Athena Schlitt prepares for a return for Warsaw Tuesday night at Elkhart Memorial.

ELKHART – Rick Orban decided to do some serious shuffling with his lineup Tuesday night.

In the end, the Warsaw girls tennis coach found himself a winning hand.

The Tigers got a clutch comeback from its No. 2 doubles team of Athena Schlitt and Grace Miller to edge past Elkhart Memorial 3-2 in Northern Lakes Conference play.

Schlitt, a junior, and Miller, a sophomore, were the heroes on a chilly night that saw Warsaw claim the win thanks in large part to a pair of three-set wins by its doubles teams.

Orban opted to mix and match things big time Tuesday after seeing his team lose 4-1 at Carroll on Monday night. He only had two players in the same positions versus the host Crimson Chargers for the league match, that being Ella Knight at No. 2 singles and Miller at No. 2 doubles.

Schliit and Miller quickly fell behind 3-0 in the third set after dropping the second set by an 8-6 count in a tiebreaker. The pair did not panic though and won six of the final seven games, including the final three for the thrilling comeback victory of 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 over sophomore Layla Jojo and junior Molly McCollough. Schlitt, who was paired with Colette Smith at No. 1 doubles on Monday night, served out the final game in the match that took 2:40 to complete.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Schlitt moments after finishing off the win for the deciding point. “We knew that we needed to pull together out there down 3-0. We just started thinking about what we needed to do to win and we played smarter. It was really important to get the win for us and to help the team in the NLC.”

Orban, whose team improves to 4-4 overall and goes to 2-1 in NLC play, was pleased to see both his doubles teams win with the new lineups each sported.

“This one was huge for us,” remarked Orban. “With these four players together for the first time at doubles it bodes well for us. I’m pretty pleased. They stayed positive.

“I’m real pleased with how Athena and Grace came back. Down 3-0, how many kids would have folded there. They played extremely smart and went for it. I told them down 3-0 to go for returns, serve aggressive and play their game. I’m thrilled with the way they came back.”

Hannah Rice won at No. 3 singles for Warsaw.

The Tigers got their first point of the night from Hannah Rice. The sophomore, playing singles for the first time this season, topped junior Maggie Dickerson at No. 3 singles 6-4, 6-1. Warsaw then evened the match at 2-2 when sophomore Liza Lewis and senior Rosie Fleming defeated sophomore Hannah Hakim and junior Mackenzie Williams  6-0, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles.

“The thing is that I have seven healthy kids now and have more options with the lineup,” noted Orban. “Rosie had played No. 1 doubles last year, Athena had played No. 2 and Hannah had played singles. We will work on some things in practice Wednesday and see what we do for Thursday (versus Wawasee).

“I thought that Liza played very well tonight at No. 1 doubles. I thought that Lettie (Colette Smith) played well at No. 1. Krystal (Grubb) is just a really strong No. 1 player for Memorial.”

Memorial, which drops to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in league action, got a pair of singles wins. Star junior Krystal Grubb, who sports Division I talent, defeated sophomore Colette Smith 6-0, 6-1 at, No. 1 singles. Taylor Freedline, the lone senior in Memorial’s lineup, topped sophomore Ella Knight 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Freedline, who will play at Bethel College next season, had been sidelined since the Warsaw Invitational on April 16 due to a leg injury.

Warsaw won seven of the eight junior varsity matches. Winning for the JV Tigers were Libby Jenkins, Amy Herendeen,  Sophia Parke and Regan Merchant in singles play. Also victorious were the doubles teams of Chelsey Farling and Jenn Katris, Julie Frazetta and Greer Smith and Maddie Ray and Izzy Ray.

Grace Miller reaches for a serve.

Warsaw hosts Wawasee in NLC action Thursday. Memorial hosts Mishawaka Wednesday and entertains NLC foe Plymouth Thursday.