NAPPANEE – It has been a tough go in the Northern Lakes Conference for the Wawasee boys tennis team. That is, until Monday night.

After losing its first five NLC matches, Wawasee earned a 3-2 win at NorthWood, but had to work for it.

Wawasee claimed wins at one and three singles, with Kyler Love going love and three over Mitchell Keiser while Cal Heinisch trumped Ryan Menzie four and three. The clincher came at two doubles, where Jake Hutchinson and Doug Hapner joined forces again for their first conference doubles win, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, against Devyn Manges and Nick Meyers. Hapner joined the court after missing a couple weeks with a foot injury.

NorthWood earned wins at two singles, with Luke Stump taking a 6-1, 6-4 result over Todd Hauser. Austin Stillson and Caleb Yoder came together for a 6-4, 6-2 one doubles win versus Chase Myers and Dylan Houser.

NorthWood won six of the nine JV courts. Taking victories for Wawasee were Luke Smith at 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Evan Nix; Nate Haines and Trevor Haessig 8-6 on Nate Nunemaker and Spencer Abel; and Kevin Carpenter and Nathan Perek scored an 8-1 final on Zach Snider and Chandler Gilliam.

Wawasee (7-7, 1-5 NLC) will play Elkhart Memorial Tuesday in a makeup from last week to wrap up NLC play. All eight of the conference teams will open the NLC tournament Wednesday at Plymouth, continue with second round matches Thursday in Plymouth, then conclude winner’s and loser’s brackets Saturday in Goshen at Goshen Middle School.