Warsaw Wins Sixth-Straight Sectional TitleWarsaw won its sixth-straight boys tennis sectional title Saturday in decisive fashion, beating Columbia City 5-0.
The Tigers lost just seven games over the 10 sets played. Colton Lind and Kyler Bartol won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, over Garrett Anspach and Braden Baker.
At No. 3 singles, Caleb Williams rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Eli Jones.
Spencer Britton and Bailey Buhrt won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles over Jordan Lee and Kendall Smith. Reuben Williams and Nolan Knight won 6-4, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles over Jackson Longenbaugh and David Kyler.
“This sectional was special for a lot of reasons,” Warsaw coach Rick Orban said. “This team isn’t the best one I’ve had, but they’re good kids who are close to each other and they like each other.”
The Eagles came in as a much-improved team, and the last school to beat Warsaw in a sectional match. Orban said the plan was to get out of the gate fast, taking advantage of the change in tournament format. In most years the final had been played on Friday afternoon; the change to Saturday morning allowed both team an extra day of practice.
“We talked about getting up early, getting breakfast, which they did as a team, and then they were here by 8 o’clock. So we had them play three games as part of the warmup, to get them in a match mindset.
“We talked about getting off to a fast start, and taking away the hope they would have of winning. It’s hard to do that, but if you can it’s a huge mental advantage. We were able to get a fast start, and that freed us up to take more chances, be more aggressive, and ultimately put the match away fairly quickly.”
The Tigers (9-6) advanced to the Culver Academies Regional, where they will take on Wabash in the semifinals Tuesday. The other semifinals will have Plymouth and host Culver Academies, with the title match on Wednesday.
