Bethany Christian vs. Fremont {Match Report}

I know it's been several days since this match was played, but hey, at least I'm finally getting around to typing this up. The Fremont match was pretty much like I expected it to be: competitive at the top two positions and not so much all the rest of the way down. We have so much good depth this year that when a team only has two or three good players its not going to be enough for them to win matches against us. Fremont's coach said that they hoped to win #1 and #2 singles this year and scrape out another win somewhere else in their matches. Against us, and the consistent quality that we have all the way through the JV, that just didn't work.

Luke's match was very interesting, because he lost the first set 6-1. After not playing very much like Luke normally does, he was able to refocus for the second set and take it 6-4. After a break, Luke came out swinging and took a 5-1 lead in the third set, but unfortunately was not able to close it out before the rains came and prevented the match from being finished.

The best match of the night was turned in by Jared Schwartzentruber. Playing against a number two player Drake Hepp who had already compiled a 5-1 record on the season, Jared was able to overcome adversity and win in two sets. After fighting out a close 4-3 lead in the first set, Jared dropped two straight and was faced with a 4-5 deficit. One more game and he would have lost the first set. But Jared and I talked at the fence, talked about not hoping to win, not hoping shots would go in, but believing in them. Knowing that he would win. Jared took the next two games and eventually won the first set by dominating in a tiebreaker, winning it 7-1. The second set started out close again, until Jared turned up the class with amazing well-placed and spun groundstrokes. Jared won 4 straight games to close out Hepp in the second set.

With the slight exception of one game of lob ball in the number one doubles match, #3 singles, #1 doubles and #2 doubles swept through their matches with relative ease. The talent level of our lower positions is something that most smaller schools will simply not be able to match this year. Johnny and Jeremy served and vollied and attacked their way past a passive doubles combo at #1 doubles, while Daniel Buschert and Mikey Kelly were able to take advantage of the weak groundstrokes and serves of their opponents by simply playing the ball back and forcing errors. At #3 singles, Jonny Shenk ran his opponent around as well, forcing groundstroke errors and putting away a few overheads in the process. So the varsity was able to claim victory without conceding one spot to the Eagles.

JV was a similar story. Ben Mast and Seth Krabill dominated with consistent groundstrokes that could not be matched by their older opponents. Both freshman took down juniors, Ben scoring his second victory and Seth getting his first. They later teamed up to play #3 doubles JV, and together took their second wins of the evening, this time giving up one game. Russell Klassen also claimed his first high school victory, winning 8-3. Kyle Miller was the fourth freshman to pick up a victory, combining with Matt Amstutz to win 8-2. Kyle also won a singles match later in the evening. Will Troyer and Austin Loucks completed the JV sweep for the Bruins, winning 8-0.

In total, tonight was about the consistency that we have developed over both the summer and the August practices. Consistent, well-placed shots forced errors out of an inexperienced Eagles squad on this evening, and our players were able to benefit. Hopefully we will continue to improve this consistent play as we take on LaVille, Prairie Heights, and Triton next week!

Scores
-----------------------------
Bethany --- Score --- Fremont

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 1-6, 6-4, 5-4 --- Steven Bressler (12)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 7-6 (1), 6-3 --- Drake Hepp (11)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 6-1, 6-0 --- Kenny Wolfe (12)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 6-1, 6-0 --- Luke Frey (11)/Andrew Verde (12)
#2D - Daniel Buschert (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 6-1, 6-0 --- Ryan Palmerton (10)/Mason Hallman (10)

JV
#1S - Ben Mast (9) --- 8-0 --- Kyle Callahan (11)
#2S - Seth Krabill (9) --- 8-0 --- Raymond Blotter (10)
#3S - Russell Klassen (9) --- 8-3 --- Adam Stukey (10)
#4S - Kyle Miller (9) --- 6-0 --- Rothman Driver (11)
#1D - Matt Amstutz (11)/Kyle Miller (9) --- 8-2 --- Tyler Colbart (10)/Andrew Trombly (10)
#2D - Will Troyer (11)/Austin Loucks (10) --- 8-0 --- Danny Chen (12)/Skyler Fry (9)
#3D - Ben Mast (9)/Seth Krabill (9) --- 6-1 --- Spencer Shook (11)/Preston Hart (11)