SOUTH BEND - It took a while, but after four hours of play in near 90-degree heat, Munster ended Warsaw's season Saturday.
This weekend's high school boys tennis semistate was orignally slated to be played at Leeper Park in South Bend, but because of renovations at those courts, action was held at South Bend Clay High School.The only problem was Clay had eight courts for the four participating teams, and four of those courts were unusable for the majority of the day due to preciptation caused by humidty.
But in the end, Munster was a much bigger problem for Warsaw than the heat or the court configurations, as the team lost 5-0.
"They took it to us," Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. "They are really good. We kind of folded in the second sets, almost all the way through. It kind of surprises me. Maybe it was the heat, maybe I didn't have them ready. I don't know. But give all the credit to Munster. They're a really good team."
Following its 5-0 win over the Tigers, Munster entered the semistate championship match with Culver Military Academy later in the day having not dropped a single match in the postseason. However, against CMA, Munster's season ended with 3-2 loss, but that didn't do Warsaw any good.
"This team is very good at being a team," Munster coach Steve Lopez said of his guys. "My team is not as skilled as my team from last year (taking fourth in the state). My team is definitely not as experienced as my team from last year. Those boys, the five boys that graduated last year, were playing for three years on varsity. With the exception of Billy, these are all new guys."
And Billy is Lopez's No. 1 singles player, Billy Heuer.
Against Warsaw's Deon Shafer, Heuer seemed to be in total control, winning 6-1, 6-3.
"Billy is one of the best in the state," Lopez said. "His game has picked up and improved ten-fold from last year."
Shafer and Heuer are familiar with each other, having faced off in a United States Tennis Association tournament, one that Shafer fared better in.
"I know the last time Deon played him, last summer (in a USTA tournament), Deon won," Orban said. "When you get to that level, and you're off a little bit, your opponent will just take you apart. If Billy had been off just a little bit, Deon would have taken him apart. So when you get to that level, you just can't be off."
Making things even tougher for Shafer was the fact that he didn't get onto the court until 1:13 p.m. Prior to that, he was just trying to stay cool in a beading sun until preciption dried up on the courts.
"You're supposed to start at 10:30, and Deon gets on the court at 1:30," Orban said. "How that happened, I'm not sure. I guess powers way above me made that decision. There's nothing you can do. You just flow. Were the coaches happy about it? All four coaches were extremely upset about it. But it's the same for both teams. Deon's opponent went on at the same time as Deon."
But it wasn't only Shafer that struggled against his Munster counterpart. On each court, the Tigers struggled against the patience of Munster.
"Warsaw came to play and they played good matches all across the board - they really did," Lopez said. "And we knew that they were tested as they made it through their regional. The talent level through this area, the north-central area, is strong."
Throughout the day, Munster's guys opted to play the baseline, approaching the net as if it was carrying the bubonic plague. Playing defensively, Munster forced the Tigers to force the issue, resulting in numerous missed shots.
"Their players aren't better than ours," Orban said. "But they made no errors. You don't see teams like that too often. You don't see a No. 3 singles player and a No. 2 singles player and a No. 2 doubles team not commit errors. Our kids outhit them, hit bigger shots, but we made the errors."
That approach was very effective for Munster, but Orban wasn't disappointed in his guys, who finished 2007 with a 12-6 mark.
"I'm proud of the team," Orban said. "Come on, three years in a row (at semistate). Only 16 teams were playing today in the entire state of Indiana. But to get here is a thrill."
