Mishawaka Match Report

We won Monday's match 5-0 at the varsity level and 2-0 at the JV level. This raises our record to 4-2 on the season.

Each spot was a dominant performance by our older, more experienced players. We have been blessed with a program full of talent right now, and that showed during the matches. Mishawaka has many young, beginning players, first picking up a racket when they first come to practice. They have more players this year, as well as some promising athletes, so hopefully their program will continue an upswing.

The matches weren't close this year though. Luke won his match in 32 minutes, setting a non-official record for fastest 2 set match in Bethany history, bettering Jonny's time from Saturday's invitational of 35 minutes over Rochester. While we weren't trying for these fast times, it does show the talent gap. Luke played nicely, using many opportunities to attack and put away volleys and overheads.

Matthew Amstutz took his turn filling in for injured Johnny Kauffman, who was instructed by the coach to take a rest, and did well at one doubles with Jeremy Thomas. They also sealed a quick victory in attacking style, though they often forced more errors than they finished off themselves.

Mikey Kelly and Daniel Buschert continued to work on their partnership at two doubles. Fighting his perfectionistic urges, Mikey honed his serve and Daniel his backing up overheads as they won the match in easy fashion. They shared the identical scoreline as number two singles, Jared Schwartzentruber. After struggling in the very first game of the match with finishing points, Jared calmed down to play nicely despite the excellent touch of Caveman sophomore Dylan Thompson. Thompson looked to be a natural athlete in the process of sharpening his tennis skill. I was impressed with how well Jared served and how well Thompson was able to return even the biggest of shots.

At three singles, Jonny Shenk only slipped up for one game in his match. The second person off the courts he also had the second best scoreline. I thought that Jonny worked well on his groundstrokes, and the consistency that he brings to the table was able to topple his opponent in this match.


Varsity:
Mikey Kelly had a terrific and unlikely rally with the Mishawaka two doubles team. After a backhand return deep into the court, Mikey came to the net as did both Cavemen players. What ensued was a game of two ball, the ball popping back and forth, falling at Mikey's feet and eventually popping up to his backhand volley. He knocked the backhand volley at his opponent's feet and forced the error. It was a good example of keeping the rally alive until being able to finish the right ball.

JV:
Blake Shetler played a quick and effective match. His opponent, Scott Fahey, tried to push the attack of the net at one point and Blake made him regret it in this one moment of beauty. Fahey took the net and Blake sent a spiraling forehand topspin lob over his head. It landed beautifully in the forehand corner of Fahey's court and spun away from him, he was unable to put a racket on it. I turned smiling to Andrew Lanctot as he said, "I'm telling you, that's a great shot against anybody." Well said.

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 6-0, 6-0 - Chris Grecco (12)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-1, 6-1 - Dylan Thompson (10)
Jonny Shenk - 6-1, 6-0 - Michael Stamm (12)
Jeremy Thomas/Matthew Amstutz - 6-1, 6-0 - Adam Barnhart (11)/Bobby LeRoy (9)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-1, 6-1 - Anthony Tomlinson (11)/Andrew Laubner (9)

JV
Blake Shetler - 8-0 - Scott Fahey (12)
Evan Grimes - 8-0 - Nick Hoover (9)