Sam Rice of Warsaw hits a return earlier this week versus Wawasee. Rice won in straight sets at No. 1 singles Thursday night as the Tigers topped NorthWood 5-0 to remain undefeated in conference play (File photo by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – A little rain, or even a lot of rain, wasn’t about to put an end to to the reign of the Warsaw boys tennis team in the Northern Lakes Conference this season.

The Tigers waited out Mother Nature Thursday and then blanked NorthWood 5-0 to remain undefeated in league action.

Warsaw took the next to last step towards repeating as NLC regular-season champions in impressive fashion.

The Tigers, who went 7-0 to claim the league crown in 2012,  lost a total of just 11 games in straight set wins at all three singles spots Thursday.

Sam Rice led the victory parade for the hosts with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles.

Senior Kyle Wettschurack notched a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles for the Tigers.

Evan Miller, another senior, completed the singles domination by Warsaw, with his 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3.

Warsaw, which blanked Wawasee 5-0 Tuesday after a 4-1 loss to state ranked Penn on Monday, rolled in both doubles matches too Thursday.

The Tigers got a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles over the Panthers from the team of Will Petro and Nikos Schlitt.

Warsaw completed the shutout as Nic Jansen and Justin Stout posted a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles.

The Tigers improve to 9-4 overall and 6-0 in NLC action. Warsaw hosts Concord Monday in the final regular-season conference match. The NLC Tournament, which Warsaw also won last year, is set for Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday next week with the first two days at Plymouth and the final one at Goshen.

Concord is the lone roadblock left in the way of Warsaw’s repeat bid as NLC champions. The Minutemen are 4-1 in league play. Concord’s NLC match versus Northridge Thursday was postponed due to rain and will be played Friday.