Warsaw Netters Rally To Beat Plymouth

September 2, 2016 at 4:32 p.m.


With their backs against the wall, trailing their biggest rival, the Warsaw Tigers answered with some gutsy performances Thursday evening.
Hosting Northern Lakes Conference foe Plymouth, Warsaw’s varsity boys tennis team trailed the Pilgrims 2-1 in the overall match score, but victories at No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles lifted the Tigers to a thrilling 3-2 win.
The win improved Warsaw to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the NLC standings.
“This team is really interesting,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said of his senior-laden squad. “A couple nights ago (in a loss to Goshen), we played probably the worst tennis we’ve played. (Wednesday night) we went to Culver and played a very good Culver Academies team and beat them 4-1.
“Tonight, we were kind of right in between. You know, Plymouth is always tough, they don’t give up. They always fight til the very end, and we talked about that.”
Trailing 2-1 in the overall match score, the Tigers evened things up with a win at No. 2 doubles.
Warsaw’s duo of Hayden Steger and Spencer Britton split the first two sets against Plymouth’s Hudson Yoder and Tommy Holloway, winning 6-3 before falling 6-4.
The Tiger tandem was on top of their game in the third set, posting a 6-1 win.
With the attention squarely on the No. 3 singles match, Warsaw’s David Homme delivered.
After beating Plymouth’s Zach Moser 6-4 in the first set, Homme trailed 3-0 in the second set.
He rallied and gave the Tigers the team victory with a 7-5 second-set win.
“David won the first set pretty easily, and I think he just kind of relaxed too much,” said Orban. “But, a lot of guts ... he was down, he could have given up and gone to a third set. So, I’m really proud of him.
“No. 2 doubles won the first set pretty easily. It was close, but I thought they were gonna win that set the whole time. And then the way they started in the second set ... they had to pick it up. During the break, I just told them ‘we’ve got to get back to playing our tennis.’ And they did that. And they won the third set, and won it pretty easily.
“(Plymouth coach) Mike (Delp) always has his team ready to play. So, a 3-2 win ... I’ll take that.”
Plymouth scored wins at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, as John Gerard beat Colton Lind 6-0, 6-2, and Grant Clady and Nick Felke defeated Justin Stout and Ryan Wettschurack 6-1, 6-3.
The Tigers were straight-set winners at No. 2 singles, as Andrew Gauger beat Mitch Rose 6-0, 6-1.
In their last two matches, a 4-1 win over Culver Academies and the 3-2 win over Plymouth, Warsaw beat two teams that are generally at the regional.
Though it’s still early in the season, and postseason success is never guaranteed, it was definitely something Orban was well aware of – and very proud of.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I look at the postseason ... I mean, I’m looking at it from the very first day of practice,” said Orban. “Does beating Culver Academies and Plymouth send a message? Sure it does. Does that mean we can just walk into the regional and say ‘here we are’? No, it doesn’t.
“But mentally, it’s a huge advantage. We’re going to go in there and say ‘we beat them before, we can do it again.’ Mentally, I think we’ll go in there with a lot of confidence, but first we have to get through the sectional, and I’d like to see how we do at the NLCs. That’s usually a pretty good sign of how we’re going to carry on into the postseason.”
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday at NLC foe Northridge.

WARSAW 3, PLYMOUTH 2
Singles: No. 1 – John Gerard (P def. Colton Lind 6-0, 6-2; No. 2 – Andrew Gauger (W) def. Mitch Rose 6-0, 6-1; No. 3 – David Homme (W) def. Zach Moser 6-4, 7-5
Doubles: No. 1 – Grant Clady & Nick Felke (P) def. Justin Stout and Ryan Wettschurack 6-1, 6-3; No. 2 – Hayden Steger & Spencer Britton (W) def. Hudson Yoder & Tommy Holloway 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
JV – Warsaw 7, Plymouth 3
Singles: No. 1 – Bailey Buhrt (W) def. Clay Hillard 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); No. 2 – Kyler Bartol (W) def. Andy Rostron 8-4; No. 3 – Tanner Medina (P) def. Brian Elliott 9-7; No. 4 – Bo Meadors (P) def. Graham Landwerlen 6-0
Doubles: No. 1 – Nick Marsh & Ethan Hoff (W) def. Chapman Yoder & Adam Hunter 6-3, 6-0; No. 2 – Nolan Knight & Reuben Williams (W) def. Cameron Clarkson & Chase Clarkson 8-2; No. 3 – Caleb Williams & Brandon Chan (W) def. Justin Moser & Shaun Frantz 8-3; No. 4 – Jarrett Orr & Jake Kauffman (W) def. Matthew Gerard & Bo Meadors 8-4; No. 5 – Hawkins Ragland & Katon Waddle (W) def. Matt Risner & Dylan Voreis 8-5; No. 6 – Kyle Cox & Nick Bagley (P) def. Dawson Vilamaa & Noah Hutton 8-6

With their backs against the wall, trailing their biggest rival, the Warsaw Tigers answered with some gutsy performances Thursday evening.
Hosting Northern Lakes Conference foe Plymouth, Warsaw’s varsity boys tennis team trailed the Pilgrims 2-1 in the overall match score, but victories at No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles lifted the Tigers to a thrilling 3-2 win.
The win improved Warsaw to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the NLC standings.
“This team is really interesting,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said of his senior-laden squad. “A couple nights ago (in a loss to Goshen), we played probably the worst tennis we’ve played. (Wednesday night) we went to Culver and played a very good Culver Academies team and beat them 4-1.
“Tonight, we were kind of right in between. You know, Plymouth is always tough, they don’t give up. They always fight til the very end, and we talked about that.”
Trailing 2-1 in the overall match score, the Tigers evened things up with a win at No. 2 doubles.
Warsaw’s duo of Hayden Steger and Spencer Britton split the first two sets against Plymouth’s Hudson Yoder and Tommy Holloway, winning 6-3 before falling 6-4.
The Tiger tandem was on top of their game in the third set, posting a 6-1 win.
With the attention squarely on the No. 3 singles match, Warsaw’s David Homme delivered.
After beating Plymouth’s Zach Moser 6-4 in the first set, Homme trailed 3-0 in the second set.
He rallied and gave the Tigers the team victory with a 7-5 second-set win.
“David won the first set pretty easily, and I think he just kind of relaxed too much,” said Orban. “But, a lot of guts ... he was down, he could have given up and gone to a third set. So, I’m really proud of him.
“No. 2 doubles won the first set pretty easily. It was close, but I thought they were gonna win that set the whole time. And then the way they started in the second set ... they had to pick it up. During the break, I just told them ‘we’ve got to get back to playing our tennis.’ And they did that. And they won the third set, and won it pretty easily.
“(Plymouth coach) Mike (Delp) always has his team ready to play. So, a 3-2 win ... I’ll take that.”
Plymouth scored wins at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, as John Gerard beat Colton Lind 6-0, 6-2, and Grant Clady and Nick Felke defeated Justin Stout and Ryan Wettschurack 6-1, 6-3.
The Tigers were straight-set winners at No. 2 singles, as Andrew Gauger beat Mitch Rose 6-0, 6-1.
In their last two matches, a 4-1 win over Culver Academies and the 3-2 win over Plymouth, Warsaw beat two teams that are generally at the regional.
Though it’s still early in the season, and postseason success is never guaranteed, it was definitely something Orban was well aware of – and very proud of.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I look at the postseason ... I mean, I’m looking at it from the very first day of practice,” said Orban. “Does beating Culver Academies and Plymouth send a message? Sure it does. Does that mean we can just walk into the regional and say ‘here we are’? No, it doesn’t.
“But mentally, it’s a huge advantage. We’re going to go in there and say ‘we beat them before, we can do it again.’ Mentally, I think we’ll go in there with a lot of confidence, but first we have to get through the sectional, and I’d like to see how we do at the NLCs. That’s usually a pretty good sign of how we’re going to carry on into the postseason.”
The Tigers are in action again Tuesday at NLC foe Northridge.

WARSAW 3, PLYMOUTH 2
Singles: No. 1 – John Gerard (P def. Colton Lind 6-0, 6-2; No. 2 – Andrew Gauger (W) def. Mitch Rose 6-0, 6-1; No. 3 – David Homme (W) def. Zach Moser 6-4, 7-5
Doubles: No. 1 – Grant Clady & Nick Felke (P) def. Justin Stout and Ryan Wettschurack 6-1, 6-3; No. 2 – Hayden Steger & Spencer Britton (W) def. Hudson Yoder & Tommy Holloway 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
JV – Warsaw 7, Plymouth 3
Singles: No. 1 – Bailey Buhrt (W) def. Clay Hillard 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); No. 2 – Kyler Bartol (W) def. Andy Rostron 8-4; No. 3 – Tanner Medina (P) def. Brian Elliott 9-7; No. 4 – Bo Meadors (P) def. Graham Landwerlen 6-0
Doubles: No. 1 – Nick Marsh & Ethan Hoff (W) def. Chapman Yoder & Adam Hunter 6-3, 6-0; No. 2 – Nolan Knight & Reuben Williams (W) def. Cameron Clarkson & Chase Clarkson 8-2; No. 3 – Caleb Williams & Brandon Chan (W) def. Justin Moser & Shaun Frantz 8-3; No. 4 – Jarrett Orr & Jake Kauffman (W) def. Matthew Gerard & Bo Meadors 8-4; No. 5 – Hawkins Ragland & Katon Waddle (W) def. Matt Risner & Dylan Voreis 8-5; No. 6 – Kyle Cox & Nick Bagley (P) def. Dawson Vilamaa & Noah Hutton 8-6
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