A brief rain shower and wet courts delayed the start of Warsaw’s girls tennis match with Northern Lakes Conference rival Wawasee Thursday. That was all that slowed the Lady Tigers, as they dominated the visiting Lady Warriors en route to a 5-0 win. It took three sets for Warsaw to win at No. 2 doubles, but the Lady Tigers won 6-0, 6-0 on the other four courts. Warsaw is now 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, while Wawasee fell to 2-5 and 1-3. “I’m extremely pleased with the focus the girls had tonight,” said veteran Warsaw coach Rick Orban. “They all had to work on something specific, but yet I didn’t want them to lose focus. “Shane (Staley) is building a program at Wawasee, he’s gonna do a great job, but they’re extremely young and extremely inexperienced. So, we talked to the girls and basically told them to ‘stay focused, don’t play their game, play your game, and use this match to get ready for next week.’” Next week for the Lady Tigers includes hosting NLC foe NorthWood Tuesday and a conference match 24 hours later at Concord. In singles action Wednesday, Warsaw’s Liza Lewis beat Jazlyn Gelhausen at the top of the lineup, while Colette Smith beat Peyton Rookstool at No. 2, and Ella Knight defeated Meg Heinisch at No. 3. In the No. 1 doubles match, the Lady Tigers’ duo of Athena Schlitt and Hannah Rice beat Charity Parker and Kabrea Rostochak. “Right now, we’re just young in experience,” said second-year Wawasee coach Shane Staley. “We’re trying to change the culture, but they pick up a racquet and don’t start playing until their freshman year, and we’re up against a great Warsaw team that’s just an amazing bunch of girls. They’ve been playing tennis a lot longer than us. “I feel like when we come in here we are behind the curve, but like our No. 2 doubles, they really kind of came through for us and forced a third set. I’m really happy about that, but we’re just behind the curve, and we’re inexperienced. They’re still fighting out there, though, which I’m happy to see.” In the No. 2 doubles match, Warsaw’s Grace Miller and Rosie Fleming won the first set 6-3. The Lady Warriors’ duo of Courtney Larson and Kendra Doerr fought back and won the second set 6-3, but fell 6-1 in the decisive set. Wawasee is in action again today in a rescheduled match at Manchester. The Lady Tigers will compete in the Delta Invite on Saturday.
