Lady Tigers Win Tennis RegionalCULVER – Dark skies and precipitation forced Wednesday evening’s girls tennis regional final indoors, but didn’t stop Warsaw freshman Alyssa Zellers from shining in the biggest moment of her short prep career.
After the Lady Tigers and rival Plymouth Pilgrims split the first four matches to finish, all eyes at Culver Academies’ Gable Tennis Center turned to Zellers’ No. 3 singles battle with senior Ashley Harrell.
Zellers, a 6-4 winner in the first set, trailed Harrell 3-0 in the second set but rallied to win 7-6 with a 7-2 tiebreaker victory.
Zellers’ triumph gave the Lady Tigers a 3-2 win, as they claimed their second straight regional championship and the program’s 11th overall.
Warsaw, now 14-3 overall, avenged a 3-2 loss to Plymouth from earlier this season and advanced to Saturday’s semistate.
The Lady Tigers will face the winner of the LaPorte Regional, either Penn or South Bend St. Joe, at noon at Culver Academies.
“This may sound cruel, but I looked right at her and said ‘Ok, 1 doubles just won. Now, you’re going to take this to a 6-6 tie, we’re gonna go to a tiebreak and you’re gonna win it,’” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said of his message to Zellers.
“She just looked at me and she said OK. That was a comforting feeling for me.”
For Zellers’ match to mean as much as it did, the Lady Tigers first had to tie the team score with a win at No. 1 doubles, as Plymouth held a 2-1 advantage with wins at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles.
The team of senior Athena Schlitt – Warsaw’s only senior – and junior Colette Smith beat Kendall Dreibelbis and McKenzie Scheetz 6-2 in the first set.
The Warsaw duo trailed 5-2, however, in the second set before rallying to a 6-all score and winning the tiebreaker 7-2.
Schlitt and Smith had lost to the Plymouth duo twice this season.
“To come back and get that to a tiebreak against a team that they haven’t beaten, I’m just so impressed with them,” Orban said of his No. 1 doubles team. “It’s our only senior, and a junior. We knew the last time they played them we felt like we should have won. For them to come back and get it to a tiebreak, be down in the tiebreak, and win the way they did, I couldn’t be any more proud of these two girls.
“Athena has worked so hard to make herself really good at doubles. Colette had played singles her whole career, and she embraced playing doubles, and they’re 18-3 this season, I think. Against the schedule we play, that’s incredible.”
Warsaw scored its other point in the first match to finish, as Ella Knight beat Erin Hunter 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
“Ella Knight set the stage,” said Orban. “And that’s what I wanted her to do. I wanted her to focus and get off the court with the first win.”
In No. 1 singles action, Plymouth’s Lanae Singleton beat Liza Lewis 6-4, 6-1.
Singleton will now play in the individual state tournament and will face Northfield’s Jordan Bratch Saturday at noon. The winner of the match will advance to the IHSAA singles regional at LaPorte on June 3.
In No. 2 doubles action Wednesday, the Plymouth duo of Cortni Cook and Leah Smith topped Rachel Boyle and Rachel Herendeen 7-5, 6-0.
Playing in the IHSAA doubles tournament, Jayma Acres and Hannah Behm of Columbia City beat Sommer Shepherd and Maria Hasnerl of Knox 6-2, 6-0.
Acres and Behm will face Rachael Dodson and Harshita Sangaraju of Culver Academies at 5:30 p.m. today.
In addition, Triton’s Emma Ross and Hannah Wanemacher will square off with Wawasee’s Kendra Doerr and Kabrea Rostochak in doubles action today.
