The Warsaw girls tennis team continued its dominance in sectional play Saturday.
Playing on their home courts, the Lady Tigers defeated the Wawasee Lady Warriors 5-0, wrapping up their 10th-straight sectional title."It's been 10 in a row, which I'm proud of," Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. "Every team has its own uniqueness, and this team has its togetherness and its belief in each other that sets it apart. They just really believe they aren't going to lose."
The Lady Tigers will take that mentality into Tuesday's Northridge Regional, where they'll face the hosting Northridge Lady Raiders, a team they defeated 3-2 on April 21 in Middlebury.
With a rematch against the Northern Lakes Conference champion on the horizon, Warsaw came out a bit sluggish against the Lady Warriors.
"We felt like we'd definitely win today," Orban said. "The kids were confident, and maybe a little too overconfident. Really, I think the biggest problem is, we were looking forward to Tuesday, but Wawasee played great. You have give them a lot of credit, and their coaches a lot of credit."
The biggest head-scratcher of the day was Warsaw junior Alli Tucker's first-set struggles against Wawasee junior Haley Windle at No. 1 singles.
Through five games, Windle held a 3-2 lead, using long volleys to offset Tucker's game.
"Alli's the kind of girl that kind of plays of the way her opponent plays," Wawasee coach Roger Brady said. "So, if you soften it up on her, she softens it up. That's why the first set was so close."
The turning point of the match came in the seventh game, when Windle had Tucker running all over the court, but couldn't get the ball past her. After running back-and-forth to retrieve Windle's volleys, Tucker eventually hit a winner, taking a 4-3 lead in the set.
After that point, Tucker took the set 6-4 before sweeping through the second, 6-0.
"I think it was a little bit of nerves and a little bit of not being focused at the beginning," Orban said about Tucker's match. "I was proud of the way she played in the second set."
Orban's No. 1 doubles team of senior Lauren Sciarra and junior Carlye Bishopp didn't have much trouble in the opening set, winning 6-1, but the sledding wasn't so easy in the second, needing 10 games to win 6-4.
"I was very, very proud," Brady said. "We were focused."
Warsaw sophomore Sarah Hartle won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and junior Elise Smith was a 6-3, 6-0 victor at No. 3 singles. On the No. 2 doubles court, Warsaw senior Kandi Kesler and sophomore Liesl Schroedl won 6-4, 6-3.
Following a practice today, the Tigers will attempt to move on in the postseason by getting past NLC champion Northridge, a feat they believe they can do.
"I believe we have a really good chance and I know they believe that too," Orban said about his girls.
For Wawasee, Brady saw improvement in his girls, but wishes he could have seen the same kind of competitiveness earlier in the season.
"What we'd like to do is be in the position we're in right now," Brady said. "The only way we can do that is, get some of the girls who aren't winter sports to be willing to play winter tennis, because we didn't have anyone do that. It took us the entire season to get the kids in a position that they could compete with some of the top teams in the conference."
