NAPPANEE -ÊNorthWood may have hosted the Northern Lakes Conference Chamionships last Thursday and Saturday, but Northridge swept the singles contests and Plymouth swept the doubles competitions to steal the show.

In the end, Plymouth took the trophy for the tournament, but Goshen, Plymouth and Northridge tied for first place in the overall conference standings, which take into consideration dual matches as well.

Although Warsaw, Wawasee and NorthWood did not have anyone who placed first or second in the tournament, each team was pleased with its performance.

Warsaw finished fourth, Wawasee fifth and NorthWood sixth.

Wawasee and Warsaw earned two third-place finishes and one fifth-place finish each, while NorthWood had one third place and one fifth-place finish.

At No. 1 singles, Wawasee's Mandy Perzanowski faced off against NorthWood's Anna Metz in the the first round of the tournament and won 6-1, 6-3. She then fell to Sarah Mater of Northridge 6-4, 6-1, to compete in the match for third place. Perzanowski overcame Plymouth's Rachel Waybright to earn third-place honors.

Wawasee's Perzanowski was given All-Conference honors after the tournament was complete.

After falling to Perzanowski in the first match, Metz faced off against Taira McLarney of Concord and won 6-4, 6-1. In the match for fifth place, Metz faced Abbie Simmons of Warsaw. After two close sets, Metz came out on top 6-4, 6-4 over Simmons.

In the No. 2 singles competition, Warsaw's Heather VanPuffelen faced off against NorthWood's Jessica Yoder, and after winning 6-4, 6-0, VanPuffelen played Plymouth's Lynsey Hourigan. Hourigan, who placed second overall, defeated VanPuffelen 6-3, 6-1. After defeating Robin Brown of Goshen 6-1, 6-1, VanPuffelen secured a third-place finish.

After falling to VanPuffelen, Yoder faced Wawasee's Ashley Bell, who was filling in for Alex Hoffman. Yoder defeated Bell 6-2, 6-1 and moved on to face Concord's Allison Miller in the match for fifth place. Yoder defeated Miller 6-2, 6-0 to place fifth in the NLC.

In the first round of No. 3 singles competition, Amy Hughes of NorthWood defeated Wawasee's Diane Jackson 6-4, 6-1. Hughes then fell to Sarah Easterday of Plymouth to play in the match for third place against Goshen's Carissa Heacock. Hughes secured NorthWood's only third-place finish after defeating Heacock.

Jackson faced Warsaw's Kim Fluke in her next round of play, and Fluke defeated her 6-0, 6-0 to earn the chance to play Concord's Kristin Conn for fifth place. Fluke defeated Conn 6-0, 6-2 to place fifth overall in the NLC competition.

Laura Lundin and Steph Shivers of Warsaw teamed up at the No. 1 doubles slot, where they defeated NorthWood's Jessica McCartney and Danae Stump 6-1, 6-4 in the first round. Lundin and Shivers then fell to Lynndi Aker and Erica Delp of Plymouth and moved into the third-place match. The duo of Kara Kesler and Liza Weidenbenner from Warsaw also advanced to the third place match, where they faced off against the team from Wawasee. Lundin and Shivers defeated Kesler and Weidenbenner 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to earn the third-place spot in the No. 1 doubles competition.

The duo of Elizabeth Hann and Ashlet Cavert of Warsaw teamed up to advance to the third-place match after defeating a team from Northridge and falling to Goshen's pair. In their final match, Hann and Cavert faced Elizabeth Clark and Kristin Farrow of Concord. The Tiger pair defeated the Minutemen 6-3, 6-4 to earn Warsaw's second third-place finish of the competition.

Shanda Bucher and Kayla Auer of Wawasee fell to Concord in their first match but battled back to defeat NorthWood's Vicki Otis and Jen Meyers 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, 6-3 to move on to the fifth- place bracket. Bucher and Auer defeated Megan Woodsmall and Amber Bontrager of Northridge to earn Wawasee's only fifth-place finish of the day.

Overall, area coaches were pleased with their performances in the tournament and are focusing on Thursday's sectional competitions.

"We were pleased to come in and show that we would not be beaten easily," said Warsaw's coach Jill Basden. "The other team may win, but we will not make it easier for them. We came in in the middle of the draw, and we earned some third and fifth places. I am very pleased with this team. Now we're ready for sectional."

"We did a little better than predicted," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "We did not do as well as we had hoped, but we did better than other teams expected us to do.

"The NLC is tough to play in, especially in the tournament. This is a good experience for our younger kids. For some reason, after the NLC, there is always sort of a pick up in play. That will be good as we head into sectional."

"We played better in the tournament than we played during the season conference matches," said NorthWood coach Angie Yoder. "We are not discouraged. This has been a tough season, but our team is developing well. We are young, but we hope to be on the top of our game as we head to sectional."

NLC TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Team placings (tournament only) -Ê1. Plymouth, 2. Northridge, 3. Goshen, 4. Warsaw, 5. Wawasee, 6. NorthWood, 7. Concord

Team placings (overall NLC, tournament and dual matches) -Ê1. (three-way tie) Plymouth, Goshen, Northridge, 4. Warsaw, 5. (tie) NorthWood, Wawasee, 7. Concord.

NLC Tournament

No. 1 Singles

Championship

Mater (NR) def. Robertson (GO) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)

Consolation

Perzamowski (WAW) def. Weybright (PL) 6-4, 6-0

No. 2 Singles

Championship

Springer (NR) def. (Hourigan (PL) 6-3, 6-1

Consolation

VanPuffelen (WAR) def. Brown (GO) 6-1, 6-1

No. 3 Singles

Championship

Plank (NR) def. Easterday (PL) 6-1, 6-1

Consolation

Hughes (NW) def. Heacock (GO)

No. 1 Doubles

Championship

Delp/Aker (PL) def. Thomas/Troup (GO) 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Consolation

Lundin Shivers (WAW) def. Kesler/Weidenbenner (WAR) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5

No. 2 Doubles

Championship

Adams/Wise (PL) def. Schmidt/Jordan (GO) 6-0, 6-3

Consolation

Hann/Cavert (WAR) def. Clark/Farrow (CC) 6-3, 6-4

NLC All-Conference Selections

Sarah Mater, Northridge

Lisa Robertson, Goshen

Mandy Perzanowski, Wawasee

Rachel Weybright, Plymouth

Jennifer Springer, Northridge

Susie Plank, Northridge

Erica Delp, Plymouth

Lynndi Aker, Plymouth

Elizabeth Adams, Plymouth

Jessica Wise, Plymouth

Coach(es) of the Year -ÊStan King (Goshen), Mary Beth Hunter (Plymouth) [[In-content Ad]]