Jimtown JV Invitational Champions!

Congratulations to the Bethany Christian JV team, bringing home our first trophy of the year while cruising to a 7-0 record. Not to mention that they won the tournament this Saturday without anybody even losing a set!

We began the day matched up with Concord, the only school to defeat us in the varsity version of this tournament last weekend. Because of other obligations, Concord had two of their JV players missing, and therefore began the match already down 1-0 as they forfeited the number two doubles position. So it was a good start for us! We filled in the spot for them though, with Claude Stickler and Misha Rebec playing doubles together against Austin Loucks and Nick Rebec. Claude and Misha took the victory, and little did we know that it would also be the only time a Bethany team would lose throughout the entire day.

In Concord singles, all three positions started out slowly. At number two JV singles, Seth Krabill recovered quickly to bring himself from a 15-40 deficit in the first game and then back for the first game. It was never close again as Seth cruised 6-0, 6-0 in this first round matchup. Ben Mast had a similar story, although he actually dropped some games to his Minuteman opponent. After a quick talk at the fence about swinging through despite his opponent's tendency to dink, Ben went on a roll as well and won 6-2, 6-0. At number three singles, Matthew Amstutz looked to be in a good match as his opposite lobbed well and stroked well take 3 games in the first set. Yet Matthew mixed up his game very well, attacking the net and occasionally letting loose on his "big weapons." He mentally wore down the opponent and won his second set 6-0 as well. The doubles against Concord were the first pairing of Russell Klassen and Kyle Miller, and boy was it successful. A quick 6-0, 6-1 win was in order for the sophomore pair, as they both served well, played consistent and began to understand net play as well.

So with a 5-0 victory over Concord under our belt, we moved on to face the next stiffest test, Jimtown. They were last year's champion of the JV Invitational, and we had lost to them 3-2. He hoped to get a little revenge in this match and hopefully seal the championship as well. They are lacking on the JV numbers this year, so they brought two varsity players down to play the match, junior Bret Giddings and junior Josh George.

Ben Mast found himself up against Giddings and made a tentative, "pushy" start to the match. By that I mean Ben was guiding or pushing the ball instead of hitting through it. He also looked nervous with his serves. But at 2-3 he got a little pep talk about confidence and took the next four games, and thus the first set. Like many of his matches, the second set stayed close but the outcome never seemed in doubt. This is a special gift Ben has, the ability to be in control. And Seth Krabill has the ability to dominate. Coming out against varsity two doubles player Josh George, Seth managed George sometimes big often erratic game to a 2-2 first set tie. Then Seth pulled out all the stops in aggressively stroking his way to the next 10 games in a row. What was super impressive was the quality of Seth's passing shots and volleys, each of them giving him a way to win big points.

Matthew Amstutz dismantled his younger opponent in quick fashion, threatening the shortest match time record but going long by about 5 minutes. At number one doubles, Russell Klassen and Kyle Miller faced our toughest test of the tournament, as they took on a talented Jimtown doubles team. Finding themselves down 5-4 and facing the loss of the first set, they turned things around in a big way, breaking serve and beginning to hit attacking and aggressive shots with more regularity. And by aggressive and attacking shots, I'll include Russell's lobs, which were beautifully infuriating to his opponents. Kyle kept pace with more great serves and they took the first set 7-5. With the momentum, they won the second in easier fashion, 6-2.

Two doubles was a dominant match as well. Misha Rebec and Claude Stickler played a great match, controlling from the net. Misha often placed himself right in the middle of the court and found himself set up for slam after slam. The team continued to improve on their serves and groundstrokes as well, and won the match 6-1, 6-0. Another 5-0 team victory for the Bruins with only Rochester left.

And the Rochester match, well, let's just say it was another 5-0 victory. There were no close matches, even though we flipped the lineup around a bit to have Russell and Matthew Amstutz play doubles together and Kyle play number three singles. Kyle's match was the closest, as he posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory. With Kyle's match ending simultaneously as Seth's, and the court's clear, Bethany stood with a beautiful Invitational championship. Officially we had not lost a match on the day, going 15-0!

However, there was more. Concord had not fielded a two doubles team, so we loaned them Jake and Blake for two matches. Jake and Blake continued the theme of Bethany domination, winning both of their matches in two set fashion. This raised the Bethany record on the day to 17-0! And still we didn't lose a set.

This all speaks of the awesome depth of the team right now. Blake Shetler isn't in our top 7 JV players, and at all of the other schools we played today he may have been playing two or three singles. A great freshman not quite breaking our JV lineup just shows how the program is growing and doing well. I'm just hoping that continues throughout the next several years...well, at least as long as I'm around. Thanks to all who came out to support us today!

Scores (will be posted on Tuesday)

vs. Concord
Ben Mast - 6-2, 6-0 - Brandon Frutig
Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-0 - Zack Ehret
Matthew Amstutz - 6-3, 6-0 - Bronson DuMont
Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller - 6-0, 6-2 - Zach Beaver/Matt Ciesielski
Austin Loucks/Nick Rebec - won by forfeit but...
-----> Austin/Nick - 6-2, 0-6, (5-10) - Claude Stickler/Misha Rebec

vs. Jimtown
Ben Mast - 6-3, 6-3 - Bret Giddings
Seth Krabill - 6-2, 6-0 - Josh George
Matthew Amstutz - 6-0, 6-0 - John Gray
Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller - 7-5, 6-2 - Lance Miller/John Hoffman
Claude Stickler/Misha Rebec - 6-0, 6-1 - Danny Eaton/Kameron Green

vs. Rochester
Ben Mast - 6-1, 6-0 - Phil Keim
Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-1 - Kyle Calhoun
Kyle Miller - 6-1, 6-2 - Josh Calhoun
Matthew Amstutz/Russell Klassen - 6-0, 6-1 - Taylor Beck/Tyler Opple
Nick Rebec/Austin Loucks - 6-1, 6-0 - Evan Webb/Mike Rosswurm