Bethany Christian vs. Jimtown {Match Report}

Saturday provided another extremely close match for us to open up the season. This first tournament means a lot of play for a number of people against a variety of opponents. We opened the tournament with Jimtown, and it was an extremely competitive match.

At #1 singles, Luke Hostetter dropped the first set to a red-hot Jake Smith, Jimtown's junior #1. With big shots and aggressive attacking of the net, Smith had Hostetter scrambling all over the backcourt as Smith willed himself to an impressive first set win. The tide changed in the second set as Hostetter found motivation and his strokes, driving the ball back deep time after time, preventing Smith from attacking the net and forcing errors. Shouts of "c'mon" were common as Luke roared back and took the second set with a flood of momentum, 6-2. This put the match into a ten point tiebreak to decide the winner. Luke's wave continued to crash on, as he downed Smith 10-3 in a great tiebreak.

At #2 singles, Jared Schwartzentruber played returning Jimtown senior J.J. DuBois. The crafty lefty wove a game of well-worked groundstrokes and well-timed attacks to thwart the challenges that Jared presented. Jared took the challenge and came out with a great attitude and excellent played strokes to take control in the second set, but DuBois soon found his answer. Jared fell to a talented and experienced player in a very well played match.

At #3, Jonny Shenk played his grinding game to great efficiency to take a 5-4 first set lead over hard-hitting junior Tyler Wallin. However, Wallin found his game just at the right time and pushed himself to three straight games won to take the first set 7-5. With renewed focus, Jonny kept Wallin off of his attacking game and countered by taking the second set 6-3. In the deciding tiebreak, things were close until Jonny broke away with an 8-4 lead. The two then traded points, but it wasn't enough for Wallin as he fell 10-6.

In doubles, impressive seniors Chris Landis and Mike Landis teamed up for the first time since their Semi-State run as sophomores. Though Bethany juniors Johnny Kauffman and Jeremy Thomas play well, they could not find their way through the maze of lobs and low passing shots the Landis's were able to play. The match ended in two quick sets.

Number two doubles was a different story, as Matt Amstutz and Mikey Kelly came out confident and convincing working their way from a 3-0 lead to a 6-5 chance at the first set. A combination of good play and bad luck saw them drop the lead and lose the first set tiebreak. A good streak of play in the second set was not enough however to cool the now confident Jimtown duo, and the Jimmies took the second set to finish off the match.

As coach, there were plenty of encouraging results to see in this match. Jared Schwartzentruber's improved play at number two singles, another pair of wins from the #1 and #3 singles players, and the excellent match played by Johnny and Jeremy. There are certain patterns forming however that need to be addressed by both players and myself. It's early in the season still, but we want to get to winning ways quickly and build ourselves up to Sectional quality, a goal that is still very much achievable.

Scores
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Bethany --- Score --- Jimtown

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 3-6, 6-2, 1-3 --- Jake Smith (11)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 2-6, 4-6 --- J.J. DuBois (12)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 5-7, 6-4, 10-6 --- Tyler Wallin (11)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 1-6, 0-6 --- Chris Landis (12)/Mike Landis (12)
#2D - Matt Amstutz (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 6-7 (4), 3-6 --- Duke Johnson (12)/Aaron Blume (12)