Tiger Tennis Team Takes Care Of Wawasee 5-0

By Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Writer

SYRACUSE -ÊThe Warsaw Tigers racked up another Northern Lakes Conference tennis win Tuesday night after defeating the Wawasee Warriors 5-0.

The longest match of the day came at the No. 2 singles position. Wawasee's Kyle Farrell and Warsaw's Steve Slaughter played three sets after splitting the first two. Slaughter came out on top of the first set 6-1, but Farrell came back to win the second set 6-4. In the final set, Slaughter came out on top 6-1 to win the match and the point for Warsaw.

The only other three-set match came at the No. 2 doubles slot when Warriors Scott Beasley and Seth Beer teamed up to play Tigers Travis Yoder and David Honneffer. Yoder and Honneffer won the first set easily 6-0, but dropped the second set to Beasley and Beer 5-7. In the third set, the Warsaw team shut down Wawasee 6-0 to earn another Warsaw point.

"Our number two singles and doubles never gave up," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "They fought and fought and fought and almost pulled it off."

"Our number two doubles went into the third set," said Warsaw coach Andy Lewis. "They won the first set 6-0, but fell 5-7 in the second set. Then they rebounded to win 6-0 in the third set."

In the first match to finish, the No. 1 doubles teams from Warsaw and Wawasee squared off. Tigers Eric Grossnickle and Brad Simmons teamed up to defeat Warriors Carter Ploszek and Logan Pilcher 6-0, 6-1.

"Brad Simmons was back today after being out with an injury, and he showed a lot of intensity," said Lewis. "It's good to see him back."

Then the No. 3 singles match between Evan Gerard of Wawasee and Eric Keller of Warsaw finished. Gerard went up 3-1 in the first set, but Keller fought back to go ahead 4-3. Gerard took the lead again at 5-4, but Keller won the next two points to take the match 6-4. After starting the next set tied at one, Keller outscored Gerard 5-1 to win the set 6-2.

Next, Warsaw's Dan Benyousky defeated Wawasee's Mickey Ashpole at the No. 1 singles slot 6-2, 6-2. Ashpole started both sets up 1-0, but was unable to overcome Benyousky in the matchup.

Although the Warriors refused to give up, the Tigers came out on top 5-0.

"We've had a couple of injuries," said Lewis. "Under the circumstances, it was great to go 5-0 against Wawasee. I am pleased with the team. They played tough."

"We are very young compared to Warsaw," said Mishler. "They have a lot more experience playing in big matches than we do. We played hard."

Warsaw is 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, while Wawasee is 4-6 and 0-4 in the NLC.

WARSAW 5, WAWASEE 0

Varsity

Singles

No. 1 -ÊDan Benyousky (War) def. Mickey Ashpole 6-3, 6-2

No. 2 -ÊSteve Slaughter (War) def. Kyle Farrell 6-1, 4-6, 6-1

No. 3 -ÊEric Keller (War) def. Evan Gerard 6-4, 6-2

Doubles

No. 1 -ÊEric Grossnickle/Brad SImmons (War) def. Carter Ploszek/Logan Pilcher 6-0, 6-1

No. 2 -ÊTravis Yoder/David Honneffer (War) def. Scott Beasley/Seth Beer 6-0, 7-5, 6-0

JV -ÊWARSAW 4, WAWASEE 1

Singles

No. 1 -ÊRyan Dill (War) def. Joey Szynal 8-3

No. 2 -ÊRosten Trobaugh (Waw) def. Brandin Conley 8-3

No. 3 -ÊJason Ladd (War) def. Joel Bickel 8-5

Doubles

No. 1 -ÊColin Nicol/Kenneth Honneffer (War) def. Curtis Farrell/Josh Abrams 9-7

No. 2 -ÊSherwin Bajas/Adam Richardson (War) def. Matt Martin/Tony Bachter 8-6 [[In-content Ad]]