If it seemed like Saturday's Northern Lakes Conference Boys Tennis Tournament was a festival of activity, that's because it was.

The tournament was held in Plymouth's Central Park, the same park jammed full with RVs in town for the Bluegrass Festival. So you got two for the price of one. While you watched Warsaw No. 1 singles player Ryan VanPuffelen labor through his championship match in the 2 o'clock, 91-degree heat, you heard the strains of banjos and ukuleles.

Save for the bluegrass music, the tournament went exactly as the regular season went. Goshen won to thwart any hopes of a Warsaw repeat. Warsaw, which ran away with the NLC Tournament last year, finished second, Plymouth third, Concord fourth, NorthWood fifth, Wawasee sixth and Northridge seventh.

Goshen won No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles and finished second in Nos. 1 and 3 singles. The Redskins' No. 2 doubles team took third.

The Tigers had two first places, a second place and a third place.

VanPuffelen, who has lost only three matches all year, all to top 10 players, beat Goshen's Chris Manhart 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles championship match. VanPuffelen played one other match Saturday, a three-set win over Plymouth's Jeff Garriotte.

Still, Warsaw coach Andy Lewis wasn't about to watch VanPuffelen let fatigue and 91-degree heat and exhaustion get to him. Manhart played in the same conditions.

"I think Ryan thought he was tired," Lewis said. "When it came down to showing who was the best player in the conference, he decided not to be tired anymore."

Indeed, any fatigue seemed to be forgotten when VanPuffelen did his Daffy Duck impersonation on his winning point, running and jumping and yelling "Yeah, woo!" all at the same time.

VanPuffelen was expected to win as a No. 1 seed.

As a No. 3 seed, Warsaw's Pete Hake necessarily wasn't, but he did anyway.

Hake, Warsaw's No. 3 singles player, had Warsaw's other first place. He beat Goshen No. 1 seed Josh Kurtz 6-1, 7-5. Only three days earlier Kurtz beat Hake 6-3, 6-2 on Warsaw's court. Hake advanced to the championship by beating Concord No. 2 seed Nihal Patel 7-5, 6-4.

"The outstanding performance today was turned in by Pete Hake at No. 3 singles," Lewis said. "He avenged his loss this season to Goshen's Josh Kurtz."

Warsaw's No. 2 doubles team of David Honneffer and Matt Krizmanich took second after losing to Plymouth's Brad Haeck and Adam Delp 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match. Warsaw's No. 1 doubles team of Owen Compton and Eric Grossnickle took third.

The difference between Goshen winning and Warsaw winning, Lewis said, happened in Friday's first round when Warsaw No. 2 singles player Dan Benyousky lost his first match to Plymouth's Tim Flory 6-2, 6-0.

"We knew we were behind the eight ball coming into the second day because of our loss at No. 2 singles on the first day," Lewis said. "That just makes it too tough to win when you have a player in the back draw.

"Still, we were vying for the championship. Today we won all but two matches we played. We played Goshen at three spots, and we won all three."

While Warsaw had one player in the back draw, Goshen had none. The Tigers finished with three points at No. 2 singles. The fewest points Goshen had in any match was six.

Warsaw hosts Manchester, Tippecanoe Valley, Wawasee and Whitko in Saturday's sectional at 10 a.m.

1998 NLC TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Friday/Saturday at Plymouth

Team results -Ê1. Goshen 48, 2. WARSAW 43, 3. Plymouth 40, 4. Concord 30, 5. NORTHWOOD 13, 6. WAWASEE 11, 7. Northridge 5

All-Conference Players

Singles

No. 1 - Ryan VanPuffelen (Warsaw)

No. 2 -ÊMichael Weaver (Goshen)

No. 3 -ÊPete Hake (Warsaw)

Doubles

No. 1 -ÊDavid Harms/Matt Shively (Goshen)

No. 2 -ÊBrad Haeck/Adam Delp (Plymouth)

At-Large All-Conference Players

No. 1 singles -ÊChris Manhart (Goshen)

No. 1 singles -ÊRohan Patel (Concord)

No. 1 singles -ÊJeff Garriotte (Plymouth)

NLC Coach of the Year - Paul Algate

Individual results

No. 1 singles

First place -ÊRyan VanPuffelen (Warsaw) def. Chris Manhart (Goshen) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2

Third place -ÊJeff Garriotte (Plymouth) def. Rohan Patel (Concord) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Fifth place -ÊMike Mohtagano (Northridge) def. Peter Metz (NorthWood) 6-1, 6-4

No. 2 singles

First place -ÊMichael Weaver (Goshen) def. Tim Flory (Plymouth) 6-4, 6-1

Third place -ÊWalt Fales (NorthWood) def. Nick Myers (Concord) 6-0, 6-0

Fifth place -ÊDan Benyousky (Warsaw) def. Mickey Ashpole (Wawasee) 6-2, 6-1

No. 3 singles

First place -ÊPete Hake (Warsaw) def. Josh Kurtz (Goshen) 6-1, 7-5

Third place -ÊNihal Patel (Concord) def. Kyle Farrell (Wawasee) 6-3, 6-2

Fifth place -ÊGarrick Alpen (Plymouth) def. Matt Gorsuch (Northridge) 6-2, 6-0

No. 1 doubles

First place -ÊDavid Harms/Matt Shively (Goshen) def. Jeremiah Lauber/Kevin Huffman (Plymouth) 6-4, 6-4

Third place -ÊOwen Compton/Eric Grossnickle (Warsaw) def. Erik Rassi/Jim Lloyd (Concord) 6-0, 6-4

Fifth place -ÊChet Walters/Matt Sitek (NorthWood) def. Luke Baker/Blake Knisely (Wawasee) 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 doubles

First place -ÊBrad Haeck/Adam Delp (Plymouth) def. David Honneffer/Matt Krizmanich (Warsaw) 6-3, 6-3

Third place -ÊChris Copenhaver/Bradd Weddell (Goshen) def. Tom Martin/Brad Chomer (Concord) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

Fifth place -ÊKyle Hollon/Logan Pilcher (Wawasee) def. Sean Clem/Nick Abel (NorthWood) 6-4, 6-4

NLC Tournament points -Ê1. Goshen 7, 2. Warsaw 6, 3. Plymouth 5, 4. Concord 4, 5. NorthWood 3, 6. Wawasee 2, 7. Northridge 1

NLC regular-season dual match points -Ê1. Goshen (6-0) 7, 2. Warsaw (5-1) 6, 3. Plymouth (4-2) 5, 4. Concord (3-3) 4, 5. NorthWood (2-4) 3, 6. Wawasee (1-5) 2, 7. Northridge (0-6) 1

Final overall NLC standings -Ê1. Goshen, 2. Warsaw, 3. Plymouth, 4. Concord, 5. NorthWood, 6. Wawasee, 7. Northridge [[In-content Ad]]