The Lady Tigers show off their newly-won championship hardware following their 5-0 sweep of Whitko in the Warsaw Sectional championship Friday. (Photo provided)

WARSAW — Seventeen years is a very long sectional championship streak.

It’s long enough that — as one of the Lady Tigers’ assistant coaches pointed out after the Warsaw Girls Tennis Sectional championship Friday — some players in this year’s lineup hadn’t even been born when the Tigers started that unbroken run way back in 2001.

But whether they’re new to the program or established veterans, it’s a streak they take pride in. And it’s one they preserved convincingly opposite Whitko via a 5-0 margin at the Warsaw Racquet Club, adding even more hardware to the Tigers’ trophy case.

“The older I get, the sweeter they get. Yeah, it is 17 in a row, and the kids are proud of that,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Orban.

“We are fairly young… so it bodes well for next year, but more importantly we finished sectional very strong. I’m extremely pleased with the way they played.”

If Friday’s outcome was a familiar one for Warsaw, it was also all too familiar for challenger Whitko, which has been eliminated from sectional each of the past three seasons by the Tigers. The Wildcats took just seven total games from their hosts in this year’s meeting, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. It’s just that, well, Whitko ran into a 17-time returning sectional championship team.

“I’m extremely proud of the way my girls played against this extremely tough competition. We come in, we hear all day ‘Oh, you’re playing Warsaw. That sucks.’ But they come in, and they’re fighting the whole time,” said Whitko coach Ben Ogden.

“I think Whitko was a much improved team from last year. I think their coach did a really good job with them this year,” Orban opined.

“I told the girls coming into it, ‘Don’t take this lightly. Take this seriously.’”

The Tigers looked like pretty serious business Friday. The defending champs had already clinched another title long before the final match concluded, before it even began, in fact.

Warsaw number one Liza Lewis prepares to serve during her match with Whitko’s Morgan Keirn as the crowd looks on from the balcony at the Warsaw Racquet Club. (Photo by James Costello)

With Friday’s sectional finale moved indoors due to rain and only four courts available, Warsaw number one Liza Lewis and Whitko counterpart Morgan Keirn waited patiently for their turn, only taking the court after Alyssa Zellers clinched the Tigers their first match point with a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Jackie Werstler.

A little over five minutes later, Warsaw’s one doubles tandem of Colette Smith and Athena Schlitt finished off Jessica and Gracie Hook, 6-0, 6-1, and Lewis and Keirn were still warming up when Ella Knight completed her 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Delaney Keirn at two singles. Lewis was finally off and running to a fast, 5-0 start just as Rachel Boyle and Amy Herendeen wrapped their 6-3, 6-0 win over Jenna Vancuren and Manon Sonneville at two doubs, leaving the one singles combatants alone on the floor.

While the team championship had already been decided, Keirn was fighting to stay alive in the state singles tournament, although it was to no avail versus Lewis, who suffered few hiccups en route to her 6-1, 6-1 win.

Keirn’s nearly four-hour victory over Wawasee’s Meg Heinisch less than 24 hours prior to her final with Lewis was the decisive third point the Wildcats needed to advance opposite rival Warsaw, but it likely wasn’t fatigue that did her in Friday. Lewis’ game was simply solid top to bottom, and at times Keirn just looked overmatched by the pace of her shots — particularly some hard-hit first serves.

“Liza is an extremely talented player. She’s solid across the board,” said Ogden. “Did (yesterday’s long match) play a factor? Maybe, but I think ultimately we just ran into a better team.”

While Whitko must now bid goodbye to a cast of four seniors — the Keirns and the Hooks — Warsaw advances to the Culver Girls Academy Regional next Tuesday to play Rochester, whose 3-2 win over the host Lady Eagles at Thursday’s CGA Sectional championship earned the team its second straight title.

The Tigers are hoping to extend this run, and they seem to be peaking at the right time.

“I’m looking forward to next week with these kids. I think right now we’re playing the best tennis of the season,” Orban said.