It only took the Warsaw boys tennis team about two hours to get its team win, but it took another hour-and-a-half before it was official. Following wins by its two doubles teams and junior Evan Miller at No. 2 singles, the Warsaw Tigers had all the points they needed to defeat Northern Lakes Conference rival Plymouth Thursday at Tiger Courts. However, the Pilgrims extended the match and got a couple wins of its own in a 3-2 defeat. “We played extremely well at 1 and 2 doubles, but all three of the singles players kind of took a mental break,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. Both doubles teams – senior A.J. Herendeen and sophomore Sam Rice at No. 1 and senior Connor Singrey and junior Will Petro at No. 2 – made quick work of their opposition, winning 6-2, 6-2 on each court. Miller was also cruising, winning the opening set 6-3, before hitting a hiccup in the second, allowing Plymouth sophomore Tom Felke to get within 3-2, before going on to the 6-3 victory. But on the No. 3 singles court, Warsaw senior Alec Jansen won his opening set 6-2 against Plymouth freshman John Hunter, but then began to sputter, losing the second 6-3 and the third by the same score. “He dominated the first set, 6-2, and then he just flat let the kid back in it,” Orban said about Jansen. “The kid's a freshman and hasn't been playing tennis that long. Alec let him get that momentum. Anything can happen when that happens and it's hard to turn it around. All of a sudden, you're questioning each one of your shots, you're questioning what you're doing, you're not moving your feet. You saw the kid kind of fist-pumping. I knew we were in trouble there.” At No. 1 singles, it was a Tiger that was making a comeback. After losing his first set 6-2 against Plymouth junior Gabe Vervynckt, Warsaw junior Kyle Wettschurack overcame a 4-1 deficit in the second set, to win it in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7). “He made a ton of unforced errors in that first set,” Orban said about Wettschurack. “I just told him he needed to keep it in play. I figured he could come back. He lost to him last year pretty well. Gabe's a great player. He has a lot of heart. I was proud of the way Kyle came back, but I still think he should have won the match.” Instead of winning the match, Wettschurack fell 6-3 in the third set, resulting in the final team score. Despite Warsaw losing the final two individual matches, it did get the team win, improving to 3-0 in the conference, while Plymouth fell to 1-1. “The win is nice," Orban said. “It's an NLC win and we're now 3-0 in NLC. That's huge. We're on our way, hopefully, to going undefeated, but we're going to have to be a little more mentally tough.” Warsaw looks to improve its conference record to 4-0 Tuesday when the Tigers make a trip to Northridge.
