Bethany Christian vs. Tippecanoe Valley

Last match of the regular season, and we all ended it playing well. That's something that a coach loves to see, and be able to say about his players up and down the line. From #1 singles varsity to #2 doubles JV we all played very good matches this match.

And so it resulted in two dominant wins, one for JV and one for the varsity, both by identical 5-0 scorelines. It was a bit unfortunate for Tippecanoe, as this was their senior night, but nonetheless it was well deserved for the Bruins.

Going right down the line, #1 singles was a very interesting match. Rosten Hamman is a three year player at #1 for the Vikings, and yet he didn't prove to be a very difficult match for Luke. He came out firing, perhaps hoping to achieve a victory in his senior night. However, he soon started misfiring. Luke consistently was able to keep the ball back and make Rosten hit multiple risky shots in each point. It turned out to be a dominant victory for Luke.

At #2 singles, Jared Schwartzentruber played one of his best matches of the year. We talked early in the match about striking the ball deep into the court and attacking the net behind that, and that's exactly what Jared was able to do. He also closed the net extremely well, having more than a few putaway volleys and powerful overheads. Combine that with a serve that was too fast and too good to be returned every time, and Jared had a victory over a good opponent.

#3 singles was a very odd match. Kashmar (Jonny Shenk) crushed his opponent in the first set, 6-1. He was dominant and in total control. It looked like he was going to be the first match off the court with an easy win and then...well, Jonny stopped striking the ball deep is the bottom line. With balls continually falling shorter and shorter, Viking senior Landon Hendrix attacked the net and put Jonny under a lot of pressure. He frustrated Jonny and undercut the confidence that Jonny has been playing with all year. However, the third set was yet to come. After realizing that he needed to get the ball deeper, Jonny transformed back into Kashmar, and ripped through the last set 6-0, winning the last point in a slow drizzle that had been threatening to rain him out.

#1 doubles didn't leave much to talk about beside Johnny's wicked serve and Johnny and Jeremy's dominating overheads. Another opponent scared to death is what we could write about in this one.

#2 doubles did a great job in this match volleying and playing attacking tennis. In both sets they won the last three games in a row to close out the set. It was good to see Mikey cutting balls off at the net and volleying them between the Valley players. Daniel did a really nice job of serving again and the groundstrokes were looking good too. I was very pleased at the way they bounced back from disappointment Saturday and played a nice match.

The entire JV match was a bit like #1 doubles varsity. They just ripped through the lineup, losing only 5 games total. Seth Krabill probably had the highlight as he noted that his match ended with him smashing an overhead. What a good attacking feeling to end with.

Scores
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Bethany --- Score --- Tippecanoe Valley

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 6-1, 6-1 --- Rosten Hamman (12)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 6-3, 6-2 --- James Bradford (12)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 --- Landon Hendrix (12)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 6-1, 6-1 --- Josh Foster (12)/Kyle Lowe (12)
#2D - Daniel Buschert (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 6-3, 6-3 --- David Gerig (12)/Isaac French (10)

JV
#1S - Ben Mast (9) --- 8-0 --- Russ Yeiter (11)
#2S - Matt Amstutz (11) --- 8-1 --- Tyler Peterson (10)
#3S - Austin Loucks (10) --- 8-0 --- Troy Adams (9)
#1D - Seth Krabill (9)/Kyle Miller (9) --- 8-1 --- Bryce Good (11)/Ethan McDonald (10)
#2D - Will Troyer (11)/Jared Christophel (11) --- 8-3 --- Russ Yeiter (11)/Tyler Peterson (11)