Alyssa Zellers returns a shot for Warsaw at Concord Wednesday night. Zellers won at No. 3 singles as the Tigers topped Concord 3-2 to remain undefeated in NLC play.

DUNLAP – The Northern Lakes Conference championship, for all intents and purposes, rested on the racket of Warsaw’s Ella Knight Wednesday evening.

That turned out to be a great thing for the Tigers.

Knight, as cool, calm and collected as they come, shook off a shaky second set to storm to a three-set victory at No. 2 singles to give her team the clinching point in a 3-2 NLC win over host Concord.

Warsaw, with the win, improves to 6-0 in league play and clinches at least a share of the regular-season league title. The Tigers will be heavy favorites to claim the conference championship outright versus Goshen at home in their final league match Monday.

Concord, which was ranked No. 29 in the latest coaches’ poll, completes its NLC season at 6-1.

Knight, a savvy senior, won the final six games of her match to top junior Regan Landis by a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 final.

Knight, who had to hustle back to Warsaw for a Tri Kappa program right after her win, has been a rock her entire prep career. She was no different Wednesday night in never blinking after Landis claimed the second set.

“The most important thing is that our team won tonight,” said Knight as she scurried to catch a ride with her parents back to WCHS. “This definitely means a lot to me. We have never won the NLC outright before and it’s cool to add that to our sectionals and regionals my senior year.

“It was a little nerve-racking to go three sets, but for me personally I feel like I’m okay under pressure. I just made too many errors in the second set. I just needed to fix those errors. I did that and was a little more relaxed in the third set.”

Landis held serve to open the deciding set to go up 1-0 on Knight, From there, it was all Knight and goodnight for the home team. Featuring a big serve and a tremendous forehand, despite the windy conditions, Knight rolled. She broke serve on Landis in the third game to take control and claimed the match on a double fault by her opponent.

The Tigers, who have claimed both sectional and regional championships each of the last two seasons, used their stellar singles lineup to earn the win. Senior Liza Lewis led the way as she picked up the first point of the match with a dominating performance. Lewis, who will play at Marian University, was sensational as she defeated senior Maya Klopfenstein 6-1, 6-0 on the No. 1 singles court.

Concord, which sits at  7-3 overall, then went up 2-1 with a pair of wins in doubles play. The No. 1 Minutemen team of junior Keegan Thursby and sophomore Meaghan Gozisz beat junior Amy Herendeen and sophomore Taylor Shoaf 6-2, 6-1. The duo of junior Kelsee O’Dell and sophomore Lauren Pollock then topped juniors Rachel Yeager and Reagan Merchant 6-3, 6-3.at No. 2 play to put the hosts ahead.

Liza Lewis follows through on a serve. The senior rolled to a win at No. 1 singles for Warsaw.

Warsaw evened the match shortly thereafter as Alyssa Zellers won at No. 3 singles. The sophomore beat senior Camille Lozier 6-4, 6-3.

Warsaw coach Rick Orban was not surprised at all to see Knight deliver under pressure.

“Ella is just so steady, so calm and never shows emotion,” said Orban. “When she gets determined like that third set you know she’s going to finish the match.

“Ella is just so much about the team. She cares about the team and she cares about her teammates. She just wants to help the team out. She does not care where she plays for us. She’s just a wonderful kid.

“Ella looked me in the eye the first day or practice this Spring when I asked them their goals and said to go unbeaten in the NLC was the first one. This is special because it was a goal of our kids. If it’s that important to them than it’s that important to me.”

Knight, who will play at Kalamazoo College next year, played No. 2 a year ago and No. 3 as a sophomore on a pair of teams that lost in the semistate.

Orban, whose team is now 9-3 overall with a pair of losses to No. 4 Carroll and one to No. 24 Fort Wayne Canterbury, expected a tough one.

“We knew this would be a tough match,” remarked Orban. “It always is with Concord. We talked briefly about both us and Concord being undefeated in the NLC and that this would likely determine who wins the conference.”

“they’re just flat solid,” added Orban about his outstanding singles lineup.  “Liza’s so good at No. 1. Ella’s so good at No. 2. And this is Alyssa’s second year playing at No. 3. They are experienced and they can figure out things for themselves out there during a match.

“Our doubles teams are getting more experience and maturity. I’m gaining more confidence in them and they are getting more confidence in themselves too.”

The Warsaw junior varsity team edged Concord 6-5. Singles winners for the JV Tigers were Libby Jenkins, Maddie Ray, Anna Grill, Izzy Ray and Heather Rickert. The doubles team of Abbey Rucoi and Kat Josellis also won for Warsaw.

The Tigers will play indoors at Culver Academy Thursday night. The match, which was originally scheduled to be played at Warsaw, will be a varsity only event at 5 p.m. at the Gable Tennis Complex.

Warsaw will then host Goshen in their NLC finale Monday night. The NLC Tournament is then May 9-11 with all three days at Plymouth before the Tigers will host a sectional starting May 16.

Concord, which went 13-3 and won sectional and regional titles a year ago, plays at Jimtown on Friday evening.

Rachel Yeager celebrates with Reagan Merchant during No. 2 doubles action.

Ella Knight earned the clinching point with a three-set win at No. 2 singles.