SYRACUSE – Veteran coach Rick Orban knows his Warsaw Community High School girls tennis team is better than its 2-6 record indicates, and Thursday night the Lady Tigers proved it. Warsaw, which has lost multiple close matches against state-ranked opponents this season, cruised to a 5-0 win at Northern Lakes Conference and Kosciusko County rival Wawasee. Improving to 2-2 in NLC play, Warsaw beat the Lady Warriors in straight sets on all five courts and also won all nine junior varsity matches. “The NLCs, sectional, postseason ... that’s what I focus on every year,” said Orban. “Seriously, look at our schedule, it’s one of the tougher schedules in the state. Every coach that comes in just looks at me and says ‘are you sadistic?’ But I’ve done that for a reason. I’m not saying the schedule gets easy, but compared to what it was, it gets easier and easier and easier, and we’ve talked about that as a team.” In singles action Thursday, Warsaw’s Ella Knight beat Jada Antonides 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 1 spot, while Colette Smith topped Thanatcha Thanasrivanitchai 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2, and Liza Lewis beat Chelsea Carolus 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 3 position. At No. 1 doubles, Warsaw’s Camille Kerlin and Rosie Fleming beat Charity Parker and Ashley Larson 6-0, 6-3, and at No. 2 doubles the Lady Tigers’ Athena Schlitt and Sydney Hartman beat Jazlyn Gehlhausen and Kabrea Rostochak 6-1, 6-1. “I think the girls are getting more and more confidence in their game, and that’s what you look for this time of the year,” said Orban. With the loss, Wawasee fell to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in conference action. “We’re such a new team, especially at the JV level,” said Wawasee coach Shane Staley. “We’ve got 10 out of the 17 kids on the team that are playing tennis for the first time this spring. Our varsity has been pretty much solidified through challenge matches, but I haven’t really been able to move any of the JV up just because of their lack of experience at the varsity level.” Warsaw is in action again today at Fort Wayne Concordia and then travels to the Delta Invitational Saturday. Wawasee hosts West Noble Monday.
