Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The old saying goes, there is strength in numbers.
Andy Lewis may disagree with that. He sees strength in singles.
The Warsaw tennis coach saw the Tigers win their fifth straight match Wednesday, 5-0 over Huntington North.
Singles players Craig Harman, Ryan Van Puffelen and Peter Anders are three reasons why Warsaw is 6-1 this year. Since foreign exchange student Anders was penciled in the lineup in the No. 3 slot four matches ago, none of them has lost.
Harman, Van Puffelen and Anders, the first through third singles players respectively, are a combined 12-0 in dual matches since their Sept. 4 match with Plymouth.
"All three of our singles players are strong," Lewis said. "I can go 1-2-3, 3-2-1 or 2-3-1 with the lineup in any match and wouldn't lose much."
Yesterday Harman won 6-4, 7-5; Van Puffelen won 6-0, 6-0; and Anders won 6-2, 6-4.
"I'll tell you who played well," Lewis said. "Ryan Van Puffelen played well. His opponent was a decent player, but he went 6-0, 6-0 against him. His ground strokes are his strength, but now he's learned how to volley and play at the net."
While Anders and Van Puffelen wrapped up their matches quickly, Harman battled against Huntington North's Mark Richard in the No. 1 singles match.
Harman would reel off several straight points, only to see his opponent refuse to fold.
"The kid Craig was playing had some good shots," Lewis said. "I told Craig he would get those points, but don't give anything else away. The kid made a couple of unforced errors, and the match was over.
"I told Craig you know you're good when you don't play your very best and still win."
Warsaw's No. 1 doubles team of Dan Benyousky and Owen Compton were the first Warsaw players to finish their match, winning 6-0, 6-1. Eric Grossnickle and Matt Krizmanich won the No. 2 doubles match 6-4, 6-3.
Krizmanich struggled with his serve, so the first thing he did after his match was open the gate, go back on the court and serve some more.
"Matt's serve was not doing too well," Lewis said. "I told him to just get it over the net and try to get some spin on it. Grossnickle played a nice match, and they overcame the double-faults Matt was experiencing."
Warsaw also won the junior varsity match 5-0.
"I don't want to say anything bad about Huntington," Lewis said. "Huntington is not the worst team we've played.
"Last year, our team had a tendency to play down to the other team's level. Today, we mentally kept in it."
Warsaw hosts a Saturday morning invitational.
WARSAW 5, HUNTINGTON NORTH 0
Singles
No. 1 - Craig Harman (WAR) def. Mark Richard 6-4, 7-5
No. 2 - Ryan Van Puffelen (WAR) def. David Ames 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 - Peter Anders (WAR) def. Erick Price 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 - Dan Benyousky/Owen Compton (WAR) def. Adam Tracy/David Fulk 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 - Eric Grossnickle/Matt Krizmanich (WAR) def. Brandon Perkins/Josh Arnold 6-4, 6-3
JV: WARSAW 5, HUNTINGTON NORTH 0
Singles
No. 1 - David Honneffer (WAR) def. Ryan Lee 8-4
No. 2 - Pete Hake (WAR) def. Nathan Hawkins 8-2
No. 3 - Eric Keller (WAR) def. Paul Phillip Michelson 8-0
Doubles
No. 1 - Ryan Kreager/Matt Kloser (WAR) def. Justin Ralston/Pete Fairchild 8-5
No. 2 - Rob Tidmore/Ryan Dill (WAR) def. Ben Ehinger/Guy Watkins 8-3
C-TEAM
Singles
No. 1 - Mark Platt (HN) def. Bernardo Vasconcellos 8-7 (7-4)
No. 2 - Brad Kline (HN) def. Mark Howard 8-7 (7-4)
No. 3 - Travis Yoder (WAR) def. Jeremy Arnold 8-6
No. 4 - John Bordeaux (HN) def. Jason Ladd 8-7 (5-4)
No. 5 - Phil Reed (HN) def. Nate Beeson 8-5
