Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - After Warsaw's Thursday girls golf match at Sycamore Golf Club, Tiger coach Bob Turner said he was just happy his team could play.
"Three of our top six players are out because they're sick," said Turner. "I'm happy we even got to play. I gave a sophomore her first varsity start. I hope we can get well."
Despite all of the things Turner said his team had to overcome, it still managed to top the host Squires 204-210.
The win pushed Warsaw's record to 10-4. Kerri Wrobel and April Turner led the Tigers with 48s. Lara Reed, Tosha Nance and Abbi Schori shot a 55, 53 and 57 respectively for Warsaw.
"We had one girl who had one bad hole," said Turner. "Give her six strokes and that gives us a 198. We're a 195 team, so I'm not too shook up."
With the loss, Manchester fell to 11-5 on the season. Dorey Bungitak led the Squires with a 45. Kristina Evans shot a 51 and Miriel Speicher a 52.
On a normal day, Bungitak shoots somewhere around 40.
"She had one of those nights," said Manchester coach Keri Nichols. "You can't expect to shoot your best score every night. Anytime you can shoot 45 or under is great. She hoped she could've shot a 40, and then we wouldn't have lost by six."
What set the Tigers and Squires apart were the No. 4 and 5 players. After the first three sets of golfers had come in and reported their scores, Warsaw was down by three strokes, 148-151. Nance's 53 and Schori's 57 may have saved the day for the Tigers. Manchester's last two scores came in as a 62 from Alexis Leininger and a 72 from Monica Minnix.
"We knew it would be a tough night," said Nichols. "Last year they beat us by 30 strokes or more. We wanted to come in and make the margin close and be challenging, which I feel we were very much."
Manchester will be at Westview for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday. Warsaw will travel to Spring Meadow Golf Course near Middlebury for the Northern Lakes Conference championship match.
With all of the obstacles that Turner said was in his team's way, he was asked if he was worried about how his team would play on Saturday.
"I'm not even nervous," said Turner. "They're allowing the girls to have caddies this year, and we're just going to try and have fun. We're going to try and play the best we can and use it as a stepping stone for the sectional. You never know, something could happen. I guess we'd like to beat Plymouth. They beat us at home, and they're in our sectional."
WARSAW 204, PLYMOUTH 210
Warsaw scores - Kerri Wrobel 48, April Turner 48, Lara Reed 55, Tosha Nance 53, Abbi Schori 57
Manchester scores - Dorey Bungitak 45, Miriel Speicher 52, Kristina Evans 51, Alexis Leininger 62, Monica Minnix 72
Warsaw JV scores (199) - Jaci Thallemer 46, Kacy Jones 48, Dayna Ridderman 51, Brenna Good 57, Katie Manning 54
