Warsaw and Columbia City advanced to the finals of the Warsaw boys tennis sectional with 5-0 wins Thursday.
The host Tigers beat Tippecanoe Valley and the Eagles downed Whitko.
The No. 3 singles clash between Valley senior Garrett Feldman and Warsaw’s Caleb Williams was the most competitive of the 10 semifinal matches contested, with Williams taking a 7-5, 6-1 win.
“All year Garrett has been really competitive at the 3 singles spot,” Viking coach Nick Kindig said. “He really competes every night, so I wasn’t surprised at all that Garrett was out there giving it his all, competing until the very end of his last match.”
Eight of the remaining nine matches required 13 games or fewer and less than an hour to complete.
Warsaw coach Rick Orban said while he knew his team was more gifted than the Vikings, he wasn’t without concerns going in to the semifinal.
“It’s one and done,” he said. “There isn’t any team that’s showing up here that’s planning on losing. We have to stay focused and concentrate.
“Tippy Valley was outmatched, there’s no doubt about that. But one of the concerns as a coach is, OK, you win the first set 6-0, what’s the score of that second set? Now do you lose focus, do you quit doing what got you to that point?
“I’m pleased with the fact that they focused, they concentrated and they didn’t change their game at all. Matter of fact, they may have upped their games in the second sets. That I was thrilled about.”
Whitko came in with just one win over the course of the season, and the Eagles made quick work of the Wildcats. Only Devon Akers at No. 2 singles won more than one game in his match.
Columbia City coach Chris McGehee said the win Thursday marked the completion of a preseason goal for the Eagles.
“I give my guys a lot of credit, and one of our season goals was to make it to the sectional finals,” he said.
“We know Warsaw is a strong program and we are at the point in our program where priority No. 1 was building the size of our program. We are just trying to get the guys to put the time in. They did their job and did what they needed to do.”
Orban doesn’t normally scout teams, and his mobility remains somewhat limited after his recent bout with pneumonia. But he was impressed with what he saw from Columbia City
“They are solid, they don’t miss and they work the points,” said Orban. “They were consistent throughout. I was listening to the points as they were reported to the desk, and trust me, (Friday) we’ll be talking about that.”
The sectional final will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Warsaw courts. The Tigers will be going for a sixth straight sectional title, while Columbia City will be looking for its second crown. The first came in 2011 with a 3-2 win over the Tigers.
Bremen Sectional
Triton’s tennis season ended at the Bremen Sectional with a 5-0 loss to the host Lions Thursday. Individual match results were not available as of press time.
The Trojans finished their season with a 9-9 record.
Doubles: No. 1 – Jordan Lee & Kendall Smith (CC) def. Bryce Tucker & Kaige Michael 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 – Jackson Lengenbauch & David Kyler (CC) def. Charles French & Nguyen Luu 6-0, 6-0.
