DUNLAP -ÊGoing into the Concord Tennis Regional, the Wawasee Warriors knew they were the underdogs.

After all, the Warriors had to play a tough Fairfield team that was 20-0 and playing with a mission. Earlier this week, two Fairfield students were killed in two separate accidents, and that was never far from the Fairfield players' minds.

The Falcon tennis team sported the initials of one of those classmates on their uniform sleeve as they defeated the Wawasee squad 5-0 in straight sets.

"Even though they beat us 5-0 tonight," said Wawasee coach Roger Brady, "I think we played much better agaist them than we did earlier in the season. Our matches were longer and we were more competitive. We made some good points, and we were more ready for them.

"But they were also ready for us. They knew we would prepare for them and be ready to play."

Fairfield's first individual win came at the No. 1 singles position where Steve Huber downed Wawasee's Evan Gerard 6-2, 6-2.

Then the No. 2 singles match went to Fairfied as well. Falcon Loren Bontrager topped Chris Trobaugh 6-3 in the first set, but Trobaugh fought back in the second. Trobaugh was down 5-2 but fought back to make the score 5-4 and then 6-5. However, Bontrager got the last point of the match to win the second set 7-5.

Then Wawasee's Scott Beasley faced off against Fairfield's Matt Fox at No. 3 singles. Fox took the first set 6-3 before winning the second 6-2.

In doubles action, Wawasee's No. 1 pair of Mickey Ashpole and Logan Pilcher took on Fairfield duo Justin Stutzman and Conrad Schrock.

Schrock and Conrad won the first set 6-2. However, the second set was a different story. After falling behind 4-3, Ashpole and Pilcher fought back to take a 5-4 lead. The Warriors held the lead at 6-5 as well, but Fairfield snagged the last two games to take the set into a tiebreaker. Schrock and Conrad went on to win the tiebreaker 7-4.

In the No. 2 doubles match Wawasee's Rosten Trobaugh and Ben Knisely took on Fairfield's David Roe and Doyle Schrock. Fairfield won the first set 7-6 after winning a tiebreaker 7-3. The Falcon duo then won the second set 6-0, giving the Fairfield squad a 5-0 win.

"Fairfield is experienced," said Brady. "They have five seniors who have played to gether for four years. They have had a lot of success. We should have a lot of kids back next year, and we hope to see Fairfield again"

The Warriors end the season 11-6 overall. Fairfield improves to 21-0 and advanced to the regional final tonight at 5 p.m. The Falcons will face Concord, which defeated DeKalb 3-2 in Tuesday's regional match.

CONCORD REGIONAL

FAIRFIELD 5, WAWASEE 0

Singles

No. 1 -ÊSteve Huber (F) def. Evan Gerard 6-2, 6-2

No. 2 -ÊMatt Fox (F) def. Scott Beasley 6-3, 6-2

No. 3 -ÊLoren Bontrager (F) def. Chris Trobaugh 6-3, 7-5

Doubles

No. 1 -ÊJustin Stutzman/Conrad Schrock (F) def. Mickey Ashpole/Logan Pilcher 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)

No. 2 -ÊDavid Roe/Doyle Schrock (F) def. Rosten Trobaugh/Ben Knisley 7-6 (7-3), 6-0

Other regional match

CONCORD 3, DEKALB 2

Fairfield and Concord meet tonight at 5 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]