Warsaw’s Chris Herendeen follows through on a serve Thursday night against Penn. (Photos by Mike Deak)

Kingsmen Slow Down Warsaw

After a splendid start to its tennis calendar with a pair of road wins, Warsaw ran into a road block at home Thursday in a 5-0 loss to Penn.

Warsaw’s Colton Lind gestures after scoring a point in the one doubles matchup against Penn.

Warsaw’s one doubles tandem of Chris Herendeen and Colton Lind gave opponents Thomas Gifford and Tim Porsche all they could handle. But the Kingsmen duo wouldn’t be denied in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 final to cap the Penn shutout.

Penn was impressive at two doubles, where Tyler Styles and Edward Atkinson handed Warsaw’s Hudson Snyder and Andrew Gauger their first loss of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 final.

Penn’s singles courts were very solid. Stuart Freely got stronger in a two and love final against Justin Stout at one singles. One court over, Mason Lee shut out David Homme love and love and at three, AJ Antonelli took down Ryan Wettschurack two and four.

“I kind of expected the start we had, but am a little surprised at some of the strides we have already made,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Orban. “Penn is a quality team and they a lot of talent. You always want to see how you can stack up with a team that is always playing at a state level. I think we’ll know where we stand based off this performance.”

The match, which got started over 90 minutes late, featured 12 JV courts. Penn took eight of them to Warsaw’s four.

#1S: Chris Pollyea (P) def. Spencer Britton (W) 8-4
#2S: Siddarth Das (P) def. Nolan Knight (W) 8-2
#3S: Will Gruber (P) def. Reuben Williams (W) 8-3
#1D: Owen Klempee & Jack Spalding (P) def. Keeton Bartol & Hayden Steger (W) 8-6
#2D: Nick Cassetti & Eric Spaargaren (P) def. Nick Marsh & Ethan Hoff (W) 8-1
#3D: Jewon Oh & Peter Rutkowski (P) def. Kyler Bartol & Diego Miguel (W) 6-3
#4D: Bryce Pequignot & Darrin Knisley (W) def. Andrew Spalding & Will Thibeut (P)  6-0
#5D: Evan Light & Drew Brady (P) def. Jacob Grimm & Eric Baumgartner (W) 6-4
#6D: Ben Lodon & Josh Zhen (P) def. Jarod Barber & Bailey Buhrt (W) 6-4
#7D: Grant Wolfe & Tanner Lockridge (W) def. Ryan Light & Michael Riley (P) 8-5
#8 D: Dawson Vilamaa & Jarett Orr (W) def. Ibrahim Hawk & Baker Nasser (P) 7-5
#9D: Noah Hutton & Bryce Pequignot (W) def. Derrick George & Ryan Ping (P) 6-0

The Tigers are 2-1 on the season and will be back in action Monday when the team travels to Mishawaka Marian.

Golfers Pick Up Another Win

Warsaw continues to improve as the season rapidly progresses. Shooting a season-best 192 Thursday afternoon, Warsaw defeated host Wabash and Tippecanoe Valley at Honeywell Golf Course. Wabash did not have a fourth score to report a full team score while Valley shot 236.

Madi Graham again led the charge for Warsaw with a 45, followed by a pair of 48s from Page Desenberg and Delaney Wihebrink. Both the 48s were season-best totals for the two girls. Morgen Fuentes turned in a 51 and Madelyn Ray completed the varsity scores with a 61.

Tippecanoe Valley had Liz VanMeter post its top score with a 48. Victoria Biddle shot a 55, with Makayla Sandbakken at 61, Lexy Cumerland at 72 and Jade VanMeter at 73.

Wabash had just three golfers and had Abi Hobson shoot 61, Vali Reed at 62 and Kylie Carmichael at 70.

Warsaw will host the Warsaw Invitational this Saturday at Stonehenge. Competing at the Invite are six teams, the first group of three are Bellmont, West Noble and Southwood, all teeing off starting at 1 p.m. The last trio are Homestead, Canterbury and Warsaw, starting tees at 1:40 p.m.

Warsaw Sweeps Huntington North

Warsaw added a second impressive win to its mantle Thursday as the team swept past Huntington North at the Tiger Den by a count of 25-18, 25-20, 25-17.

Caroline Mayer and Cassie Hoag had huge games for Warsaw, with Mayer slamming home 11 kills and added 10 digs while Hoag had 25 assists, 10 digs and four aces.

Peyton Adamiec led the defense with 14 digs and added four aces. Jordyn Lindeman picked up six kills and added a pair of blocks at the net.

The junior varsity also swept the visitors while the freshman team capped the winning ways with a straight against Huntington.

The JV won 25-18, 25-7 and were led by 14 digs from Raina Armey, seven kills from Nikki Parrett, 12 assists from Alicia Sikora and four aces from Katie Swanson.

The freshman results were not immediately reported.

Warsaw will play in Saturday’s Lafayette Jefferson Invitational.

Valley No Match For Warsaw JV

In a matchup of neighboring rivals with differing agendas, Warsaw visited Tippecanoe Valley Thursday for a soccer matchup. Yes, a soccer matchup.

Valley, which is starting its IHSAA campaign in 2016, is playing as a club and hosted Warsaw’s JV in preparatory action. The outcome was a 7-0 final in favor of the visiting Tigers.

Warsaw had two goals apiece from Payne Rager and Alvaro Aguillon and a goal each from Dominic Smith, Mark McQuade and Zach Chilcutt.