DUNLAP - Less than a week after claiming its fifth-straight sectional championship, Warsaw's boys tennis team fell short in its quest for a fourth-consecutive regional crown.
The Tigers, who advanced to the regional by beating both Churubusco and Wawasee 5-0 last week in the Warsaw Sectional, fell 3-1 to Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge Tuesday in the semifinal round of the Concord Regional."Northridge is a really good team,"said Warsaw coach Rick Orban, whose team finished the season with a 10-5 record. "They beat us 3-2 earlier in the season. They've got a really good team. I have no regrets. We have nothing to hang our heads about. I really believe we got beat by a better team tonight."
The No. 2 doubles match was suspended because of rain and will not be finished, as Northridge already had the three position wins needed for the team victory.
Northridge's Jeremy Runge and Colin Chocola scored a 6-3 first-set victory over Ethan Guy and Richard Feng before the Warsaw team came back and won the second set 6-2.
"Really, it was like three-and-a-half to one-and-a-half, but we still lost," said Orban. "Northridge has a really good team. It's always disappointing to lose, the kids are used to winning here and going to the semistate, but I really believe we got beat by a better team tonight."
Northridge advanced to tonight's regional final against East Noble, a 3-2 winner over Bethany Christian in Tuesday's other semifinal clash.
The winner of tonight's regional final will play the winner from the Munster Regional Saturday at 10 a.m. in the semifinal round of the South Bend Semistate at Leeper Park.
Senior Deon Shafer scored Warsaw's lone win Tuesday, beating Jeff George 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match.
Shafer remains undefeated on the season and will now participated in the individual state tournament.
Shafer will play at Concord High School Thursday against the winner of tonight's match between Preston Swain of NorthWood and Steffen Good of Westview.
"Deon is still undefeated and gets to move on," said Orban. "We're excited about that. He's a senior and he's an incredible player. He's a great kid, and he's truly our team leader."
In Tuesday's No. 2 singles match, Northridge's Nick Myers beat Bryce Scott 6-1, 6-2.
In No. 3 singles action, Northridge's Dylan Pieri beat Andrew Cutshall 6-1, 6-0..
In the closest match of the evening, the Northridge duo of James Brandenberger and Blake Luken got past the Tiger tandem of Collin Bishopp and Will Coen by a 6-1, 7-6 (12-10) count.
