The #5 Seward County Lady Saints couldn’t have written a much better script for their opening day of tennis action in 2017 on Friday as they swept a pair of ranked opponents in #12 North Central Texas and #17 Jacksonville by 9-0 scores to begin the season 2-0.
In their first match of 2017, Seward took on North Central Texas in Plano, Texas. The Lady Saints and Lady Lions got things going with doubles play that Seward dominated, getting an 8-0 win from Thalita Rodrigues and Lisa Suzuki at #1, an 8-2 victory from Steffeny Burmudez and Sarah Manseri at #2, and an 8-4 win at #3 from Madison Hoelting and Tadi Mrewa to take a 3-0 lead into singles play.
It was more domination from the Lady Saints as singles action got going as 9th ranked Rodrigues defeated 35th ranked Ana Orozco 6-0, 6-2 at #1 and Manseri matched 6-1 scores against Essence Green at #2 to clinch the match for Seward. Suzuki cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win at #3 while Bermudez won 6-2, 6-3 at #4 to put Seward up 7-0. The only close set of the match came at #5 where Martina Borges outlasted Augustina Grimolizzi 7-6 in the first before finishing her off 6-1 in the second and Fernanda Santana cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win at #6 to finish off the sweep for the Lady Saints.
#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#12 NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardNCTC1.pdf>
On paper, the Lady Saints second match of the day looked like it would be a good early season test against #17 Jacksonville, but it was far from that. The Jaguars gave Seward three points from defaults to start things and even with a shifted lineup, with the Lady Saints top four players taking a rest, Seward dominated.
Playing at #1 doubles, Hoelting and Mrewa took an 8-2 decision and Borges and Santana matched that score at #2 to give Seward a 5-0 lead. Mrewa played at the #1 spot in singles for Seward and had no trouble in a 6-0, 6-0 victory while Santana played at #2 and came away with a 6-1, 6-0 win to put the Lady Saints up 7-0. Borges took a 6-1, 6-4 decision at #3 and Hoelting finished off the day with a shutout against Allison Singleton to give the Lady Saints another 9-0 sweep.
#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#17 JACKSONVILLE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardJacksonville1.pdf>
Saturday
The #5 Seward County Lady Saints dropped their first match of the 2017 season Saturday in Plano, Texas, falling 5-4 in a nailbiter against #10 St. Petersburg to wrap up their weekend in the Collin County Bash.
The Lady Saints got off to a good start, taking a 2-1 lead after double action. Sarah Manseri and Steffeny Burmudez teamed for an 8-4 win at #2 while the ever steady Tadi Mrewa and Madison Hoelting earned an 8-4 win at #3 to give the Lady Saints the lead.
Seward struggled in singles action though. The Lady Saints lone wins were at #4 and #5 where Bermudez and Mrewa took straight set wins home, but the same happened to Seward at #1, #2, and #6, including 6-0 second set blankings at the top two spots to tie the score at 4-4. The match came down to the battle at #3 where Seward’s Lisa Suzuki took on St. Petersburg’s Kokoro Chishaki. The match went three sets with Chishaki eventually prevailing 10-8 to clinch the math for the Titans 5-4.
The loss drops the Lady Saints to 2-1 on the year while St. Pete remains unbeaten at 4-0.
Seward will have a while to regroup, taking this week off before returning to the court on February 24th when they travel across the state to Emporia to take on the Hornets in a Friday dual.
#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#10 ST PETERSBURG BOX SCORE <http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardStPete.pdf>