Senior Colton Lind, who plays No. 1 singles, will be a key for Warsaw in tennis sectional play later this week. The Tigers will shoot for a sixth straight sectional championship at home.

The Warsaw boys tennis team will head into postseason play this week in both familiar and unfamiliar territory.

The host Tigers will once again be the heavy favorites to win their own sectional championship.

Warsaw, though, will be without their leader this time around as longtime coach Rick Orban is still recovering after spending more than a week in the hospital recently due to an illness.

The Tigers will face conference and county rival Wawasee in the opening match of their five-team sectional.

The pairings for the 51st annual state tournament series were made Monday night in Indianapolis by the IHSAA. There are a total of 297 schools entered in postseason play this year, which begins at 64 sectional sites across the state Wednesday.

Sectional title matches are slated for either Friday or Saturday. Regionals are Oct. 3-4 with semistates Oct. 7 and the State Finals Oct. 13-14.

Warsaw, which has won five sectional titles in a row and 29 total, faces the Warriors to open tourney play. Warsaw beat Wawasee 5-0 on Sept. 12 in their NLC match in Syracuse. The Tigers went 6-6 overall during the regular season and 4-3 in NLC play.

First-year assistant coach Joe Brenneman will be in charge of the Tigers in the postseason. Orban was forced to leave  his team’s match versus NorthWood early on  Sept. 14 due to his illness. He is now recovering at home after being recently released from a Fort Wayne hospital.

Columbia City is the last team, other than Warsaw, to win the sectional title at WCHS. The Eagles won the program’s lone sectional championship in 2011. Wawasee has six sectional titles overall, with the last coming in 2010. Valley and Whitko have never won a sectional title.

NorthWood will have the long road to try and claim a sectional title at Goshen. The Panthers, whose last sectional championship came in 2007, will play Jimtown in a first-round match at Goshen Middle School. The winner of that match then faces host Goshen in one semifinal matchup. NorthWood lost a 3-2 final to Jimtown in their season opener back on August 15.

The Panthers, who had a strong showing in the NLC as they went 6-1, have played all of their matches on the road this season due to construction on their courts in Nappanee. NorthWood finished in second place with champions at both doubles positions in the NLC Tournament, which finished on Saturday.

NorthWood, directed by NLC Coach of the Year Tif Schwartz, finished 11-4 with a 5-0 win over West Noble Monday night its regular-season finale.

Triton received the bye in the five-team sectional field at Bremen. The Trojans will face the winner of the Bremen-LaVille match in one semifinal.

Plymouth is once again the overwhelming favorite at Bremen. The Pilgrims have won 20 straight sectional titles, the sixth longest current streak in the state.

The Warsaw Sectional winner advances to the Culver Academy Regional to face the Peru Sectional champion in a semifinal. The other bracket pits the Bremen Sectional champ versus the CMA Sectional winner.

The Goshen Sectional champion will play in the Concord Regional versus the winner of the East Noble Sectional. The other semifinal at Concord has the Concord Sectional winner versus the DeKalb Sectional champion.

The winner of the Culver Academy Regional returns to CMA for the semistate to play the winner of the Portage Regional. The other semifinal bracket pits the Munster Regional winner versus the Kokomo Regional champion.

The winner of the Concord Regional advances to the Homestead Semistate to face the winner of the Indianapolis North Central Regional. The other semifinal will have the Carroll Regional winner versus the Marion Regional champion.

Sectional Pairings

At Warsaw

Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. – Warsaw vs. Wawasee
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Whitko vs. Columbia City
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Tippecanoe Valley vs. Warsaw-Wawasee winner
Saturday 9 a.m. – Championship

At Goshen

Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. – Jimtown vs. NorthWood
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Fairfield vs. Bethany Christian
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Goshen vs. Jimtown-NorthWood winner
Friday, 4:30 p.m. – Championship

At Bremen

Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. – Bremen vs. LaVille
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Glenn vs. Plymouth
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Triton vs. Bremen-LaVille winner
Friday, 4:30 p.m. – Championship