PREP GIRLS TENNIS: Warsaw takes top spot, Northridge, NorthWood finish tied at NLC Championships
May 10—MISHAWAKA — The girls tennis NLC Championship wrapped up it's three days of action Friday night at the Cavemen's Ward Baker Park.
A regular season three-way tie between No. 30 Warsaw, NorthWood and Northridge was the center of attention as the tournament looked to decide a clear winner. NorthWood beat Warsaw, Northridge beat NorthWood and Warsaw beat Northridge over the course of the regular season.
That honor went to the Tigers, who finished ahead of NorthWood and Northridge who tied for second during the tournament.
"I'm just proud of our girls," NorthWood head coach Tif Schwartz, who was honored as NLC Coach of the Year at the end of the night, said. "We drew some really tough draws this time in the tournament and I felt like we overcame what we could and we played to our best abilities."
In the championship rounds, The Goshen News' area found themselves with three champions out of the five different brackets.
Jaycie Cress for Northridge was the first champion, making quick work of Warsaw's Abby Nicholas, winning 6-2, 6-1.
NorthWood's duo of Maddy Birk and Maggie Steiner controlled their Northridge opponents (Ava Schrock and Catherine Miller) to win No. 2 doubles.
With Goshen's No. 1 singles star Landry Schrock falling 6-2, 6-0 against a tough opponent in Warsaw's Addie Lind, the Tigers had won their first championship of the afternoon.
Warsaw also outlasted Northridge's Sage Granberg to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to win in No. 3 singles before a marathon match to close out the action Friday night.
In No. 1 doubles, NorthWood's partners of Emery Porter and Kaydence Dumka dropped the first set to Warsaw's duo of Clara Porter and Claire Reichenbach 6-7 (3-7) before reassessing themselves and coming back to win 6-3, 6-2 to shake off the nerves and sweep both doubles titles for the Panthers.
"One doubles we were very nervous coming in," Schwartz said. " I felt like we played very tentative... and they put more pressure on themselves than they had to. But then I felt like after they settled in they finally started to get better and we started flowing better."
Other highlights of the night included a thriller for third place in No. 1 doubles. Concord's Dani Aplin and Addi May faced an equally strong group from Plymouth in Emma Jackson and Cassidy Riddle.
After May and Aplin lost the first set 6-3, the Minutemen duo fired back winning the second set 6-2. Down 4-3 in the third set, the Concord duo flipped the script to go up 5-4. The Minutemen continued fighting to eventually win 7-6 (7-5).
The regular season standings count for half of the overall placing with this week's tournament determining the other half.
Sectionals begin next week for all teams. The Goshen News area is split up at four different sectionals. Sectional 60 at Angola contains Westview with Angola, Fremont, Lakeland and Prairie Heights joining the Warriors.
Sectional 61 at Warsaw will include the Tigers, Columbia City, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko and Wawasee. The Concord Sectional 62 contains the Minutemen, Elkhart, Jimtown and Northridge and the NorthWood Sectional 63 groups together Bethany Christian, Bremen, Fairfield, Goshen and the Panthers.
Pairings for the first round will be chosen Monday night on the IHSAA Champions Network. Sectionals are then set to begin the day after on Tuesday.
NLC CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS — Championship match results
No. 1 Singles: No. 1 Addie Lind (WAR) def. No. 2 Landry Schrock (G) 6-2, 6-0
No. 2 Singles: No. 1 Jaycie Cress (NR) def. No. 3 Abby Nicholas (WAR) 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 Singles: No. 1 Emma Van Puffelen (WAR) def. No. 2 Sage Granberg (NR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
No. 1 Doubles: No. 1 Emery Porter-Kaydence Dumka (NW) def. No. 2 Clara Porter-Claire Reichenbach (WAR) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 Doubles: No. 1 Maddy Birk-Maggie Steiner (NW) def. No. 3 Ava Schrock-Catherine Miller (NR) 6-3, 6-3
Final NLC standings:
1. Warsaw
T-2. NorthWood/Northridge
4. Plymouth
5. Goshen
6. Concord
7. Wawasee
8. Mishawaka
Coach of the Year: Tif Schwartz (NW)
All-Conference winners: Addie Lind (WAR), Jaycie Cress (NR), Emma Van Puffelen (WAR), Emery Porter (NW), Kaydence Dumka (NW), Maddy Birk (NW), Maggie Dumka (NW)
At-large honors: Landry Schrock (G), Saige Wheatley (NR), Addie Plothow (P)
Honorable mentions: Ari Mosqura (CC), Britton Jesse (NW), Claire Porter (WAR), Claire Reichenbach (WAR), Tatum Evers (NW), Abby Nicholas (WAR)
Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.
