Bremen Match Report

Well, one record I'm sure this team is going to set is the most 5-0 victories for a season. This victory brings us up to 9, not counting the JV's 5-0 win over Laville's varsity!

Oh, and just a little sidenote, the JV kept alive their chance to go undefeated on the season. They have pretty much clinched that they will have the best JV record ever, the question is will they have any losses? It's a good pressure for them to deal with, as most of them will have to deal with varsity pressure next year.

In the varsity match, Luke Hostetter took control early in his match by serving and volleying throughout the first game. With patented drop shots and well placed overheads, it looked that sophomore Taylor Fanning was in over his head in this match. Luke breezed through the first set in only 14 minutes, and continued his aggressive play in the second set. He was rewarded with a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

Two singles followed much the same pattern. Jared Schwartzentruber's opponent, Taylor Oberly, was a senior and much more consistent and persistent than the sophomore number one. Many times throughout the match I found myself admiring Oberly's hustle and effort as he chased down ball after ball. However, Jared's quality was simply overwhelming. Jared is tough for anyone to beat when he is slinging the forehand down the line the pounding a backhand crosscourt, then sending you back to the other side of the court with the next stroke. He was able to easily close out his match as well.

Jonny Shenk dominated his match with thundering overheads. I don't know if I've ever seen Jonny hit so many in one match. Again, Jonny controlled the match with his groundstrokes, even though they took a bit of adjusting because his opponent, Lion sophomore Alex Overholser, hit such strange backspinning shots. Jonny took a few games in the first set to figure it out, then rolled through the rest of the match.

One doubles was an interesting match. Bremen definitely seemed to have the strength of their team located in the doubles. Several of the players had big serves, including one of the one doubles team. Jeremy and Johnny were also trying some new formations on their serve, which led to several errors (including the first one they tried where Johnny got hit in the back of the head) but also several really successful shots (like the next one that Johnny smashed as they hit the return right to him). The outcome of the match rarely seemed in doubt though the second set score stayed close. Johnny and Jeremy pulled ahead at the end and Jeremy finished it off with a nice, crisp forehand volley.

Daniel and Mikey seemed a bit out of it tonight, but they seemed due for a letdown after an impressive weekend performance. In this match, it was obvious that they were the more talented team, but weak returns and some tired play plagued their scoring. Despite this however they were able to serve relatively well, and attacked at just the right times to seal the victory for themselves. Although they may not have played the best match ever, I'm sure it will cheer them up to hear that our number two doubles record is now 15-1 on the season.

The JV match ended with another convincing victory for the Bruins. Each of the singles positions and the top doubles position were taken handily. Ben Mast rolled through another opponent, as did Seth Krabill, as did Matthew Amstutz. I am seriously wondering if they are some of the best JV players in Northern Indiana. I guess we will see on Friday when we play Penn, another one of the top programs in the northern part of the state. Russell Klassen and Kyle Miller continued their number one doubles magic, winning 8-2. Russell has really been finding himself to be a good doubles player, and Kyle has continued to improve his strengths of forehand and serve throughout the season. Austin Loucks and Claude Stickler had a great match at number three doubles as well, making up for letting a lead slide away late in the match yesterday. Blake Shetler and Matt Ebersole were able to grab a singles wins for the Bruins as well. The only losses came at number two doubles and number four doubles, as Misha Rebec and Nick Rebec and Jake Gerig and Evan Grime all fell to the same Lion doubles pairing.


Varsity: Congratulations to Johnny Kauffman and Jeremy Thomas. The moment of beauty was watching the I-formation work to perfection the second time they tried it. The first time Johnny had been hit in the head, and I was afraid they would shy away from using it again. But the second time, Johnny knelt in the middle and the return came right to him as he popped up. He drilled the shot between the Lion players for a game winner. Sweeeet!

JV:Austin Loucks gets a beautiful mention here for his match ending serve. He struggled to end the match Monday night against Fairfield when it was on his serve, double faulting several times. Not tonight. Against Bremen he struck a lightning bolt of a serve, right into the backhand corner, right on the line. His opponent got to it, but had no chance of returning it, barely framing it into the fence. A solid service winner.

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 6-0, 6-0 - Taylor Fanning (10)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-1, 6-1 - Taylor Oberly (12)
Jonny Shenk - 6-2, 6-0 - Alex Overholser (10)
Johnny Kauffman/Jeremy Thomas - 6-1, 6-3 - Kevin Ingle (12)/Ben Fanning (12)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-3, 6-4 - Mitch Cook (11)/Thomas Manges (10)

JV
Ben Mast - 8-1 - Briley Bollenbacher (9)
Seth Krabill - 8-1 - Justin Bogart (11)
Matthew Amstutz - 8-0 - Brandon Cope (10)
Blake Shetler - 8-4 - Harley Sult (10)
Matt Ebersole - 8-1 - Brandon Sporner (9)
Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller - 8-2 - Jaxson Burkins (11)/Ty Holmes (10)
Misha Rebec/Nick Rebec - 2-8 - Ben Sime (11)/Austin Huff (9)
Austin Loucks/Claude Stickler - 8-2 - Hayden Hollenbaugh (11)/Alex Fitch (10)
Jake Gerig/Evan Grimes - 3-8 - Ben Sime (11)/Austin Huff (9)