Warsaw’s Sam Rice was a 6-2, 6-0 winner on the No. 1 singles court over Valley’s Trevor Neeley Wednesday night in sectional semi-final play. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW – The stage is set for the 2014 Warsaw Boys Tennis Sectional Championship. After an evening full of competition between five local schools, the Whitko and Warsaw tennis squads emerged as the two best and will square off Thursday night at Warsaw Community High School.

The Tigers made quick work of Tippencanoe Valley, dumping the Vikings 5-0 in the first match of the evening. Whitko meanwhile had a much tougher road as the Wildcats avenged a loss by defeating Wawasee 3-2 and then turned around to down a shorthanded Columbia City squad, 5-0.

“We’ve found a groove here towards the end of the season,” began Whitko head coach Chris McGehee. “We’ve been able to find a comfort zone as a team lately. We tried a few different lineups earlier on and nothing was working too great but this lineup we had today did a great job and I’m really proud of them, especially for having to win two matches.”

Whitko’s most recent lineup was very effective all night. Getting past Wawasee was the biggest challenge as the Wildcats lost 5-0 to the Warriors earlier this fall. On Wednesay night, however, Whitko picked up wins on the No. 1, No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles courts against Wawasee.

Cole Bechtold downed Todd Hauser on the top singles court 6-3, 6-1 while Bailey Platt picked up a win on the No. 2 singles court, 6-3, 6-1 over Nate Perek. Nick Rose and Jared Arnold downed Wawasee’s Brayton Fretz and Leonard Kline 6-4, 6-0 on the No. 2 singles court to give the Wildcats their third win.

Wawasee’s Cal Heinisch gave the Warriors one of their two wins, picking up a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Austin Nettrouer. While Wawasee did not get the overall result that it wanted, there was one bright spot from the Warriors evening on the courts.

Wawasee’s No. 1 doubles team Jake Hutchinson and Nate Haines claimed a well-earned 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Whitko’s Alex Robbins and Alex Bechtold to claim a spot at next week’s regional hosted by Culver Academies. Hutchinson and Haines will play Tuesday evening.

“Basically what this came down to was focusing,” Wawasee head coach Vince Rhodes stated. “A lot of our guys get down on themselves too easily and that happened here tonight. Nate (Perek) and Todd (Hauser) both found themselves down in their matches and they lost focus and didn’t recover.

Rhodes later added about his regional qualifying doubles team, “We’re happy to see Jake (Hutchinson) and Nate (Haines) get through to the regional. They got down but wee able to stick with it and get the win. It will be a new experience for me as a coach so we’re excited about the opportunity.”

While Wawasee struggled to find focus, Warsaw’s head coach Rick Orban was happy to see his team striving because of its focus.

“Our guys were focused tonight,” Orban said. “Sam Rice was really on tonight, he was definitely focused and right now that’s huge for us. It’s huge to get ready for tomorrow night and ultimately for next week. He was focused, his serves were sharp, his moves were sharp, he put balls away at the net, I was real pleased with him tonight.”

“Nic Jansen was back to playing the way he was playing a few weeks ago which is great. Caleb Ray was very dominant today, he moved his feet well today and showed a lot of improvement from last week. Then, finally, both of our doubles team played dynamite tonight. There were not many double faults, they attacked the net and, again, I was very pleased with them as well.”

Whitko clinched its spot in Thursday’s title match against Warsaw by sweeping Columbia City. The Eagles did not have enough for a full team and were only able to compete on three courts, forfeiting on No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles.

Bechtold again owned the No. 1 singles court, winning 6-0, 6-2. Platt held strong at No. 2 doubles winning 6-0, 6-1 while Robbins and Bechtold picked upa  6-2, 6-0 win on the No. 1 doubles court.

Whitko and Warsaw will start play Thursday at 4:30 p.m. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season.