Warsaw Tennis: Tigers Facing Tough Task
CULVER – The Warsaw girls tennis team has played some high-calibre competition this season.
The Tigers, though, will face their most formidable foe so far come Saturday.
Warsaw, coming off a thrilling win over rival Plymouth to win a regional title, will tangle with No. 4 South Bend St. Joseph. The pair will meet in the Culver Academies Semistate at noon Saturday at the Gable Tennis Complex.
The Tigers earned a spot versus the Indiana by outlasting Plymouth 3-2 Wednesday night in the regional final at Culver Academies. St. Joe blanked host LaPorte Wednesday night to claim its second straight regional championship.
Warsaw has shown improvement throughout the season after losing in the regional semifinal to Plymouth a year ago. The Tigers returned five players who were freshmen on that team in 2015.
“Our schedule is so tough and I’ve watched our girls mature this year,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban after seeing his team claim the program’s first regional title since 2005 Wednesday night. “They have played the best of the best and really gained confidence and come on here late in the season.”
Warsaw has won its last six matches, with five of those coming by 5-0 finals. The Tigers sit at 11-5 entering semistate play, while St. Joe sports a 16-2 mark. The Indians, who won the Northern Indiana Conference title, beat Penn 4-1 Monday in the regional semifinals at LaPorte.
St. Joe lost just a total of 11 games in its regional final. Coach Bill Mountford’s team dropped a 5-0 final to Carmel in the semistate at Culver a year ago. The Greyhounds, who are in the other semistate match at Culver Academies on Saturday versus Munster, went on to win their third straight state championship in 2015. The Indians return six of the seven players, including their entire singles lineup, from a year ago when they finished with a 22-3 mark.
“St. Joe is a dynamite team,” Orban stated. “We know that. They just beat Penn 4-1 Monday night. But we will come in here focused on Saturday and ready to go.”
The Tigers won Wednesday night in dramatic fashion. Colette Smith, part of Warsaw’s all-sophomore singles lineup, outlasted Ashley Harrell 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) in a No. 2 singles marathon that eclipsed four hours. Warsaw also got wins from Liza Lewis at No. 1 singles and Ella Knight at No. 3 singles, both in straight sets. The Warsaw doubles teams of sophomore Hannah Rice and junior Athena Schlitt and sophomore Grace Miller and senior Rosie Fleming each lost on Wednesday. Rice and Schlitt lost in three sets, while Miller and Fleming fell in two. Rice also injured her leg in her match and her status for Saturday is still uncertain.
St. Joe is led by sophomore standout Maddie Yergler at No. 1 singles. The Indians have Mary Mullaney at No. 2 and Maria Anthony at No. 3. The doubles teams feature Talle Corrigan and Cici Peranek at No. 1 with Mary Lyon and Nicole Pascual at No. 2.
The winner of the Warsaw-St. Joe match advances to the quarterfinals of the State Finals on June 3 at Center Grove High School in Greenwood. They will play the winner of the Center Grove (16-3) versus Park Tudor (10-5) semistate clash.