Neither Wawasee nor Warsaw got off to particularily good starts in the Northern Lakes Conference boys tennis tournament, which began Wednesday at the Tigers’ courts. Warsaw sophomore Colton Lind, seeded fourth at No. 2 singles, won his opening match against NorthWood’s Cam Stillson 6-0, 6-2. Lind will face top-seeded John Gerard of Plymouth in the semifinals. Gerard beat Wawasee senior Cal Heinisch to advance. Heinisch will take on NorthWood’s Cam Stillson in the consolation semifinal. Lind will be joined in the semifinal round by teammate Andrew Gauger. The second-seeded Tiger junior won his opener at No. 3 singles over Elkhart Memorial freshman Brandon Bailey 6-0, 6-1. Gauger will face third-seeded Concord freshman Nate Slabach, a straight-set winner over Plymouth’s Tommy Holloway. No other players from Warsaw or Wawasee advanced. At No. 1 singles, Warsaw junior Justin Stout lost to second-seeded Will Boyer of Concord in straight sets after a third-set tiebreaker. He will face Brenden Graber of Elkhart Memorial in the consolation semis. Wawasee’s Nate Haines dropped a 6-2, 6-0 decision to top seed John Hunter of Plymouth. Haines has a match with NorthWood’s Court Clark in the consolation round Saturday morning. Haines bested Clark in straight sets in the final regular season match on Monday. Junior Nathan Perek, Wawasee’s No. 3 singles player, fell 7-5, 6-3 to Logan Corns of Northridge. Perek will take on Nate Nunemaker of NorthWood in another rematch from earlier this week. Perek beat Nunemaker in three sets on Monday. At No. 1 doubles, Warsaw’s Chris Herendeen and David Homme lost 6-0, 6-4 to Memorial’s second-seeded duo of Stephen Teft and Jon Bailey. The Tiger team will face Wawasee’s Cameron Brill and Tim Conley in the consolation semis after the Warrior team fell to Plymouth’s Nate Knepp and Braydon Davidson in straight sets. The No. 2 doubles team for Wawasee, Evan Krueger and Dylan Staley, dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision to top seeds Nick Felke and Grant Clady of Plymouth. The Warrior team will face Northridge’s Luke Wogoman and Eric Firstenberger, the only top-four seed to get upset in first round. On the opposite end of the bracket, Warsaw’s Hudson Snyder and Hayden Steger lost to second-seeded Jacob Grewe and Giovanni Aguayo of Goshen. They will face Justin Walter and Brett Wilson of Memorial on Saturday. The tournament moves to Nappanee for the final two rounds at the NorthWood courts Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.
