Wawasee senior Kyler Love won at No. 1 singles Thursday in the NLC Tournament at Plymouth (File photos by Mike Deak)

PLYMOUTH – The Warsaw boys tennis team will face a big challenge on Saturday in its bid to repeat as conference tournament champions.

The Tigers went 2-3 on Thursday during the second day of the Northern Lakes Conference tourney at Plymouth.

Warsaw, which was 5-0 in Wednesday’s first round of play, tied Concord and Plymouth at 6-1 for the regular-season bragging rights in the league.

Senior Evan Miller continued his dominating display of tennis Thursday to pace the Tigers. Miller rolled past Luke Rush of Goshen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Miller, the top seed, will face Jared Searer of Concord in the title match Saturday.

The Warsaw No. 2 doubles team of juniors Caleb Ray and Nic Jansen also earned the right to play for a championship. The duo beat Goshen 6-4, 6-0 Thursday. Ray, who just returned on Wednesday from a wrist injury, and Jansen will take on the Plymouth team of Brayden Davidson and Ryan Johnson for the NLC title.

Concord, which handed Warsaw a 3-2 loss Monday in the NLC regular-season finale, was a pain in the Tigers’ tail Thursday too.

Nick Pollock of the Minutemen defeated junior Sam Rice 6-0, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.  Bernardo Cardario of Concord topped senior Kyle Wettschurack 6-2, 6-4.  Pollock and Cardario each won over Rice and Wettschurack in straight sets on Monday too.

Seniors Nikos Schlitt and Will Petro also dropped a straight set decision at No. 1 doubles for Warsaw Thursday, losing to Plymouth.

Concord has all three of its’ singles players in the finals Saturday and the Pilgrims have both of their doubles teams.

The news for Wawasee on Thursday was much better than day one. The Warriors, who went 0-5 on Wednesday, bounced back impressively.

Wawasee got wins Thursday from all three of its’ singles players in loser’s bracket play.

Kyler Love won 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to lead the way for the Warriors.  Todd Hauser rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles and Luke Smith completed the wins with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 victory at No. 3.

In doubles action, Dylan Houser and Chase Myers lost in three sets at No. 1 for Wawasee. The No. 2 team of Jake Hutchinson and Doug Hapner fell in straight sets for the Warriors.

The NLC tourney finals will be contested Saturday at Goshen Middle School. Play is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Wawasee’s Todd Hauser collected a win Thursday at No. 2 singles in the NLC Tournament in Plymouth.