Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A little over a month after narrowly defeating Northridge 3-2 in conference play, the Warsaw girls tennis team faced off with the Lady Raiders again on Tuesday evening, this time in the IHSAA regional at NorthWood. As was the case the first time around, the matches were close and intense. The similarities didn’t end there, as the end result was the same: Warsaw picked up a 4-1 victory to advance to Wednesday’s regional final.
After going a perfect 40-0 in regular-season Northern Lakes Conference play over the course of her career, No. 1 Addie Lind added one more NLC victory to her total with a 6-0, 6-0 win to put Warsaw on the board 1-0. Lind wasted no time getting down to business in this one, looking crisp from the beginning and seizing momentum early to cruise to a quick victory.
The next match to conclude was the No. 2 singles bout. Abby Nicholas showed a ton of poise for Warsaw here, falling behind early and struggling to get back in front for the first few games. She eventually would take the lead late in the first set, and rally to win it. From there, she would not be denied, winning the second set 6-2 to win her match in straight sets and put the Lady Tigers up 2-0 on the scoreboard.
“Abby is an incredibly talented and reliable player,” Warsaw head coach Stacy Lind said. “She’s been so good for us for her whole career and the way she battled today is evidence of that.”
The third and final singles match to conclude was the match to put Northridge on the board. No. 3 Ana Zmuda was nearly perfect for the Lady Raiders here, defeating Warsaw’s Jerica Nier 6-0, 6-2 to cut the Lady Tiger lead in half. With two doubles matches still in progress, the Lady Tigers needed just one of them to secure the match.
No. 3 singles senior Jerica Nier uses a forehand return during her match at Tuesday evening's regional at NorthWood...Nieter
A few minutes later, they’d get it.
Both games in the No. 1 doubles match played out fairly similarly. The pairing of Emma VanPuffelen and Whitney Dawson dominated early, jumping out to a commanding lead before the Northridge duo of Catherine Miller and Ava Schrock attempted to mount a comeback. Both times, it was stopped in its tracks, and the second time, it clinched a spot in the next round of the state tournament.
That left the No. 2 doubles match, and while it took the longest to complete, it wasn’t necessarily all that close. The pairing of Ellie Porter and Mackenzie Campbell played extremely well in both sets, snapping a two-match losing streak in the tournament and ending things on a high note for the Lady Tigers.
“I really liked the communication I saw from them today,” Lind said. “They’ve shown so much improvement this season.”
Warsaw will take on Penn Wednesday in the regional championship. The Lady Kingsmen won the first matchup this season in convincing 5-0 fashion.
“We’re going to have to be focused and ready to go if we want to change that result,” Lind said. “It won’t be easy.”
