Tigers Dominant In Sectional Victory
WARSAW – The Warsaw girls tennis team made sure there was no sectional suspense for a second straight night.
The host Tigers took care of business in a big way Thursday night in rolling past Tippecanoe Valley 5-0 in semifinal play.
Warsaw, which had to rally to outlast Columbia City 3-2 in a marathon first-round clash Wednesday night, dropped a grand total of three games versus the Vikings.
The Tigers, now 3-10, will go for their 13th straight sectional championship Friday at 5 p.m. The hosts meet NLC and county rival Wawasee (5-8) back at WCHS. The winner advances to the Culver Academies Regional May 21 to face the winner of the Bremen Sectional in a semifinal matchup.
Warsaw defeated Wawasee 5-0 in Syracuse on April 25 by straight sets at all positions for their lone win of the regular season.
The Tigers only took about an hour Thursday evening to record the win.
“Our goal tonight was to finish as quickly as possible and no injuries,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban. “We knew that we were the stronger team. Valley is still growing their program. They have nice kids and are well coached.”
Orban, who saw three of his positions not lose a game, said a shutout was not the plan.
“Winning all the matches 6-0, 6-0 is never a goal,” Orban remarked. “We wanted to play well and stay focused and we did that. We only lost three games. I’ll take that.”
The Warsaw No. 1 doubles team led the way Thursday. The senior duo of Olivia Wallin and Marley Smith bounced back in a big way with the first point. The pair, who had lost Wednesday in three sets after winning the first set 6-0, defeated junior Kelsey Ball and senior Alexis Swihart of Valley 6-0, 6-0 in about 35 minutes.
“I was really pleased with Olivia and Marley tonight,” commented Orban. “They were confident and were listening to what we wanted them to do.”
Warsaw’s No. 2 doubles team of Camille Kerlin and Rosalia Fleming, the heroes of Wednesday’s win, captured the second point. Sophomore Kerlin and freshman Fleming beat juniors Kathy Eagleson and Morgan Conliff 6-0, 6-0.
The clinching point for the Tigers came from hard-working senior Lindsay Sciarra. The No. 3 singles player topped senior Tiffyni Tackett 6-0, 6-0.
Juniors Sarah Boyle and Jacqueline Sasso completed the 5-0 win for Warsaw. Boyle beat senior Michelle Peters 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and smooth Sasso stopped sophomore Hannah Dalrymple 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
Orban knows what he wants to see out of his team come Friday night.
“I want to see the same things I saw from them tonight,” remarked the Tiger coach. “I want to see focus and consistent play.
“I want to see us play up to our level no matter who we are playing,” he added as the Wawasee-Whitko match in the other semifinal was still going on.
Coach Matt Mobley’s Valley squad, whose lone win this season was over Manchester, loses three seniors in Peters and Tackett at No. 1 and 3 singles respectively and Swihart from No. 1 doubles.