Fall Shorts - A Cute Race

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Our Hero Award

Sorry for the hiatus. I both had trouble with the internet here at school (early last week) and flew to Colorado to officiate the wedding of my sister (late last week). So here I am, back at school, back in the flow, and ready to hand out another award.

Throughout the year, there are many exciting matches that we get to take part in. That is what makes memories. In some of those matches, we come out victorious. In some of those matches, we fall to our foes. But if someone consistently comes up big under pressure, they find themselves as a team hero.

This year, we had one team come through under pressure multiple times. Twice they won matches for the team by closing out opponents and sealing 3-2 victories. 5 out of 6 times they won the third sets that they played in (their only 3rd set loss came in a super tiebreak).

First, they helped us beat Jimtown early in the season when we had to forfeit a position because Mikey could not continue his match. After winning the first set, Jimtown stole the momentum by taking a very close second match and sending the decider into a third set super tiebreaker. But Kyle and Austin came through, from being down 6-3 they pulled out 7 straight points in the tiebreak to seal the win for themselves and for Bethany. It was a great moment of victory for them, and set the tone for a heroic rest of the season.

In their next close match, they took on an undefeated team (that was named to the All-District team this week) from Triton. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Austin and Kyle roared back to take the second set 6-3. The third set went back and forth, with Kyle and Austin holding a 5-3 lead and poised to take the game. The team match was tied at 2-2, and this was a big victory on the season for us. Austin and Kyle gave away the lead, but were able to take the third set to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak they performed valiantly, never falling to the pressure but staying aggressive. They won 7-5, and the team won 3-2.

Those are great herioc memories, and they rival ones created by other late match heriocs through the years. The Triton match is one of the great Bethany matches ever that I've coached. And it gives future players the goal to aspire to. Congrats to our heroes, Kyle Miller and Austin Loucks.

One Shot Wonder Award

Awarded annually to one player who has the best stroke of anybody on the team, but is still on the JV. Despite his work last tennis season, after just deciding to play the night before practice started, Evan Grimes is the recipient of this wonderful award for having the best volley on the team, but practicing that skill only at #1 and #2 doubles JV.

Evan's skills have grown fantastically since last year. But he has not yet perfected all areas of his game. His serve lacks consistency and so does his backhand, but when he is at the net, he has the quickness and tenacity to put balls away no matter how hard they are hit. You just know Evan is going to be a dominating doubles player, it's just a matter of when.

What makes his volley so fantastic is actually his feet. He is quick enough to move into proper striking position while the ball is still in the air. And if he doesn't have enough time, his reflexes still give him a chance to get the ball back. My favorite JV points of the season often came in his matches, where I would turn my head and look at Andrew, and we would simply raise our eyebrows wondering how good he could become. Hopefully we will see. Potential is just potential until someone puts in the hard work to make it a reality.

The Gregor Award

"The Gregor" is a very prestigious award, given annually to the person who can make others smile with their simple style and outrageous stories. This year, there can be no doubt, there was one person with a story for every occasion (especially on night out, on camera, in a high pitched voice... often repeating himself).

Yes, this year's winner of "The Gregor" is Ike Lehman.

Much like the original Gregor, Ike inspired laughter wherever he went. People simply stood in awe of his cuteness most of the season, commenting that everything from his smile to his tennis strokes to his passing of gas as being cute. Even when he banged on the window of Austin's van while riding on the hood and going through a car wash on a 40 degree night with his shirt off, banging with sheer terror in his eyes, he was described as cute.

Though the original Gregor did not share in Ike's itty-bitty cuteness, they do share the penchant for weaving quite a tale. Listening to the video that Ike's group made from "Night Out" is to have a constant commentary of literary brilliance from Ike. His mind is always making each new experience into a positively hilarious memory.

I wonder what tales he will tell of winning this award. I bet they will be cute.

Most Deserving of Bleeding Bruin Blue Athlete of the Week Without Winning the Bleeding Bruin Blue Athlete of the Week Award

So Seth had an incredible season, but much like last year, I feel like it went unnoticed by many. Last year, Seth dominated #2 singles JV, finishing undefeated. But that was lost in the celebration of the school's first Sectional and the JV team's own undefeated record. This year, Seth had the best season of a varsity newcomer ever, finishing 16-4, and splitting that time between #1 singles and #2 singles varsity.

Wait, Seth jumped up a whole team (from #2 JV to #2 varsity), and still ended up winning 80% of his matches? YES!

And yet, Seth was never in the running for the prestigious Bleeding Bruin Blue Athlete of the Week. There was a 3 week period in late August that Seth never lost. There was a weekend of playing #1S against teams with 8-3, 9-2, and 13-1 records respectively (Taylor, Wabash, Eastern) in which Seth did not lose. Or there was the week where he defeated the winning NLC conference #2 singles player, Bryce Scott of Warsaw.

The thing about Seth and his amazing season is that he proved me right. I said that we would be rewarded for our hard work, and Seth put in a lot of hard work. Playing many mornings in the gym last summer, taking lessons in both the fall and winter. Working out with me every morning of the summer until he left for Oregon. And he was rewarded with great play. That is what it takes to make the step up to the varsity with style.

Congratulations to Seth on the first award of the "Award Season." Come back tomorrow for the next award, it may be you!

Award Season

It's the end of the season, and there are many accomplishments that I want to celebrate. Starting tomorrow and going for the next several weeks I will be posting a new award winner every day. This will culminate with the overall awards program, where MVP, Coaches Award, Sportsmanship, Most Improved and JV MVP will be presented. But look for the creative awards to rain down starting tomorrow!

Congratulations Jimmies

Congrats to the Jimtown Jimmies, all of their players and coaches Steve Fledderman and Troy Sands. For the first time in their 43 year tennis history, the Jimmies won a Sectional title Monday night. It is obviously Coach Fledderman's first title as well, coming after 29 years of coaching!

And congratulations to Fairfield as well. They made the match a very close battle, taking both of the doubles positions (which allows seniors Derick Troeger and Josh Beck to advance in the individual competition).

I count it a blessing to be in a Sectional with such competitive teams. And with such quality coaches. I saw the improvement in the Jimmie squad from our match at the beginning of the year to their play in this Sectional final. I know how well prepared the Falcons were for their match against us on Saturday morning. I have great respect for coaches who get the most out of their players.

So again, great job Jimtown. We'll be there tonight to cheer you on as you take on Concord!

Bethany Christian vs. Fairfield - Sectional

When we played Fairfield during the regular season, we came in a bit nervous and played a bit nervous on a gray day on the Fairfield courts. We figured that if we could smooth out our nerves and play aggressive, and perhaps get the Falcons to feel a bit nervous, that maybe we would be able to turn the 1-4 loss into a 3-2 win.

We fulfilled our end of the bargain, but the Falcons were just too good this year. Fairfield controlled their nerves well and won the big points, and though we competed much better, we lost this Sectional semi-final by the same score, 1-4.

It was cold and rainy in Goshen as we got ready for our Saturday match, and so the decision was made to move the match indoors, to Maple City Racquet Club. This ended up being a good thing for Fairfield. A match indoors changes the dynamics a bit, as the courts are faster and reward power more than matches played outside. Fairfield was a more powerful team than us this year, and that showed from the beginning of the matches.

Because there was another semi-final going on at the same time (Jimtown vs. NorthWood), we began play on only two courts. #1 singles and #1 doubles were the first matches to be contested, and we began both with high hopes. Seth Krabill competed well with Wyatt Stutzman, but from the beginning it was obvious that Wyatt had his attacking forehand dialed in. Seth relied heavily on mistakes from the Fairfield junior, and Wyatt simply didn't make many. He attacked over and over again with pace and placement and left Seth with little ability to come forward. Seth kept the match close for the first set, but then fell 6-2 in the second.

At #1 doubles, Austin and Kyle continued their constantly improving play. They lost 2-6, 2-6 to Fairfield earlier in the season, but brought an attacking and aggressive style to the early part of this Sectional match. As a result, they kept the first set very close, jumping out to the lead, falling behind but then having opportunities to cut tie the set at 5-5. Unfortunately, they lost the close first set and seemed to have their concentration unravel a bit from there. Frustration crept in at the corners of the game, and they found themselves also down 5-2 in the second set. They rallied back to take a game, but then fell 6-3 in the second.

Those were matches that we had hoped to turn around and win on this Saturday, and without them, were left needing all three of the final positions to go on the courts. Austin, Kyle and Seth had all played well, but the Falcons aggressive, confident, and well-practiced play on the big points allowed them to take those matches. Fortunately, one of the next positions was one that we had won easily during the season.

Again, Ben Mast came out confident at #2 singles. However, junior opponent Malachi Randolph was holding nothing back. He was overly aggressive, just the way he needed to be to try and rattle Ben. And he almost succeeded. It felt as if Randolph would win just one more game in the first set, he might crack Ben's mental strength. But Ben didn't allow him to. After several long games and deuces, Ben finally took a 4-3 lead. Easily holding serve, he was then able to put the pressure on Randolph. Where great attacking net play had served him well early in the match, now errors began to sneak in for the Fairfield junior. He dropped the set, and the energy level went way down, as Ben cruised in the second set to a 6-1 score.

With that match in hand, #2 doubles became important. In this match, we came out playing our best aggressive tennis of the season. Russell and Nick have been improving dramatically in the last weeks of the season, and it showed in this match. They learned to play with some confidence, they hit through volleys, put away shots and played intense. All of this led to a first set victory. All of the sudden, an upset looked possible as we could maybe tie the match at 2-2. In the second set, they continued their great play, but near the middle, began to be a little less aggressive around the net and missed a few big shots. Without the putaways and intimidating shots, the Falcons slipped by in the second set. In the third, Russell and Nick came out well, taking an early lead. But the Falcons loosened up too much, and began to fire winners from all over the court, to force errors and they ended up taking the match for the third Falcon point.

However, by that point it looked like they were heading to victory anyways, because the #3 singles match had started. They have a great #3 singles player, sophomore Brad Shipley, and he came out aggressive and ready to play. Blake was still only in his sixth varsity match, while Shipley had finished second at his conference tournament. So experience and shot making was the difference. Blake did a great job of executing our strategy, but Shipley simply had more shots to counter with. In a match with relatively little drama, Shipley won.

And thus our season ended the way it started, a 1-4 loss to a good team. I'll wrap up the season sometime this week with some final thoughts, but it's never fun to say goodbye to a team. I am proud to tears of the members of this team, we ended up having no returning players from last year and still put out 13 victories. That is amazing! But the end of the season still stings. It brings closure on the hope that carried us through many practices and weight lifting sessions and all else.

But hope always springs forth anew, and soon we will begin to build the hope, belief and confidence for another run at the Sectional title in 2010. Because competing, being there, working hard and having a shot, that's the other part of our "new tradition."

Scores

#1S - Seth Krabill - 4-6, 2-6 - Wyatt Stutzman (11)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-3, 6-1 - Malachi Randolph (11)
#3S - Blake Shetler - 2-6, 1-6 - Brad Shipley (10)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 4-6, 3-6 - Derick Troeger (12)/Josh Beck (12)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 - Derek Thwaits (12)/Trent Kauffman (12)

Bless.

Throughout the past two years, we've developed our themes of our walk with God. The one that involves the most change in our actions and behaviors is blessing. It is an attitude that we take, but it also comes out in how we treat others. Because it is about others.

It is not about us.

If there's one thing that has impacted my life more than anything, it is realizing that carrying out the will of God is not about me, it is about how I respond to others. I remember being shocked when my church was walking through a book called "The Purpose Driven Life." The very first chapter ended by making the point that life is not about us. Period.

So as we come to the last week of the season, it's a good reminder that we need to be a blessing. We're going to have a huge amount of opportunities over the next few days. Opportunities to bless teammates by sharing in their success. Opportunities to bless opponents by giving them their credit, applauding good shots, and giving them the best matches we can muster. Opportunities to bless parents, friends and teammates that come to watch us with thanks and appreciation. Opportunities to forget about ourselves and just enjoy the team.

I think about what Luke Hostetter wrote last year in a book the seniors gave me. He said, "Even though I was struggling... the mindset about being a blessing helped carry me through the season and have fun with the rest of the team." And you know what, it carried him through the end of the season as well. With his thoughts focused on the rest of the team, I can clearly see Luke raising his arms in a team victory as Johnny and Jeremy captured the 3rd point to give us a Sectional crown. He was down big to Preston Swain of NorthWood at the time, but was playing incredibly well. He went on to be blessed with a tiebreak win in the 2nd set, a result of his loose play.

But that mindset of blessing others is something I want us to take away from the season. Whether it be today, tomorrow at the Sectional, during the offseason while we work to improve for next year, during the summer when we head back to camp, or in the dog days of August two-a-days. Let blessing define our team's actions.

It is our "new" tradition.

Sectional Preview

Details:
- First Round, Thursday, 4:30 PM; Goshen vs. Jimtown
- Semi-Finals, Saturday, 9:00 AM; Bethany Christian vs. Fairfield, First Round Winner vs. NorthWood
- Final, Saturday, 1:00 PM

All matches held at Goshen High School (alternate location determined if rain is a factor)

Last Season Review: Last season the Goshen Tennis Sectional kept up its reputation for insanely close matches. In 2007, all four matches in the Sectional were decided by 3-2 scorelines. Last year, the first round and both semi-finals were 3-2, and the final was 4-1. We are the defending champion, but return no players from that championship team. The first round matchup last year pitted Goshen and Jimtown, which Jimtown won 3-2. NorthWood then defeated Jimtown in the semi-finals 3-2 while the Bruins defeated Fairfield by the same score. In the final, Bethany Christian defeated NorthWood 4-1 to seal our first boy's tennis Sectional championship. Read the full article here.

Bethany Christian Details: We come into the Sectional off a great tournament run at Wabash. We finished 3rd but were given a chance to win the tourney with great play from #3 singles (Blake Shetler) and #2 doubles (Russell Klassen/Nick Rebec). The tournament also saw #1 player Seth Krabill go undefeated. So we should enter the Sectional with some confidence. On Monday, we defeated Howe Military in our last varsity match to end the season with a 13-7 record. It's an incredible rebound year, ending up with no players returning from our championship season. Our guys should be proud of the season thus far.

Fairfield Details: Fairfield finished the 2009 season with a 12-6 record. They wound down the season on Monday with a 3-1 loss to Northridge, and should be primed for a good run in the Sectional. On the weekend they secured 2nd place at the NECC Conference Tournament, after finishing the regular season in 2nd as well. In both cases they finished behind Angola.

Goshen Details: Goshen actually played their first round opponent, Jimtown, on Tuesday to wrap up their regular season. They had a very respectable winning record of 9-7 on the year, finishing 6th in the NLC behind powerhouses Concord, Northridge, and Warsaw among others. They lost the matchup Tuesday with the Jimmies, so will be looking for some turnaround tonight.

Jimtown Details: Jimtown will be looking to repeat that performance that propelled them to a win over Goshen. They have had strong singles play all season, and as a result finished with a record of 13-5. They are also the most decorated team in our Sectional this year, winning the NSC tournament and regular season crowns. They were able to pull off individual conference championships at each singles spot, so that leaves them looking good for Sectional.

NorthWood Details: NorthWood finds themselves in the exact same position we ended up in this year. In 2008, they had a strong team, worthy of the Sectional crown. They had won the Sectional back in 2007. But this year they returned no varsity players and slumped to a 1-12 season. Their win came Tuesday against Laville, a 4-1 triumph to punctuate the regular season.

Probable Lineups
Bethany Christian
#1S - Seth Krabill
#2S - Ben Mast
#3S - Blake Shetler
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen

Fairfield
#1S - Wyatt Stutzman
#2S - Malachi Randolph
#3S - Brad Shipley
#1D - Derick Troeger/Josh Beck
#2D - Derek Thwaits/Trent Kauffman

Goshen
#1S - Andy Van Klaveren
#2S - Seth Koble
#3S - Stefan Baumgartner
#1D - Jonny Tan/Nick Dandino
#2D - Eli Metzler-Prieb/Paul Johnson

Jimtown
#1S - Matt Candler
#2S - Shane Cook
#3S - Bret Giddings
#1D - Josh George/Brett Aller
#2D - Nick Anglemyer-John Raderstorf

NorthWood
#1S - Miro Arguijo
#2S - Corey Diener
#3S - Ben Zercher
#1D - Jayson Linhart/Tyler Rhoades
#2D - Shawn Stahley/Brennan Angle

Results against Other Schools in Sectional
Bethany Christian - 3-1 - def. Goshen 5-0, def. Jimtown 3-2, def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Fairfield 1-4

Fairfield - 2-1 - def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Jimtown 3-2, def. Bethany Christian 4-1

Jimtown - 3-1 - def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Bethany Christian 3-2, def. Fairfield 3-2, def. Goshen 4-1

Goshen - 1-2 - lost to Bethany Christian 0-5, def. NorthWood 4-1, lost to Jimtown 1-4

NorthWood - 0-4 - lost to Jimtown 0-5, lost to Fairfield 0-5, lost to Goshen 1-4, lost to Bethany Christian 0-5

Outlook: The most competitive Sectional around the area stays competitive. Just look at the scores, anyone can beat anyone. In fact, we have three schools who lost to each other in the regular season. If it plays out the exact same way as the season, that would leave Jimtown as the champion. That may happen, but things rarely stay the same way in Sectional. It's going to be exciting and I can't wait to get started. Writing a long post like this just makes me want to play. Good luck to all, it's going to be fun!

Bethany Christian vs. Tippecanoe Valley - Canceled

Tippecanoe Valley canceled this match due to weather, yesterday afternoon. This means that our next match will be the Sectional Semi-Final against Fairfield on Saturday at 9:00 AM at the Goshen Middle School courts. The varsity ended the regular season at 13-7.

Bethany Christian vs. Howe Military

It was an interesting last varsity match of the year, as we ended up rounding out our schedule with Howe Military. We were supposed to have one more varsity and JV match, but Tippecanoe Valley canceled, and so this was the end of the regular season.

In an annual tradition, we did not play all of our varsity regulars against Howe, despite the fact that they are a varsity team. It is a match in which we want to give people who have not played many matches a chance to play, and a match where our JV usually stacks up competitively against their varsity. So we threw out a little different lineup, and allowed many players to get some varsity experience.

Blake Shetler stepped out of his new #3 singles role and played #1 singles against junior Briham Yang. Blake has continued to develop his match strategy throughout the year, with "ninja" training from coach Andrew Lanctot, and his new skills were on full display tonight. I liked to see his aggression despite a player who hits the ball hard. Blake also had his serves on, and finished with a handful of aces.

#2 singles was Matt Ebersole, playing his first varsity match. He struggled a bit in the first set to find the pace of the match, but in the second set Matt really got it going. I've been saying most of the year that the main thing that hampers Matt is his footwork. In this match, he moved beautifully, running down balls and impressively choosing the smart shot most of the time. He rolled through the second set for a straight sets win.

Ike Lehman also got the call for singles, and played against an opponent with impressive strokes, but inconsistent placement of those strokes. Ike is another player who has shown rapid improvement throughout the year, and I can't wait to see what next year holds for him as he keeps playing throughout the offseason. He has become so much more consistent on his serve and forehand, and while they are not weapons yet they are reliable. He also has the tenacity to run balls down and make his opponent hit one more shot. Ike won this match and showed that he is going to be an asset for the Bruins for the next several years.

#1 doubles saw our seniors, Jake Gerig and Claude Stickler, team up together for the last time in Bruins uniforms. I am so proud of them, sticking with tennis for four years, and improving as they did so. There opponents weren't quite up to their level, and from the very beginning of the match, Howe Militay's players acted as if they knew they were in for some trouble. The match was played with a lot of laughter and a very light spirit, which I think was fun for the seniors. They won easily in their last match, the first varsity victory in his career for Claude.

#2 doubles was a much younger pair, Ryan Minter and Evan Grimes. In this match we were "introduced" to the athletic prowess that Evan possesses. He was all over the court making leaping, stretching, aggressive plays. He did a great job playing for his partner and covering Ryan's occasional mistakes and miscues. Ryan has done a great job developing his strokes, but still has the net game and his net presence to work on. But that is what the long offseason is for!

So we won the varsity match 5-0, and the JV match was a chance for the freshman and new players to show off their work. Wade Troyer played #1 JV, and played and excellent match. I never would have thought he would get to the point he has, with very good hand-eye coordination and ability to move to the ball quickly. He held in close in his match despite facing a 4-7 deficit at one point. He pulled the match back but still lost 6-8.

Josh Helmuth played #2S, and his match had the same theme as Wade's. I am encouraged to see Josh play because he cares a lot about doing the right thing and not making silly mistakes. He made just a couple too many errors to finish his match with a win, losing 6-8.

Himal King had the unfortunate responsibility of playing one of the better players from Howe, and he saw himself lose 0-8. Himal is another player who has developed great hand-eye coordination, but hasn't quite figured out how to speedily move about the court to get to the good shots of his opponents.

Evan Eby and Han Gil Lee teamed up for our only JV win. They fell behind quickly, but Han Gil figured out how to dominate the net after the opening games. Propelled by his new found net game and Evan Eby's consistent groundstrokes, #1 doubles was able to turn the deficit into a tight 8-6 victory. It was good to see both of these guys pick up wins, especially Evan after the work that he has put in throughout the season.

So, a 5-0 varsity accomplishment leaving us at 13-7 on the season. A 3-1 JV defeat ended the JV schedule at 5-8. Everyone got to play, and it will be a good way for these players to enter the offseason. A lot of work needs to be done, but some of these players may find themselves playing for a Sectional crown next year (or this year!)

Scores

Varsity
#1S - Blake Shetler - 6-1, 6-1 - Briham Yang (11)
#2S - Matt Ebersole - 6-4, 6-1 - Kun Lai (11)
#3S - Ike Lehman - 6-2, 6-3 - Zach Mellen (10)
#1D - Claude Stickler/Jake Gerig - 6-1, 6-1 - Ryan Patterson (11)/Justin Taylor (10)
#2D - Evan Grimes/Ryan Minter - 6-1, 6-3 - Eddie Hayes (11)/Jacob Riddle (12)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Wade Troyer - 6-8 - Robert Wira (9)
#2SJV - Josh Helmuth - 6-8 - Tyler Miller (10)
#3SJV - Himal King - 0-8
#1DJV - Evan Eby/Han Gil Lee - 8-6 - Nick Molner (11)/Alec Hill (10)

Sectional Draw

There it is. Let's go get 'em.

Recognize. Remember. Bless. Pray.

Over the past two years, I've wanted to develop a solid, consistent spiritual base for this tennis team. So we started last summer at tennis camp focusing on 4 verbs. Recognizing what God is doing for us in the present, remembering the ways that God has been with us in the past, blessing others in the same ways that God has blessed us, and bringing everyone and everything under prayer in conversation with God.

Perhaps I have been a bit lax this year about in the face of the team with these themes, it has been a difficult year. And yet, God has been active in many ways. God has blessed us in many ways. And I think it is worth asking the question of ourselves: Have we noticed? Have we remembered our God? Have we cared for others? Have we been in prayer?

I know that the answer for me is "no" for some of those questions. And as much as it has been "no," I have been distant from God. We have gone through many trials this tennis season, and I, like a fool, have tried to take a lot of it on my own back. I can't handle it all. But the whole time I've been prideful in my own efforts, decisions, and accomplishments, God has been at work too. I believe it's about time to slow my efforts, humble myself, and recognize how God has been present.

Recognize
- God has blessed our goals, we have worked hard and we have improved. The tournament this weekend was testament to that.
- We have been given the opportunity to become a united team. Everyone that is/and has been giving, encouraging, helpful to others and worked toward the team goal of improvement has a community of friends around them supporting them.
- We have been given the opportunity to share in the success of others. Seth's undefeated run this weekend gave us one opportunity. Ben's lone victory against Fairfield gave us another. Kyle and Austin's comeback win against Westview was another chance to celebrate with others. Their have been moments of God's beauty that have come through.
- And as this season starts to draw to a close, and the blessings above begin to be seen, I feel that their really is a peace about this team. An assurance and a confidence is growing. We have matured and are still maturing at the same time. It is a peaceful journey, and we all have been a part of that peace.

Remember
- God has certainly given us memories this tennis season, from tennis camp through the first 9 weeks. I am thankful for those memories.
- I remember from further back though, I remember how I poured prayer over last year's team, and how God responded specifically to my prayers... for Jeremy Thomas to play his best tennis, for Daniel to keep his cool under calm and be blessed for his hard work, for Jared's ability to have confidence in his dominance, for Johnny to believe that he and Jeremy could compete with anyone. And God answered those and more...

Bless
- We still have the opportunity to thank God for the blessings by passing the blessing forward to others. How we do that is a question for all of us to think about.
- Can we bring unity to other situations we are a part of? School, family, church, etc.?
- Can we bring peace to situations in which we are causing conflict? With friends, teachers, family, others?
- Can we lift up the less fortunate in any way? Donating time, giving what we can, paying attention to how our actions affect them?
- How will we pass the blessing on?

Pray
I encourage us all to think about bring the recognition, remembrance, blessing all together in prayer. Communicate with God about all that is going on, and bring others before him as well.
- Pray for the other teams that we will play in Sectional. Pray for health, pray for good things to be happening in their lives, pray for them to play well.
- Pray for your teammates, especially those whose season is ending tonight or tomorrow. The younger guys need the blessing of having older guys come along side them.
- Pray for yourself, honestly. Bring burdens and stresses and joys before God. Let God hear you, loud and clear.
- Pray for others. Whoever they may be. The soccer team, your next door neighbor, Andrew Lanctot, whoever. Let yourself be a person of prayer.

These are my thoughts as we enter the last weeks of the season. I have been proud of this team, every one who has been a part of it at any point. We have grown on the courts, and I think we are growing as people. Let's keep both tennis and personal growth going strong.

Wabash Invitational Results

It seems that the moments that I am most proud of my team are also the moments in which we have the most disappointment. I wish that the mix could be different in this case, but after this tournament I was so proud to coach this group of guys. We worked hard, we played our best, played well under pressure and prepared ourselves for Sectional. Unfortunately, we lost a chance to win the whole tournament as well. But there were so many positives in what were some of our best played matches of the season.

We played our first match of the day against the Taylor Titans. Taylor is down near Kokomo, and on the season their team was 7-4. So this was a team that had a similar record to ours, and they gave us a really good match. They reminded me a lot of Triton, who we had barely beaten 3-2 earlier this season.

The Titans were young at their singles positions, but they have several players with a bright future. Junior #1 Matt Brankle played with a lot of heart, running down many of Seth's attacking shots with spot perfect lobs. But Seth controlled his frustration at the long points that he had to play and increased the velocity on his overheads and putaways and beat the counter-punching junior 6-3, 6-1.

The next two Titans were freshman, and Ben Mast played a great match against occasionally inconsistent Logan Barnes. Barnes had all the talent, but couldn't quite finish points against Ben. Ben used nice approaches and well-placed balls to frustrate Barnes and won in two good sets. Blake was less fortunate, as freshman Drew Hansen worked him back and forth across the court. Hansen was one of the better #3 singles players we've seen this season, and Blake stayed right with him in the first set. Blake simply was not able to stay attacking against Hansen, as his passing shot and lob kept Blake away from the net.

In doubles, Kyle and Austin played against lobbers. The Titans #1 doubles team was fast and accurate. They ran down almost all of Kyle and Austin's shots and put them up high into the air. Much like #1 singles, Austin and Kyle had to be ready to play longer points than they were used to. And they had to hit a lot of overheads. After some simple instructions as to where to hit their shots, the Bruins were able to stay aggressive and put pressure on. They finished the match out in two close sets over athletic opponents.

#2 doubles used this match as a launching point for a great day. They started out playing aggressive and well, attacking from the net and from the baseline and taking a 4-1 lead. Then, as has been the pattern much of the season, they let the Titans sneak back into the match. In a back-and-forth tense end to the first set, Russell and Nick lost in the first of many tiebreakers on the day. But they didn't get down. In what was a super important mental match, Russell and Nick stayed positive and attacked in the second set. We've been talking about how we respond to difficult situations, and Russell and Nick made me proud by their response in this match. They went back to attacking ways, hitting people on groundstrokes and cutting off volleys, and won the second set. Using the momentum they created, they entered the third set super-tiebreaker confident, and without much stress they won.

And so we won our first match 4-1, setting a good tone for the rest of the day. Most of the matches were close, and that prepared us for Sectional. What was awesome was that we were able to find success in these close matches, especially at the doubles positions over competent and experienced opponents. I was psyched to see us start on a good foot over a good team.

Scores

#1S - Seth Krabill - 6-3, 6-1 - Matt Brankle (11)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-1, 6-1 - Logan Barnes (9)
#3S - Blake Shetler - 4-6, 1-6 - Drew Hansen (9)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 7-5, 6-4 - Matt Petty (12)/Reomey Northington (12)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-7 (3), 6-3, (10-7) - Cody Hinton (12)/Nathan Gotshall (9)


So before we had even wrapped up the victory over Taylor, Ben and Seth were back on to start our second match against Wabash. Last year we had defeated the Apaches at all 5 positions to win the Wayne Tennis Invitational. However, we were a quite different team, and they returned a number of their varsity players. On the season, they entered this match at 10-2.

Seth breezed through his match against frustrated senior Zach Sailors. Seth attacked smoothly and set up his points well. Sailors couldn't keep up with the pace Seth created and the points that Seth finished. From beginning to end, Seth dominated and looked like the confident player that his record shows he is throughout the year.

Ben breezed too, through the first set. He was playing sophomore Justin Middleton, a player with a 16-2 record on the season. Last year Ben had been able to defeat Middleton at the Wayne Invitational, and after taking the first set, Ben seemed to relax a little. At that point, Middleton picked up his game and began to control the points. With low shots over the net, Middleton began to be aggressor and Ben fell into defensive mood. Suddenly, Middleton had a chance to win the second set and send the match to a ten-point tiebreak. Ben tightened up a lot, and couldn't find the aggression to control the match. In the tiebreak, Middleton won a tight match 10-8.

In the #3 singles match, Misha Rebec took to the court. Senior Wesley Kosel was able to dictate this match right from the beginning. He had a huge forehand that accounted for many winners throughout the course of the match, and ran Misha back and forth. He made errors, but Misha had trouble keeping the point going long enough to force those errors. I liked the fact that Misha was able to stay in the match when he got down 5-0 in the second set, and really began to pick up his play despite the big hole that he was in. Unfortunately, it was a little too deep of a hole. Misha's loss meant that we'd need both the doubles in order to win the match.

And we got a great effort from both teams. Russell and Nick simply played their best match of the season, attacking, slamming, hitting the net man, serving their opponents off the court, doing everything they would need to in order to put pressure upon their Apache opponents. Not only did they jump out to a comfortable lead in the first set, they sustained their play throughout the match to win 6-3, 6-2.

#1 doubles was a match that Austin and Kyle knew they'd have to play well to win right from the beginning. So they came out and played well right from the beginning. The match went back and forth some, but Austin and Kyle were able to impose their will on the serve and from the baseline and push the Apaches off the net. They jumped out with their stellar play and took the first set. But seniors of Wabash were not done. They got on a roll in the second set and began to take the net with incredible power and passion. Kyle and Austin didn't seem to have an answer for this. They played well, but the roll was too difficult to stop. They lost the second set, and then the third set super-tiebreaker as well.

And so we ended with a disappointing 3-2 loss. All the more disappointing because two of the matches were lost in the third set super-tiebreakers. Much like the Westview match last year, it felt so close to our grasp, and one that we could think about for a long time. But we weren't going to get the chance, as we moved right into the match against Eastern...

Scores

#1S - Seth Krabill - 6-1, 6-0 - Zach Sailors (12)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-2, 3-6, (8-10) - Justin Middleton (10)
#3S - Misha Rebec - 1-6, 2-6 - Wesley Kosel (12)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 7-5, 1-6, (4-10) - Ryan Richman (12)/Ethan Powell (12)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-3, 6-2 - Trevor Patton (11)/David Driscoll (9)


This was our best match of the season, no doubts about it. Right up and down the line we played incredible tennis against a team that has lost only once this year. We played aggressive, kept our cool under pressure, responded to coaching... and yet we still lost. It was excruciating.

At #1 singles, Seth played senior Jody Remsberger. Seth played one of his best matches of the season, defending against Remsberger's big serve and then running the senior around the court. His attacking shots were so on, and he thoroughly frustrated his opponent. When the big points came, Seth looked confident and in control, and there was just a presence and belief that shown through. And he won the big points, pulled out the big games, and hence he won the close match.

#2 singles was another great match, where Ben Mast played senior Dylan Buck. Buck was aggressive from the opening, looking to serve big, hit big, and end points at the net. This put pressure upon Ben, but he continued to handle it well and keep the match close. After losing the first set though, Ben's belief and competitiveness seemed to wane. But a brief pep talk, and I was encouraged by Ben's response. He dug his heels in and began to attack with forehands crosscourt, down-the-line and stellar lobs and passing shots. He never let a ball fall with giving an effort... and slowing he clawed back into the match. However, Buck was a talented opponent. Despite Ben's great play, Buck was able to pull out a tight final game for the victory.

#3 singles was my favorite match of the day. Blake and I set the plan before the match: Aggressive and attacking, getting to the net and playing loose all day. And Blake executed it well, leading by a game or two for most of the first set. But right at the end, Blake got a bit tight and opponent Connor Young took advantage. He turned Blake's 6-5 first set lead into a 7-6 tiebreak win for himself. Blake took the first set loss hard, and slumped to a 1-4 deficit in the second set. At this point, I told Blake how I saw him coming back into the match, and how I believed it was going to happen. And it did. Blake responded aggressively and dominated the rest of the match. My dad, who had come to watch, mentioned that Blake turned into a completely different player, confident, aggressive, and undefeatable. Blake rolled through the super-tiebreaker as well, giving the Bruins their 2nd point of the day.

So we needed one of the doubles matches. At this point, we also figured out that a victory over Eastern would give us 1st place at the tournament as well, based on the tiebreaker system.

But the chances seemed slim at #1 doubles. They faced an undefeated team in senior Brandon Hainlan and junior Noel Horvath. But like the rest of the day, they didn't back down from the challenge. Instead, they came out on fire and took a 4-1 lead in the first set. They played unbelievable tennis, both aggressive at the baseline and really controlling the net. But like a great team does, Hainlan and Horvath stayed calm and pulled a couple games back at a time. The Comets took the lead 6-5 in the second set, and I thought that Kyle and Austin might not be able to recover. But they did, and they forced the tiebreaker. But early in the tiebreaker, the Comets were able to finish off points and take a big lead. They won the first set and their level of play got even better. Kyle and Austin had trouble maintaining the their high level of play and attacking, and the Comets finished the match in the second set. I was still proud of the energy and belief that Austin and Kyle brought to the match, and if they do that again at Sectional, they will surprise teams.

So the match came down to #2 doubles, Russell Klassen and Nick Rebec. They had played great all day and kept it going right into this match. But their opponents were up to the challenge. Back and forth, back and forth went the first set. Russell and Nick continued their strong play from the baseline, ripping short balls through their opponents and staying in crosscourt rallies. Russell did a great job picking times to cut the ball at the net. The first set went into a tiebreaker (the 3rd first set tiebreaker of our match against Eastern!) Much like #1 doubles, Russell and Nick fell behind too far in the beginning of the breaker and couldn't recover. But to their credit, they didn't get down. Instead, they went right to work in the second set. They held the lead for most of the set, until they lost 2 games to go down 5-4. Nick served out a great game under pressure to bring in back to 5-5, but they couldn't find the answer against the Comets serve. Unfortunately, they couldn't take the second set to a tiebreaker too, and they lost 5-7.

It was great to see us play so well in a big match. Under pressure, Blake responded well, Ben responded well, Nick and Russell responded well, Kyle and Austin responded well, and Seth controlled it well the whole time. When we got down, not one player quit on the match. In many cases, we were able to get back into the match. Now I see us converting our chances and winning these matches, just in time for Sectional.

Scores

#1S - Seth Krabill - 7-5, 7-5 - Jody Remberger (12)
#2S - Ben Mast - 4-6, 5-7 - Dylan Buck (12)
#3S - Blake Shetler - 6-7 (4), 7-5, (10-7) - Connor Young (9)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 6-7 (2), 1-6 - Brandon Hainlan (12)/Noel Horvath (11)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-7 (3), 5-7 - Evan Cass (12)/Adam McKinney (11)

Bethany Christian vs. Bremen

After three straight losses, a couple that were really heartbreaking, it was good to win a match tonight. It was good to win a match on senior night. But unfortunately, it was the seniors who didn't get to finish their beautiful matches before the rains opened up on us.

Seth Krabill pulled off his first victory at #1S tonight. But for Seth, it happened to come against a #1S JV player. Bremen's normal #1 player hurt himself this week, and so the Lions did a straight sub, which is allowed in injury situations. So Justin Bogart found himself moving up a full 7 positions. Of course, Seth made an even more drastic move, from #2S JV to #1S, but that happened during the off-season. The match itself wasn't much to report. It was what you would expect from a #1 varsity player against a #1 JV player. Seth had some great attacking points, especially when he was able to get to the net.

Ben Mast played the Lions normal #2, Jaxson Burkins, who has a really sweet first name. Ben was able to continue a proud Bruin position (set last year by Jared Schwartzentruber) of dominating #2 singles. Don't know if many people realize this, but in the last 37 matches that Bethany tennis has played, we've lost a total of 3 #2 singles matches. Between Jared, Jonny, Seth and now Ben, we're doing pretty well at #2. Ben played confidently and aggressively, working on his net game as well. He only faired one game worse than Seth, winning 6-1, 6-0.

At #3 singles, Russell Klassen looked like he was going to join the trend of easy singles matches. Controlling the points, he took a lead built on the errors of sophomore opponent Briley Bollenbacher. In the first set, he didn't lose a game. Then he immediately lost the first game of the second set. And the second set didn't go very well. Russell looked like he was losing energy in every game. His shots fell shorter, his feet stopped moving and he looked like he was just pushing the ball. After a little pep talk, Russell picked it up at the end, despite trailing 4-3. As the sprinkles started to fall down, Russell clinched the varsity match with the third point, stroking confidently to a victory.

#1 doubles was again a match of the slow start. Austin and Kyle looked as nervous as I've ever seen them in dropping the first 3 games of the first set. They were able to pull back into the set, but never really looked convincing. Volleys were pushed, shots were just wide, and their rhythm was never developed. Until the second set, that is. In the second set, everything started to come together. They put balls away at the net, hit deep returns and won the net battles. From the start of the second set on, they won 11 of 14 games. In the third set, they held a 5-2 advantage and were one point into the game when the clouds opened up. We couldn't risk injury, especially with the team match over, and so the match was called.

They same thing happened for #2 doubles. Nick and Misha Rebec enjoyed senior night on the same court. They didn't seem to have one single thing working for them every time, but they were competing. In the first set, down 3-2, I emphasized the importance of winning the next two games, to see how the Lions would respond to being down in the match. They did, and the two game swing led to the Bruins taking the first set. In the second, the match stayed tight, always within one game but always with the Lions leading. After tying the match at 6-6, Nick and Misha lost the tiebreaker. With sets split and ready to resume, the rain cut off the #2 doubles match as well.

So for the varsity, we won 3-0. It was good to see confident performances all around tonight. I really think we're starting to gel with our new identity as a team this year, hopefully getting better at playing under pressure. I sure think we'll need that aggressive in the face of pressure attitude come Sectional time.

Only one JV match was finished, and that was Claude Stickler dismantling Lion #1 JV player Alex Fitch (who normally plays #2, and looked real confused when announced as #1). Claude's passing shots were the story of the match, as he controlled them with pinpoint precision, if not always with power. Matt Ebersole was one point away from Bethany's second victory, leading 7-1, 40-15 when play was suspended. It's too bad it rained, we would have picked up another satisfying JV win.


Varsity: I don't know if it's exactly a beautiful point, but I loved the way that Russell closed out the last 3 games of his match. First of all, he found energy. He looked like he was excited to play, despite telling me at the changeover that he was drained. But he didn't look that way on the court. He looked ready and in control. Sometimes I think we underestimate the mental edge it gives us to look up and energized, powerful and confident. Russell combined this with well struck forehands to be a commanding presence in finishing out his match.

Junior Varsity: The aggressiveness of placement is often overlooked. We often try to be aggressive by attacking the net, or hitting the ball hard. Sometimes, it's an aggressive and winning move to place the ball well. Claude showed this in his match. While his opponent Alex Fitch tried to attack the net, Claude would line the ball up down-the-line and slice it right past his onrushing opponent. No pace, no power, just perfect placement a step inside the line. It was a smaggressive play, a winner with little chance of error. Beautiful!

Scores

Varsity
#1S - Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-0 - Justin Bogart (12)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-1, 6-0 - Jaxson Burkins (12)
#3S - Russell Klassen - 6-0, 6-4 - Briley Bollenbacher (10)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 4-6, 6-1, 5-2 (Rain Out) - Mitch Cook (12)/Thomas Manges (11)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Misha Rebec - 6-4, 6-7 (5), (Rain Out) - Ty Holmes (11)/Alex Overholser (11)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Claude Stickler - 8-2 - Alex Fitch (11)
#2SJV - Matt Ebersole - 7-1 (Rain Out) - Joey Zeltwanger (9)
#1DJV - Jake Gerig/Blake Shetler - 1-1 (Rain Out) - Ben Sime (12)/Austin Huff (10)
#2DJV - Evan Grimes/Ryan Minter - 1-0 (Rain Out) - Brad Foster (9)/Nate Strehler (9)

Alumni Report

So as our tennis season rolls forward, I thought it might be nice to check in on some of our alumni.

Class of 2005
Joel King - #2S and #1D for the Goshen College, he holds a record of 4-5 in singles and 3-6 in doubles.
Michael Steury - Plays exhibition for the Maple Leafs of Goshen, and is 4-4 on the season.

Class of 2006
Jordan Kauffman - Also plays exhibition for Goshen, and he is 4-6 right now.

Class of 2008
Matthew Amstutz - Played 1 match at #4S for Goshen College (and won!) but has a 1-6 record in exhibition matches.
Daniel Buschert - Is holding down two spots for the Maple Leafs, #6S and #3D. Right now, Daniel holds a 5-4 record in doubles (including clinching the match against Bethel) and a 1-8 record in singles.
Johnny Kauffman - Johnny played #5S in the first match for Earlham and won easily, then lost at #3S in the second match. He has won both of his doubles affairs.
Jonny Shenk - Got off to a good start this past weekend, winning 6-4, 6-4 in his first match at #6S for the Eastern Eagles.

Bremen Preview

Details: September 22, 2009 at 4:30 PM. To be played at Bethany Christian High School. It is also senior night, with the senior ceremony beginning right before the match.

Last Season Review: We defeated Bremen 5-0 last year behind the extreme strength of the team. Many of the same players are back from that Bremen squad, with 4 returning varsity players. We also won the JV match, 7-2, with some strong performances over those Lions who are joining the varsity this year.

Bremen Details: Bremen enters this match with a decent record, although they have suffered setbacks against many of the team's that we have played this season. They have lost 3-2 to Jimtown, 5-0 to Fairfield, and 4-1 to Triton. As noted in the last season review, they bring back four from the 2008 varsity, including a doubles team that moved from #2 doubles to #1 doubles.

Bethany Christian Details: We come into this match as losers of three straight matches against good competition and with a lot of questions. We've had a stellar season, and need to get over the hump in big situations. Tonight we look to take strides in that direction.

Projected Matchups:
#1S - Seth Krabill (BC) vs. Taylor Fanning (B)
#2S - Ben Mast (BC) vs. Jaxson Burkins (B)
#3S - Russell Klassen (BC) vs. Briley Bollenbacher (B)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller (BC) vs. Mitch Cook/Thomas Manges (B)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Misha Rebec (BC) vs. Ty Holmes/Alex Overholser (B)

Outlook: I hope to win. This is another matchup that we need to come out relaxed and ready to play. We match up well with the Lions at every position, meaning that we can have some close but winnable matches. I'd be surprised if we won every position, but not utterly flabbergasted. It is possible. What I really want to see is for us to play well. To be excited about the situations we find ourselves in.