In its first match of the season, the Warsaw Community High School boys tennis team showed that it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
After the first set at each court was complete Wednesday in Warsaw, the Tigers found themselves down 4-1, with only senior Deon Shafer winning his opening set, 6-1.However, once the preliminary sets were in the books, all three Warsaw singles players hit their stride, helping the home team take the 3-2 win over the Columbia City Eagles.
"It's the first match of the year, and you're never really sure of what to expect," Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. "We played a scrimmage against Huntington North, and we played great. Then when scrimmaged with each other last night, because we didn't have the Penn match (Monday because of the courts at Penn), and we looked really good. Then we came out here, and we looked terrible. I mean, we looked awful."
At No. 1 singles, defending Northern Lakes Conference champion, as well as regional champion, Shafer had little trouble with Columbia City's Grant Grimm, winning 6-1, 6-0.
"Deon's Deon," Orban said of the top singles player in the extended area. "I mean, Deon's great. He's going to be hard to beat. He's the leader of this team, the emotional leader. He sets the example."
Shafer's hour-long match wasn't duplicated by his singles teammates, but his win was, one of which came from Collin Bishopp, a transfer from Mt. Vernon this year.
"We're fortunate to have Collin," Orban said of the senior No. 2 singles player. "He added a lot of depth to the team, and I think he's going to do extremely well this year."
In his first match as a Tiger, Bishopp dropped his first set 6-0, but fought back to win the second 6-1 and the third 6-4.
At No. 3 singles, Bryce Scott shared Bishopp's struggles early, losing 6-2 in the first set, but, like Bishopp, found a way to take the match, winning the second (7-6) and third (6-1).
Following the opening-set problems by his No. 2 and 3 singles players, Orban found himself walking out to the courts, sending a message to the players.
"It was basically to calm down," Orban said of his advice at the time. "I told them to quit making the errors, to refocus and I told them they were better players. I really believed that."
With all three singles players getting wins, Warsaw's win was already in the books, but Orban would have liked to of seen a little better performance from his doubles players.
"The doubles teams really struggled tonight," he said. "The No. 1 team really struggled. But, it's the first varsity match they've played. That's what I have to keep thinking of, because I haven't had a team that isn't really young, but is this inexperienced. I keep focusing on that."
The No. 1 team of Shawn Carmichael and Richard Feng lost 6-1, 6-2 to Columbia City's Russ Anderson and Matt Russell, but the No. 2 squad did force three sets before succumbing 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
"I was real proud of the way they kept it up, winning the second set," Orban said of Ethan Guy and Will Coen at No. 2 doubles. "Then it was nerves. They weren't even hitting the ball in the third set."
In a match which appeared to be heading toward a loss for the Tigers, the home team was able to bounce back and get the win, but Orban may have expected a "W" with a little less stress.
"Columbia City's always got a good team," he said. "But to be very honest, I really expected to win this match, just because of the way we played in the scrimmage against Huntington."
The Tigers next test will be Monday at home against Mishawaka Marian.
