Hayden Steger winds up for his serve during Wednesday’s opening rounds. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW — The 2016 Northern Lakes Conference Boys Tennis Tournament kicked off at Warsaw High School Wednesday night. Warsaw had advancing players in four of five brackets while Wawasee struggled and was left without a win on the day.

At No. 1 singles, Dylan Staley of Wawasee fell 6-1, 6-2 to NorthWood’s Jared Hoffman. Warsaw’s Colton Lind also fell to the consolation bracket after being defeated by Plymouth John Gerard 6-1, 6-2. Gerard will play Brandon Bailey of Elkhart Memorial Thursday night while Staley plays Goshen’s Jacob Grewe.

In the No. 2 singles tournament Andrew Gauger picked up a win for the Tigers with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Wawasee’s Nate Haines. Gauger moves on to play top-seeded Simon Grevengood of Northridge while Haines will face Plymouth’s Mitch Rose in the consolation bracket.

David Homme was a 6-1, 6-2 winner at No. 3 singles for Warsaw, defeating NorthWood’s Landon Holland. Wawasee’s Nate Perek fell to Concord’s Nate Slabach 6-4, 6-2. Perek will look to redeem himself against Holland in the consolation bracket while Homme will try his hand against Slabach in the semifinals of the championship bracket.

On the doubles courts, the Tiger were twice victorious. Justin Stout and Ryan Wettschurack represented the Tigers well at No. 1 doubles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Luke Wogoman and Logan Corris of Northridge. The Tigers top duo moves on to play top-seeded Logan Troyer and Bobby Sessa of Goshen. Wawasee’s Evan Krueger and Tim Conley will play Cam Stillson and Brant Mast of NorthWood in the consolation bracket after losing 6-2, 6-0 to Concord’s Travis Hermon and Nathan Hermon.

Hayden Steger and Spencer Britton are the top-seeded team at No. 2 doubles and started their conference tourney trek out with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Memorial’s Tryston Swartz and Dylan Landgren. Graham Perek and Mason Gray of Wawasee will take on Swartz and Landgren after falling 6-1, 6-1 to Nathanael Wertz and Diego Torres of Goshen, who advance to play Steger and Britton.

The tournament continues Thursday night and then Saturday morning at Warsaw High School.