Tigers Claim Fourth Straight Boys Sectional Tennis Title
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw swept its way to a fourth-straight boys tennis sectional title 5-0 over Wawasee at the Tiger courts Friday afternoon. The chilly, breezy conditions and some familiarity with each other made for some differing strategies for both sides, with the Tigers and Warriors in a rematch from 17 days ago. Warsaw head coach Rick Orban felt Wawasee would make some early adjustments, and it would be up to his guys to adapt to the adjustments. “I’m really pleased with the way they played tonight. This weather was brutal, but it’s like I told them, it’s brutal for both teams. Everybody gets the same amount of wind advantage or disadvantage,” he said. “We played very smart tonight. We went for the big shots when we had the big shots. We didn’t needlessly got for a lot of big shots and make a lot of unforced errors. I think that’s what really made the difference. “I figured the first three games on every court would be close, and there were a lot of 2-1’s. It takes a while to figure out what you can do that’s slightly different than the last time we played them, because they made adjustments to the way we play, too. Once we made those adjustments, we pretty much took off from there.” Each match was won in straight sets by the Tigers, with the only match that was expecially close being at No. 2 singles. The Tigers’ Colton Lind beat Cal Heinisch 7-5, 6-3. But that doesn’t mean the Warriors weren’t competitive in the eyes of Wawasee assistant coach Shane Staley. “I think they competed a lot better than what it shows on the scores. There was a lot of deuce/add-ends and that’s been one of our problems this year,” Staley said. “They’re just a bit more inexperienced than the Warsaw teams that’s been playing (in the offseason) and they just haven’t been able to put some of the matches away. That comes with getting on the court more in the offseason, and getting more experience. “A lot of these kids from Warsaw play at the racquet clubs all year long, and we’ve got more of that starting to happen at Wawasee now. You learn that in match play, and they have more experience in match play; that’s one of the contributing factors in why we can’t put those matches away. “As for the wind, it’s a factor both ways. we go out to practice on some of the worst days, and we focus mentally on ‘where’s the wind at? Is it at your back, what do you have to do to cut down on your shots?’ It’s never an excuse because the wind goes both ways. They need to move their feet and just play. Opponents have to do that, too.” Warsaw advances to the Culver Academies Regional, where they take on the host team Tuesday. The Eagles bested the Tigers earlier this year, but Orban thinks his team is playing well at the right time of year. “We’re playing good tennis,” he said. “We’re playing smart tennis, we’re playing pretty aggressive tennis. We had a close match with them during the regular season, and if we stay focused, and if we believe in it, we have a pretty good shot at that. So we’ll see what happens.” WARSAW 5 WAWASEE 0 Singles: No 1 – Christopher Herendeen (War) def. Nate Haines 6-1, 6-2; No. 2 – Colton Lind (War) def. Cal Heinisch 7-5, 6-3; No. 3 – Andrew Gauger (War) def. Nate Perek 6-1, 6-3 Doubles: No. 1 – Justin Stout & David Homme (War) def. Tim Conley & Cameron Brill 6-2, 6-0; No. 2 – Hudson Snyder & Spencer Britton (War) def. Dylan Staley & Evan Kruger 6-2, 6-3
