Rick Orban has never lost a sectional match while coaching Warsaw Community High School boys tennis program.
His Tigers will play for their fifth consecutive sectional championship today at 4:30 p.m. against rival Wawasee, as the Tigers beat Churubusco 5-0 and Wawasee beat Tippecanoe Valley 4-1 in Thursday's first round of the Warsaw Sectional."Far and away, we were the prohibitive favorite," Orban said of his team's match with Churubusco. "My concern was focus and intensity. It's hard to get pumped up when you know you should beat a team pretty easily. I'm really happy with what I saw tonight. I was watching their (Warsaw's players) shots, and this was some of the best tennis we've played all year. I'm really happy with the way we played."
The Tigers made quick work of the Eagles, winning all five matches in straight sets.
At No. 1 singles, Warsaw's Deon Shafer kept his season record perfect with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Alex McDowell.
In No. 2 singles action, Bryce Scott defeated Churubusco's Rayn Mey 6-3, 6-0, while Tiger Andrew Cutshall beat Trevin Geiger 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
In the No. 1 doubles match, Warsaw's Will Coen and Collin Bishopp beat Jesse Lich and Jonathan Hilsmier 6-1 6-1.
And at No. 2 doubles, Ethan Guy and Richard Feng beat Churubusco's Austin Wallace and Brandon Green 6-0, 6-0.
"The doubles teams and our No. 2 and No. 3 singles played well tonight," said Orban. "And Deon is Deon. He goes out there and takes care of business, and he did that again tonight."
Warsaw's win set up a sectional final battle with Northern Lakes Conference and Kosciusko County rival Wawasee.
The Tigers beat the Warriors 5-0 on Sept. 16.
While Orban knows his team is favored to win today's title match, he remembers the year before he became the head coach when the Tigers beat Wawasee 5-0 in the regular season but fell 3-2 in the sectional.
Though Wawasee is just 4-11 this season and was 0-45 the previous three seasons, Orban knows his team has to remain focused and take care of the task at hand.
"Five years ago, Warsaw beat them 5-0 and then lost 3-2 in the sectional," said Orban. "I've been talking to the kids about that the last few days. We can't forget about that, anything can happen. You have to believe you can win, but you can't expect to win."
In Wawasee's sectional semifinal win over Tippecanoe Valley, the Warriors scored wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and at both doubles positions.
Wawasee's Nathan Brady was a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Isaac French in the No. 1 singles match, while Westin Recker beat Valley's Russ Yeiter 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.
In No. 1 doubles action, Wawasee's Ryan Smith and Vince Bumgartner defeated Taylor Burkhart and Jake Foley 6-1, 6-2.
In the No. 2 doubles match, Wawasee's Chris Brill and Garly Windle upended Ethan McDonald and Troy Adams 6-1, 6-0.
Tippecanoe Valley scored its only win of the match with Tyler Peterson beating Hayden Shock 6-0, 7-6 (7-5).
"This was fun," said Wawasee coach Roger Brady. "This was the first time in three years we've won back-to-back matches. We beat Manchester in our last match, and then come out beat Tippy Valley today. I'm very happy. Our seniors were 0-45 coming into this season. To win back-to-back matches and play for a sectional title, I'm very happy."
