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WARSAW – It was a short day at the office Tuesday for the Warsaw tennis team.
The Tigers celebrated their senior class as well as celebrated a victory over rival Wawasee. Warsaw wasted little time in sweeping its Northern Lakes Conference foe, winning 5-0 to move to pick up its third conference win of the season.
“I told them to stay focused on each and every point,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Orban. “Sometimes it’s tough to stay focused. We were the better team out there tonight and when you’re the better team it can be easy to lose focus. Our guys did a good job at staying focused tonight.”
The senior class was exceptional for the Tigers on Tuesday night. It started on the No. 1 singles court and trickled down. Senior Sam Rice controlled the top spot for Warsaw with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Todd Hauser.
One court over Nic Jansen, another senior, used two 6-0 sets to take a match from Wawasee’s Nate Perek. On the No. 3 singles court Caleb Ray made a rare singles appearance and had a great battle with Wawasee’s Cal Heinisch. The evening’s most entertaining varsity match of the evening ended as a 6-1, 6-4 victory for Ray.
On the doubles courts Warsaw continued to find success. Senior Cole Baker and doubles partner Christopher Herendeen claimed a 6-0, 6-1 victory over top Wawasee doubles pair Jake Hutchinson and Nate Haines. The No. 2 doubles contest provided a little more parody as Wawasee’s Brayton Fretz and Leonard Kline pushed Warsaw’s Justin Stout and David Homme in the second set. However, Stout and Homme would come out victorious, 6-0, 6-2.
“I think we’re improving,” said Wawasee head coach Vince Rhodes. “But we still have a lot of stuff to work on, footwork being the big thing right now. We do alright when we run drills but then we get to matches and we start freezing up.
“Warsaw is one of the top team in the NLC and we knew they would be tough, I think that kind of plays mental games with our guys. I really feel our kids can play with a lot of Warsaw’s guys, it’s just about getting them to believe that.”
Wawasee (3-10, 0-5) will host Elkhart Memorial for senior day this coming Thursday while Warsaw (5-5, 3-2) will travel to South Bend St. Joe’s on Wednesday and to NorthWood on Thursday.
Warsaw won the junior varsity contest 7-1 over Wawasee. Chase Jones and Evan Kruger picked up the only win for Wawasee in a 9-8 tiebreaker. Both Warsaw and Wawasee’s JV squads will compete Saturday at Wawasee’s JV Invite.




