Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MENTONE - The Warsaw girls tennis team showed Monday that it's not ready to give up its stranglehold on the sectional yet.
Warsaw beat improved sectional foe Tippecanoe Valley 5-0 as the Tigers moved over the .500 mark on the season.
Although Warsaw is just 4-3 on the season, a difficult schedule combined with some inexperience has put the Tigers through a tough start. Although Warsaw has four seniors among its starting seven, the other spots comprise two sophomores and a freshman, none of which has ever played varsity tennis before.
Those three youngsters put together two wins for the Tigers, which was more than enough as the seniors won the other three. Sophomore Heather VanPuffelen won at No. 3 singles and sophomore Kara Kesler and freshman Abbie Simmons won at No. 2 doubles.
"That was Heather's first varsity win," Warsaw head coach Jeannie Glunt said. "She's been working on trying to be more patient and wait out points, and she did that well. At No. 2 doubles, Abbie Simmons didn't play tennis last year and Kara Kesler is just a freshman. They've been a real nice surprise."
Even more impressive for the Tigers was the way Simmons and Kesler won their match. After winning the first set 6-2, Valley's Tiffany Cunningham and Wendy Tilden came back strong to win the second set 6-4. But Simmons and Kesler never folded and came back to reserve the 6-4 score in the third set.
For Tippecanoe Valley, there were some positives. Seeing Warsaw early in the year can only help the Vikings, according to Valley coach Jack Shambaugh. His team can learn much from seeing the Tigers.
"This is probably the strongest team we're going to see," Shambaugh said. "Except for one match, they were all close. We've lost some matches, but we haven't been blown out of any. This is the hardest part of our schedule."
Shambaugh and co-coach Mark Gast are just looking for improvement from their kids through the rest of the year, so that when sectionals come around, the Vikings could be much tougher.
"We're still improving," Shambaugh said. "Maybe we'll see them again at the end of the year and we can play better than we did today."
Warsaw (4-3) will host Wawasee Thursday at 4:30 p.m. while Valley will host Glenn Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
WARSAW 5, VALLEY 0
Singles
No. 1 - Krista Coppes (W) def. Leila Anselmo 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - Aynsley Small (W) def. Kyleigh Gast 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 - Heather VanPuffelen (W) def. Abby Lewis 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 - Kim Paczkowski and Brooke Westover (W) def. Bonnie Bickel and Carissa Parker 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 - Kara Kesler and Abbie Simmons (W) def. Tiffany Cunningham and Wendy Tilden 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
JV: WARSAW 5, VALLEY 0
Singles
No. 1 - Amy King (W) def. Natisha Beam 8-4
No. 2 - Kim Fluke (W) def. Kati Ellenwood 8-2
No. 3 - Jan Martin (W) def. Kris Sanders 8-1
Doubles
No. 1 - Ashley Cavert and Lisa Wolf (W) def. Erin Drudge and Jamie Baker 8-6
No. 2 - Lori Wolf and Angie Suchecki (W) def. Julia Honig and Jamie Doud 8-4
