The Warsaw girls tennis team made it an even dozen Saturday afternoon on its home courts. Hosting Columbia City in the finals of the Warsaw Sectional, the Lady Tigers won 4-1, claiming their 12th-straight title. “We've talked about 12 in a row being special,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. “I know, and the girls know, no other sport in the school has done it. They're aware of it. They talk about it and they really focused for this.” Warsaw advances to Tuesday’s Culver Girls Academy Regional, where it will take on Plymouth in the first round, with CGA and Manchester playing the other match. The winners of those two matches will play Wednesday for the championship. The regional competition will be nothing new to Orban and the Lady Tigers, but he says the sectional isn’t something he takes for granted. “Every year, I'm a nervous wreck when this (sectional) starts,” he said. “This is what we focus on from the first day of the season.” Against Columbia City, Warsaw was taking on a team it had already defeated 4-1 at home on April 12. Despite that early-season win over the Lady Eagles, Orban’s pregame meal with the girls was to focus them on facing a much hungrier Columbia City this time around. Along with getting the message out, he also wanted to settle their nerves about going for the program’s 12th-straight sectional crown. “They almost put too much pressure on themselves,” he said. “They played a little nervous today, but once a few games got under their belts, they played really smart tennis.” Warsaw’s lone senior, Sarah Hartle, admitted to feeling a little pressure to keep the streak going. “I was thinking about it a lot more than I should have been,” she said. “It's a big thing to keep that tradition going. It's a big deal for us. I knew once Jacqueline (Sasso) won at (No. 2 singles), then our 1 doubles (of Lindsay Sciarra and Olivia Wallin) won and Sarah (Boyle) won (at No. 3 singles), we had won as a team. Then, I just wanted to be a part of the win.” And Hartle wasn’t the only one watching those three courts. “At 2 singles, 3 singles and 1 doubles, I knew we were going to win on those three courts,” Orban said. “You could see it. They were so focused. They played, almost, error-free tennis.” The No. 1 doubles team was the first to win, taking the victory by a 6-0, 6-0 count, followed by Sasso’s 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. At No. 3 singles, Boyle was a 6-2, 6-1 victor, giving her team the three team points needed for a win. Columbia City’s No. 2 doubles team of Blake Farber and Macie Hinen knocked off Warsaw’s Mallory Bartel and Taylor Moore, leaving Hartle’s match at No. 1 singles against Celine Rongos the only one going. Throughout the course of the match, Rongos was the harder hitter, but each time she sent a bullet to Hartle, it came right back. “Earlier in the season we played and we went into a tiebreaker in the first set,” Hartle said about her 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 win earlier this season. “I did not win easily. She's a fighter and she hits everything hard. Coming into the match, I knew I just had to hit everything back and hoped she missed.” Hartle’s consistent play eventually got to Rongos, whose frustration began to show until she eventually succumbed 7-5, 6-3. “For four years, Sarah Hartle's been extremely frustrating to play,” Orban said. “She has it down to a science right now. She hits the ball soft, she'll hit it to both sides, she'll make her opponents move up, then back, then to the other side. It's consistent movement, consistent change of pace.” And Hartle could tell when she began to take control. “The heat really took a toll today,” she said. “I think we were both exhausted, because we really had good, long points.” With the sectional under their belts, the Lady Tigers now look to another familiar opponent at the regional. In Northern Lakes Conference play, Warsaw defeated Plymouth 3-2 at home on April 17. “It's going to be a war,” Orban said. “It always is with Plymouth and Warsaw.”
WARSAW 4, COLUMBIA CITY 1 (Warsaw Sectional Championship) SINGLES: No. 1 – Sarah Hartle (W) def. Celine Rongos 7-5, 6-3; No. 2 – Jacqueline Sasso (W) def. Adrianna Brown 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 – Sarah Boyle (W) def. June Ramos 6-2, 6-1 DOUBLES: No. 1 – Lindsay Sciarra/Olivia Wallin (W) def. Breanna Hicks/Sydney Ford 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 – Blake Farber/Macie Hinen (CC) def. Mallory Bartel/Taylor Moore 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
