Lady Saints sweep Otero in NJCAA tourney

Monica Gonzalez

Thais Vieira slams the ball down for two points, helping the Lady Saints win the Region VI Championship. The sophomore middle blocker from Brazil is on her second Regional championship team.

SCCC Athletic Department

On Nov. 21, the Lady Saints began the tournament with a win against Hill College and advanced to the semi-finals against Otero. The ladies won against Otero as well, which advanced them to the NJCAA Volleyball Final 4.

In set one, the Saints took a quick lead and never looked back. While it remained close early, Ariana Arciniega notched a couple of her 8 kills to give Seward a bit of breathing room at 15-8.  Out of a timeout by Otero, Mesalina Severino had two big blocks, eventually pushing the lead to 22-15.  The Lady Saints closed out the set 25-17, never trailing.

Set two was the most entertaining set, featuring eight ties and four lead changes.  After the game got tied up at 12, Arciniega, Schmorantz, and Severino each added a kill to open up a 16-12 lead and an Otero timeout.  Out of the timeout, the teams split points until KJCCC Player of the Year, Yanlis Feliz took over with multiple kills and a block, with Seward winning 25-17 again.

The final set was a testing point for the Lady Saints after dropping the 3rd set in the opening round.  They responded well, leading early 8-6.  Sensing the momentum changing, Otero called an early timeout, but to no avail, as the Saints came out of the timeout to push the lead to 16-9.  Otero not wanting to see their season end quite yet, put up a battle, closing to 21-16 and forcing a timeout from Coach Trifonov.  The Lady Saints were ready though and closed out the quarterfinal match with a 4-0 run, winning 25-16.

The Lady Saints will play Miami-Dade College at 6:30 pm on Friday night.