Wawasee’s Cal Heinisch returns volley with John Gerard of Plymouth during the opening round of the Northern Lakes Conference boys tennis tournament Wednesday at Warsaw. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – Round one of the Northern Lakes Conference boys tennis tournament opened with a bang for nearly all of the favorites Wednesday, as all but one of the seeds won at the Warsaw tennis complex.

Every one of the seeded singles and doubles players except the No. 4 Northridge two doubles team won, setting up what should be a wild Saturday of tennis as play will shift to NorthWood for the semi-finals and finals.

Wawasee’s Nate Perek follows through on a shot against Northridge’s Logan Corns.

Concord’s Brandon Fish and Jake Lovette took down Ridge’s Luke Wogoman and Eric Firstenberger 6-4, 7-5 as the only “upset” of the day. Otherwise, it was business as usual for the first day.

Plymouth had its three top seeds all advance to the semis with convincing wins. John Hunter took down Wawasee’s Nate Haines 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 singles while John Gerard used plenty of clever shots to keep Wawasee’s Cal Heinisch off balance in a 6-0, 6-1 final at No. 2 singles.

The Plymouth No. 2 doubles team of Nick Felke and Grant Clady rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over another Wawasee opponent in Evan Krueger and Dylan Staley.

The Pilgrims, conference round robin champs with a 7-0 mark, also had its No. 1 doubles team of Nate Knapp and Braydon Davidson cruise to a 6-0, 6-0 win against yet another Wawasee foe in Cameron Brill and Tim Conley.

The lone Plymouth loss came at No. 3 singles where Concord’s three-seed Nate Slabach bested Tommy Holloway 7-5, 6-3.

Goshen, 6-1 in the NLC round robin this season, have a slight upper hand in the tournament chase with all five of its courts winning. No. 3 singles top seed Hugh Birky ran past NorthWood’s Nate Nunemaker 6-0, 6-1 and Goshen’s No. 1 doubles pair of Logan Troyer and Luke Rush were equally impressive in downing NorthWood’s Brock Beehler and Jared Hoffman 6-1, 6-0.

Hudson Kay beat Brenden Graber of Memorial 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 1 singles, Evan Beck shut out Memorial’s Chris Troyer at No. 2 singles and Redskins No. 2 doubles Jacob Grewe and Giovanni Aguayo rolled one and two against Warsaw’s Hudson Snyder and Hayden Steger.

Warsaw had just two court wins, and those came in singles play. Colton Lind at No. 2 had little trouble beating NorthWood’s Cam Stillson 6-0, 6-2, and Andrew Gauger continued his solid play at No. 3 with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Memorial’s Brandon Bailey.

The Chargers won the matchup against the Tigers at No. 1 doubles, with Jon Bailey and Stephen Tefft taking care of Chris Herendeen and David Homme 6-0, 6-4.

Concord’s Will Boyer won an intense match against Warsaw’s Justin Stout in No. 1 play, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and Ridge’s Logan Corns ran past Nathan Perek 6-1, 6-1 in No. 3 play.

Saturday’s play will begin with back draw matches at 9 a.m., followed by winner’s semis. The championship and back places will conclude the day at NorthWood.

Justin Stout connects with a shot against Concord’s Will Boyer.