Andrew Gauger hits a backhand return for Warsaw Tuesday night. The Tigers saw their season end with a 5-0 loss to host Culver Academies in a regional semifinal.

CULVER – The Culver Academies boys tennis team began regional play Tuesday night as the defending champions.

The No. 20 Eagles sure looked like the team to beat once again too.

The hosts’ tennis was as pretty as the beautiful Gable Tennis Complex they call home in a dominating 5-0 win over Warsaw in regional semifinal play.

The Eagles, who lost in the quarterfinal round of the State Finals in 2014, move on to play Plymouth  Wednesday night at 5 p.m. for the regional title and a berth back at home Saturday for the semistate.

Plymouth easily took care of Peru by a 5-0 final in the other semifinal match Tuesday night. Culver defeated the Pilgrims by a 4-1 final back on Sept. 29. The Eagles beat Plymouth 4-1 in the regional final last year.

Warsaw, which lost 3-2 to the Eagles at home back on Sept. 2, simply ran into a buzzsaw this time around.

The hosts, who had an all-senior lineup Tuesday night, rolled to the win. The Eagles advance with a 15-2 record, while the Tigers finish at 10-7.

Culver Academies is making its 12th straight regional appearance, while Plymouth is in the mix for the 19th consecutive season.

“They are a great team and just solid at every spot,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban of the Eagles. “They played smart tennis tonight. Alan (Culver Academies coach Alan Loehr) just does a great job.

“We played them earlier and it was a tighter match. Their seniors came to play tonight.”

The hosts wasted no time in setting the tone Tuesday night.

Colton Lind reaches for a shot in his No. 2 singles match.

Senior star Sam Concannon got the Eagles going with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Chris Herendeen, the lone senior in the Warsaw lineup, at No. 1 singles. Concannon finished as runner-up in the state tournament series for No. 1 singles players a year ago.

“Sam is a great player,” noted Orban. “His game is just solid, He has no weaknesses.”

The Eagles collected their second and third points and the team win in just about an hour. Seniors William Bilicic and Brian Tao defeated juniors David Homme and Justin Stout 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. Homme and Stout had beaten Bilicic and Tao 7-5, 6-3 in the regular-season meeting.

Seniors Evan Dillon and Ean Anderson then clinched the win with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over junior Hudson Snyder and freshman Spencer Britton at No. 2 doubles.

Senior Chris Bilicic topped sophomore Colton Lind 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 singles to make it 4-0.

Warsaw’s best chance at a point came at No. 3 singles. Junior Andrew Gauger could not recover from a tough 7-6 first-set loss and dropped a 6-2 final in the second set to senior Josh Tompkins. Gauger had defeated Tompkins 6-4, 6-2 in their meeting five weeks ago.

“Andrew played a solid match tonight,” remarked Orban. “It’s tough when you look over and see that the other four courts are done. Andrew had a great season for us. He just never gives up in a match.”

Justin Stout follows through on a serve in doubles play.

The Eagles will take a 15-2 mark into the regional final. They have lost 4-1 to Delta, the team that ended their season a year ago, and 3-2 to West Lafayette.

Plymouth lost a total of just six games in pounding Peru Tuesday night. Senior John Hunter won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, while junior John Gerard won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 and sophomore Tommy Holloway 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3. Seniors Braydon Davidson and Nate Knapp won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and juniors Nick Felke and Grant Clady 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles for the Pilgrims.

Orban, whose team was in the regional for the fourth straight year, is looking for another strong season next fall.

“Our guys know what they have to do in the offseason to get to this level,” said Orban. “We have some freshmen this year who I expect to push our other guys next season. If they do, we will be a solid team again.”