Eagles Soar Past Warsaw NettersIn the words of Warsaw tennis coach Rick Orban, you can’t give a good team the thought that it can win. Orban’s Tigers were on the wrong side of that scenario Tuesday evening in a regional semifinal at the Gable Tennis Center, as they fell 5-0 to the host Culver Academies Eagles. Just over a month ago, on the same courts, Warsaw won a pair of three-set matches and beat the Eagles 4-1. Tuesday’s outcome was entirely different, as Culver Academies was the team with focus and confidence, two things Orban talks about constantly. “It’s kind of the way we’ve played all year,” said Orban. “We will play incredibly good, we’ll play up to the way we can play, and then we just kind of lose the big points, and lose focus, and that’s what happened tonight. We beat this team 4-1 in the regular season and we just lost 5-0 tonight.” The Eagles backed the Tigers into a corner immediately, as Ian Smith beat Colton Lind 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, and Zhang Huang defeated Andrew Gauger 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. The other three matches all went to a third set. At No. 1 doubles, Culver Academies’ duo of Andrew Darrell and Jose Santiago Peraza beat Ryan Wettschurack and Justin Stout 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-2. In No. 2 doubles action, George DeVries and Henry Bilicic scored a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over the Tigers’ tandem of Hayden Steger and Spencer Britton. And in the final match to finish, Culver Academies’ Nikolas Warnholz beat David Homme 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-2. “Once you get a team as good as Culver on a roll like that, it’s hard to turn things around,” said Orban. “The confidence factor is huge in tennis. Once you believe you’re gonna win, your opponent is gonna have a heck of a time turning it around.” Warsaw, a team with five seniors in its seven-person varsity lineup, concluded its season with a 9-7 record. The Eagles, the defending regional champion, advanced to tonight’s 5 p.m. final against Plymouth. Plymouth was a 5-0 winner over Wabash Tuesday in less than an hour. The winner of tonight’s regional final will return to Culver Academies Saturday to square off in the semistate against the winner of the Portage Regional.
CULVER ACADEMIES 5, WARSAW 0 (regional semifinal) Singles: No. 1 – Ian Smith (C) def. Colton Lind 6-4, 6-1; No. 2 – Zhang Huang (C) def. Andrew Gauger 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 – Nikolas Warnholz (C) def. David Homme 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-2 Doubles: No. 1 – Andrew Darrell & Jose Santiago Peraza (C) def. Ryan Wettschurack & Justin Stout 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 – George DeVries & Henry Bilicic (C) def. Hayden Steger & Spencer Britton 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 Other semifinal: Plymouth 5, Wabash 0
