Seward County Men's Tennis Wins Fourth Straight

Seward County Men's Tennis Wins Fourth Straight

(Seward County CC Sports Information)  ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Seward County men's tennis program continues to trample through Region VI, winning the Region VI Championship for a fourth consecutive year. Five of the six singles champions were Saints, while two of the three doubles champions were Seward teams.  The Saints finished with 25 points followed by Cowley (20 pts), Barton (10.5) and Hesston (3).  

Freshman phenom Nick Rousset glided through the No. 1 Singles bracket, winning 6-1, 6-4 in his opening matchup against Hesston's Nadeem Jaber before taking down Cowley's Angelo Tost 6-2, 6-2 in the title match. 

2017 Region Champ Duro Opacic made it back-to-back championships sweeping Barton's Yordi Ponce in the first match before taking down Cowley's Bruno Suiama 7-5, 6-1 for his second title.

The No. 3 singles was the long single bracket that didn't see a Saint hoisting the title with Hugo Lobo losing a hard-fought championship match 7-5, 3-6, 5-7 to Valter Oshiro of Cowley. 

Tim Lamare picked up his first Region VI Championship in his first season, winning 6-1, 6-0 in the opening round against Hesston's Shoma Tani before taking down Wlayimer Jimenez of Cowley 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

In the No. 5 spot, top-seeded Carlo Izurieta made minced meat of the competition, beating Jeff Kauffman 6-0, 6-1 before winning the title match against Killian Dagneaux 6-4, 6-2. 

After sweeping his opening match against Curtis Oesch, Franck Soulerot won the No. 6 singles title in comeback fashion.  He dropped the first set 2-6, but bounced back stronger than ever, winning the final two sets 6-2, 6-1. 

In doubles play, the only team to place second was Rousset and Lobo in the No. 1 spot, barely falling to Cowley's tandem of Tost and Suiama 6-4, 4-6, 1-6. 

Opacic and Lamare got the Saints back on track with a 7-5, 6-3 title match victory over Oshior and Walitzy after winning their first match 6-1, 6-0.

Finally, in the No. 3 doubles spot, the combo of Finet and Izurieta cut through their competition to Region title.  They won their opening match 6-0, 6-3 against Kauffman and Oesch before beating Dagneaux and Edwards of Cowley 6-3, 6-4. 

With the win, the Saints have qualified for the NJCAA Tennis Championships in Plano, Texas starting on May 14 at Collin College.