Saints and Lady Saints Coast into Tennis Finals

To say the #4 Seward County Saints dominated the competition at the NJCAA Region VI Tournament in Great Bend, Kansas Saturday would be an understatement. The Saints went 9-0 as a group, more impressively, not losing more than two games in any of their 18 sets to not only clinch yet another trip to the NJCAA National Tournament, but also to put themselves in prime position to win their third straight Region VI Championship.

Carlos Anez got things started for the Saints with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Nadeem Jaber of Hesston at #1 to advance to the Championship where he will take on Cowley’s Guilerhme dos Santos on Sunday.

Duro Opacic made quick work of his first round match against Riley Kingsley of Hesston, putting together matching 6-1 scored to more to the title match against Cowley’s Lucas Freitas Sunday.

Ondrej Nice blanked Josiah Borst of Hesston 6-0 in the first and won 6-2 in the second to make his way to yet another Region Title match Sunday against Cowley’s Lukas Michenka.

At #4 it was Przemek Zielinski taking the court for Seward, putting together an easy 6-1, 6-0 win over Garrett Roth of Hesston to move onto Sunday’s title match against Cowley’s Julian Aubry-Damon.

The only non Seward/Hesston match in the first round was at #5 where Claudio Quinones downed Juan Jamies of Barton 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the championship match against Cowley’s Ronald Rufyikiuri.

Ngoni Makambwa didn’t drop a single game in his first rounder against Hesston’s Jeff Kauffman to make his way to the title match against Cowley’s Jose Castro.

In doubles it was Anez and Nice for Seward at the top spot as they took down Kingsley/Roth of Hesston 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the championships against Cowley’s Dos Santos/Michenka duo.

Alex Mosehle and Gabriel Nery saved their energy for doubles, taking down Jaber/Borst 6-2, 6-0 at #2 dubs to push their way to the title match against Cowley’s Aubry/Castro combo.

Opacic and Zielinski both earned their second win of the day at #3 doubles as they blanked Kreimier/Kauffman of Hesston to reach the finals against Freitas/Borrero of Cowley.

Seward finished day one with 9 points to tie for the tournament lead with Cowley at days end. The Saints and Tigers will battle for all nine championships on Sunday with play beginning at 9:00 am.

Women

Drawing first round bye’s at six of nine spots at the NJCAA Region VI Tournament on Saturday, the #6 Seward County Lady Saints won all three of their matches played on day one of the tourney to earn spots in all nine brackets on Sunday.

A key match on day one came at #1 singles where Seward’s Thalita Rodrigues took down Barton’s Nues Torregrosa 7-6, 6-3 in round number one to move to the finals where she will battle rival Sarah Frendo of Cowley Sunday.

Lisa Suzuki had a solid day one, putting a 6-0, 6-0 whooping on Barton’s Juliana Seabra in the first round of the #3 bracket to advance to the title match against Cowley’s Sara Petric Sunday.

At #5 Martina Borges won 6-1, 6-1 against Barton’s Jenna Groene, pushing through to the hardware match against Cowley’s Kasey Coker on Sunday.

With a no show from Hesston, Seward receives an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament, but the Lady Saints want more than that as they will play for Region VI Championships at all nine spots on Sunday with six of the battles being Seward/Cowley duals.

NJCAA REGION VI TOURNAMENT RESULTS<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSWJuco1.pdf>