CULVER – Valuable experience.

That’s what the Warsaw girls tennis team should take away from Saturday’s semistate loss according to their coach.

No. 4 South Bend St. Joseph proved worthy of its lofty ranking in blanking the Tigers 5-0 in the Culver Academies Semistat at the Gable Tennis Complex.

The Indians, sporting a veteran lineup with plenty of postseason experience, were simply too much for the youthful Warsaw lineup to deal with.

St. Joe improves to 17-2 and claims its first semistate title since 2011 and fifth overall. The Indians advance to play No. 10 Center Grove (17-3) in the quarterfinal match of the State Finals at 3 p.m. on June 3 at Center Grove High School in Greenwood. It will be St. Joe’s first trip to State since back-to-back appearances in 2010 and 2011. The Indians claimed a state title in 2010.

Warsaw closes out its season at 12-6.

“Getting experience,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban about what his young team should take from a loss to the Indians. “We have a very young team. It’s great to play these type of matches. You learn from it and you see what it takes to get better. We’ll talk about it on the ride back home today.

“I’m happy with how we played today. We knew it was going to be an extremely tough match. St. Joe is an outstanding team and one of the favorites to win State this year. We knew that coming in. The final score may not show it, but there were a lot of close games out there today.

“Our girls had a great postseason. It was huge for this team to win the regional here on Wednesday night. That was a huge step forward for them mentally to have that belief and confidence that they showed. The mental game makes all the difference in this sports. I’m happy and thrilled with what they did.”

St. Joe, which lost 5-0 to Carmel in the semistate a year ago, looked like a team on a mission Saturday. The Indians returned six of their seven players from last year’s team that finished at 22-3. Carmel, which beat Munster 5-0 in the other semistate match Saturday at Culver Academies, won its third straight state title in 2015.

The Indians got going fast and furious on every court, led by Maddie Yergler at No. 1 singles. The sensational sophomore, who was the MVP of the Northern Indiana Conference this Spring, beat sophomore Liza Lewis 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour.

St. Joe quickly clinched the win as moments after Yergler walked off her court, both of its doubles teams posted victories. The No. 1 pair of junior Talle Corrigan and senior Cecilia Pekarek were first with a 6-0, 6-1 win over junior Athena Schlitt and freshman Rachel Boyle. The No. 2 doubles duo of senior Mary Lyon and freshman Nicole Pascual made it 3-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win over senior Rosie Fleming and sophomore Grace Miller.

Boyle, who had played No. 1 singles on the junior varsity most of the season, was called on to replace sophomore Hannah Rice in the Warsaw doubles lineup. Rice was unable to play after suffering a calf injury in the regional final on Wednesday night. Boyle had played in just one varsity match all season, that one being at No. 2 doubles.

The Warsaw duo of sophomore singles players Colette Smith and Ella Knight put up the longest efforts. Smith, who was the hero of the 3-2 regional title match win over conference final Plymouth Wednesday night with her four-hour win, lost 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles to senior Mary Mullaney. Senior Maria Anthony completed the shutout as she topped Knight 6-0, 6-1.

St. Joe, which beat power Penn and LaPorte to win the LaPorte Regional title, has lost just to Indianapolis Cathedral and to a team from Kentucky this season.

“It was unfortunate that Hannah could not play today, but it was great for Rachel to gain this experience,” Orban said. “She never backed down out there today and I’m proud of her.”

Orban, whose team won its 16th straight sectional title this year before winning the program’s first regional crown since 2005, says offseason work is the key for this team to take it to the next level come 2017.

“The girls have to really focus in the offseason and bond as a group,” said Orban. “It’s extremely important for them to play in USTA Tournaments. It’s going to take a big commitment on their part, but we have already talked about it. If they are willing to do that, this team could be extremely good come next season.”