Bethany Christian vs. Goshen {Sectional}

This was our second amazing match in a row! The pressure intensified, and, sitting here writing this after the season is done, this was one of the matches in which we played the best tennis of our year.

It's hard to describe exactly what happened and do the drama justice. It just takes too many words, and it never approaches the nail-biting, hair-raising ending to this match.

To start with, I should say that this was a difficult matchup for us. Goshen was very dominant this year at the singles positions, and we didn't match up well against their #2 player, Ryan Wengerd, or their #3, Ryan Miller. In fact, Miller had handed Jonny Shenk his worst defeat of the season at the beginning of September in the Warsaw tournament. Our hope was that we could win one of the singles however, and then get both doubles matches.

As expected however, we dropped #2 and #3 singles. Not without some great play however. Jared Schwartzentruber actually held an early lead in both sets of his match, but couldn't find the strokes to maintain those leads. Jonny fought to find a way to win, but couldn't match Miller's attacking game.

However, both Luke and #1 doubles took first sets in their matches. So it looked as if the match would come down to #2 doubles. They had played a very tentative and poor first set, not keeping the ball in the court and not attacking the net with energy. They fell 6-1 in the first set. After a talk about "flying" around the court to get their energy up they responded, taking a commanding lead quickly in the second set and closing it at 6-3. Now they needed the third.

Meanwhile, Luke was able to take the second set convincingly to end his match, 6-4, 6-1. Luke later commented that it was the most confident that he played all year. It certainly appeared that way from my vantage point as well.

However, at #1 doubles, Goshen had picked up their level of play in a big way and fought their way into a second set tiebreaker, which they were able to win. That left both #1 doubles and #2 doubles needing a third set win in order for the Bruins to advance.

Both doubles put themselves in the lead early in the third sets. #2 doubles worked themselves to a 5-1 advantage behind Mikey's big serves and Daniel's big volleys and overheads. #1 continued to pile the pressure on Goshen by attacking and attacking and attacking. Both teams got to points where they were on the verge of winning the match. Actually, at one point both matches had match points in favor of Bethany at the exact same time. However, the Bruins weren't able to take advantage, at least at #1 doubles. Mikey and Daniel were able to pull out the set, leaving the courts all to Johnny and Jeremy.

Johnny and Jeremy had many chances to take the decisive set. They led 5-4 on Jeremy's serve and couldn't convert. They led 6-5 on Johnny's serve and couldn't close it. So to a tiebreaker the last set went. Johnny and Jeremy took the first 3 points and all the Bruin supporters began to relax. Until Goshen stormed back to take the next 6 straight points, giving them 3 points to win the match. The first two were with Jeremy serving. He put the first serve in the net both times, but Johnny and Jeremy were able to convert the points despite that. Then they tied the score at 6-6 in the tiebreak. The points went back and forth until a tie at 8-8. A lob went up over Johnny and Jeremy and landed just deep. 9-8. Again, #1 doubles attacked the net and another lob was thrown up. As it landed Johnny and Jeremy threw their rackets into the air. It had gone out and we were moving on to the Sectional final.

Scores
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Bethany --- Score --- Goshen

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 6-4, 6-1 --- Mac Hussey (11?)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 3-6, 2-6 --- Ryan Wengerd (11?)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 2-6, 1-6 --- Ryan Miller (12)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (8) --- Andy Van Klaveren/Michael Ciesielski
#2D - Daniel Buschert (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 --- Cameron Snyder/Stefan Baumgartner