[weaver_youtube FxyB0aelLws rel=0]

WARSAW – There would not be any spoiler alerts Thursday night at the Warsaw Boys Tennis Sectional.

Despite a fight from Wawasee’s one doubles team and Kyler Love at one singles, the talented Warsaw Tigers were able to hold court in a 5-0 win in the sectional semi-finals.

The night began with a one-hour delay due to heavy rains in Warsaw during the day. Once the courts dried, Warsaw wasted very little time, in a couple cases less than 45 minutes, to put away matches as it begins its march through the postseason.

Evan Miller, fresh off his Northern Lakes Conference title at three singles, mirrored his quick win Wednesday night over Whitko in the opening round of the sectional with another lightning-quick win Thursday. As one of the courts done in a hurry, Miller stayed true to his plan of consistent baseline shots and kept his serves in play during a 6-0, 6-0 win over Luke Smith.

Kyle Wettschurack was equal to the task at two singles, overpowering Todd Hauser in a 6-0, 6-0 final. Wettschurack looked very polished on his return volleys and kept the mistakes low while Hauser steadily wore down, making unforced errors his ace of spades.

The two doubles team of Caleb Ray and Nic Jansen, also NLC champions, were quick on the draw, not finding much trouble in taking down Jake Hutchinson and Doug Hapner 6-0, 6-1. Ray continued to get stronger coming off the wrist injury that sidelined him for a portion of the season while communication with Jansen allowed for smooth play on a few lengthy volleys.

“The conversation tomorrow will be all about focus, staying focused on what we need to do if we want to play next week in the regional,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Orban. “We know we will be favored, prohibitive favorites, but we have to also get ready for next week. And that is what we should do, use the match to get ready for next week. The rest should take care of itself.”

While Warsaw’s ticket was punched rather quickly, sealing a date with Tippecanoe Valley in Friday’s championship round, there was much to be determined as the sun began the fade behind the western horizon.

The Warsaw one doubles team of Nikos Schlitt and Will Petro needed to work harder than they wanted to against Wawasee’s Dylan Houser and Chase Myers. Scurrying out to a 6-1 win in the first set, it looked as though the Tiger tandem would join their teammates on the benches outside the cage in short order. Until the Wawasee pair turned up the heat.

Houser, along with Myers as seniors in their potential final match, started finding space in the Warsaw frontcourt and stole several points. All of a sudden, Wawasee had cut the second set score to 3-2. But, the Tiger defense tightened and the momentum swung back to Warsaw and a closeout at 6-2 to keep the automatic bids alive to advance in the state tournament as a team regardless of Warsaw’s team fate.

The final court of the night saw an instant classic at one singles between Tiger Sam Rice and Warrior Kyler Love. Rice, who looked shaky in the first set despite a 6-4 win, knew he was playing for pride and some momentum after losing Wednesday to Whitko’s Tyler Baugher, ending his shot at a run as an individual.

Love, who could still move in the state tournament with a win given Wawasee’s team fate had already been decided, gave it a go. And put together a big second set that had the entire crowd glued to the bobbing flight of the ball on each point.

Love fought and clawed his way to a 5-4 lead, while Rice was once again serving to save face. And respond Rice did. Using his power serve and big forehands as he did all night, Rice found some holes in Love’s defense to pick up the next game, then sat back as Love double faulted and had a pair of unforced errors to give Rice a 6-5 lead. Love would respond to win the next game, but Rice dug deep to win the tiebreaker 8-6 and stand relieved at the net a 7-6 winner. As the two slapped fives at the net, the look of relief cascaded over Rices face.

“Yesterday was just a tough match. Tyler (Baugher) and Kyler, I have played with both of them all summer and I knew both matches were going to be really tough,” Rice said, drenched in sweat post match. “Last night, Tyler just wanted it more. He deserved it, great match for him. I knew last night I didn’t play my game and I needed to come in tonight and play my game. I tried to take control and Kyler really gave me a great match. I was just able to get a few shots to drop late.”

Warsaw (11-5) will host Tippecanoe Valley (7-12) at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Tiger tennis courts. If rain should intervene, the match may be moved to the Warsaw Racquet Club on SR 15, north of Warsaw. The conditions will be assessed close to match time as to the final decision of location.

Wawasee, on the other hand, completes its season 8-8 overall and will take a positive outlook into the 2014 season.

“I was proud of out kids, that was the best match Kyler has played all season.” said Wawasee head coach Vince Rhodes. “He knew this could be his last night, and he went out and gave his all. He did really well. We talked all week that Warsaw would come at us hard. We needed to just focus, play each shot. That helped some of our kids, others did not respond so well.”