Seward Tennis Begins Play in Sunshine State

The #5 Seward County Lady Saints battled two of the top teams in the country Friday afternoon in Pensacola, Florida, dropping a 9-0 decision to #3 ASA Miami before bouncing back for a solid 5-4 win over #7 Eastern Florida to conclude the day.

In their first matchup of the day, Seward took on the Silver Storm of ASA Miami. The 3rd ranked team in the country proved too much for the Lady Saints as ASA swept through all nine spots against Seward for a 9-0 win. None of the three doubles matches were closer than 8-5 as ASA took an early 3-0 lead on the Lady Saints. In singles, things were even more lopsided as Seward failed to take a single set in six spots as the Storm finished off the sweep.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#3 ASA MIAMI BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardASA.pdf>

In their second match of the day, the Lady Saints went up against #7 Eastern Florida State. The Titans jumped out early in doubles action with wins at #2 and #3, but Seward’s Thalita Rodrigues and Lisa Suzuki upset 4th ranked Luisa Varon and Josephine Karcher 8-5 at #1 to give Seward a lone tally as the two went to singles play.

Seward regrouped in singles play as Rodrigues helped the Lady Saints to their second point of the match with a 7-6, 6-1 win at #1 and Sarah Manseri beat 50th ranked Karcher in a three setter at #2 to put the Lady Saints in front 3-2. The Lady Saints lost three set matches at #3 and #5, but responded with wins from Steffany Bermudez at #4 and Fernanda Santana at #6 to take the match 5-4.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#7 EASTERN FLORIDA STATE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardEasternFlorida.pdf>

Saturday

The #5 Seward County Saints picked up their best win of the season Saturday afternoon in Pensacola, Florida, downing #4 Abraham Baldwin 5-4 to improve to 10-2 on the year.

The Saints got off to a good start in doubles play where top ranked Carlos Anez and Ondrej Nice downed ABAC’s 9th ranked Eymeric Chevalier and Yohan Nguyen 8-5 at the top line and Duro Opacic and Przemek Zielinski took an 8-4 decision at #3 to give Seward a 2-1 lead into singles.

The Stallions took the points at each of the top two singles spots to regain in the lead, but the bottom of the Seward lineup excelled. Nice earned a 6-2, 6-2 win at #3 over Chevalier while Gabriel Nery and Claudio Quinones won at #5 and #6 to net the 5-4 win for the Saints.

The victory is the Saints 10th of the 2017 season and the highest ranked team Seward has defeated this year.

Seward will wrap up their trip to Florida on Sunday when they take on Harford at 2:00 pm in Pensacola.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#4 ABRAHAM BALDWIN BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/mten/2016-17/files/MSewardABAC.pdf>

The 5th ranked Seward County Lady Saints continued their heated weekend of competition in Florida on Saturday, dropping a match to #7 Abraham Baldwin before bouncing back with a 5-4 upset win over #2 State College of Florida to split their days action.

Against the Stallions of ABAC, the Lady Saints fell behind early and never recovered as Seward earned just a lone doubles point with Sarah Manseri and Steffeny Burmudez taking an 8-5 decision at #2 to put the Lady Saints behind 2-1 to singles action. In singles, Seward picked up just two more points, getting wins from Manseri and Bermudez again at #2 and #4 before falling 6-3.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#7 ABRAHAM BALDWIN BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardABAC.pdf>

Things didn’t get any easier for the Lady Saints in their second match of the day as they squared off against the #2 team in the country in State College of Florida. Seward won the match early on in doubles play as they picked up all three available points to push ahead 3-0 against the Manatees. Thalita Rodrigues and Lisa Suzuki took an 8-4 decision at #1 and Manseri and Bermudez dialed up another victory at #2 for Seward. Wrapping up the doubles sweep was Tadi Mrewa and Madison Hoelting who knocked off Ava Schultz as well as former teammate Mamianiana Rakotondrazafy 8-6 at #3. The Manatees took their frustration out on the Lady Saints at the top three singles spots, winning all three in straight sets to tie the match at 3. Bermudez finished up a perfect day with a win over Rakotondrazafy at #4 to give Seward the lead back, but SCF evened things at 4 with a win at #5. Everything came down to #6 where Martina Borges bounced back from a 6-2 defeat in the first set to take the second 6-0 and the third 6-3 to seal the 5-4 win for the Lady Saints.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/#2 STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2016-17/files/WSewardSCF.pdf>

Seward improves to 8-4 on the year after their win over the Manatees and will wrap up their trip to Pensacola on Sunday with a date with Harford.