PLYMOUTH – Warsaw girls tennis coach Rick Orban knows that he has something special in his freshman class this season.

The performances of the duo of Colette Smith and Ella Knight in the Northern Lakes Conference Tournament proved their coach right.

The fab frosh pair capped three nights of outstanding tennis Friday evening as both claimed NLC championships on the final night of the tournament at Plymouth.

Smith earned the No. 2 singles title for the Tigers, while Knight captured the crown at No. 3 singles.

The pair, in the process, led Warsaw to a second-place finish in the final team standings of the event with 39 points.

Concord won the NLC Tourney with 45 points. Concord, which went 7-0 during the NLC regular season, claims its first outright conference championship since 1979.

Orban, whose team went 6-7 overall and 4-3 in the NLC against a brutal regular-season schedule, was one very pleased with the work of his entire team.

“Our schedule this season was brutal and I kept telling the girls that they were fine,” said Orban in a phone interview Saturday morning. “I kept changing our lineup because of our schedule and that we have so many freshman (four) in our lineup.

“The thing is that our girls have a lot of confidence and belief right now. All of them embraced the NLC Tournament and what we could do in it. They were focused and went out and performed.”

Smith defeated junior Taylor Freedline of Elkhart Memorial 6-1, 6-4 Friday night in the finale at No. 2. Smith, who had beaten top seed Alana Brubaker of Concord in three sets in the semifinals Thursday night, was the fourth seed.

Knight beat junior Chase Kieper of Northridge in her finals match at No. 3 singles, also 6-1, 6-4. Knight was the No. 4 seed and Kieper the No. 2. Knight had also knocked off a top seed in her semifinal match Thursday, beat Plymouth senior Jess Stillson in straight sets.

“All season prepped for this,” stated Orban, who moved Smith and Knight to their current position late in the season. “Colette just played strong, played her game and keept her focus. She did a phenomenal job. I’m so proud of her.

“Ella just played incredible tennis. She played very smart and consistent all three nights. She has huge power, but has developed into a very smart player too. She turned it around about 2 1/2 weeks ago.

“The good thing is that both of them believe they will win when they step on the court. It’s pretty impressive to have two freshman win NLC championships. I’ve had a lot of very good players in my 15 years here, but I think that I’ve only had two girls be All-NLC all four years. These two now have a chance to do that.”

The No. 2 doubles team of senior Sydney Hartman and sophomore Athena Schlitt finished in fourth place.

Freshman Liza Lewis captured fifth place at No. 1 singles. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Camille Kerlin and freshman Hannah Rice placed fifth.

Senior Jenna Landis of Concord defeated sophomore Krystal Grubb of Elkhart Memorial 7-5, 6-1 to win the No. 1 singles title Friday night. The Memorial No. 1 doubles team of seniors Corinn Whittaker and Taelor Grose topped seniors Libbie Portteus and Haley Harrell of Plymouth 6-0, 6-2 for the title. The Concord duo of senior Alexa Klopfenstein and junior Shannon Purcell beat senior Kendal Dreibelbis and freshman McKenzie Scheetz of Plymouth 6-4, 7-6 for the No. 2 doubles championship.

Wawasee placed eighth at all five positions. The trio of seniors Jada Antonides, Nealy Thanasrivanitchai and Chelsea Carolus were eighth at singles. The duo of junior Charity Parker and senior Ashley Larson was eighth at No. 1 doubles and the team of junior Jaclyn Gehlhuasen and freshman Kabrea Rostochak eighth at No. 2 doubles for the Warriors.

Concord won the NLC Tourney with 45 points. Warsaw was second with 39, followed by Elkhart Memorial (38), Plymouth (33), Northridge (32), NorthWood (21), Goshen (13) and Wawasee (0).

The Minutemen also took the regular season title at 7-0. Memorial and Plymouth each went 5-2, with Warsaw and Northridge at 4-3, NorthWood at 2-5, Goshen at 1-6 and Wawasee at 0-7.

The final NLC standings had Concord as champion with Memorial as runner-up. Warsaw and Plymouth tied for third place, followed by Northridge, NorthWood, Goshen and Wawasee.

Warsaw and Wawasee will both compete in the five-team Warsaw Sectional, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. Pairings for the sectional, which Warsaw has won the last 14 years, will be drawn on Monday.