Coming off of a pair of late night battles on Friday at the Wyo-Braska Shootout, the Seward County Lady Saints took the court once again early Saturday morning in the tournament, taking on the Sheridan Rams in the opening match of a split doubleheader. Seward showed no ill-effects of the quick turnaround against the Rams in the first, jumping out to a 15-10 lead, highlighted by a solo block from Belissa Guidotti to give the Lady Saints the five point advantage midway through. Seward continued to lead by four at 20-16 on a kill from Kaysie Paxton, but they went cold from there as Sheridan roared back to tie the score at 20 and then take a 21-20 lead with five straight points. Maritza Mesa did her best to will Seward back with four kills in the final nine points of the set, but it wasn’t enough as the Rams went on to win 27-25 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Saints looked like they were in trouble as Sheridan quickly built a 10-5 lead in the second as they looked to take a 2-0 lead. It continued to be a five point Ram lead later on until back to back kills from Mesa and an ace from defensive specialist Jazlyn Smith cut the deficit to two for Seward. The Lady Saints remained down by two at 20-18 when they finally threw things into high gear, scoring six straight and seven of the next eight points to finish the set, winning 25-21 to even the match at one. Seward hit .520 in the set as a team, finishing off 14 kills with just one error in 25 swings for the win.
Seward again found themselves in a hole early in the third, but recovered to even the score at nine before pushing ahead with three straight points to take a 12-9 lead midway through the period. Three straight from Sheridan tied the score again but a pair of kills from Mariana Nascimento and an ace from Daimond Aguinaldo spurred a 7-1 run for the Lady Saints to give them a 19-13 lead. The push was just what the doctor ordered for the Lady Saints as they cruised to the finish line, winning 25-16 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
With momentum on their side, the Lady Saints raced out to an 11-6 lead in the fourth thanks to a kill and solo block from Paxton midway through the set. They continued to add on to their advantage, eventually cresting their lead at 21-10 to take the wind out of the sails of any thought of a Ram comeback. A Sheridan service error eventually did the Rams in as Seward took the gift to finish a 25-13 win, wrapping up a 3-1 win in the match.
Mesa and Nascimento carried the Lady Saints in the win as Mesa hammered home 18 kills, just one off of her career high, while also pulling up a career best 15 digs for Seward and Nascimento smashed 13 kills with a career best .591 hitting percentage without a single error. Amanda Pereira dished out 31 assists for the Lady Saints while Aguinaldo led Seward with 17 digs in the victory.
SEWARD COUNTY/SHERIDAN BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2016-17/boxscores/20160917_9wtv.xml>
In their final match of a busy weekend, the Lady Saints took on Northwest, who finished 3rd in the 2015 NJCAA National Tournament. Northwest set their trap and caught the Lady Saints early on as the Trappers bolted out to an 11-4 lead to start the match and never let Seward back in in the first, going on to take a 1-0 lead with a 25-13 victory.
The second set was a back and forth battle early on as Seward and Northwest found themselves in a stalemate at the midway mark with the score tied 11-11. From that point on, the Lady Saints looked like they were shot out of a cannon, scoring four straight, including back to back points on solo blocks from Nascimento to take a 15-11 lead before extending their lead to five later on on a solo stuff from Paxton to make it 20-15. Not done there, Seward scored five of the final seven points of the period, coming away with a 25-17 win to even the match up at one.
Northwest took the early advantage in the third and kept the Lady Saints at bay the rest of the way. Seward closed to within two midway through the set, but a service error stopped their momentum and pushed the Trapper lead back to three. It remained a three point game late at 20-17, but the Lady Saints never got any closer as Northwest closed out the set strong, winning 25-20 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Seward battled hard at the beginning and end of the fourth set with their backs to the wall, but it would be the middle portion of the set that did them in. The set was tied at five early on when a 9-1 Northwest run pushed the Trappers out to a comfortable lead at 14-6. Slowly the Lady Saints worked their way back into the set, creeping up to within three at 22-19 and then closing to within two on an ace from Pereira with the match in the balance. After a Northwest sideout, the Trappers committed back to back hitting errors, getting Seward to within one at 24-23. But with the money on the line, Northwest closed the Lady Saints out, picking up the final point to win 25-23 and take the match 3-1.
Seward hurt themselves in the four set loss, committing 38 errors, including 11 service and nine reception blunders. Mesa had herself a near clean match however, smashing 15 kills with just one error, good for a .424 hitting percentage in the loss. Paxton was the other offensive bright spot for Seward as she finished with a season high 12 kills, while the rest of the Lady Saints offense managed just 11 kills and eight errors as a group.
SEWARD COUNTY/NORTHWEST BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wvball/2016-17/boxscores/20160917_ryej.xml>
The Saturday split moves Seward to 12-5 on the season. The Lady Saints busy schedule will finally slow down some this week as they play just twice as they get back into Jayhawk West Conference play, taking on Dodge City at home Wednesday before going on the road to take on Barton on Saturday.
