NorthWood won its third straight sectional championship with a 3-1 win over Goshen Friday afternoon. Photos by Mike Deak)

NAPPANEE – With a quiet enthusiasm and finally a yell of joy, NorthWood’s girls tennis team celebrated something it hadn’t in the history of its program.

NorthWood’s 3-1 win over Goshen was the third consecutive sectional championship for the Panthers, and a sweet one after a week of adversity and uncertainty.

Gretchen Adams locks in on a return against Goshen’s Madi Rittenhouse.

It was always something with each day of the NorthWood Sectional, with roster flubs on Wednesday nearly marring play between Fairfield and NorthWood. Thursday saw rain delays halt play on multiple occasions, actually suspending a court of Goshen’s win over Bethany. Friday was a little of the same, as NorthWood wrapped up its title but also had a court get suspended to rain and eventually called.

Might as well with the week that was, right Tif Schwartz?

“Our weather has been crappy forever so it’s not like we should be shocked by it by any means,” Schwartz said, overseeing her Panthers taking photos with the sectional trophy. “It’s very exciting. I am elated with the girls the way they played.”

The swing court on the lineup card, two doubles, actually became a very lopsided affair. The Panther pair of Kate Stillson and Caroline Mullet didn’t allow Goshen’s Sage Christner or Sophia Kirkton to get any momentum. After the two teams waged a three-set battle during the regular season round robin, NorthWood crushed a 6-1, 6-0 final in just over an hour. The court was key as Goshen countered shortly after with a 6-0, 6-1 win from Kathryn Detweiler and Brooke Grewe over Lauren Mikel and Riley Graber.

Reegan Miller put NorthWood back up 2-1 after outworking Lucy Kramer 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1. After about 20 more minutes of jostling, Alex Jesse gave NorthWood the guaranteed title point with a 6-4, 6-3 clincher against Anna Podgorski at No. 2.

Caroline Mullet reacts after scoring a point against Goshen.

As it began to rain a few minutes later, the No. 3 singles match between Gretchen Adams and Madi Rittenhouse was suspended with Rittenhouse leading 7-6 (8-6), 1-2 in the second set. Both coaches decided to call the court as it didn’t factor in the team score or state advancement.

“They have a good ability to stay calm and even keel,” said Goshen head coach Dan Love of his team’s dealings with the adversity this week. “This happened in the second round of the conference tournament at Concord. We got on, played a little bit, and got pulled off. Got on, pulled off. It happened yesterday, obviously it happened again today. So we’d been through it a couple times. It’s not new. That helps you respond to it.”

NorthWood, with its third straight and fifth overall sectional title, will advance to the Elkhart Central Regional, where it will take on Angola in the semi-finals Tuesday at 5 p.m. Concord will meet either Lakeland or Westview – which play Saturday morning – in the other semi-final. Schwartz is eager to get her team back at a chance for a first regional title.

Noted Schwartz, “This is postseason. Just because you won, maybe you won easy before, it’s not going to be easy this time because everyone wants to continue to keep playing. They don’t want to stop. They don’t want their season to be over.”

Riley Graber discusses a point with Goshen during the one doubles match Friday afternoon.