The Warsaw girls tennis team is all smiles Friday after beating Columbia City 4-1 to win their own sectional championship.
WARSAW – The hardware will stay right at home once again for the Warsaw girls tennis program.
The Tigers struck a familiar pose, that of sectional champions, on their home courts Friday evening.
Warsaw’s stellar senior class made sure a tradition of sectional success was going to carry on in a big way.
The sensational senior singles trio of Jacqueline Sasso, Sarah Boyle and Rachel Alexander made it as easy as 1-2-3 for the champion hosts.
Senior Rachel Alexander won at No. 3 singles for the Tigers.
The Tiger threesome all had dominating singles wins as Warsaw topped Columbia City 4-1.
Warsaw has now won 24 sectional titles in program history, including an impressive streak of 14 in a row.
The Tigers will take a 7-8 record into the Culver Academies Regional Tuesday. Warsaw will face Peru in one semifinal, while host Culver Academies (15-4) takes on Bremen in the other. The winners meet on Wednesday to play for the regional championship and a spot in the South Bend St. Joseph Semistate on May 31.
Peru edged past Wabash 3-2 Friday to claim its own sectional title.
Warsaw lost 3-2 to Plymouth and Peru was defeated 4-1 by Culver Academies in regional semifinal action a year ago. Culver Academies then beat Plymouth 3-2 in the final before losing 5-0 to Penn in the semi state.
Anna Hall follows her serve for Warsaw in doubles action.
“I’m thrilled with the girls and thrilled with a 4-1 victory,” said Warsaw coach Rick Orban. “To win 14 in a row is exciting. I’m extremely proud of this team. Columbia City is a good team.”
Warsaw, which beat the Eagles 3-2 in the season opener at Warsaw back on April 17 by winning all three singles matches in straight sets, left no doubt Friday.
Sasso got the hosts going by blanking junior Rachel Flauding 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Sasso set the tone by walking off her court in just over 40 minutes.
Boyle, who was playing No. 1 in the first match versus the Eagles, was right behind Sasso. She defeated junior Aubrey Ward 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 and exited her court just three minutes after Sasso.
Alexander, the steady southpaw, clinched the win as she topped junior Katie Doehrmann 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3.
“Our dominant courts all year have been at 1,2 and 3 singles and that was the case again tonight,” Orban said. “They were dominant. They are so solid. All three of them just played their game again tonight and never wavered.”
The trio of Sasso, Boyle and Alexander lost a total of just three games Thursday in Warsaw’s 5-0 semifinal win over Tippecanoe Valley.
Camille Kerlin prepares to serve for Warsaw.
Columbia City got its point from its outstanding No. 1 doubles team of senior Sydney Ford and junior Macie Hinen. The Eagle duo defeated senior Anna Hall and junior Camille Kerlin 6-0, 6-3. Ford and Hinen are now 19-1 on the season.
The sectional finale then turned into a marathon. Warsaw’s No. 2 doubles team of senior Abbi Baum and freshman Athena Schlitt outlasted juniors Cassie Bosselman and Bayley Smith 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) in a match lasting nearly 2 1/2 hours.
“I’m really proud of Abbi and Athena,” said Orban. “They have just improved match after match. The dominated the first set and then got nervous in the second. I never doubted them in the third. They were down a break, but I knew they would come back and win the tiebreaker.
“I was happy with how Camille and Anna came back in their second set. The Columbia City No. 1 team is extremely good.”
“The sectional played out the way I hoped it would. You never know. Any team can win on any given night. We have more seniors (five) in our lineup, but this is probably one of our most inexperienced teams. Really only Jacqueline and Sarah played varsity for us last year.
“These girls play to win. I’ve watched them improve the last four weeks. Now our job is to show up at Culver Tuesday and beat whoever we play in the regional.”
Sarah Boyle reaches for a return for sectional champion Warsaw Friday.