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The second day of the girls tennis sectional at Warsaw featured just one match, but it certainly was a doozy. The host Lady Tigers and Tippecanoe Valley, both conference champions in the middle of great seasons, treated spectators to a fantastic match. At the end of five hard fought contests, it was Warsaw that earned the right to advance to Saturday’s championship with a 4-1 win.
The match was incredibly competitive, which is exactly what Lady Tiger head coach Stacy Lind was looking for.
“There have been so many times where we’ve kind of cruised through the sectional, and we get to the regional and are kind of shocked by the level of competition,” she said. “Valley had a fantastic team this year and they really tested us.”
The first match of the day to conclude was the No. 1 singles battle between Addie Lind and Karegan Callahan. The Valley senior got off to a scalding hot start, winning the first two games of the first set before Lind responded in a big way. The Lady Tiger star won the next 12 games to claim the match 6-2, 6-0 and put her team on the board.
Next up was the No. 1 doubles match between Warsaw’s Emma VanPuffelen and Whitney Dawson against Valley’s Ella Sandbakken and Sarah Finney. Like the prior match, this one was extremely close in the beginning before the Lady Tiger pairing was able to seize momerntum and take control. They’d give the host school a quick 2-0 lead and put them firmly in the driver’s seat.
With the other three matches being played being a bit more contested, it would be a bit before the next winner was determined. The next victory came from the No. 2 singles court, where Abby Nicholas was able to get past Savana Miller. Both competitors played extremely well in this one, with the freshman Miller giving Nicholas everything she had. In the end, the power of the senior was too much to overcome, and her win clinched the match for the Lady Tigers.
Valley was finally able to get on the board a few minutes afterwards, as the team’s undefeated No. 2 doubles pairing of Maci Parker and Karley Hallstrom were able to finish off Ellie Porter and Mackenzie Campbell in a second-set tiebreaker to finish off a perfect season.
The final match to conclude was the No. 3 singles match between Jerica Nier and Bella Parker. This one was close throughout, with Nier having to come back multiple times before finishing off her straight-set victory.
Warsaw will play Wawasee in the sectional championship on Saturday. The winner will head to Tuesday’s regional at NorthWood.
