Shayla May will look to help her Triton tennis team win the conference tournament title (File photo by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – The Warsaw girls tennis team will look to make its mark in a balanced field in the conference tournament.

The Triton girls tennis team, on the other hand, is a huge favorite to claim its conference event.

Both the Northern Lakes Conference and the Hoosier North Athletic Conference postseason tourneys are set to begin today. The three-day NLC event begins at Warsaw, with round two Thursday at Plymouth before the final round returns to Warsaw on Friday. The HNAC tourney will be held today and tomorrow at Knox.

The Tigers will look to try and better its standing during the regular season with a strong showing in the league tourney. Warsaw finished 5-2 during the dual match portion of the league schedule, tied for second place with both NorthWood and Elkhart Memorial. Plymouth, which beat Warsaw 4-1 and lost to Memorial,  won the regular season title at 6-1.

Warsaw completed its NLC regular season Monday night with a 5-0 win over Goshen. The Tigers also defeated Memorial (3-2), Northridge (3-2) and Wawasee (5-0) in head-to-head play. They dropped a 3-2 final to NorthWood.

The Tigers will field an all-sophomore singles lineup for the NLC Tourney of Liza Lewis at No. 1, Colette Smith at No. 2 and Ella Knight at No. 3.  The doubles combinations for coach Rick Orban’s team will have sophomore Hannah Rice and junior Athena Schlitt at No. 1 with senior Rosie Fleming and sophomore Grace Miller at No. 2.

Wawasee, which finished 1-6 in NLC play, will feature senior Jaclyn Gehlhausen at No. 1 singles for the conference tourney. A pair of freshman, Peyton Rookstool and Meg Heinisch, will play at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots respectively for the Warriors. Senior Charity Parker and sophomore Kabrea Rostochak play No. 1 doubles and sophomore Courtney Larson and freshman Kendra Doerr are at No. 2 for Wawasee.

Top seeds for the NLC Tourney are Memorial junior Krystal Grubb at No. 1, Smith at No. 2 and Plymouth sophomore Cortini Cook at No. 3 in singles play. The top-seeded doubles teams are junior Kendall Dreibelbis and sophomore McKenzie Scheetz of Plymouth at No. 1 and the NorthWood duo of sophomore Betsy Nunemaker and junior Amanda Rhoade at No. 2.

Trojans The Team To Beat

To say that Triton dominated regular-season play in the HNAC would be a slight understatement.

Coach Al Peckham’s Trojans were untouchable in going 6-0 during the regular season of the four-team league. Triton did not lose a set on any court in during league play.

The Trojans will take a 12-1 overall mark into the league tourney at Knox. Triton’s lone loss was a 3-2 final to Bremen on May 5.

Shayla May leads Triton from the No. 1 singles position. Kolbie Mason and Quinn Downing play No. 2 and No. 3 for the experienced Trojans.

The Triton doubles lineup has Hannah Wanemacher and Emma Ross at No. 1 with Tatum Thompson and Megan McFarland at No. 2.

The HNAC Tournament also includes Knox, LaVille and North Judson.

Of note, the Three Rivers Conference does not have a postseason tournament. Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko will prepare for the Warsaw Girls Tennis Sectional that begins next Wednesday. The sectional draws around the state take place Monday.