Bethany Christian vs. Northwood {Match Report}

Heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.

That's the best way to describe this match. But two others good adjectives would be well-played and hard work. In a match in which we played some of our best tennis and some of our worst points, we fell to a talented Northwood team 3-2. To make matters worse, this was our third 3-2 loss of the season.

Throughout the lineup, players competed in tough, long matches. Throughout the match their was also the threat of rain. It took a whole lot of focus and determination for the players to push their way through the matches. I was really proud of the way we competed in this match.

First off the courts was Jared Schwartzentruber. Battling through back pains, and two days without practice, Jared looked a bit rusty in the first set falling 1-6. In the second set he rallied back to force some longer points and see his opponent more readily make mistakes. He was unable to close out the set through, as Austin Hostetter secured the first point of the night for the Panthers.

Playing right beside Jared was Bruin's #1 doubles team of Johnny Kauffman and Jeremy Thomas. With aggressive net play and stinging crosscourt groundstrokes, Thomas and Kauffman controlled much of the play in an even match. In the first set each team held serve until the Bruins held a 5-4 advantage. Then Johnny and Jeremy broke to take the first set and give themselves a significant advantage. In the second set things started out close again. This set the doubles team broke Northwood's serve to earn a 4-3 advantage, and then was able to close out the next two games in succession for Bethany's first win of the evening.

At #1 singles, Luke battled to the end, but was not able to fend off the relentless attacking from Northwood's #1 lefty, Preston Swain. Swain improved dramatically in the offseason, and with his height and power made life difficult for Luke as he attacked the net. Despite a surge in the second set to take a 3-2 lead, Luke could not hang on and fell, conceding the second point to Northwood.

This left #2 doubles and #3 singles. In the singles match, Jonny Shenk competed against Ben Baker, a senior who had defeated Jonny 8-1 in a JV match last season. This year the match was much more even, and in a grinding first set that went back and forth Jonny was able to secure the advantage with a dominating tiebreak, winning the decisive seventh game 7-1. The second set started with Jonny feeling less energetic and feeling his hurting ankle as well. Baker took the second set and then the rain came. The match moved indoors but the momentum continued to swing back and forth, Baker taking the early lead and then Jonny catching back up. After trailing 4-3 in the final set, Jonny heroically won the last three games and took the set 6-4.

Then the heartbreak. Daniel Buschert and Mikey Kelly locked in one of the closest matches ever in Bethany tennis history. Buschert and Kelly won the first set 7-5 after trailing 5-4. They then had two chances to win the match in the second set, up 5-4 and with a 15-40 lead. However, these chances were denied and Northwood took the second set just before the rains came. Moving inside, Daniel and Mikey took a 5-3 lead in the final set. Looking assured of victory however, nerves rattled the new varsity players, and their opponenets, Tyler Miller and Tyler Saunders, began to pick up their game as well. The last set came down to a tiebreaker, and Northwood prevailed thanks to some well played points and ill-timed mishits from the Bruins.

So we lost 2-3. Again. And it hurt. But we move on to pick ourselves up. There is no reason to believe we can't be ready to play this team again come Sectional. That's the goal and the finish line now for this years varsity, preparation for a Sectional title.

Scores
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Bethany --- Score --- Northwood

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 2-6, 3-6 --- Preston Swain (11)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 1-6, 3-6 --- Austin Hostetter (11)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4 --- Ben Baker (12)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 6-4, 6-3 --- Adam Hostetter (11)/Chad Hostetter (11)
#2D - Daniel Buschert (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (4) --- Tyler Miller (12)/Tyler Saunders (11)