Warsaw’s girls tennis team poses with its latest sectional championship trophy after a 4-1 win over Wawasee in the Warsaw Sectional final Friday. The Lady Tigers now own 18 straight such titles. (Photos by James Costello)

WARSAW — They grow up so fast.

Warsaw’s sectional championship streak came of age Friday night, as the Lady Tigers downed Wawasee 4-1 to push their program to 18 straight titles. That means that not only have any of Warsaw’s current players not experienced a single sectional loss, none of them were even alive the last time the program didn’t bring home sectional hardware.

Ironically, the last time that happened, it was Wawasee hoisting the trophy. And not so coincidentally, that lengthy streak started when head coach Rick Orban and wife Jan took the helm of the team back at the turn of the century.

“Jan and I started coaching 18 years ago in 2000, and here it is 2018 and we haven’t lost a sectional yet. It’s pretty special,” said Orban.

In the midst of such an extended streak, you might think it would be easy for the Tigers to take those titles for granted, and if you were their coach, you might be concerned about a letdown. But in fact, the opposite is true, says Orban.

“It’s interesting at this point,” he said. “You worry about ‘Oh, sectional, we’ve won so many in a row. This is old hat,’ and you worry about them coming out flat. It’s actually just the opposite. They were talking last night after the match, 18, 18, and all the girls from 18 years ago are counting on us to win 18. So they’re actually putting, I think, even more pressure on themselves to play well instead of the possible letdown. So it’s kind of worked in reverse.”

The Tigers certainly seemed up for the challenge Friday, and the team’s singles lineup was as dominant as ever in the sectional championship moved indoors to the Warsaw Racquet Club. The hosts rapidly swept the three singles matches, clinching the team title as the 1 doubles match only just started to roll and the 2 doubles competitors were still warming up.

“Our singles players all season long — Liza, Ella, Alyssa — just totally strong,” said Orban. “They came into this confident, played extremely well. When you can focus like that match after match after match — these girls are tough.”

Liza Lewis hits a backhand shot during 1 singles play Friday.

Sophomore Alyssa Zellers’ 6-0, 6-0 win over Wawasee sophomore Kennedy Church gave Warsaw its second match point, and senior Ella Knight gave the Tigers all the points they would need via a 6-1, 6-2 win over Warriors sophomore Elizabeth Kleopfer. But it was Warsaw senior Liza Lewis who collected her team its first point of the night at the No. 1 position, putting away junior Kendra Doerr, 0-0, to start the singles sweep.

If it seemed like Warsaw’s singles lineup was racing to get off the courts first, it’s because they were.

“I love Ella and Alyssa. I love playing right next to them, and sometimes we’ll race to see who can finish first,” said a smiling Lewis. “They’re super good opponents, and they’ve made me a lot better. Hopefully I’ve made them better, too.”

It’d be tough to argue against the evidence, and Wawasee coach Shane Staley could only tip his hat to the Tigers’ singles players Friday.

“Singles played hard. Warsaw has just got a good singles corps,” he said. “No real complaints about my singles play, it’s just that Warsaw just has a tremendous singles corps.”

With the meet already decided and playing for nothing but pride at 1 doubles, Wawasee’s senior tandem of Kabrea Rostochak and Courtney Larson gave the Lady Warriors their only point of the night opposite Warsaw sophomores Taylor Shoaf and Rachel Boyle, 6-4, 6-3. Already eliminated from the state doubles tournament after a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Columbia City’s Jayma Acres and Hannah Behm in Thursday’s semifinal round, Larson and Rostochak rebounded Friday to make a memory for themselves at the close of their high school careers.

“One doubles was great today. When they pulled it together, I knew they could beat about anybody in the conference,” said Staley. “So just to come out here, both of them are seniors, to end their career out here on that high note, that’s a good way to end it. So I’m definitely pleased with that match for them.”

Wawasee 1 doubles players Courtney Larson and Kabrea Rostochak take notes from head coach Shane Staley following a changeover Friday.

The Warriors 2 doubles pairing of senior Brianna Haessig and sophomore Molly Jones were also solid in their match with Warsaw juniors Rachel Yeager and Raegan Merchant, but after coming up short in a 7-5 first-set loss, they succumbed, 6-1 in the second set.

“I thought we were in it in doubles tonight when we came here. I told them just to give it their all, and I think they did,” said Staley. “We had some unforced errors and some missed volleys that I think kind of cost us, but overall they fought well, and I was pretty proud of the way both doubles teams played.”

“I was mixing up the doubles teams all season long, settled kind of on this set, and the more they play together, the better they get,” said Orban. “If you notice, their spacing is really good. They trust each other. For instance, I had them poach one game on every serve, first and second. You’ve got to rely on your partner getting some first serves in and have the confidence that your partner can serve out wide. They were kind of giggling about it. It’s the first time I had them do it, and it worked extremely well.”

As the Warriors bid goodbye to Rostochak, Larson and Haessig, the team bows out of the season at 8-11 with wins in three of its last four matches. It was a strong finish to the year and one that Staley thinks the program can build on.

“I think the foundation is being built here,” he said. “Every season we’ve won more games. We won more games this year than we did last year, and we played less games. I’m just going to keep on trying to build on that and get the younger kids up here and give them some experience because I think that’s one thing that we’ve lacked from the past — just getting kids acclimated to the sport a little bit sooner. I think we’re starting to do that now, so I think we’ll be a tougher team in the future.”

With their 18th-straight sectional championship secure, the Tigers now look to extend another streak at the Culver Girls Academy Regional next week. Warsaw opens with Manchester, a 4-1 winner over Southwood in Friday’s Peru Sectional final, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, when host CGA plays the winner of Saturday’s rescheduled Bremen Sectional final between Plymouth and the host Lions. The regional championship is slated for Wednesday.

Two wins away from a regional three-peat, the Tigers say they aren’t done yet.

“Definitely we want to get to semi state, and I think sectional is just kind of a little stepping stone along the way,” said Knight.

“It should be great for the seniors, Liza and Ella, to win that three in a row. So I know they’re going to fight for it,” Orban said.

Ella Knight hits a backhand shot while fans watch at the Warsaw Racquet Club Friday.