One tennis team qualifying for nationals is an achievement in itself, but this season both Seward teams placed third in regionals to clinch berths to the national tournament. Both the men’s and women’s teams placed third in the Region VI tournament in Wichita last weekend. Both teams competed against Hesston College, Cowley, Johnson, and Barton community colleges. The third place win was very deserving, as the men’s and women’s tennis teams are in a region with two of the top 10 teams in the nation. It has been since 2007 that the men’s team qualified for nationals, and this will be the fourth year in a row that the women have qualified. “Both teams have worked very hard and deserve to go to nationals,” head coach Darin Workman said. The women’s team consists of sophomores Antigoné Lowery, Sylvia Perez and Shaley Thomas, and freshmen Fanny Benincasa, Kauna Goncalves and Lindy Kowalchuck. “I can’t wait to be with the team one last time and have a good team bonding,” Perez said. Men’s players going to nationals are Carlos Souza, Fernando Soni, Nathan Nelmes, Stefan Ignjatovic, Eduardo Munoz, Rafael Raw, Laercio Lobo and Christian Romanzini. “We are going to work hard to do our best at nationals,” Ignjatovic said. The women’s team is ranked 18th in the ITA NJCAA Women’s National Ranking, with four women ranked in the top 100. The men’s team is ranked 10th in the ITA NJCAA Men’s National Ranking. Six men’s players are also ranked in the top 100 which is really hard to do, according to Workman. The women’s national tournament will begin on May 2 and end on May 6 in Tucson, Ariz. They will leave today and start play on May 2. The men will compete at the men’s national tournament May 10-14 in Plano, Texas, and they will leave May 8 and begin play on May 10.