When it comes right down to it, there's no question who the favorite is in the Wawasee Girls Tennis Sectional: Warsaw.

Ask any coach and any player, and they would probably say the same thing.

There's no doubt this year's Warsaw squad is tough. The Tigers have played three of four possible sectional opponents, Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee, and beat each of them 5-0.

"Warsaw, obviously, is the favorite at 12-2," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "They defeated us soundly 5-0 in the regular season, and they are the heavy favorite."

"Warsaw is obviously the favorite," said Manchester coach Eric Christiansen. "They are very strong."

"I expect to see Warsaw win," Tippecanoe Valley coach Jack Shambaigh said. "They are very good this year. If you took Warsaw out of the mix, I think all the rest of the teams are fairly equal."

And the rest of the team are fairly equal. Wawasee is 5-8, Manchester is 3-8, Valley is 6-6 and Whitko is 2-9. At 12-2, Warsaw is the only team in the sectional with a record above .500.

Said Warsaw coach Joe Beeson, "We have beaten three of the teams in the sectional 5-0. I think the girls are confident heading into the sectional, but the problem would be if they were overconfident. Our first match is against Whitko, and they are probably the weakest of all the teams record-wise in the sectional. We play them Saturday morning, and then we should play the winner of the other matches Saturday afternoon."

Manchester and Tippecanoe Valley kick off the sectional at 4:30 p.m. today.

"I think Kyleigh Gast and Kris Sanders (No. 1 doubles) have a legitimate chance to do well," said Shambaugh. "Their only loss of the season came to Warsaw. I expect to see them do well."

"We have had some good strong sets in the first set, and then we fall apart in the second set," said Christiansen. "I know Tippecanoe Valley is very strong at No. 1 doublesa, and they beat us 3-2 earlier in the season. But we have a different lineup than the regular season, so it's hard to say how we will do against them in the sectional. If our singles do well, and we can get a doubles point somewhere, we will be OK."

Then the winner of the Valley/Manchester match will take on Wawasee at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"Warsaw is the favorite, and then I think Wawasee is next," said Christainsen. "We played (Wawasee) last week, and if we want to do well in the sectional, we need to step it up a notch."

"I think Wawasee would have the best chance playing Warsaw," said Shambaugh.

While Wawasee and Valley or Manchester take one set of courts Saturday at 10 a.m., Whitko and Warsaw will play on the other set of courts.

"Our strength is really in our overall depth," said Beeson. "As far as depth goes, this may be the best team I have ever had. If you look at the stats of our team at any position, they are almost identical, and that is very encouraging."

WAWASEE GIRLS TENNIS SECTIONAL

Round one, 4:30 p.m. today

Manchester vs. Tippecanoe Valley

Round two, 10 a.m. Saturday

Wawasee vs winner of round one match

Whitko vs. Warsaw

Championship Round, May 19, 2 p.m.

Winners of round two matches

BREMEN SECTIONAL

TRITON TROJANS

Coach -ÊLaura Lamaster

Record - 9-2

Lamaster -Ê"During the season Bremen beat us, but we beat them in the conference meet. You never know how things are going to go. We have to stay really focused. It's easy after winning conference to bask in the glory and forget that there's still more work to do. I can't really say that there is a favorite in the sectional. Bremen was 6-0 in the conference, and we were 5-1, but John Glenn looked really good in the confernce tournament as well. It's a toss-up. It should be fun to wacth and fun to coach."

NORTHWOOD SECTIONAL

NORTHWOOD PANTHERS

Coach - Scott Miller

Record -Ê7-4

Miller - "We beat Goshen 3-2 earlier in the season, and we had a really good match against them. Jessica Yoder will play Robin Brown again, and that should be a very good match. I would have to say the sectional favorite would have to be Fairfield." [[In-content Ad]]