Caleb Ray will look to help his Warsaw tennis team win its own sectional this week (File photos by Mike Deak)

There’s no denying that Warsaw is the prohibitive favorite to win their own boys tennis sectional this week.

There’s also no denying that the Tigers would love to get another shot at conference rival Plymouth in the regional next week.

There’s also no denying that Warsaw coach Rick Orban just wants to talk about first things first right now.

“Our mindset going in has to be on us playing good tennis,” said Orban in a phone interview Monday night after the sectional pairings were drawn. “If we do that, we will win.”

The host Tigers are slated to meet Tippecanoe Valley on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Wawasee plays Whitko on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., with the winner of that match then playing Columbia City, also on Wednesday. Columbia City just has a pair of singles players and one doubles team entered in the sectional.

The championship match at WCHS is scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Warsaw, which has won the last two sectional titles, is 7-6. The Tigers did not play Valley during the regular season, but did top Northern Lakes Conference foe Wawasee 5-0 on Sept. 16.

“We just need to keep our heads, play smart and play with focus,” Orban said. “We will be working on some things during the sectional matches.”

Warsaw just finished second on Saturday in the NLC Tourney. Plymouth, which beat Warsaw 4-1 head-to-head earlier this season en route to winning the league regular season title at 7-0, won the NLC tourney with champions at four of the five positions. The Pilgrims beat Warsaw head-to-head on Saturday at the league tourney finals at three positions.

The winner of the Warsaw Sectional will meet the winner of the Bremen Sectional in the Culver Academies Regional semifinal on Oct. 7. Plymouth, which lost to Warsaw in the regional final in 2013, has won 17 sectional titles in a row.

Orban, whose team lost to Penn in the semi state last season, liked what he saw when his team returned to practice Monday.

“I was real pleased with practice today,” remarked Orban. “We had a great practice. The guys came out and went after it hard. They had good attitudes and there were no heads down from Saturday. The guys wanted to practice longer than I had planned and that’s a good thing.”

Wawasee stands at 3-12 on the season going into the postseason. The Warriors beat Whitko 5-0 on Sept. 2 in Syracuse.

The Warsaw Sectional winner plays Bremen Sectional winner in the Culver Academies Regional on Oct. 7. The other regional semifinal bracket has the Peru Sectional winner versus the Culver Academies Sectional winner. The regional final is set for Oct. 8.

Plymouth should have no problem making it 18 in a row. The Pilgrims face LaVille on Thursday in a semifinal at Bremen.

The Bremen Sectional opens Wednesday with Triton facing John Glenn. The winner of that match plays host Bremen in one semifinal on Thursday.

The championship match at Bremen is scheduled for Friday.

Nate Haines will compete at No. 1 doubles for Wawasee at the sectional.