Seward Women Open Tennis Season with Win

The 5th ranked Seward County Lady Saints opened their 2015 tennis season on Saturday in Fremont, Nebraska, picking up a split against a pair of NAIA foes.

Seward opened their campaign with a neutral court battle against Doane. Play got underway in doubles action where there wasn’t much of a question in the two matches that were played. 2nd ranked Paula Lopez and Paula Coyos blew past Kendra Ritter and Christina Norris 8-0 in #1 doubles while Doane’s Kempel sisters breezed by Naomi Bukassa and Xochiti Gonzalez 8-1. There was no contest in #3 doubles as Seward was forced to default to give Doane a 2-1 lead into singles play.

The Lady Saints also had to default at #6 singles, but they quickly erased the deficit as Lopez and Coyos lost just one total game in #1 and #2 singles to even things up. Unfortunatley for the Seward, that was the end of their success in singles action as Doane won the final three matches without dropping a set to take the match 6-3.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/DOANE RESULTS<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2014-15/files/SewardDoaneW.pdf>

In their second match of the day, the Lady Saints took on the host school Midland. Once again Lopez and Coyos put it on their opponents in #1 doubles action, winning 8-0 without breaking a sweat while Bukassa and Gonzalez brought home an 8-2 victory at #2 doubles to give Seward a 2-1 lead after a default at #3.

Seward’s Argentinian duo also had little trouble in singles play, each picking up 6-0, 6-0 victories to put Seward on top 4-2. Jackie Arnold sealed Seward’s victory, downing Keelyn Dooley 6-2, 6-0 in #5 singles to put the gals in green up 5-2. Gonzalez and Bukassa’s victories came a little bit tougher as Gonzalez outlasted Micah Wright 6-2, 7-6 (4) in #4 singles while Bukassa took the match of the day, taking a 12-10 third set tiebreak at #3 singles to give the Lady Saints a dominating 7-2 win in the match.

#5 SEWARD COUNTY/MIDLAND RESULTS<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wten/2014-15/files/SewardMidlandM.pdf>

In a quirk of their 2015 schedule, the Lady Saints will not play again until March 7-8 when they go to Odessa to play in the West Texas Shootout.

Roy Allen