Bethany Christian vs. Triton {Preview}

Saturday Bethany Christian Tennis competes for it's fifth straight match win, at 10:00 AM at Triton High School. This match has gone from competitive to a whitewash victory for the Bruins to competitive again throughout recent history. This is always a team that plays good, hard, competitive tennis, and we expect the same this weekend.

Triton comes into this match 4-1 on the season. They have wins over Rochester, Knox, Mishawaka and LaVille. It is an intriguing match because we also have wins over Rochester, Mishawaka and LaVille. Triton's one loss comes at the hands of Plymouth, a team who typically is very talented. So Triton has definitely had a bright start to the season.

Triton is also an interesting place to play. They have 6 courts, but two are down the hill from the rest. So the varsity is a bit split up as they play. Also, the doubles courts don't have fences on the sides, so balls are constantly having to be retrieved and fans are fairly close to the action with a wide open view. It's really different, but it's one of the fun things about going on the road and playing at unique places.

We have some history from last year with Triton's returning players. Triton's #1 singles player returns for his third year at the position. Last year, Luke defeated Brandon Anthony, 6-2, 6-3. In the past, Anthony has had very smooth groundstrokes, but not been overpowering. At #2 singles, Ben Montalbano returns for his second year, falling to Wes last year in straight sets. #3 singles returns as well, Josh Gephart who lost out to Jared. Finally, Triton returns their #1 doubles as well, a team that took Johnny and Jordan Kauffman to a tiebreaker last year before fading in the second set.

The best match should be #1 doubles. They challenged us last year at that position and I think this is a chance for Jeremy and Johnny to step up and make a statement about what type of team they are going to be this year.

So Triton returns a fair share of their lineup, and it is making them a deeper and better team. We've really had a good week of practice so far and are looking forward to competing. Hopefully we'll carry the high level of play and confidence from practice right on into our matches. If we do that we should expect another victory.

Triton Info:
Returning Varsity (6)
- Brandon Anthony lost 2-6, 3-6 to Luke Hostetter
- Ben Montalbano lost 1-6, 2-6 to Wes Klassen
- Josh Gephart lost 0-6, 1-6 to Jared Schwartzentruber
- Erik Shafer/Mitch Mellott lost 6-7 (4), 1-6 to Johnny Kauffman/Jordan Kauffman
- Bryant Davenport lost 2-6, 0-6 to Jeremy Thomas/Jordan Miller

Returning JV (5)
- Kody Senff lost 2-8 to Jonny Shenk
- Kreig Vories lost 1-8 to Mikey Kelly
- Andrew Sellers lost 5-8 to Nathan Hostetter
- Darius Stevens/John Riddle lost 1-8 to Daniel Buschert/Matt Amstutz, 2-8 to Will Troyer/Jared Christophel

Probable Lineup??
#1S - Brandon Anthony (11)
#2S - Ben Montalbano (10)
#3S - Josh Gephart (10)
#1D - Erik Shafer (12)/Mitch Mellott (12)
#2D - Darius Stevens (10)/Bryant Davenport (10)