Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - When you look at the girls tennis sectional at Wawasee High School, things just seemed to go Warsaw's way.
For starters, the Tigers drew a bye, giving them an automatic bid in the semifinal round against 1-9 Manchester, a team that Warsaw quickly beat 5-0, advancing to the championship round, where they beat Tippecanoe Valley 3-2 to garner the sectional title.
Exactly how quick Warsaw beat the Squires is unknown, but the length of the match was much shorter than the hour and 15 minutes the Tigers and Vikings were given to rest between the semifinal and championship rounds.
It was a different story altogether for Valley, who was in the midst of its best tennis season in the history of the school, setting all records for girls tennis this year. The Vikings were on the ropes all morning with Wawasee before they pulled out a 3-2 victory, setting up the championship round rematch with Warsaw.
Earlier in the year the Tigers defeated Valley 4-1 with the lone win for the Vikings coming in the No. 1 singles position, where Carissa Parker defeated Abbie Simmons. Parker topped Simmons again Saturday, 7-5, 6-3, but the only other team point Valley picked up came from the No. 2 doubles team of Kyleigh Gast and Kris Sanders, who beat Elizabeth Hann and Ashley Cavert 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The sectional title for Warsaw was the second in three years and pushed its season record to 12-4. Valley finishes its season at 12-6.
Valley coach Jack Shambaugh said Saturday that losing to Warsaw 3-2 in the sectional championship was a vast improvement from their 4-1 loss earlier in the season.
"It was a moral victory," said Shambaugh. "I'm more than pleased. It's always tough to play a good Warsaw team.
"We had a real tough match with Wawasee and had to come back after an hours' rest, that's always tough but we came back and played tough. The good news is they're all back except our No. 1 doubles team."
"Jack is a great coach to play against," said Warsaw coach Jill Basden. "We like to call it the Jack and Jill show and the two No. 1 singles players (Simmons and Parker) are best friends. It was a reward to play Valley with Wawasee's changed lineup. We wanted to play Valley. We knew they were strong at the No. 2 and 3 singles and that the last loss they had came to us but we came in wanting to take this match and the sectional."
Warsaw will play Northridge, the winner of the Elkhart Central Sectional, Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Elkhart Central Regional. Wawasee's No. 1 singles player, Mandy Perzanowski, and its No. 1 doubles team of Laura Lundin and Steph Shrivers also advance to the reginal round of competition.
