In the Warsaw Lady Tigers first Northern Lakes Conference tennis match, a team victory hung on one court.
Tuesday's rivalry match between Warsaw (2-2, 0-1 NLC) and Plymouth (4-0, 1-0 NLC), the only competitive match occurred at No. 1 doubles, which the Plymouth duo won, helping the Lady Pilgrims take the 3-2 team victory.
"We knew 1 doubles was going to be big for one team, or the other, towards winning this match," Plymouth coach Brad Haeck said. "I think (Warsaw coach) Rick (Orban) thought that too."
Orban did believe that based on the fact that freshman Lindsay Sciarra was making her first varsity start at No. 3 singles, and junior Elise Smith was filling in for injured junior Nichole Herendeen at No. 2 doubles.
"I was pretty sure everything would come down to that 1 doubles match," Orban said. "I really believed Alli (Tucker) would win (at 1 singles) and Sarah (Hartle) would win (at 2 singles). I knew we'd probably struggle at 3 (singles) and I knew we'd struggle at 2 (doubles)."
Orban's premonition did come true, and his No. 1 doubles tandem of senior Lauren Sciarra and junior Carlye Bishopp had their chances at victory, but let them slip away in a 7-5, 7-5 loss.
In both sets, Sciarra and Bishopp held 5-4 leads on Plymouth's Carly Plumlee and Lindsay Renz, but ended up surrendering three-straight points in each set.
"I told them they'd really need to focus," Orban said about his prematch speech to the two girls. "It's the second year they've played together, but Plymouth has a really strong 1 doubles team and took it to us in the last three games of each set."
Warsaw's two wins did come from Tucker and Hartle, who won 6-2, 6-0 and 7-5, 6-1, respectively.
"Alli played really well, and almost took their 1 singles player apart," Orban said.
His No. 1 singles player may have suffered a lopsided loss, but Haeck was pleased he was able to get the team win.
"Anytime you can come over to Warsaw and get a win, it's a good thing," he said. "Year-in and year-out, they have a great program. They have another great team this year."
And it's that kind of attitude that makes the Warsaw-Plymouth rivalry intense, but doesn't result in bad blood on the tennis courts.
"Their kids fight and they fight hard," Orban said about Plymouth. "It's always a great rivalry between Warsaw and Plymouth. Give them all the credit. Brad does a good job of coaching the kids and they're very polite. They really are. As much of a rivalry as it is, it never really gets that heated."
Warsaw gets to face another NLC rival tonight when it travels to Northridge for a 4:45 p.m. match.
"We're still piecing things together," Orban said. "We have a couple of kids that could move up into a varsity spot. (Tonight) we have Northridge, which is probably the best team in the NLC."
PLYMOUTH 3, WARSAW 2
SINGLES: No. 1 - Alli Tucker (W) def. Kara Gilley 6-2, 6-0; No. 2 - Sarah Hartle (W) def. Chelsea Benge 7-5, 6-1; No. 3 - Kelly Hoeffler (P) def. Lindsay Sciarra 6-3, 6-1
