Wawasee’s Esther Hermann follows through on a shot during a love and love win over Rachel Strouse of West Noble Monday night. (Photo by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – Switching up a simple approach was the key to breaking up a losing streak.

All three singles courts were gold for Wawasee, which broke a four-match losing streak with a 3-2 win over visiting West Noble Monday afternoon in girls tennis.

Speedy court wins at one and two singles put Wawasee in position. Esther Hermann wasted little time taking care of Rachel Strouse at one singles, winning love and love in just over 40 minutes. Equally as dominant was Katy Ashpole at two singles, running Hannah Pfenning off the court at one and love after cinching a no double-fault match.

The clincher came at three singles, where Priscilla Par rallied to win the first set against Josie Gibbons, 6-4, and used a patient return game to win the match 6-1 in the second set.

“Priscilla is a scrappy player and she can get to any ball,” said Wawasee head coach Chris Winters. “The main thing was that she had to work the girl side to side and she was able to put away some shots. Katie and Esther were also much crisper today, which they showed similar traits to what Priscilla did.”

The movement from her singles players had Winters excited about progress and goals the team had set from day one. Now 3-5 on the season and just a court win away from being undefeated in its non-conference matches, Monday was a step in the right direction.

“I think last week we got a little confidence with these matches even though the NLCs have been a tough road for us,” Winters said. “They still have been able to gain some confidence each time. I think that really showed today.”

Where Wawasee still needs work is the pair of doubles courts. Brett Coverstone and Rachel Schermerhorn kept West Noble on the fringe of a team win by starting its two wins with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Jada Antonides and Sam Prins at one doubles.

A 6-3, 6-0 win by the Charger tandem of Alexis Rocky and Bailey Kruger over Natalie Fritz and Ashley Larson forced all eyes on Par’s match to decide who left the complex a little more chipper.

“Our goal was to put the simple together today,” Winters said. “If we put the simple together and get the basics down, we can do some things that we want to do. I think some of them saw they can be successful if they do the little things. I’m hoping that will translate down the line when we get to conference and sectionals against some really tough teams and opponents.

West Noble’s JV unit won three of the five matches played Monday night against Wawasee.

Anna Buttgen and Haley Teel earned singles wins and the duo of Venesa Ratliff and Alle Esconlate were doubles winners for the visitors. Jaclyn Miller won a singles court for Wawasee while the team of Molly Smith and Chelsea Carolus were victorious on the doubles court.

The Lady Warriors (3-5, 0-4 NLC) will look to pick up its first conference win Tuesday as it travels to Elkhart Memorial.