakhamiya in the finals to win the Bethany Invitational Championship.
Later on in the tournament Gonzalez and Saurombe teamed up to win the A
Draw doubles bracket in dominating fashion to complete the sweep for
Seward in the top draw.

It was once again the Ronzai Saurombe and Alejandro Gonzalez show in the
main draw of the tournament this weekend as the two competed in the
Bethany Invitational in Salina. Gonzalez, the tournament champion from
a week ago, breezed through his first round matchup against Jacob
Brendumuehl of Ottawa, winning without breaking a sweat 6-1, 6-0.
Saurombe had a little bit tougher of a time, needing a pair of 6-4 wins
to dispatch of William Jewell’s Bryan Thomas to advance to the next
round. Gonzalez was forced to become a comeback kid in the quarters as
he dropped his first set to Filip Bogic of Lindenwood 6-4 before
rebounding nicely to take the second 6-1 and the third set tie break
10-5 to win the match 2-1. Taking on Newman’s Nei Dos Santos, Saurombe
cruised in the second round, winning 6-4, 6-1 to reach the final four of
the draw. Gonzalez looked well on his way to reaching his second
straight final after beating Bethany’s Laurentsi Arakhamiya 6-1 in their
first set battle, but Arakhamiya bounced back to take the second 7-6 and
then shocked Gonzalez with a 10-8 win in the third set to take home the
match and leave Gonzalez in 3rd place. Saurombe continued to play his
best tennis of his young career, taking down Luke Chmielski of Rockhurst
6-4, 6-2 in the semis to reach the finals once again. In the
championship match, Saurombe played a tight one with Arakhamiya,
squeaking out a 7-5 win after being down 5-2 in the first before seeing
the second go to a tiebreak in which he pulled out 7-6 to win the
championship.

The Saints struggled in the B Draw as Trevor Kipping fell 6-2, 6-2 to
Sean Gleason of Bethany in the opening round of the bracket and couldn’t
get on the board in the consolation round either, dropping his match 8-5
to Max Cooper of William Jewell to finish his weekend.

Brandon Kafarela represented the Saints in the C Draw and easily moved
on to the quarterfinal round after a 6-1, 6-3 slashing of Chris Reimer
of William Jewell in his first round matchup. In the second round
Kafarela took the first set 6-4 against Tyler Dort of Tabor, but Dort
returned the favor with a 6-4 win of his own in the second before
knocking Kafarela out of the tournament with a 10-4 win in the
tiebreaking third set. Kafarela finished 5th in the C Draw.

In the F Draw the Saints sent Colin Glassman and Adrian Amado to battle.
Both players lost their opening round matches, Glassman 6-0, 6-1 and
Amado 6-2, 6-1. In the consolations Glassman earned an 8-6 win over
Tabor’s Ron Flores while Amado was blanked 8-0 by Dan Connor of Emporia
State. In the consolation semi’s Glassman battled hard against Herm
Edwards of Ottawa but came up on the short end of an 8-2 decision to end
his tournament.

In doubles the Saints had high hopes and those hopes turned into
success.

Gonzalez and Saurombe proved almost untouchable in the A Draw, playing
their closest match in the first round. In that first round battle, the
Seward duo hung on to take down Brendemuehl/Brooks from Ottawa 8-4 and
zoomed past Jayhawk foes Martinez/Araujo of Barton 8-2 in the second
round to advance to the semifinals. In the semis it was another laugher
for Gonzalez/Saurombe who downed Rahbar/Dumitrov of Bethany 8-3 to earn
their way into another championship match. In the title match the
Saints brought home another tournament championship, beating
Bogaert/Owusu of Bethany 8-3 without trouble to win the Bethany
Invitational A Draw Championship.

Looking to do the same in the B Draw, Kafarela and Kipping took the
court together for the Saints. In the first round, they were knocked
off 8-3 by Bogic/Lopez of Lindenwood, but it didn’t dampen the
competitive spirit of the Saints freshman pair. They played a tight
match with Geick/Glasgow of Baker in the first round of the consolation
bracket, pulling out a late 7-5 win to advance to the next round. In
the second round of the back draw they had a much easier time with
Reimer/Pinhas of William Jewell, winning 6-2 to get to the consolation
finals. In the finals match they went up against Webster/Greenbaum of
Baker and again flexed their muscles with a 6-3 win to finish their
weekend on a high note.

In the C Draw the Saints had some troubles as Glassman and Amado were
unable to come away with a victory, falling 8-1 in the opening round
against the self-named Dream Team, before losing in the first round of
the consolation bracket 8-4 to Whitmer/Adams of Newman.

Seward finished the tournament 16-11 overall and improve their fall 2013
record to 30-22 as a team. Next up for the Saints is another test
against four year foes when they travel to Colorado to participate in
the Metro State Invitational in Downtown Denver.
Saturday in Lindsborg, Seward County freshman Paula Lopez made history
for the Lady Saints Tennis team, beating Casyn Buchman 6-2, 3-6, 12-10
in the A Draw finals to become the first junior college player in
Bethany Invitational history to win the tournament’s top draw.

In what was their stiffest test of the early fall season, the Seward
County Lady Saints traveled to Lindsborg, Kansas Saturday for the 2013
Bethany Inviational Tournament. Seward sent two players into the A Draw
of the tournament, featuring some of the best players from around the
Midwest region. Paula Coyos got Seward off to a good start, blanking
Ceara Boldridge of Missouri Western 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. Coyos’
fellow countrywomen Paula Lopez also got Seward an early win, putting it
on Rebecca Faber of Tabor 6-0, 6-0 to advance herself to the
quarterfinals as well. The two Argentinians had little trouble in the
second round as well with Coyos knocking off Kristen Stivers of William
Jewell 6-2, 6-2 and Lopez downing Gloria Marras of Lindenwood 6-1, 6-2
to move onto the semis. Lopez was the first to clinch her spot in the
finals, continuing her dominance of the field with a 6-3, 6-4 win over
Kirstie Simon of Newman. Coyos’ chance was next against Casyn Buchman
of Washburn, but she fell just short 6-3, 6-5 to end her tournament in
3rd place. The showdown was set between the Lady Saints and Ichabod’s
top players. Lopez came out gunning, having little trouble in the
first set winning 6-2 but Buchman answered with a 6-3 win in the second
to send the match to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak it was again a neck
and neck battle as Lopez and Buchman went back and forth until the
Seward star broke through, winning 12-10 to take the match and capture
the tournament title. With the win, Lopez became the first junior
college player in Bethany Invitational history to win the championship
in the A Draw and is one of just three players to have brought home the
gold in the top bracket in the past seven seasons.

In the C Draw, last year’s #5 singles Region VI Champion Kathryn Roohan
had some troubles for the Lady Saints. Roohan dropped her first match
6-2, 7-5 to Jamie Myers of Baker and couldn’t rebound in the consolation
bracket where she was knocked off 8-1 by Diana Castro of Lindenwood to
end her tournament in 5th place in the consolation bracket.

Vipavee Ngamsari represented Seward in the D Draw and started well with
a 6-3, 7-6 win over Ellen Agnew of Ottawa in her first action of the
tournament. In the quarterfinals she played a nailbiter with Kayla
Dysart of Missouri Western, splitting the first two sets 6-2 and 6-4
before locking horns in a great battle in the tiebreaker that saw Dysart
advance with an 11-9 win. Ngamsari finished 5th in the draw.

The Lady Saints sent three players to the court in the E Draw including
Jackie Arnold, Grace Golden, and Naomi Bukassa. Arnold was the first to
strike, winning 6-2, 6-2 over Victoria Bostic of Baker to breeze to the
second round. Golden was up next and made Bekka Bailey work in a 6-3
first set loss, but Bailey owned the second set, winning 6-1 to bump
Golden to the consolation bracket. It was the same fate for Bukassa who
could never get going against Alyssa Dougan of Missouri Western, falling
6-1, 6-0 to drop her to the consolations as well. Arnold got revenge
for Golden in the quarters, knocking off Bailey 6-2, 6-3 to reach her
first tournament semifinal in her young Seward career. Golden and
Bukassa were also winners in the consolation bracket where Golden beat
Bostic 8-2 and Bukassa dropped Brittni Hayes of Newman 8-4 to advance in
the bracket. Unfortunately for Arnold, an injury sustained on Saturday
kept her out of her semifinal match against Diana Hernandez of Newman
and therefore ended her run in 3rd place. Golden also fell in her next
contest 8-3 to Caroline Walkenhorst of Lindenwood which would end
singles play for the Lady Saints. Golden and Bukassa tied for 3rd in
the consolation draw of the bracket.

Coyos and Lopez went back to work, this time together in the A Draw of
the doubles portion of the tournament. In the first round they were
victorious against Bellew/Luedtke of Ottawa 8-3 and quickly marched to
the semifinals with another 8-3 win, this time over Hazelrigs/Hazelrigs
of William Jewell. Gaining speed, Coyos and Lopez drilled Symon/Jordan
of Newman in the semis 8-1 and once again the duo was playing for a
tournament title. In the championship match, they took on
Buchman/Blackim of Washburn and the pairs went the distance, before the
Ichabod’s came away with a tight 9-7 win to win the tournament and give
the Lady Saints a runner-up finish.

Roohan and Ngamsari paired in the B Draw to represent the Lady Saints
and won what might have been the doubles match of the tournament 9-8 (8)
over Chiao/Berger of Missouri Western in the first round to advance to
the second round of play. In the quarters they ran up against
Drew/Huddlestun from William Jewell and the Cardinal pair was just too
much for the Lady Saints duo as Drew/Huddlestun won 8-1 to end Roohan
and Ngamsari’s run in 5th place.

In the C Draw, the Lady Saints didn’t have a whole lot of luck. Bukassa
and Golden were blanked 8-0 in the first round by Bailey/Good of Ottawa
and were forced to withdraw in the first round of consolation play with
a pending matchup against Reese/Sanchez from Kansas Wesleyan.

Overall the Lady Saints were 15-12 in the tournament, marking their
first winning record in tournament play since the 2012 Bethany
Invitational when they were 9-6. The Lady Saints will be back at it
this weekend as they head the other way, this time to Denver, Colorado
to take part in the Metro State Invitational where they will take on a
number of teams from NCAA Division II’s RMAC Conference.

Roy Allen