Friday afternoon in Salina, Lady Saints tennis players Paula Coyos and Paula Lopez defeated their competition during Se- ward’s tournament against Kansas Wesleyan. Unfortunately Seward took a tough loss when the tournament ended with only Coyos and Lopez taking home wins in singles and doubles.

Ranked second in the nation, Lope and Coyos as a duo never let up and defeated the Djurdjina and Zimmerman duo 8-0.

Seward’s Naomie Bukassa and Xochitl Gonzalez took a loss in both singles and doubles along with teammates Jackie Arnold and returning Lady Saint Grace Golden.

According to Coyos, the weather over the last month did not permit the team to get a lot of practice time on the court, which might have affected the team’s results in Salina. Although, individually, Coyos felt that she played a consistent game and she enjoyed the experience from the tournament.

Partner to Coyos, Lopez also took a win in singles, but it was not enough to reach a victory for the team. The Lady Saints lost 6- 3 as a team, but a couple of players were injured during their matches and were unable to continue. “It was not how I expected to begin the spring season, but I am excited to continue,” Coyos said.
Coyos hopes to see improvement in all aspects over the next couple of tournaments and shares that she is glad that the team plays a couple more times before their first home matches March 21 and April 9. “You are all welcome to come and cheer for the Lady Saints,” Coyos said.

Teammate Arnold is also feel- ing very positive about the sea- son, even after suffering an in- jury during her singles match.

Arnold shared that each time on the court with doubles partner Golden has been met with improvement. “We both have really great attitudes, and we are really close on and off the court,” Arnold said, “I wouldn’t want to play with anybody else to finish my tennis career at Seward.”

As a team overall, the Lady Saints’ goal is to place first at Regionals and if possible, return to
Nationals.

Although the Lady Saints are ranked as No. 5 in the nation, they are falling behind in tournament play.
Tuesday in Winfield against the Southwest Moundbuilders was no different than Seward’s tournament with the Kansas Wesleyan Grizzlies.

Only Coyos and Lopez alone could muster up wins against the Moundbuilders in both singles and doubles. Coyos and Lopez had little difficulty with Sydney Shields and Nye Cheatnam, taking their match 8-1.

In singles, Lopez won 6-1, 6-1 over Morgan Hughes, and Coyos kept her No. 10 ranking by dominating Shields 6-1, 6-1, coming in at No. 2 in singles behind Lopez at No. 1.