NorthWood Match Report

There are a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe a varsity win like this. Intense. Nerve-wracking. Rewarding. I think I'll go with the last. To me, this victory against a very good NorthWood team was very rewarding. We've put in a whole heck of a lot of work over the past several years with the intention of winning matches like this. I hope that this is not the last match like this that we win.

So the final varsity score was 3-2. The JV match was less intriguing, but still ultra-encouraging, as the JV raised their season record to 12-0 with a 7-1 win. But the story of the night was the dramatic clinching of the match by number two singles Jared Schwartzentruber.

What was really calming about this match was that we won the first two matches to come off the court. Daniel Buschert and Mikey Kelly continued their winning streak by defeating the NorthWood number two doubles team 6-0, 6-3. These guys continue to play well together and are without a doubt one of the better two doubles teams in Northern Indiana. It is such a solid base for the varsity to stand on, knowing that at the bottom of the lineup they have players who they can count on. Daniel played particularly well in this match, as Mikey's dad noted, that he was playing his best tennis of the season. Hopefully we'll keep this good tennis going right through the weekend and into Sectionals in a couple of weeks.

The second match to finish was number three singles. Jonny Shenk fell behind 3-0 in this match before winning 12 of the next 13 games. Jonny really picked up his energy level after falling behind and found his shots to be more effective as he stroked through them and was actually able to win many points going to the net, on overheads and volleys. His lob also seemed to be the same weapon tonight as it had been many times last year. So Jonny brought home point number two for the Bruins.

Luke found it much rougher against Preston Swain at number one singles. Preston is a great, left-handed player with plenty of power. Luke got behind in the first set, but much like his match against Jeff George, Luke made Preston earn all the points that he was getting. In the second set, down 4-1, Luke again put together a mini-run to challenge Preston, winning two games in a row behind consistently good shot making. Swain went back on the aggressive after those games and quickly took the 5-3 lead. Luke couldn't recover to push the match farther and lost 1-6, 3-6.

At number one doubles, the intensity boiled right under the surface for the whole match. The Bruin team of Johnny Kauffman and Jeremy Thomas came out serving extremely well in the first set. They attacked the net after every serve and put a lot of pressure on seniors Adam and Chad Hostetter. In the first set, net putaways and emphatic overheads, along with the accompanying hurried, rushed and flying out shots, allowed the Bruins to take a 6-4 set. The second set started just as closely, but a break of Jeremy's serve set Bethany at a disadvantage. Trailing by a break, Jeremy's serve was taken a second time. There seemed to be a lack of net aggression during Jeremy's service games, that allowed the Panthers to attack the groundstrokes of the Bruin team. The third set was a seesaw battle, that stayed mostly on serve throughout. The impressive feat was how easily and confidently each team held serve. With the Bruins down 5-4, Johnny was able to hold serve and then make a big break to take the 6-5 lead. Again however, Bethany could not hold Jeremy's serve and so the match entered a tiebreak. Like the rest of the match, the tiebreak was close, with neither team ever getting over a two point lead. The players had been screaming "C'mon!" at their teammates as encouragement for the whole match, and the crowds got behind this exciting match in these late stages. NorthWood had one match point denied by a great return from Johnny, that clipped the top of the net. But the second match point went the Panthers way as they were able to make a nice volley for the match. 8-6 was the final in the tiebreaker.

Which brought the team match down to number two singles. Jared Schwartzentruber had lost the first set to Austin Hostetter 1-6. But fighting back with much more aggressive play in the second set, Jared had forced a third. This match was a ground stroking battle like I hadn't seen much of this year. Jared played his consistently pretty topspin shots while Austin played a lower trajectory almost bullet-like shot. It was fascinating to watch. Jared was able to force Hostetter into a couple of errors to open the third set, and took a 3-0 lead. The lead stayed intact but was slowly whittled, until Hostetter tied the game at 4-4. In an important game, Jared loosened up a bit and snagged the next game to make the match 5-4. He was serving for the match. But it didn't happen that easily. As one doubles entered their tiebreak, Jared lost and the match was retied at 5-5. In the next game Jared stroked and stroked and stroked his way through a very tight game, then watched a Hostetter backhand fly just wide. With an encouragement from his coach to stay aggressive and attacking on the changeover, Jared came out and boomed in two serves in a row to take a 30-love lead in the decisive game. Then a Hostetter error gave Jared a match point. A good serve, a good return, a short rally, a short ball, and Jared attacked it that short ball with a big forehand into Hostetter's backhand corner. When Hostetter couldn't retrieve it, the match was over.

It was a joyful time. It was the first match we've been able to pull out over an even opponent this year, which is key to our success down the road. In that way it was much like the Fairfield and Goshen Sectional wins from last year. Certainly, the way in which this match ended was a blessing for the Bethany players. I'm glad we got to play it.

If you see this report Friday night or Saturday morning, rest assured that I'll put more details in the scores and such tomorrow. I'll also add a bit more about the JV match, hand out the moments of beauty, etc. But now, I've got to get to bed and be ready to play some more good teams tomorrow. Movement, movement, movement and repose! Now's the time to rest.

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 1-6, 3-6 - Preston Swain (12)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 - Austin Hostetter (12)
Jonny Shenk - 6-1, 6-3 - Nick Anglemeyer (11)
Johnny Kauffman/Jeremy Thomas - 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (6) - Chad Hostetter (12)/Adam Hostetter (12)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-0, 6-3 - Jordan Lantz(10)/Tyler Saunders (12)

JV
Ben Mast - 8-0 - Shiv Patel (10)
Seth Krabill - 8-1 - Corey Diener (9)
Kyle Miller - 8-0 - Dylan Humble (9)
Matthew Amstutz - 8-0 - Corey Diener (9)
Austin Loucks - 5-8 - Shiv Patel (10)
Blake Shetler - 8-0 - Dylan Humble (9)
Misha Rebec/Nick Rebec - 8-0 - Jon Long (12)/Rushiv Patel (9)
Claude Stickler/Jake Gerig - 8-0 - Jon Long (12)/Rushiv Patel (9)