Seward Drops on Day Two of Nationals

ith the top seeds coming out to play on day two of the 2014 NJCAA National Tournament, the Seward County Lady Saints saw their placing in the tournament drop on Monday, falling from a 4th place tie to 17th place with three days left in the tournament.

The Lady Saints top player, 6th seeded Paula Lopez continued to battle through a leg injury in #1 singles, but showed little ill effect from the problem, downing North Central Texas’ Georgie Gosen 6-2, 6-3 to move on to the quarterfinal round of the tournament. Tuesday morning Lopez will get her stiffest test of the tournament to date as she squares off with 3rd seeded Niriantsa Rasolomalala from Georgia Perimeter in the first match of the day. A win would all but assure Lopez of a 2014 All-American selection.

The other half of the Lady Saints Argentinian duo, Paula Coyos continued to roll in #2 singles in what Head Coach Jerry Thor calls her best tennis of the season. 5th seeded Coyos breezed to another win on Monday, downing Rachel Farmer of Snead State 6-1, 6-0 to earn her way into the round of eight. In two matches, Coyos has now outscored her opponents 24 games to 1. Her quarterfinal matchup Tuesday will come against Olivia Erlandsson of St. Petersburg who is coming off of an upset win over 4th seeded Shawnee-Ann Brelsford of Seminole State.

After coming off of a big win on Sunday, Kathryn Roohan had a tough go of things on Monday as she ran up against 2nd seeded Ashleigh De Wet of Tyler in the second round, falling 6-1, 6-2 to end her tournament in 9th place.

In the consolation bracket at #5 singles, Seward County sent Naomie Bukassa to the court. Bukassa struggled early and paid for it, losing 8-3 to Kindra Holliday or Eastern Arizona to bring her 2014 National Tournament appearance to a close in 9th place in the consolation bracket.

In the #1 doubles bracket Seward’s Lopez and Coyos continued to roll on Monday. The 2nd seeded duo breezed to another win, this time blowing away Gosen and Rodriguez from North Central Texas 6-0, 6-1 to move on to the quarterfinals. Tuesday in the quarters, the Lady Saints will take on a pair who has been just as dominant in the tournament in 7th seeded Anghelscu and Rasolomalala of St. Petersburg.

After sitting in 4th place after the first day of the tournament, the Lady Saints drop to 17th after Monday’s action as top seeded teams took the court following first round byes. Seward checks in with 11 points, 1.5 points in front of 18th place Seminole State and 1 point behind Pima and Snead State who are tied for 15th. The tournament host, Tyler is undefeated thus far in the tournament and leads the way with 27 points while Cowley leads the way for the Jayhawk Conference as they are in 6th place with 21 points.

COMPLETE 2014 NJCAA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS<http://www.apacheathletics.com/f/NJCAA_D1_Womens_Tennis_National_Tournament_Schedule_and_Results.php>

Roy Allen