Warsaw No. 1 singles player Liza Lewis crushes a winner against Columbia City’s Maddy Minnick Wednesday in the opening round of the Warsaw Girls Tennis Sectional. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – Not even remotely ready to give up the throne, the queens of the Warsaw Girls Tennis Sectional showed why they have been celebrating sectional titles for 14 straight years.

Warsaw showed a lot of muscle in all three singles courts and split the doubles courts in a 4-1 win over Columbia City in the opening match of the sectional Wednesday afternoon.

Warsaw No. 2 doubles player Sydney Hartman follows through against Columbia City.

Avenging a 3-2 loss to City earlier in the season, the Warsaw freshmen in the singles circuits helped Warsaw write the latest chapter in the sectional dominance with a fine showing on all three courts.

Liza Lewis was completely dominant in the one singles matchup against Maddy Minnick, a fill-in for Rachel Flauding. Lewis moved the ball around without much trouble in claiming a 6-1, 6-0 win in less than an hour. Three singles took on a similar feel for Ella Knight, who also won 6-1, 6-0 over Hannah Clark. Knight took more of a mobile approach than Clark, and was rewarded with lots of angles to put away smart forehands.

No. 2 Colette Smith continued to play at her own pace, trading groundstrokes with Katie Doermand without shame or worry well after all of the other courts had concluded. Smith, however, broke character at the right times to hammer winners home down the lines as Doermand could not chase the shots down in a 6-2, 6-1 final.

Warsaw No. 3 singles player Ella Knight makes solid contact against Columbia City.

“(Liza) is playing extremely well,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Orban. “More importantly, Liza is playing with confidence. (Colette) is playing with confidence. Ella is playing with confidence. They all are playing much smarter tennis and not just going for the big shots and trying to end the point in two strokes. That is maturity coming from the freshmen.”

Warsaw clinched the match after its two doubles team worked its way to a 6-2, 6-2 final. Sydney Hartman and Athena Schlitt moved well enough to foil several clever City attempts and worked the baselines to keep Cassie Bosselman and Baylee Smith frustrated.

Columbia City’s day was not completely ruined as its No. 1 doubles tandem of Macie Hinen and Aubrey Wright will live to fight another day. In a vocal and demonstrative match against Hannah Rice and Camille Kerlin, the smarts of Hinen and the hustle of Wright compounded with several unforced errors from Warsaw allowed the City duo to clinch a 6-1, 6-3 win and a berth in the individual regional next week.

But the survival and advancement of Warsaw’s team had Orban feeling pretty good about the rest of the tournament.

“We played so well at the NLCs with this lineup,” Orban said. “The kids have gotten confidence. It’s been a tough season for them. But you can see the improvement in the last three weeks. The lineup works. We talked about Columbia City, and they are a good team. They beat us 3-2 earlier in the year. I was pretty confident in my one-two-three singles and my two doubles and knew the one doubles would have a chance.”

Day two of the sectional will begin at 4:30 p.m. Thursday with both semi-final matches taking place. Warsaw will host Wawasee while Tippecanoe Valley will meet Whitko in what shapes up as two conference rivals meeting one another in each matchup. The winners from Thursday’s matches will meet Friday at 4:30 p.m. to play for the sectional title.

It didn’t take long for Columbia City’s one doubles team of Macie Hinen and Aubrey Wright to take down Warsaw’s Camille Kerlin and Hannah Rice to advance in the individual state tournament.