Tennis Teams Win Region VI Championships

The third-ranked Saints won their fifth straight title while the seventh-ranked Lady Saints won their third consecutive title as Seward tennis continued its dominance in Region VI tournament play.

Seward hosted the two-day tournament, which began on Friday and finished on Saturday, consisting of three schools, Barton Community College, Cowley College and Seward. Hesston College was to be the fourth team, but is discontinuing its tennis program.

The tournament was single elimination with the top seeds getting first-round byes. With their strong showing all season, most of the Seward men and women managed to receive an extra day off. The players who did compete Friday advanced and helped the Saints complete a full squad for Saturday.

For the Saints, there were no doubles matches. In singles, No. 2 Francisco Vargas defeated Oswaldo Cano of Barton, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 and No. 3 Carlo Izurieta knocked off Sebastian Pino of Barton, 6-0, 6-1.

In the only doubles match for the Lady Saints, No. 3 Alisa Handrugan and Eva Liu took a default win over Sara Martin Reguera and Gabby Herzog of Barton.

In singles, No. 4 Sofia Belluco beat Gwendolen Sior of Barton, 6-2, 6-1, No. 5 Handrugan posted was victorious over Reguera, 6-3, 6-0 and No. 6 Liu won by default over Herzog of Barton.

On Saturday, it was Seward and Cowley as the two teams left standing with a chance to win. Barton only had one doubles team advance.

On the men’s side, the doubles competition was fierce. In two of the matches, the Saints had to rally from a set down to win. No. 1 Sander Jans and Gabe Nery battled back to win over Angelo Tost and Bruno Suiama of Cowley, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 and No. 3 Vargas and Izurieta squeezed out a victory over Valter Oshiro and Casey Edwards of Cowley, 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.

No. 2 Nic Rousset and Nyathi Motlojoa cruised past Oswaldo Cano and Mariano Cabrera of Barton in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

In singles, the Saints took care of business. It was not easy, but Seward swept and clinched the championship. No. 1 Rousset took care of Tost, 6-1, 6-0 and No. 2 Vargas defeated Suiama, 6-4, 6-2.

Three of the other four matches went to three sets. No. 3 Izurieta beat Nicolas Mougaillard of Cowley, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, No. 4 Jans came back to win over Oshiro, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, No. 5 Nery rallied to knock off Killian Dagneaux of Cowley, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 and No. 6 Alex Mesquida Berg was a winner against Moises Gonclaves, 6-3, 7-5.

On the women’s side, the Lady Saints jumped out to a lead in doubles. No. 1 Patricia Panta and Maria Aveiga prevailed in a three-set match with Georgina Kaindoah and Takalani Molaoa of Cowley, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, No. 2 Alena Macharova and Sofia Belluco downed Mariana Rodriguez and Aletta Macheli of Cowley, 6-4, 6-4 and No. 3 Handrugan and Liu fell to Coraline Lamer and Margot Fontaine of Cowley, 6-0, 6-2.

In singles, there was no sweep, but there did not need to be one. The top three seeds won their matches and sealed a title for the Lady Saints. No. 1 Panta cruised past Molaoa, 6-2, 6-0, No. 2 Aveiga beat Allana Molnar of Cowley, 6-3, 6-4 and No. 3 Macharova defeated Macheli, 6-2, 6-2.

In the other matches, No. 4 Belluco fell to Kaindoah, 0-6, 6-7, No. 5 Handrugan lost to Fontaine, 3-6, 2-6 and No. 6 Liu was defeated by Lamer, 6-1, 6-4.

The tennis teams head to Nationals over the next two weeks. The women head to Tyler, Texas later this week while the men play in Tucson, Ariz. the following week.