WARSAW – It wasn’t a forgone conclusion, but the match had to be played. When the hour clock passed, Warsaw were standing with an expected 5-0 boys tennis win in the Warsaw Boys Tennis Sectional on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at the Warsaw Tennis Complex.

Whitko managed just four games in four of the five courts against a more experienced Warsaw group.

The Tigers shut out the Whitko at No. 2 doubles, where Hudson Snyder and Spencer Britton had no trouble taking care of Bill Stump and Micah Cokl. Britton, who is filling in for an injured Hayden Steger, didn’t show any lapse of talent stepping in. The No. 1 doubles team of David Homme and Justin Stout, reformed as Stout had played on the singles court for part of the season including the Northern Lakes Conference tournament, had no problem in beating Nic Rose or Tim Gensch love and one.

Colton Lind at No. 2 singles put away Cory Hersha in a brisk 45 minutes one and love, while Andrew Gauger at No. 3 wasn’t far behind in time in dispatching Alex Bechtold one and love.

Chris Herendeen, moving back into a singles role for the sectional, had a little bit of a go with Bailey Platt at No. 1 singles. Loaded with double faults, both Herendeen and Platt gave away points but Herendeen overpowered his way to a 6-3 first set. Herendeen’s chop shots in set two, using the wind to his advantage, gave Platt enough of a fit to take the match, 6-2, to clean sweep the Wildcats from the tournament.

“I expected to win, I’m being honest,” stated Warsaw head coach Rick Orban. “Going into it, before the match, I told them we wanted to work on certain things. I told them what I wanted them to work on, what I wanted them to concentrate on. As the match went on, we kind of changed that up a little bit and worked on some different things.”

Whitko, which finishes at 3-15 overall, goes back to the drawing board losing seniors Rose and Stump. Head coach Victoria Cornell, the fifth coach Whitko has had in the last five years, knew it was going to be a mountain for her club.

“Experience is what really makes the difference, especially for us,” Cornell said. “We have a lot of boys, this year is the first time they have picked up a racquet so we just don’t have that experience of playing for years. We have three returners from previous seasons, so it’s been a rebuilding year.”

Warsaw (8-6) will take on Columbia City Thursday afternoon opposite Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee in the sectional semi-finals. Action on all courts begin at 4:30 p.m. The winners will meet Friday in the sectional finals with a 4:30 p.m. start time.