Lady Tigers Get Into Win Column
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Sitting at 0-4 on the season, which has been plagued with postponed and cancelled matches, the Warsaw Lady Tigers got a 5-0 Northern Lakes Conference win at Wawasee Thursday evening.
“To have a 5-0 win, for the team, it’s huge – it really is,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. “The JV also went undefeated (9-0), so as a team, this is a huge confidence builder. I told them all along to use this as a stepping stone going into (tonight’s home match against Elkhart Memorial).”
The win improves Warsaw to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the NLC, but the conference record could be evened up tonight against Memorial, which was originally slated for Tuesday.
While the Lady Tigers were getting their first conference victory, the Wawasee Lady Warriors are still searching for theirs, falling to 0-3 in the NLC and 2-4 overall.
Unlike Warsaw, Wawasee’s goals are a bit different, as first-year coach Chris Winters is the third coach in three years who’s trying to turn the program around.
“For our girls, it’s just believing they can be in these matches,” Winters said. “It’s a hard thing to try to retrain the brain. Today, I think they got a taste of, ‘Ya, know what? I can be in this match.’ I could see their confidence building tonight. Again, it’s showing them the small ways that they improved.”
Wawasee’s closest first set against Warsaw was a 6-3 loss by sophomores Natalie Fritz and Ashley Larson at No. 2 doubles, but the Lady Warriors showed more fight in the second set on each court, outside of, ironically, No. 2 doubles.
At No. 1 singles, German foreign exchange student Esther Hermann rebounded from a 6-2 opening-set loss against Warsaw junior Sarah Boyle, to fall 6-4 in the second and junior No. 2 singles player Katy Ashpole fell 6-2 in the first, but put up a better battle in the second, losing 7-5 to Warsaw junior Jacqueline Sasso.
“I looked at their lineup, with Katy Ashpole at (No. 2 singles) and (Esther Hermann) at No. 1 – they’re both quality players,” Orban said. “Katy’s been playing varsity for three years. So, you kind of wondered coming into it – just how talented the girl from Germany was.”
There was some talent, but Warsaw’s was greater, including Boyle getting her first win of the season.
Coming into the Wawasee match, Boyle had won just one set in her four match losses, which included one at No. 2 singles against Plymouth.
Against Hermann, she seemed more in control.
“Sarah played really well tonight,” Orban said. “She played smart. She didn’t make a lot errors. She allowed her opponent to make some errors.”
Warsaw seniors Marley Smith and Olivia Wallin also got a needed 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1 doubles, having lost three-straight since winning in the season opener on April 9 at home against Fort Wayne Canterbury.
“One thing we haven’t done a lot of this year has been attacking the net, putting volleys away,” Orban said. “It’s just been a confidence thing. Marley’s strength is the angle volley and Olivia’s strength is the power volley and overhead. I told Olivia I wanted her to go for everything tonight and not back off.”
It seemed lessons were learned by the Lady Tigers, but for Winters, she’s going to continue to teach positivity to her girls, who are at Northridge today.
“I told the girls, even if their scores don’t reflect that they won or anything like that, I was pleased with their performances tonight,” she said. “They played right with them. A lot of those games that ended up with Warsaw winning, they were at deuce on a lot of those games. That tells me we are right there.”
WARSAW 5, WAWASEE 0
SINGLES: No. 1 – Sarah Boyle (War) def. Esther Hermann 6-2, 6-4; No. 2 – Jacqueline Sasso (War) def. Katy Ashpole 6-2, 7-5; No. 3 – Rachel Alexander (War) def. Priscilla Par 6-1, 6-3
DOUBLES: No. 1 – Marley Smith/Olivia Wallin (War) def. Jada Antonides/Sam Prins 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 – Lindsay Sciarra/Mallory Bartel (War) def. Natalie Fritz/Ashley Larson 6-3, 6-0
Records: Warsaw 1-4 (1-2 NLC), Wawasee 2-4 (0-3 NLC)
JV – Warsaw 9, Wawasee 0
JV Singles: No. 1 – Blair Findlay (War) def. Jaclyn Miller 8-3; No. 2 – Mattie Doran (War) def. Chelsea Carolus 8-1; No. 3 – Shelby Roberts (War) def. Molly Smith 8-1; No. 4 – Camille Kerlin (War) def. Brooke Fick 8-0; No. 5 – Greer Smith (War) def. Jazlyn Gelhausen 7-5; No. 6 – Ashley Neubaum (War) def. Miller 6-0
JV Doubles: No. 1 – Anna Hall/Abbi Baum (War) def. Katie Kuhn/Gelhausen 8-0; No. 2 – Mallorie Stiver/Sydney Hartman (War) def. Carolus/Roberts 6-3; No. 3 – Danielle Straits/Olivia Tucker (War) def. Kuhn/Fick 6-1[[In-content Ad]]
Sitting at 0-4 on the season, which has been plagued with postponed and cancelled matches, the Warsaw Lady Tigers got a 5-0 Northern Lakes Conference win at Wawasee Thursday evening.
“To have a 5-0 win, for the team, it’s huge – it really is,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. “The JV also went undefeated (9-0), so as a team, this is a huge confidence builder. I told them all along to use this as a stepping stone going into (tonight’s home match against Elkhart Memorial).”
The win improves Warsaw to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the NLC, but the conference record could be evened up tonight against Memorial, which was originally slated for Tuesday.
While the Lady Tigers were getting their first conference victory, the Wawasee Lady Warriors are still searching for theirs, falling to 0-3 in the NLC and 2-4 overall.
Unlike Warsaw, Wawasee’s goals are a bit different, as first-year coach Chris Winters is the third coach in three years who’s trying to turn the program around.
“For our girls, it’s just believing they can be in these matches,” Winters said. “It’s a hard thing to try to retrain the brain. Today, I think they got a taste of, ‘Ya, know what? I can be in this match.’ I could see their confidence building tonight. Again, it’s showing them the small ways that they improved.”
Wawasee’s closest first set against Warsaw was a 6-3 loss by sophomores Natalie Fritz and Ashley Larson at No. 2 doubles, but the Lady Warriors showed more fight in the second set on each court, outside of, ironically, No. 2 doubles.
At No. 1 singles, German foreign exchange student Esther Hermann rebounded from a 6-2 opening-set loss against Warsaw junior Sarah Boyle, to fall 6-4 in the second and junior No. 2 singles player Katy Ashpole fell 6-2 in the first, but put up a better battle in the second, losing 7-5 to Warsaw junior Jacqueline Sasso.
“I looked at their lineup, with Katy Ashpole at (No. 2 singles) and (Esther Hermann) at No. 1 – they’re both quality players,” Orban said. “Katy’s been playing varsity for three years. So, you kind of wondered coming into it – just how talented the girl from Germany was.”
There was some talent, but Warsaw’s was greater, including Boyle getting her first win of the season.
Coming into the Wawasee match, Boyle had won just one set in her four match losses, which included one at No. 2 singles against Plymouth.
Against Hermann, she seemed more in control.
“Sarah played really well tonight,” Orban said. “She played smart. She didn’t make a lot errors. She allowed her opponent to make some errors.”
Warsaw seniors Marley Smith and Olivia Wallin also got a needed 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1 doubles, having lost three-straight since winning in the season opener on April 9 at home against Fort Wayne Canterbury.
“One thing we haven’t done a lot of this year has been attacking the net, putting volleys away,” Orban said. “It’s just been a confidence thing. Marley’s strength is the angle volley and Olivia’s strength is the power volley and overhead. I told Olivia I wanted her to go for everything tonight and not back off.”
It seemed lessons were learned by the Lady Tigers, but for Winters, she’s going to continue to teach positivity to her girls, who are at Northridge today.
“I told the girls, even if their scores don’t reflect that they won or anything like that, I was pleased with their performances tonight,” she said. “They played right with them. A lot of those games that ended up with Warsaw winning, they were at deuce on a lot of those games. That tells me we are right there.”
WARSAW 5, WAWASEE 0
SINGLES: No. 1 – Sarah Boyle (War) def. Esther Hermann 6-2, 6-4; No. 2 – Jacqueline Sasso (War) def. Katy Ashpole 6-2, 7-5; No. 3 – Rachel Alexander (War) def. Priscilla Par 6-1, 6-3
DOUBLES: No. 1 – Marley Smith/Olivia Wallin (War) def. Jada Antonides/Sam Prins 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 – Lindsay Sciarra/Mallory Bartel (War) def. Natalie Fritz/Ashley Larson 6-3, 6-0
Records: Warsaw 1-4 (1-2 NLC), Wawasee 2-4 (0-3 NLC)
JV – Warsaw 9, Wawasee 0
JV Singles: No. 1 – Blair Findlay (War) def. Jaclyn Miller 8-3; No. 2 – Mattie Doran (War) def. Chelsea Carolus 8-1; No. 3 – Shelby Roberts (War) def. Molly Smith 8-1; No. 4 – Camille Kerlin (War) def. Brooke Fick 8-0; No. 5 – Greer Smith (War) def. Jazlyn Gelhausen 7-5; No. 6 – Ashley Neubaum (War) def. Miller 6-0
JV Doubles: No. 1 – Anna Hall/Abbi Baum (War) def. Katie Kuhn/Gelhausen 8-0; No. 2 – Mallorie Stiver/Sydney Hartman (War) def. Carolus/Roberts 6-3; No. 3 – Danielle Straits/Olivia Tucker (War) def. Kuhn/Fick 6-1[[In-content Ad]]
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