Penn Match Report

This was a historic match for Bethany Christian, and a true indicator of the hard work many of us put in all offseason. Both JV and varsity walk away from this match with one more tally in the win column, and one more memory for continued storytelling.

We had a rainout, that is why we contacted Penn. There courts weren't done to open the year, and so they were looking for a match here late in the season to serve as an opening for their new courts. We were happy to provide the competition because we needed a test. I searched through scores and scores to see if we, a 200 student school, would have the chance of upsetting the 3300 student giant of a school. What I found told me that it might be close.

See, Penn had beaten Concord early in the season 3-2. We lost to Concord last week 2-3. Concord had beaten Plymouth 4-1 and last weekend, Plymouth beat Penn 3-2. So with these common scores circling around in my head, I knew that we could compete at the varsity level.

Compete we did. From the very first point it was obvious that this team was not intimidated. In fact, in the varsity match, every single position won the opening game. That tells me we were confident and focused in our approach to the match. We certainly had motivation for the match, as we felt like we had lost too many close matches to good schools and it was about time we won a match.

At number two doubles, Daniel Buschert and Mikey Kelly quickly turned the 1-0 lead into a 3-0 lead. Then they continued to 5-0 and then to take the first set 6-0. It all happened very fast and in impressive fashion. As John Mast noted, "I've never seen these guys hit groundstrokes so well." The second set was closer, but not by that much. Daniel and Mikey continued to be aggressive at the right times and put away many overheads and volleys at the net. Soon, the first match off the courts belonged to the Bruins, as the two doubles team won 6-0, 6-3.

A cheer went up from the Bethany fans to congratulate Mikey and Daniel, and the rest of the team had confirmed to them what they already knew: we had a chance to win. By the time Daniel and Mikey came off the courts, we had won the first set at every position except number one singles. Jared Schwartzentruber had won his first set 6-2 playing against Penn senior Ethan Leiter. Jared played this match under control and with a lot of determination. He seemed to be in the habit of playing the perfect shot at the perfect time. When he needed a big serve, he would find one. When he needed a topspin lob, we would hit one. Or he would work Leiter back and forth throughout the game to have Leiter finally end the point with an error. The second set was back and forth, and nobody lost a game on their serve. Jared served first, so he consistently would take the lead, and then be tied, take the lead and then be tied. Jared then took the lead 5-4, and if he broke serve, Bethany would lead the team match 2-0, because Jared would have won his match. Sure enough, Jared smacked a return at ad-out that Leiter couldn't handle. Bruins 2, Kingsmen 0.

There where then two matches left on the courts in which we had the lead, number one doubles and number three singles. Johnny Kauffman and Jeremy Thomas had come out fast in their match, much like the number two doubles team. They raced to a 5-0 lead before the match started to tighten a bit. They split the next two games, which allowed them to win the first set 6-1, but began a pattern of splitting games that continued throughout the second set. The first set they had played loose and dominated the net, hitting down powerful putaways and watching Penn's attempts to attack them sail both deep and wide. But in the second set, credit to the Kingsmen (Vince Beam and Oliver Gunter) they began to attack the net as well. This evened up the match, and the second set went back and forth. Bethany never really trailed in the second set, but couldn't pull away. Up 5-4, Johnny and Jeremy had a chance to break serve and win the match with two match points. They couldn't make the breakthrough though and had to serve for another chance. Johnny served a great game that they held easily, again setting them up with a chance to break the Kingsmen serve and win the match. This time they came through. Jeremy hit his return crosscourt and Johnny cut off the next groundstroke with a volley between Beam and Gunter. Their match was over and at this point the team match was over as Bethany led 3-0.

Luke's match was the only one where we did not win the first set, but up against a formidable opponent, Luke was making the match very, very tight. He lost the first set 6-4, and junior Andy Hansen was frustrated throughout. Hansen continued to talk to himself and hit balls into the fence and net after each game, even the games that he won. Luke played some great tennis, taking away some of Hansen's winners by running them down, hitting the way he'd been hoping for all season, forcing some errors, holding his serve. It was a great match for Luke, which is strange to say considering that he is the only one who ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline, 4-6, 4-6.

Which tells you who won the number three singles match. Jonny came out stroking the ball really nicely, which was good, because the player that he matched up against seemed to be a mirror image of Jonny himself. Both had nice forehands, but both players preferred to keep the ball in the court rather than attack the net. Jonny controlled many of the points in the first set, forcing junior Karter Kistler deep into the court and into errors. In the second set, Kistler took the small advantage as Jonny got back on his heels a bit. But as the chorus of cheers erupted for the end of the number one doubles match and the sealing of the team match, Jonny began to find his play once again. Much like number one doubles, he took a 5-4 lead and had several match point opportunities that he could not finish off. But in the next two games he found his determination and was able to hit a couple of big overheads at crucial points. He finished off the match at 6-3, 7-5.

And so the varsity won to move to 13-4. But there was still the matter of the JV's undefeated season...

So the JV went up against their second undefeated opponent of the week. Fairfield had been undefeated on Monday, and Bethany had handed them their first loss. Penn was 12-0 entering the contest, and the Bruins were able to do it again, sending the Kingsmen to 12-1 while the Bethany JV upped its record to 15-0.

It didn't come all easy. Ben Mast found himself in a real fight at number one singles. Ben also had a personal undefeated record on the season, and was looking to keep that up against an unconventional opponent who hit the ball hard with a two-handed forehand and backhand. Ben struggled throughout the match and found himself trailing 4-7. He made a comeback to pull within 6-7, but lost the next game to fall 6-8.

Seth Krabill found himself in a similarly close match, except he was on the winning side. His opponent was a chip and charge player, who sliced the ball low on almost every shot and then attacked the net. This would seemed to have suited Seth well to play against, because he has good passing shots, but the amount of pressure wore on Seth. Though he kept the lead throughout, the final scoreline of 8-6 showed what a battle this was. Seth was able to come through in the clutch though and secure the victory.

Matthew Amstutz also had a close match for the first time this season, at least on the JV level. But again, just like in his Fairfield varsity match, he was able to use his experience to pull it out at the end.

The rest of the spots had significantly less close matches, but played very well. Austin Loucks and Nick Rebec at number two doubles and Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller at number one doubles deserve special mention for the way they committed to playing solid strategic doubles, and it paid off.

So the JV remained undefeated, with only two games left!


Varsity: It gets harder and harder to give these moments of beauty, because I see so many well played points throughout the match. So for this match, I'll give the moment of beauty to the point that I believe defined the match for the whole Bruins tennis team. I actually only remember one shot of the point even, and it was in the number one doubles match. There was a rally going and a ball fell short and in the middle of court. It was to Jeremy's backhand side, and so even though he was closer he called on Johnny to get to it and hit it with his forehand. First off, love me the communication between our players. Then Johnny had to full speed sprint because he had been expecting Jeremy to take it, and was a bit out of position. Secondly then, love me the hustle that we put in. Johnny barely got to the ball and did what he could to just scoop it up over the middle of the net. It should have been smashed back at them for a winner, but the Penn players didn't expect the ball to come over. They thought they had already done enough. The ball split the two Penn players as they just looked at each other and fell inside the baseline for a winner. Communication, effort, belief. Got to love it, right?

JV: This is tough, so many of the JV matches were on while the varsity was playing, so I didn't see many specific points. I'm going to have to go with a point I did see. Justin Gregor and Evan Grimes were to be the clinching point to the team match if they won, and leading 5-1 Evan had the shot of the match where he was able to pounce on a ball at the net with a big, aggressive overhead. That's the way doubles is supposed to be played, slamming away those big overheads, and for a moment I thought that Evan had become "Deathstick." Therefore, winner-winner, chicken dinner for Evan Grimes!

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 4-6, 4-6 - Andy Hansen (11)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-2, 6-4 - Ethan Leiter (12)
Jonny Shenk - 6-3, 7-5 - Karter Kistler (11)
Johnny Kauffman/Jeremy Thomas - 6-1, 7-5 - Vince Beam (12)/Oliver Gunter (11)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-0, 6-3 - Brian Hickman (11)/Andrew Bushnell (11)

JV
Ben Mast - 6-8 - Unknown
Seth Krabill - 8-6 - Wes Kujawski
Matthew Amstutz - 8-6 - Seth Apol
Claude Stickler - 6-2 - Luke Schram
Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller - 8-4 - Jake Coe/Jason Bergstrand
Austin Loucks/Nick Rebec - 8-2 - Steven Kim/Justin Holland
Jake Gerig/Blake Shetler - 2-6 - Mike Crane/Nick Lu
Justin Gregor/Evan Grimes - 6-1 - CJ Teeple/Matt Kline