The Lady Saints celebrate a point Wednesday in the Greenhouse. The Lady Saints swept Panhandle State University in three straight sets to complete a 4-0 preseason. The Lady Saints will travel to Roswell, N.M., Aug. 25 to open the regular season. The Lady Saints are picked second in the Jayhawk Conference and are defending Region VI champions after qualifying for the NJCAA National Tournament last season. Courtesy photo

By IAN APPLEGATE

Seward sports informaiton director

The final scrimmage of the 2017 season went on without a hitch for the Lady Saints, as they defeated the Oklahoma Panhandle State (OPSU) Aggies 3-0 in the Greenhouse Wednesday  night.

Like their previous meeting this preseason, Seward County jumped out to an early lead 10-4 lead in the first set thanks in large part to three kills by sophomore outside hitter, Viviane Viane. A few points later, The Lady Saints scored four straight, with three of the points being kills by Mariana Nascimento.

 The Aggies tried to make a comeback following three Lady Saints errors to make it 18-11, but it was too late.  The remainder of the set went back and forth between the two teams, before Giovanna Kuntze ended it with a kill, giving the Lady Saints the win in set one by a score of 25-15.

 The second set began just as the first did, but this time the Lady Saints let the Aggies get back into the match. Seward went up 4-1 before a series of errors allowed the Aggies to win 7 of the next 9 points to give them an 8-6 lead.

 The two teams traded points until the score 16-16. The Lady Saints went on to score 9 of the final 11 points, including three kills by Luz Sierra. The set ended with OPSU making three straight attack errors to give Seward the win in the second set, 25-18.

 The Lady Saints wasted no time in the final set, jumping out to a huge 7-1 lead, with two kills coming from freshman Giovanna Tapigliane. The Aggies would cut the lead to 10-5, but could not get any closer to closing the gap. Freshman Briana Bradford would finish the set, and the match, by getting two of the final three kills, including the match clincher.

Seward County flexed their muscles on offense, hitting .403 as a team with 30 assists and 14 service aces. Nascimento made good use of her attempts, earning a kill on 6 of her 8 attempts. Defensively, the Lady Saints came away with 42 digs, led by libber Nathiellen Machado.

 Seward wrapped up their preseason with a perfect 4-0 record that didn’t even see the Lady Saints losing a set. The Lady Saints will travel to Roswell, New Mexico to take part of the New Mexico Military Institute Kick-Off Classic where they will take on Odessa College and Pima Aug. 25 before ending the invite against Eastern Arizona and South Mountain Aug. 26.