There weren't any highly-contested individual matches, but the Northern Lakes Conference opener between the Plymouth and Warsaw girls tennis teams was tight Tuesday at Tiger Courts. Through four matches, the team score was knotted at 2-2, coming down to No. 1 doubles, where Plymouth seniors Savannah Mae and Ellen Smith won the opening set against Warsaw senior Abbi Baum and junior Camille Kerlin, 6-3. With the focus turning to their court, the Plymouth tandem never trailed in the second set, winning 6-3, giving the 3-2 team win to the visiting Lady Pilgrims. “I was talking to (Plymouth coach) Brad (Haeck), and we can't remember the last time it wasn't a 3-2 match - one way or the other,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban. According to Orban, the latest close match went Plymouth's way due to some smart play. “They made less errors,” he said. “That's really what it boiled down to.” Coming into the match, Orban felt he could sweep the singles courts, and senior Jacqueline Sasso and senior Rachel Alexander did win at Nos. 2 and 3. However, at No. 1 singles, Warsaw senior Sarah Boyle ran into some trouble against freshman Erin Hunter, losing 6-0, 6-2. “We just made a lot of errors in that match,” Orban said. “There are times when you have to hit the ball hard and there are times when you have to play smart. That freshman played very smart tonight.” Orban had the same sentiment about his doubles teams, who are still trying to gel together. “No. 1 doubles, also, made too many errors,” he said. “We weren't aggressive enough tonight. Plymouth kind of took the net from us. The same thing happened with our 2 doubles. We played one up, one back a lot. We weren't putting shots away, and again, the errors caught up with us.” On a night when he saw a lot of errors, Orban was pleased with Sasso's 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 2 singles and Alexander's 6-1,6-2 win at No. 3 singles. “Jacqueline played extremely well – very smart tennis,” he said. “Rachel, at 3 singles, played extremely well – very smart tennis. I'm thrilled with both of them.” A year after going 1-6 in the NLC, Orban is looking for a bounce back campaign, meaning tonight's match at Northridge, a conference favorite, is a pretty big one. “If we want to make a statement in the conference, (today's) match will be huge,” he said.
