DUNLAP -ÊWarsaw tennis coach Andy Lewis could not have asked for a better result in the opening match of the Concord Regional. The Tigers topped the DeKalb Barons 5-0 to advance to tonight's regional final against 17-0 Northridge.

While the Warsaw squad blanked the Barons, it was a hard-fought battle.

Warsaw's No.1 doubles team of Mark Sherman and Andrew Zale won its first set 6-1, but found themselves down 3-0 to Dekalb's Andy Petcoff and Brian Brown in the second set. However, the Tiger pair dug deep and scored six straight games to pick up the 6-3 win in the set.

The No. 2 Tiger doubles team of Blaine Sumpter and Alex Hannah faced a struggle as well. The Baron duo of Tommy Muns and Jon Hines took a 5-2 lead in the first set. However, Sumpter and Hannah fought back to win the set 7-5. In the second set, Warsaw picked up a 6-4 victory.

"There were some nerves going on early," said Lewis. "We have two sophomores playing No. 2 doubles, and I think one of them forgot to show up early in the match. They were down 5-2, and I went over and talked to them. They came back to win that set 7-5. It was a really gutty performance on their part."

In another gutty Tiger performance, Brandon Conley faced off against DeKalb's Adam Liddell in the No. 1 singles match. Liddell earned a 6-4 win in the first set, and then Conley won the second set 6-1 to force a deciding third match.

That match also went down to the wire, with Conley earning a 7-6 win ona 7-2 tiebreaking set.

Luke Wright, Warsaw's No. 2 singles player downed DeKalb's Jason Linstromberg 6-1, 6-4, and Tiger Ray Truman defeated Nate Post 6-1, 6-3 to secure Warsaw's 5-0 win.

The Tigers move on to play 17-0 Northridge tonight at Concord. The Raiders defeated Warsaw earlier in the season in Northern Lakes Conference play.

Northridge defeated another NLC team, Goshen, 4-1 in the Regional semifinal.

"We've grown up over the season," said Lewis. "We are playing better now than we were even halfway through the season. Northridge is a very good team, but we'll be ready to play them. At this point, you just go with what you have."

In the individual sectional, Wawasee's Evan Gerard faced off against Tyler Moore of Lakewood Park in the No. 1 singles match.

Moore took an early 3-2 lead, but Gerard fought back to tie the score at 5-all. Gerard eventually won the set 7-6 after a 7-5 win in the tie-breaker.

In the second set, Moore took a 3-0 lead and never allowed Gerard to take the lead. Moore forced a third set by defeating Gerard 6-2 in the second set.

In the third set, Gerard took an early 1-0 led before Moore tied the score and squeaked out a 2-1 lead. Moore then outscored Gerard 4-1 in the rest of the set to pick up another 6-2 set victory.

Moore advances to play in tonight's individual sectional match at Concord.

CONCORD REGIONAL SEMIFINAL

WARSAW 5, DEKALB 0

Singles

No. 1 -ÊBrandon Conley (W) def. Adam Liddell 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)

No. 2 -ÊLuke Wright (W) def. Jason Linstromberg 6-2, 6-1

No. 3 -ÊRay Truman (W) def. Nate Post 6-1, 6-4

Doubles

No. 1 -ÊMark Sherman/Andrew Zale (W) def. Andy Petcoff/Brian Brown 6-1, 6-3

No. 2 -ÊBlaine Sumpter/Alex Hannah (W) def. Tommy Muns/Jon Hines 7-5, 6-4

INDIVIDUAL SECTIONAL

Singles

No. 1 -ÊTyler Moore (Lakewood Park Christian) def. Evan Gerard (Wawasee) 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 6-2 [[In-content Ad]]