CULVER – Warsaw had to overcome a broken down bus and finals this week, but when the time came the girls tennis team took care of its business in the Culver Academies Regional Tuesday. The Lady Tigers turned in a dominating performance in rolling to a 5-0 semifinal win over Manchester. It was Warsaw’s sixth straight dual match shutout win. “They stayed focused through the whole thing; we got there and they were extremely positive,” Warsaw head coach Rick Orban said. “Nobody talked about the five straight 5-0 wins, but when it was done they sure were talking about it. “So all-in-all I was pleased with the way they focused and the way they played. Everybody played their game; they didn’t change up, they did what the coaches asked them to do. So yeah, it was a pretty good night.” Warsaw’s three singles players, Liza Lewis, Collette Smith and Ella Knight, all won in straight sets. The No. 1 doubles duo of Hannah Rice and Athena Schlitt also won in straight sets, while Rosie Fleming and Grace miller dropped their opening set before winning at No. 2 doubles. Orban was fully aware of the Lady Squires’ credentials coming in “Manchester was 19-2; they came in with a lot of confidence. So to get this win by that score is pretty impressive,” he said. Warsaw will take on Northern Lakes Conference foe Plymouth today for the regional title. The Lady Pilgrims beat Warsaw 4-1 in the Lady Tigers’ third match of the year, and first in NLC play. “But we’ve come a long way since then,” Orban said. “We matched up with them in the NLC tourney in a couple of spots. At (No.) 1 singles Liza won that, and 3 singles Ella won that, and 1 doubles was real close. So we’ll see (tonight). The kids are confident, and that’s a good thing. They’re looking forward to it.” Orban said it was “a little funny” to hear the kids talking about the regional match and finals today. “They’re still high school kids, and grades are the more important thing to them, and they should be. We’ll have time afterwards; it’s a nice drive there and by the time we get there, we’ll be focused and ready.” The match is set to begin at 5 p.m. Triton Doubles Falls Triton’s No. 1 doubles team of Hannah Wanemacher and Emma Ross fell to Culver Academies’ Harshita Sangaraju and Rachael Dodson 6-3, 6-1 in the individual sectional Tuesday, also at Culver Academies.
