Seward County Community College

Seward County freshman outside hitter was named the Jayhawk Conference Player of the Week today for leading the Lady Saints to a 4-1 record in 5 matches last week and averaging nearly 3 kills and 3 digs per game in the process. Geesing becomes the second straight Lady Saint to win the award as fellow hitter Sheina Fernandes took home the award during the first week of the 2010 regular season. Geesing’s week started with a 10 kill, 15 dig effort for #17 Seward in an upset win over 14th ranked Pratt in the Greenhouse Wednesday evening.
She was right back at it with back to back double-doubles on Friday when she had 13 kills and 15 digs in a win over Paris JC followed by a 10 kill, 11 dig night against Redlands. On Saturday morning while getting her first taste of the Seward/Hutchinson rivalry, Geesing recorded 12 kills and just 1 error in a Lady Saints win and continued her hot play with her 5th straight double digit kill performance of the week with 11 and 7 digs in a win over Hill College. Geesing is currently in the top 3 on the team in kills (70), digs (73), and passing percentage (.963). Geesing and her Lady Saints will have to hold their celebration as they are right back to work tonight in the Greenhouse as Cloud County makes the long trip to Liberal for a Jayhawk West Conference tilt at 6:30.

The Seward County Lady Saints moved to 7-2 on the season this weekend as they picked up 3 wins in the always tough Redlands Labor Day Classic Tournament. Seward knocked off Paris and Hill College from Texas as well as picking up a straight sets win over rival Hutchinson on Saturday morning. Their lone blemish of the two day tournament came Friday night when they fell to the home team, Redlands, in a tight four set match.
Seward started the tournament with a 5 set thriller against Paris JC. After dropping the first set 25-22 to the Dragons, the Lady Saints stormed back to take the 2nd and 3rd games 25-18 and 25-23 respectively to take a 2-1 lead. Trying to finish it out in game 4, the Lady Saints stumbled and fell 25-17 but regained the momentum in the deciding 5th game to pick up their 5th win of the season with a 15-11 victory. The loss for Paris was their first of the season and remains their only on the year as they sit 8-1 on the year. The Lady Saints were led by Courtney Geesing who banged home 13 kills and had 15 digs for her second straight double-double. Sheina Fernandes had 9 kills in the match and Daiane Souza found the hardwood 8 times to go along with her 15 digs in the win. Madison Winkelman led the defensive side of the ball for Seward as she finished with 14 digs as well as 17 perfect service passes. At the net Aislyn Karney again solidified the Lady Saints block as she added to her team lead with 4 solo blocks in the contest.
PARIS BOX SCORE
The Lady Saints nightcap pitted them against the host team Redlands. Seward would get out to a good start as they rode a hot hitting offense to come away with a 25-21 game one win. Looking to move up 2-0 in the match, the Lady Saints recorded 8 hitting errors and fell by 3, 25-22 to even up the match at 1 apiece. Seward bounced back in game three on the offensive side of things, hitting .419 with just 1 error, but the Cougars were even better, taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-23 victory as things went to game four. Redlands was ready to call it a night as they polished off the Lady Saints 25-21 for the upset win in front of their home crowd and dropped Seward to 5-2 on the year. The Lady Saints didn’t help themselves in the loss, as they were called for 12 net violations, had 17 hitting errors, 3 service errors, and 2 ball handling errors for a total of 34 free points for the Cougs in the defeat. Fernandes was one of the lone bright spots for the Seward attack, netting 18 kills and just 2 errors while Souza and Geesing also reached double digits with 13 and 10 respectively. Souza also recorded 5 aces to lead the team while Winkelman posted 21 digs and Maddy Taylor connected on 24 set attempts.
REDLANDS BOX SCORE
Saturday morning the Lady Saints would square off in a match with their rivals, the Hutchinson Lady Blue Dragons. However, the battle looked nothing like heated Seward/Hutch meetings in the past as the Lady Saints breezed their way to a 3-0 win with 25-19 scored in both of the first two games and then a tough 29-27 win in game three to secure the victory. The win for Seward was its second over Hutchinson in their last three meetings after failing to slay the Dragons in 18 previous encounters. Fernandes and Geesing again were the go to gals for the green and white as Fernandes finished with 14 kills and just 2 errors in 21 attacks while Geesing notched 12 kills and 1 error in 27 tries. Taylor and fellow setter Shelly Malouff connected on 37 of 73 set attempts while Winkelman led the Lady Saints in digs yet again with 11 in the match. Karney recorded her season high in blocks with 6 as the Lady Saints combined for 14 stuffs in the victory.
HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE
The Lady Saints final test of the holiday weekend was the Hill College Rebels, a team that they had upset one year earlier in the same tournament as they were ranked in the top 25. Hill would draw first blood with a 25-21 game one win but the Lady Saints would battle back in game two to knot things back up with a 25-23 win. Neither team was ready to give ground in game three but Seward would outlast the Rebs 26-24 before taking game four 25-23 to seal their 7th win on the year. Fernandes was unstoppable in the match as she recorded 16 kills without an error as well as netting 2 aces and 3 solo blocks in the win. Isabela Silva was also on top of her game against Hill, recording 9 kills on 21 chances without an error and also picking up 4 blocks, 3 solo in the match. Geesing and Souza found their way into the double digit kill category as usual with 11 and 10 respectively while Winkelman and Malouff would combine for 26 digs in the four game win. Karney posted 6 blocks for the second straight match as she notched 5 solo’s and 1 assisted block and Stacie Carver had 2 solo blocks in the match to lead a Seward squad that recorded a season high 17 blocks.

It was the date that the Seward County Lady Saint sophomore had been waiting for since their disappointing end of their 2009 campaign. Watching the Pratt Beavers celebrate their win over them in the Region VI Tournament quarterfinals, the Lady Saints took a stand to get revenge and they got the first step of that Wednesday night in the Greenhouse as they brushed off an error filled first game to come back and win the next three handily to take down the country’s 14th ranked team and move to 4-1 on the season.

The Beavers would score first in the match of top 20 teams, but the Lady Saints would get the next four points and go up 4-1 as the match started. Pratt would get to within one at 9-8 later on but Daiane Souza finished off a three point Seward swing soon afterwards with a smash to the corner to make it 12-9 Lady Saints. The teams would trade points to 16-13 after a kill from Courtney Geesing but the Beavers would score the next nine points of the game with the Seward on their heels and took a 22-16 lead late looking to take game one. Pratt would reach game point at 24-18, but the Lady Saints weren’t going to roll over just yet and tightened the score to 24-22 after four straight points. The comeback was not to be however as a service error sealed the Lady Saints fate as they fell in game one 25-22.

Seward got off to a hot start in game two as they led 7-2 early. Pratt would inch closer thanks to a string of unforced Seward mistakes and the Lady Saints would lead by just two, 10-8 when Aislyn Karney found a hole in the defense to make it 11-8 Seward. Pratt would tie it up at 11 a short time later but back to back tips from Maddy Taylor and Sheina Fernandes would put Seward back on top 13-11. The pesky Beavers kept chipping away at the lead and again tied the game at 14 with a kill from Natali Jones. That’s when the Lady Saints decided to put it in overdrive, scoring seven straight points to take an 21-14 lead and after the teams traded service errors, the score was 22-15 in favor of the gals in green. With game point on the line for Seward up 24-15, Isabela Silva connected with Geesing to put the game away as the Lady Saints came out with a 25-15 win to tie the match at 1 game apiece.

The Lady Saints again started well in game three as they took a 5-1 lead on three aces early and then stretched the lead to 9-1 with a kill from Silva on the right side. The lead would reach 10 on a kill from Souza but the Beavers would slowly work themselves back into the game at 18-12 and put themselves within striking distance. The teams would go back and forth when Stacie Carver combined with Aislyn Karney on a block to put Seward up 21-14 and Fernandes would finish the Beavs off moments later with a shot to the backline to give the Lady Saints the 25-16 game three win.

Pratt would come out strong in game four as they looked to fight off elimination and took an 8-7 lead before Souza split the Beaver block to tie the game at 8. Pratt would quickly side out and take a 9-8 but wouldn’t want to remember what happened after they took that lead. Madison Winkelman would step to the service line with her team tied at 9 and wouldn’t leave until her team was up 20-9. The Beaver defense couldn’t figure out the Seward libero’s serve and that combined with a scrappy defense on the Lady Saints side of the floor would spell doom for Pratt as Seward rolled off 11 points in a row to bury the visitors and end all hopes of a comeback. Jordan Martin would come in late and pick up an assist on her first play to send the match to match point at 24-13 and Seward would quickly finish things off with a kill on the outside to wrap things up with a 25-13 win.

Seward struggled as a team with their attack in the first two games, combining to hit just .130 but came on strong late to notch a .352 mark in the final two games. Leading the Lady Saints once again in kills was Sheina Fernandes who had 12 on 24 chances while Daiane Souza recorded 7 and Courtney Geesing 6 in the win. Maddy Taylor came up big at the setter position for Seward, recording 23 assists and 10 digs in her 4th double-double of her Lady Saints career. Taylor was one of three Lady Saints to find their way into the double digit digs category as Geesing finished with a team high 15 and Madison Winkelman with 11 in the match. Aislyn Karney came up big again at the net for Seward with 5 blocks while Souza finished with 4, and Fernandes 3 in the victory.

The 17th ranked Lady Saints move to 4-1 on the season but more importantly get out to a 1-0 start in Jayhawk West Conference play as they look to defend their crown. They will next hit the hardwood Friday in El Reno, Oklahoma at the Redlands Labor Day Classic where they will see Paris JC at 1:00 followed by Redlands that night at 5:00 and Hutchinson at 10:00 Saturday and wrap things up with Hill College at 2:00 Saturday. Seward will return home on Wednesday at 6:30 when they will renew acquaintances with Cloud County who rejoins the Division 1 ranked in the Jayhawk after taking two years off to play at the Division 2 level.



#17 SEWARD COUNTY vs. #14 PRATT BOX SCORE

After piling up the awards as a freshman in 2009, it didn’t take long for Seward County Lady Saints sophomore middle hitter Sheina Fernandes to add to the list in 2010 as she was named the first ever Verizon Wireless KJCCC Player of the Week for her performances Friday and Saturday at the Lamar Kick Off Classic. She was a unanimous selection among the four voters.
Fernandes won the conference player of the week award more than any other player last season, garnering the distinction 3 times in 2009 and took home the inaugural award in 2010 thanks to a weekend in which she led Seward to a 3-1 record and averaged nearly 3 kills per game. She hit .462 overall on the weekend, leading the team in that category as well as her 2.93 kills per game. She led the Lady Saints to wins over Trinidad State, Chandler-Gilbert, and Vernon on the weekend with 6, 13, and 14 kills respectively as well as chalking up 10 blocks in the 3 matches.
Fernandes and her Lady Saints will look to keep up their solid play as they face a tough early season test Wednesday night in the Greenhouse when they take on 14th ranked Pratt to open up Jayhawk West Conference play at 6:30.

With just 3 sophomores back from their 2009 Jayhawk West Conference Championship team, the Seward County Lady Saints Volleyball squad knew it was going to be tough to repeat this season with a number of teams looking to take their crown. However, if the first weekend of regular season play showed what is to come, the Lady Saints are going to wear the bulls eye proudly and take on any challengers that stand in their way.


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Seward opened up the year , as they did last year, against the Trinidad State Trojans. The Lady Saints played well against the overmatched Trinidad squad in game one as they scored on their first change of the 2010 campaign with a blast down the line off the hand of Daiane Souza. A big front line, coupled with a smaller Trinidad team, caused problems for the Trojans and before they could stop the bleeding in game one it was 11-4 Lady Saints. Seward would keep up the pressure as they extended their lead to 16-7 with a kill from Sheina Fernandes, and then made a push at the end to win 25-11 on a connection from Shelly Malouff to Jade Greene. Game two wouldn’t go so smoothly for the gals in green as they fell behind early 9-7 before coming back to tie the game at 11 midway through. The game was still knotted at 14 when Souza stepped back to the service line and ripped off 3 straight points, including a pair of aces to put the Lady Saints up 17-14. They wouldn’t relinquish the lead and Madison Winkelman would ace the Trojans again to cap off the 25-21 win in game two. Reaching deep into his bench for game three, Head Coach Bert Luallen made sure that everyone got into the opening match of the season and with new starters in hand, the Lady Saints fell behind early again 5-4. Jade Greene would even the game up at 8 with a solo block on the right side and would swing the momentum to Seward as they would run off 15 of the next 18 points to take a 23-11 advantage and crush all hopes of a Trinidad comeback. The teams would trade points to finish the match but the Lady Saints would reach 25 with just a 13 on the scoreboard for the Trojans as they finished off the sweep to pick up their first victory of the season. Winkelman would pull up 26 digs and record 5 aces in the match against Trinidad for Seward and Malouff put up 12 assists and 10 digs to notch a double-double in her first college match. Souza would lead the team in kills with 9 on 16 chances in the opener while Fernandes had yet another solid outing, hitting .545 with 6 kills and 5 blocks leading Seward to the win.

TRINIDAD STATE BOX SCORE

In their second matchup of the day the Lady Saints would take on Chandler-Gilbert CC from Arizona. After getting up early in game one 7-3 thanks to a Fernandes ace and then 10-6 with a kill from Courtney Geesing, the Coyotes of CG would battle back to tie the game at 15 midway through. With the game tied at 15, the Lady Saints would go on a 3-0 run to take an 18-15 advantage and wouldn’t look back from there, going on to take a 24-19 lead before giving the ‘Yotes some hope and then slamming the door with a kill from Fernandes 25-22. In game two the teams played even through the first 14 points and were tied 7-7. The Lady Saints would then score the next 3 points to take a 10-7 lead but Chandler-Gilbert would fight back and take their first lead of the match at 12-11 and then give themselves some distance thanks to Seward errors as they led 16-12. The Lady Saints wouldn’t get much closer as CG kept their distance and finally held off Seward 25-20 as service error #6 would give the Coyotes game number two. For the second straight game, after 14 points the two teams were again deadlocked at 7 in game three. After going up 10-7, Souza would get her swing going and give the Lady Saints three straight kills to go up 13-7 and the momentum would keep rolling. After finally breaking a 9-0 Seward run, Chandler-Gilbert would get the ball back but not for long as the Lady Saints immediately got a side out and kept on the pressure until they finally put CG out of their misery in game three with a 25-10 win, capping an 18-3 run to end the game. After taking a 2-1 lead in such dominating fashion you might have got the feeling that Chandler-Gilbert was going to roll over to the nations 17th ranked squad, but to the contrary they came out scrapping in game four as they looked to hold off elimination. The Coyotes took a 8-5 lead early on and it wasn’t until 18-17 that the Lady Saints would have the lead in the game. Up 21-19 in what could be the clincher for Seward, the Lady Saints finished strong with a 4-1 run to finish off the game 25-20 and end the match at 3-1 in favor of the gals in green. Souza and Fernandes would lead the offensive attack for Seward in the match, combining for 24 kills and 8 aces in the win. Winkelman continued her strong play on the backline for the Lady Saints, by following up her 26 dig performance with one of 17 to average over 6 per game on the day. Aislyn Karney led the team with 3 blocks in the match, including 2 solo while setters Maddy Taylor and Shelly Malouff connected on 36 of 88 attempts to post a .410 combined percentage in the contest.

CHANDLER-GILBERT BOX SCORE

Saturday morning was the match that everyone had circled on their calendar since the tournament schedule came out two weeks ago as it pitted the #17 Lady Saints against the #21 Laramie County Golden Eagles. After beating Laramie twice last season at the Kick-Off Classic, Seward had some confidence in their back pocket but a hungry and bigger Golden Eagle squad had revenge on their mind and that is what they got. Led by 6’5 Maria Voitenko, Laramie got out to a hot start and opened an 8-3 lead to start the game. After a number of failed pass attempts and miscommunications in the back row for Seward, the Eagles led 16-4 after the game’s first 20 points. The teams would trade points to 22-9 but it wasn’t enough for Seward to get back into the game as they fell 25-13. Back on their heels as game two started, the Lady Saints would again find themselves in a hole that they wouldn’t be able to dig themselves out of. Laramie led 10-4 early and then opened up a 20-10 advantage before finishing Seward off 25-13 for the second straight game. A young Seward team wouldn’t give up however and took an early lead in game three and then stretched it to 12-7 halfway through the game with a kill from Souza. That lead wouldn’t hold unfortunately and a few minutes later the game was tied at 15 and the Eagles were ready to get things over with. They would scored the next 3 points of the contest and 6 of the next 9 as they went up 21-18 as Seward fought to send the match to a fourth game. The Lady Saints would get to within one as Karney found holes in the Laramie defense on back to back plays to make it 22-21, but they wouldn’t get any closer as an ace by LCCC would finish off the sweep as they took down Seward 25-22 in game three. Seward’s offense was ice cold as a group in the match as they hit just .138 as a team, with the lone bright spot coming from Fernandes who had 8 kills and just 1 error in 17 attempts. Jordan Martin played well at the setter position for Seward after coming in during the second game, recording 6 assists and 3 aces to lead the team.

LARAMIE COUNTY BOX SCORE

In their last match of the tournament, the Lady Saints would lock horns with the Vernon College Chaps who had looked good in their first three matches of the weekend. Unfortunately for them, Seward wanted to make the trip back to the Sunflower State with a winning record and they would do just that with a few unexpected stars taking the reins. Early on the teams went back and forth, trading points as game one was tied at 5. After pulling ahead slightly, the Lady Saints would take a 3 point lead at 9-6 thanks to a nice play all the way around in which Isabela Silva pulled one off of the court to the waiting hands of Shelly Malouff who set Souza, who buried one down the line to stretch the lead. The margin would remain the same until Fernandes used her court vision to tip one to the open spot in the defense and give the gals in green the 15-11 lead. Souza would put Seward up 20-14 and then 24-18 later but Vernon wouldn’t quit easily as they scored 3 before the Lady Saints could close the door to the 25-21 game one win. The Chaps would dominate most of game number two as they were up early 6-2 and then 11-5 before holding a 16-9 advantage midway through. Seward would pull to within 5 with an ace from Fernandes and then slices into the lead even more with back to back kills from Geesing to make it 19-16. After pulling to within 1 at 23-22, the Lady Saints momentum was stopped with a timeout and Vernon would score the game’s final two points to come away with the 25-22 win and tie the match up at 1 apiece. Up 8-5 and looking good in the third game, Seward would fall apart through the middle section of the game and managed just one out of the next eight points as they fell behind 12-6. They would go on a run of their own however and would draw to within striking distance and then went ahead on block followed by two straight Vernon errors to make it 18-16 Seward. The Lady Saints would push their lead to 21-17 on another kill from Geesing and would finish the big comeback with a kill from Malouff on game point to win 25-19. For the third straight game, the Lady Saints would find themselves in a hole early as Vernon lead 11-9 after a miscommunication from Seward. A nice defensive play later on by Winkelman would transition the Lady Saints into a scoring chance that they wouldn’t miss on as they drew to within one at 17-16. A string of good plays would tie the game and give the Lady Saints the lead at 23-20 as they looked to close the match out in game four late. With game point looming, Fernandes used her smarts to find yet another hole in the Chap defense and give the Lady Saint the 25-21, game four victory and the match victory at 3-1. Fernandes would lead the team with 14 kills in the win but not to be forgotten was 12 kills apiece from Souza and Geesing who came up big when the Lady Saints needed them most in game three and four wins. Winkelman finished a stellar first weekend with 9 digs and 29 perfect serve/receive passes in the match and Taylor led the Lady Saints again with 25 assists in the victory.

VERNON BOX SCORE

The 3-1 weekend was a nice prequel for the Lady Saints as they head into Wednesday’s Jayhawk West Conference opener against 14th ranked Pratt in the Greenhouse. The Lady Saint will look for a win against the team that ended their 2009 season before hitting the road again next weekend when they travel to El Reno, Oklahoma for the Redlands Labor Day Classic. The classic schedule will pit Seward against 4-0 Paris JC, host Redlands and Hill JC, as well as rival Hutchinson in their opening match on Saturday.

Lamar has been very kind to the Seward County Lady Saints volleyball team in the past couple of seasons. After all, the gals in green have gone 13-1 there in the past two seasons, picking up back to back Lamar Kick-Off Classic Championships to open up the 2008 and 2009 campaigns. Following Wednesday night’s performance against Oklahoma Panhandle State University in the Lady Saints final pre-season scrimmage of the year, the foes that stand in front of Seward on Friday and Saturday better be ready for a battle.
After a sub-par at best showing Saturday against OPSU, Lamar, and Otero, the Lady Saints had some work to do in practice this week as they prepared for the opening of the 2010 season Friday in Colorado. Work they did, and came out a different team Wednesday night at home as they hosted the Aggies of OPSU for a scrimmage in front of a large Greenhouse crowd. “We played better in every facet of the game” Head Coach Bert Luallen said. “I had to put my foot down and have a couple of stern talks with a few of our players and tell them that we need them to step up and be at the top of their game every day” he continued. The night was capped by a bullet down the line from Daiane Souza as she finished off a solid match on the outside for Seward. Aislyn Karney and Sheina Fernandes were strong in the middle for the Lady Saints, recording a handful of blocks and finishing off a good number of chances on the offensive end as well. Maddy Taylor, Shelly Malouff, and Jordan Martin all split time at the setter position and each found the hands of their hitters with regularity on the night. Jade Greene and Stacie Carver worked the right side for Seward, providing a number of blocks against OPSU’s top hitters. The Aggies were unable to figure out the jump serve of Isabela Silva as she notched ace after ace on the night. Last, but certainly not least was the back line of the Lady Saints in libero Madison Winkelman and defensive specialist Katie Marks who pulled up a number of balls in spectacular fashion off the floor, leading to easy scoring opportunities for the Seward offense. “After this weekend I wasn’t sure if we were ready to start the season” Luallen said. “After last night I feel a lot better going into Lamar and getting the season started on a positive note” he continued.
The 17th ranked Lady Saints will open their 2010 regular season Friday in Lamar against Trinidad State at 12:00 (MST) and will hit the court again Friday at 4:00 to take on Chandler-Gilbert from Arizona. Their toughest test of the tournament will come Saturday morning when they square off with #21 Laramie County at 10:00 followed by their final game of the weekend at 2:00 against Vernon. Don’t forget to check the Lady Saints homepage at www.scccsaints.com for live score updates and twitter posts throughout the weekend.
Also, just in time for the start of the season, the 2010 Lady Saints Volleyball Media Guide has been released with player profiles, season previews, record books, and more. Don’t forget to give that a look by CLICKING HERE.

Alison Owens rejoins the Lady Saints in 2010-2011, this time on the bench as an assistant coach. Owens played for two seasons for Seward County in 2004-2005 before graduating from SCCC with her Associates of Science. After finishing her playing days as a Lady Saint she transferred to Lubbock Christian University on a volleyball scholarship but left there to pursue her academic career at the University of Kansas. While at KU, Owens played club volleyball and helped the Jayhawks to a 17th place finish at the National Club Volleyball Tournament. Owens received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish and International and Global Studies from KU in December of 2009.
After graduation, Owens returned to the place of one of her study abroad adventures, Mexico, where she taught English for the summer of 2010.

Owens is a native of Moscow, Kansas and was a graduate of Hugoton High School. In the final two years of her prep volleyball career, Owens was chosen to represent Kansas on All-Star teams that played in tournaments in Hawaii and Australia.

After accepting her scholarship to Seward County CC, Owens was part of the Lady Saints team in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Also during her time at SC, Owens was a member of the student government, a tutor in the academic achievement center, as well as a residence assistant in the student living center.

After graduating from Seward County and making a brief stop at Lubbock Christian University, Owens was on to the University of Kansas where she looked to concentrate on her studies. While at KU, Owens decided to take on study abroad opportunities in Mexico and Spain. She is now trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Owens won’t have much time to get comfortable as the Lady Saints are already training for their 2010 season that starts in less than two weeks. Seward opens the season ranked 17th in the NJCAA pre-season poll and has high expectations as they look to defend their 2009 Jayhawk West Conference Championship. They will play a pair of scrimmage dates on Saturday in Goodwell, Oklahoma followed by a home scrimmage against OPSU on Wednesday the 25th, before kicking off their regular season against Trinidad State in the Lamar Kick-Off Classic in Colorado on the 27th and 28th.

In a familiar venue at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in Wichita, seven former Seward County Saints became National Champions Friday night by taking home the 2010 NBC World Series Championship in the tournaments 76th installment. The Bee Jays defeated the Seattle Studs 9-6 in a one game, winner take all championship game, to avenge an earlier loss to the Studs and finish the tournament 7-1. 2008 graduate Tomas Cruz had the ball in his hand with the game on the line with two outs in the bottom of the 9th while fellow ’08 grad David Masters was ready to receive the pitch behind the plate. 2010 NJCAA All-American Kelby Tomlinson had just made yet another spectacular play in short center field to record the 2nd out of the inning while fellow 2010 grads Quay Grant and Jared Wagner, as well as ’09 Saints closer Travis Parker were on their feet in the bullpen. Not to be forgotten was 2007-08 Saint Christian Kowalchuk who was one of the key members of the Bee Jays pitching staff all summer long, but was shut down late in the season due to an arm injury and was unable to pitch in the tournament.

Many dreams had ended in Wichita for these seven young men as in 2008 Tomas Cruz, David Masters, and Christian Kowalchuk’s Seward County careers came to an end on the turf of Lawrence Dumont Stadium. In 2009 Travis Parker’s Saints were shocked at Dumont by Cowley in two straight games to end his one magical season in Liberal. Finally just three short months ago, Kelby Tomlinson, Quay Grant, and Jared Wagner thought that they had seen the last of the historic stadium when their two year ride with the Saints came to a close after an extra inning battle with rival Hutchinson went the way of the Blue Dragons. However, in a magical two week run that culminated with a championship game rematch against the Seattle Studs, those seven Saints had undoubtedly one of the highlights of their baseball careers on the ‘old school’ turf carpet of LD as the final out was secured and nobody else in the amateur baseball world was above them as they were crowned NBC World Champions.

Cruz was THE man in the back end of the bullpen for the Bee Jays since he joined the team late in the season. After posting a 2-0 record with 4 saves and a 0.56 ERA during the regular season, the Saint turned Clemson Tiger threw in 5 of the 8 Bee Jay games in the tournament, picking up 2 wins and a save in 7 2/3 innings of work. Masters played in 6 games in the tournament and drew the call to handle the Liberal staff in the championship game behind the plate on Friday. He posted a .977 fielding percentage behind the plate during the tournament and scored 6 runs while driving in a pair. Tomlinson capped a summer in which he was named Bee Jays MVP by leading all players in the tournament with 12 stolen bases while playing gold glove defense and posting a .395 on base percentage in the eight games. Parker threw just once in the tournament but was a key piece of the Bee Jays lockdown bullpen during the regular season, pitching in 17 games and posting a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings pitched on the season. Grant threw a pair of scoreless innings in the tournament, allowing just 2 hits while striking out a batter. Wagner drew the start for Liberal in their win Sunday against St. Joseph, Missouri and went 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and later in the tournament threw a scoreless inning against Seattle in the team’s first matchup of the week. Kowalchuk, while not able to pitch in the tournament, played a large part in the Bee Jays success this summer. The former Saints lefty and then College World Series participant with the University of Arkansas, recorded a 3-2 record for Liberal in 25 innings pitched, striking out 18 and walking just 7 in 6 starts on the year.

The group joins a list of players a mile long that started their big league dreams in Wichita at the NBC Tournament. The list includes current MLB stars such as Albert Pujols, Tim Lincecum, Trevor Hoffman, and Mark Texeira along with legends like Satchel Paige, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire also spotting the list. Whose name will it be 10 years from now that we look back and remember donning the Bee Jay powder blue and red? It could be one of these seven who will always say that their college career started right here in Liberal as a Saint at Seward County.

Coming off of a Jayhawk West Conference Championship in 2009 and led into the 2010 campaign with the top returning player in the conference, the Seward County Lady Saints Volleyball team has been ranked 17th in the NJCAA Pre-Season Top 25 poll to open the 2010 season.
Seward returns just three players off of last season’s 26-11 team that reached as high as #9 in the polls at one point. However, the Lady Saints have high expectations as all three of those returning sophomores played a significant role on last year’s championship team. Sheina Fernandes returns in the middle after being named Jayhawk West Conference Freshman of the Year in 2009 and should be the early favorite for Conference Player of the Year honors as the season begins. Maddy Taylor stepped ahead of the pack at the setting position late during the 2009 campaign and comes back as one of the top sophomores setters in the league this season. Stacie Carver played in 89 games last season and will be looked upon to provide a strong block on the right side for the Lady Saints this season.
With just the three returners this season, a lot will be expected from the nine newcomers for the Lady Saints in 2010. Head Coach Bert Luallen will hope to get good production out of Brazilian’s Daiane Souza and Isabella Silva as well as all-around talent Courtney Geesing on the outside as they try to fill the footsteps of a pair of departed All-Conference hitters from last year’s squad. Jade Greene and Aislyn Karney come into camp as the only 6 footers on the roster and should give Seward a strong block in the middle to go along with Fernandes. Jordan Martin and Shelly Malouff will compete for playing time at the setter position and will be one of the keys to Seward’s success this year. One of the Lady Saints strengths this season should be at the Libero/Defensive Specialist position where Madison Winkelman and Katie Marks give Seward a strong presence in Bert Luallen’s most stressed facet of the game, back line defense.
The Lady Saints are joined by the Pratt Lady Beavers from the Jayhawk West Conference in the top 25 as they check in at #14 while 10 other teams likely to cross paths with Seward this year are also on the list. The gals in green will take the court for the first time against outside competition August 21st when they will head down to Goodwell, Oklahoma where they will square off with host OPSU and a number of other junior college squads from around the region. Their first contest for keeps will come August 27th in the Lamar Kick-Off Classic where they look to defend their 2009 tournament title starting with Trinidad State at 12:00.

Its time to dust off those old cleats and squeeze into the pinstripes for the Inaugural Saints Baseball Alumni Weekend. Thats right, we are inviting all Seward County Saints Baseball alumns and their families back to Liberal on Labor Day Weekend (September 3-5) to relive the glory days at Brent Gould Field. The weekend will consist of a new facilities tour, a home run derby, a game against the current Saints, a dinner and social after the game, as well as a golf tournament on Sunday morning. For more information click below and follow the links to register!

Under current Head Coach, Galen McSpadden, the Seward County Community College baseball program has amassed a record of 986-546 over the past 29 years, which has included: 1 NJCAA World Series appearance; 5 regional tournament championships; 13 regular season conference championships; 18 All-Americans and 144 All-Conference players. The sustained success of Saints baseball has been a direct result of both the quality of players that have performed on Brent Gould Field as well as the quality of men that have continued their lives after Seward County. Winning has become a tradition for the Saints, and Seward County Community College would like to invite all of those who have been a part of it back to Liberal, Kansas (this Labor Day weekend) for the Inaugural SCCC Baseball Alumni Weekend.



SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:



Friday, September 3rd



· 8:00 P.M. - Everyone is invited to meet up at Billy’s BBQ for a late dinner or drinks. Billy’s provides a sports bar atmosphere to socialize with whomever makes it into town early enough. Billy’s is located at 44 Village Plaza (between Dillons and North Pizza Hut).



Saturday, September 4th



· 9:00 A.M.- Optional Campus Tour. For those who have not seen the campus since

the renovations to the athletic facilities, meet at the baseball field

parking lot for a quick 30 minute tour.



· 10:15 A.M.- Alumni Batting Practice. Batting practice will begin for all Alumni

(including those who are not participating in the game).



· 11:15 A.M.- Home Run Derby. Entry fee for the Home Run Derby will be $10

with the winner taking home a prize.



· 12:20 P.M.- Alumni Team Infield.



· 1:00 P.M.- Alumni vs. Current Saints (possible double header depending on

registration numbers)



· 7:00 P.M.- Dinner at Billy’s BBQ and Auction. Optional transportation may be provided. The dinner will include a traditional barbeque style with two or three different meat choices.



Sunday, September 5th



· 8:00 A.M.- Golf Tournament Registration.



· 8:30 A.M.- Golf Tournament.



Attached is the registration form. Please fill out and return along with your $50 fee to the address on the form as soon as possible; or you may also register by sending your information by email to Roy Allen ( roy.allen@sccc.eduThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and pay your fee online at the following link http://alumni.sccc.edu/events/event_details.asp?id=115480. The $50 fee will include a t-shirt, the Saturday night barbeque meal, and the golf green fee as well as a golf cart. Family members are more than welcome. Each additional family member will be an extra $5 for the Saturday night meal and $25 for the golf tournament. To ensure accurate t-shirt orders and event planning, we ask that all forms be returned by August 14th. However, late registration will be accepted. Any proceeds after costs will go directly to the Seward County baseball program. Family members who are not participating in the golf tournament are encouraged to enjoy the new local Adventure Bay Water Park or the newly renovated Southgate Cinema 6 movie theater in Liberal. The college bookstore, located on campus, will also be open to all alumni from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.



The following hotel rates are being offered from several hotels in Liberal. When reserving a room, please mention that you are part of the SCCC Baseball Alumni Weekend. We encourage that you reserve a room as soon as possible as Labor Day Weekend is busy in Liberal.



(WBf = with breakfast) (WoBf = without breakfast) (zip code for GPS = 67901)



1. Holiday Inn Express ($59 a night WBf): 877-786-9480 / 1550 N Lincoln Ave

2. Days Inn ($49 a night WBf): 620-626-7377 / 405 E Pancake Blvd

3. Super 8 ($50 a night WBf): 620-624-8880 / 747 E Pancake Blvd

4. Quality Inn ($59 a night WBf): 620-624-0242 / 720 E Pancake Blvd

5. Liberal Inn ($58 a night WoBf): 620-624-7254 / 603 E Pancake Blvd

6. Southwind Inn ($45.00 a night WoBf): 620-624-6236 / 619 E Pancake Blvd

7. America’s Best Value Inn ($55 a night WoBf): 620-624-6203 / 564 E Pancake Blvd



Come relive those memories of being a part of a winning tradition!!!





CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THE 2010 SAINTS BASEBALL ALUMNI WEEKEND