SYRACUSE – On any given night, said Warsaw tennis coach Rick Orban, any team can win. In terms of sectional play over the last decade, however, no team has been able to knock off Orban's Lady Tigers. With a 5-0 win over rival Wawasee Thursday evening, Warsaw won its 11th-consecutive championship and 21st overall. "On any given night, any team can win," said Orban, now in his 11th season with the Warsaw girls tennis program. "The key is being focused, and the girls were really focused tonight. We talked briefly about Tuesday night's match, and then we talked about tonight being a new night and a new team." It was the same old result, though, for a program that hasn't lost a sectional match since its current players were in elementary school. "We're playing our best tennis of the year," said Orban, whose team opened tournament play at Wawasee High School the night before with a quick 5-0 win over Tippecanoe Valley. "We lost at CGA the other night, so this was our third night in a row on the road. That gets old, being on the big yellow bus night after night, but I'm very proud of the girls for being focused and playing the way they did." The Lady Tigers are now 10-5 on the season and will play the winner of the Goshen Sectional in Tuesday's regional semifinal at Northridge. Fairfield and Goshen will square off in the sectional final today at Goshen. The host Lady Warriors, the last team to beat Warsaw in sectional play back in 2000, ended their season with a 5-11 record. "Warsaw is the better team, and we knew that," said Wawasee coach Roger Brady. "They were the better team, but I felt like we competed." In the only match of the evening to go to a third set, Warsaw's No. 2 doubles team of Marley Smith and Olivia Wallin defeated Morgan Geer and Mia Hauser 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. In No. 1 singles action, Alli Tucker beat Kalyn McDaniel 6-0, 6-0; Sarah Hartle topped Katie Allen 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles; and Elise Smith beat Charlotte Searfoss 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 3 singles match. In the No. 1 doubles match, Warsaw's Lindsay Sciarra and Carlye Bishopp defeated Haley Windle and Lauren Erb 6-0, 6-0. "We've had the better team in probably seven of those 11 years," Orban said of his team's sectional championship streak. "We haven't had a close call in a couple of years, though. The girls take a lot of pride in their team and school. I'm very proud of them."
